Act 52 - Suspicious

Kyoko looked painfully as she saw Corn performing the scene. Acting meant so much to him and he always took it so seriously, putting his heart into the character but there were usually at least two people in a scene and although Ren was a professional, Yumiko, seemed anything but.

Kyoko sighed as she looked at the drenched Ren and remembered how hard he had always worked even when he was only ten. She hated to see him have to endure something bad for his health because someone wasn't doing their work correctly.

"It was my fault but I really can't understand," Yumiko began passionately, "because that person is just too weird! It's too spac—cious"

There was a collective groan from the crew members and Yumiko fell to the ground starting to cry as Kyoko's eyes widened. This was someone who was supposed to be good at their job. What was she doing fooling around like this under the artificial rain? Ren was ill and she was taking advantage of acting opposite him so she could flirt with him. She wasn't even his type anyway.

"I messed up again," she said as the fear spiraled through her. "I'm sorry," she said.

Ren came over to her. Despite the fact that he was still feeling ill from the sickness, this was a costar that would suffer if he told her that the scene wasn't good enough. She needed support not someone telling her that she was doing it wrong. He sighed as he could hear the director tell her what the correct line was. He tried again and on the fourth take it messed up once again.

Kyoko looked at the two of them, her anger increasing. Corn was ill and people should have noticed that by now despite how he was trying to hide it. He was trying to be professional and carry on working but this woman was making it tough for her. Could Yumiko be trying to flirt with him. Corn was too good for her anyway. She was trying to act dumb and flirt on purpose to give him the maiden in distress image. He didn't care about having a girlfriend, he cared about the work he had made sacrifices to be able to do.

Kyoko wasn't entirely sure why she felt so protective over him and his sickness but as he pushed his hair up and put a hand on his forehead, she could feel something inside of her explode. He was sick. They should have realized that he was sick and his face was pale and he looked exhausted. Nobody should make Corn feel like this.

Ren looked over to her with a small smile to say that he was okay despite feeling sticky and slimy on the inside. The world felt like it was punishing him for something. He was doing his best to work through this but it was as if he were on an uphill slope and kept being pushed down before he could reach the top. He couldn't rest though, he had to keep going, he would reach the end eventually.

Kyoko tried to step forward to get some time for Ren to be able to rest but before she could catch the director's attention one of the crew members had spoken up.

"Director, this isn't hopeless," the crew member said and Kyoko turned to him with hope that he would get them to give the actors a little time to breathe and collect themselves, "she's just nervous so she can't act properly. She's flustered."

The director sighed and nodded, still looking firm. "Ah, then, let her rest even though we don't have that much time."

Kyoko sighed in relief. They would be finishing the shoot for a moment and she could fetch Ren a warm and dry towel and then he could take a breather and they could finish the shoot once he had sat down and maybe had something to drink. Having all this water dumped upon him wasn't good for his health. It was a good time to take a break from the work they were doing.

"No," Ren protested and Kyoko looked up to see his very serious expression. "No, that won't do. If we rest then we won't finish the filming in time," he said feeling confident in his choice to follow the good work ethic that his father was also known for. This was something important to him and he wasn't just about to give up because it got harder. "Let's continue," he attempted to convince them and Kyoko could feel herself twitch as she watched him.

He needed to rest. He needed to get his body into better health right now so that he could deliver his best. He shouldn't feel a need to continue working if his body felt bad. How stubborn was he? She had good work ethic but she didn't think that hers had ever hit this limit where it was starting to become ridiculous.

"But," the crew member said as he went over to Yumiko and Ren looked around to watch her, still breathing weakly. "She's so…"

"I'm scared," Yumiko admitted as she covered her face with her hands and Kyoko could see the worry on Ren's face as the water droplets fell down. He was hurt and he was still considering what other people were feeling. "Why can't I get it right? I can't stand this anymore," she whispered and Kyoko saw Ren panting a little before he collected himself and went over to her ready to help her despite all the pain she had put him through with her actions.

"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko called out wanting to stop him from going over to her side, "Wait a sec!"

"Hey," Ren said as he approached her and came to kneel down in front of her despite how the pants were wet and the ground was pretty hard because of the rocks. "Don't worry," he attempted to assure her, "It will be fine if you just calm down," he attempted to encourage her.

The actress looked at him with tears in her eyes, he grinned as he sat opposite her. "Say suspended ten times," he said and Yumiko looked at him nervously.

"Suspended?" she asked and Ren nodded, acting towards her as if she were a young animal or child who needed help.

"That's right," he said and the actress looked at him.

"Suspended, suspended, suspended," she repeated and Ren nodded.

"Now change the ending," he told her, "Say suspicious."

Yumiko nodded and then looked at him repeating the word until she got it correctly. She looked up, blinking away the tears that had settled in her eyes. She tried to relax her breathing and then looked at Ren, feeling the way that he was actually being nice to her and not pushing her to say or do anything.

"Good job," Ren praised, "this time you said everything perfectly."

The actress blinked at him and smiled, her eyes starting to have life in them again and she nodded, "It's a lot easier now," she admitted and Ren continued to grin in a supportive manner. Kyoko sighed. There were a lot of people who would get angry at someone acting the way this woman had. They might have yelled at her, blamed her, made her feel that it was her fault but Ren turned the situation into something where they could support one another. He had helped her and they were being patient together despite the way that the rain was hurting him. This was the Corn that she knew existed underneath Ren but she was scared that he wasn't getting his dream yet.

Would he be able to reach his dream even if she were to offer him her help?

"Then let's try again now," Ren laughed as he took a step back and the actress nodded, her confidence obviously increased by her private coaching.

Kyoko sighed, she had been feeling annoyed by the situation and she was only watching him on the sidelines but things were actually happening to him and he was smiling and acting kind and compassionate. He really had matured. She wanted to see that smile continue but what Kyoko really didn't want to see was the exhaustion he felt and how sick he was. He needed to get better and this scene wasn't helping him.

Corn had always been friendly and gentle with everyone and she was glad that they were rebuilding their friendship and could enjoy their time together but something in his past must have muddied it enough that he wasn't Corn or Kuon. Something had to be bad enough that he had left his past behind to focus on acting. It wasn't her place to ask him about it but maybe one day he'd tell her what it was.

Kyoko saw the two of them performing together and she could see his joy in acting with her, she could feel the joy in him doing a good day of work but this only made her further suspicious about the past. Something must have gone wrong somewhere.

What Kyoko really needed to do was shield herself. She couldn't rely on compassion because compassion would lead to love and she couldn't burden him with her love even if he did seem a guy who wouldn't try to hurt her.

…..

…..

Kyoko was hoping that Ren would have the strength for some hot tea and she had brought him two. The first had some cream and sugar and the other was black. He needed something to warm him up after he had been on set in the raining scene. She knocked on the door before slipping inside. "I brought you something to drink," she said as she turned to where he sat. He didn't look very good at all.

"Thanks," he said as he rubbed his throat and Kyoko felt glad that he had at least had a hot shower and been able to get warm and dry again. He needed his rest and it was good that they wouldn't need the fake rain for the next scene. She heard him groan and sat down on the sofa.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and she hummed, turning to face him. "I should have listened to you."

"It's okay," Kyoko said with a soft laugh and Ren shook his head in argument. "I mean, are you feeling better? I know that the scene must have been pretty hard to do. I wanted to get you to -"

"I can't rest," Ren argued with her and then sighed as he looked towards where his watch was and Kyoko had realized a long time ago that that watch was something that he didn't take off apart from filming. It was something that connected him to his past, maybe some kind of a dark secret in his past. "If I don't keep moving then I can't be forgiven," he told her and Kyoko tilted her head to the side.

"I've already forgiven you," she told him and Ren smiled but shook his head.

He tried to stand and Kyoko stood up to help him. He bowed his head and Kyoko could catch the pain in his eyes. Something was fueling him to keep going and though she wanted to help, it wasn't her place to ask about it and she didn't want to be an imposition on him.

"It's not you who I need forgiveness from," he attempted to explain and Kyoko tilted her head to the side, a little confused. "It's something…" Kyoko froze as Ren fell and though she tried to catch him, she fell down too with him on top of her. This was definitely an uncomfortable situation.

End of Act 52

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Thank you to the reviewers of Act 51

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, PaulaGaTo