AN: Thank you for your patience with these updates. I am really trying to put more time into school so have to sacrifice writing time.

Act 55 – Secret One-Sided Conversation

"I," Kuon began as he saw Kyoko's stern and upset look. He had meant it as a joke because it was a line from a script, "I," he began again and Kyoko still stared at him in disbelief. "Sorry," he said as he bowed his head and looked at the table. "It was a joke, a stupid one maybe. It was a line from my script."

"It's not a very good line," Kyoko told him. "Of course I don't hate you," she argued back with him staring at him and wondering how that was a joke to him. She would have been hurt had it not been a joke since she was hurt now. "Besides," she raised her chin. "I made that drink for you because I wanted for you to feel better."

"I know," Kuon nodded again, "It was foolish of me to make that joke. I know that you've tried very hard to help me with my cold. To help me conquer my cold."

Kyoko nodded and then picked up some of the plates to clear the table. "Never think that I hate you. I think you'd have to do something extreme for me to hate you," she said as Kuon looked after her with his jaw dropped. Wow. She truly did care about him and he should feel very fortunate about that.

Kyoko shook her head as she tried to clear her mind as well and picked up the thermometer, "I'm very glad that your fever went down a lot," she told him and Kuon nodded glad that they were moving forward with their conversation.

"Thank you," Kuon smiled to her, "That's due to you," he said and Kyoko sat down again.

Kyoko shook her head. She didn't want to take all the credit for his recovery. She would have to protect her heart from developing those complicated feelings were that the case. She didn't want to be the only hero in this piece of Kuon's life. "The anti-fever injection from the hospital worked," she argued, "anyway, fevers always go down in the morning."

Kuon nodded softly before putting a hand to his chest and Kyoko leaned in, watching him with her breath caught in her throat. "But," he said as he took slow breaths, "the cooling pillow and the ice pack were yours, weren't they?" he asked and Kyoko looked at him wondering how much he remembered and how dangerously close she was for having growing feelings for him.

He looked away from her, "Furthermore, I'm even changed. Thinking about being changed by an innocent young girl…" he trailed off and Kyoko turned a bright red. What the hell was he talking about?

"You changed yourself" she argued as she thought about how much coaxing she had to do to get Kuon to listen to her the previous night. He had been completely out of it so she had ordered for him to do what he needed to do. It was Kuon who had listened to her even in his zombie-like state. "Keep calm," she reminded him with a worried expression since he didn't even remember that. "It's no surprise you don't remember," she said as she tried to think of when she had helped Sho. She hadn't even undressed him. Men weren't actually dolls where she could just tear the clothes off at any moment she chose.

"Anyway, Kuon," Kyoko said as she finished her own meal, "If you have difficulties eating, at least just drink a bit of the soup," she suggested to him and Kuon nodded.

Once Kyoko had finished, she stood up and this time took all the plates and bowls from the table. "Excuse me," she smiled to him, "I'm already up so I'll prepare something we will be able to take with us to the film location," she smiled weakly and Kuon watched after her. He really hoped that despite that gap that had been between them before, she really didn't hate him. It was a mean thing to say even as a joke and he should have known better.

Kyoko really hadn't changed since she was a kid. She was still that kind and passionate girl that he had deemed perfect. Maybe she wasn't perfect though, her quest for revenge wasn't perfect but she was special. He treasured her. Was that selfish of him to feel?

…

…

"All right, cut!" the director called and Kyoko froze as she held her study book open but realized that she hadn't even glanced down at it. She had been caught up in seeing Ren act. He definitely had a talent for it and she hadn't been able to keep her eyes off of him. She knew that she needed to focus her attention on studying for her test but she wanted to talk to him about the scene and praise him. He'd probably listen to her as well, unlike Shotaro.

She sighed as she tried to change textbooks hoping that she could pay attention to the next subject that she chose. Ren was a professional and she wanted to watch him to study his technique but what should be her first priority were her entrance tests. She needed to make sure to pass them so that she could get into high school. She truly wanted to be able to get into high school.

As Kyoko dug around for another text book, her hand slipped over the script that Ren had given her for safe keeping. Maybe she should focus on her schooling but she was more interested in acting. She looked up at Ren again, watching him. He should have been able to learn his lines yesterday but he had been sick and he hadn't been in a state to do so. She wondered if he held the same abilities as Moko-chan where he could just flip through a script and memorize everything perfectly.

Perhaps he could teach her how to do that, Moko seemed to be a bit guarded when it came to that technique. It was her special talent after all. Her eyes caught onto the same words that had upset her the previous day. At least it meant that he had looked through the script even if he had been using those upsetting words on her.

How could he even joke about her hating him? He was Corn, the boy that had saved her and made her happy even if they had only played together for a number of days. He had listened to her and given her strength in dealing with the pain of her youth. No. After all that he had done and even lying to her, she had never hated him. She hadn't trusted him but that was understandable. She didn't have to hate him to lose trust in him.

She needed to find a place where she could be alone, she wanted to focus on her own important things and since they had taken Ren to do the monitor check, she had some time to focus on herself.

…..

…..

Kyoko held the Ren disapproving doll that she had made and made it point one of his hands at her. She lowered her voice to do an impression of him. "Well, I think preparing a special diet is a sign of extreme good naturedness. My, my, to take all night long caring for a guy who isn't your boyfriend and unable to tell you about his past, frankly speaking, you're an idiot."

She heard a mutter behind her and froze, "You're mimicking me or what?" Ren asked and Kyoko felt her back straighten. She hadn't meant for him of all people to have heard that. She opened her mouth and coughed a little. She hadn't wanted him to know that she was making fun of him. He was an important person to her and now that he knew about her secret would this build the tension.

Kyoko took slow and steady breaths, she turned around to see that he had a good natured smile and even laughed.

"You're pretty good, but I have my own reasons for not telling you my background," he reminded her but Kyoko still stared at him. He picked up a script and she stared down at the doll. He hadn't seen it had he. He would surely get the wrong idea if he saw it. She had wanted to toughen up and had made one so that she could have private conversations with him. He would think that she was completely obsessed with him if he saw it.

"Good preparation," Ren told her as he looked over the script, "You already took out the script for the last episode."

Kyoko looked at the puppet in her hands. If he had seen it, he would have commented on it and she didn't want that. She would have to explain to him what it meant and then he might get upset and think that she viewed him in a harsh light. Sure he sometimes wasn't her favorite person but she didn't want him to think she disliked him. It had hurt her when he had asked her that question from the script that morning, it might hurt him to know that she saw him as hypercritical and judgmental.

Kyoko looked up from her bag after she had shoved the doll in there. She looked from side to side but it appeared that Ren had vanished. Strange. She stood up wanting to find him. What if he collapsed again? How was he going to finish the episode if he collapsed?

…

…

Ren sighed to himself as he sat on the stairway, looking down at the script. Usually he could memorize these scripts in a time that seemed non-human but this time he was having a hard time getting the words to stick in his mind. He needed to figure out what to do and how to perform the final episode. He placed a hand on his forehead trying to focus on whether his fever had risen again. Maybe they wouldn't get to the scene today but he needed to make sure he had it perfectly memorized even if he had an extra day to do it.

He looked up. Did she really think that he was the bad guy? Maybe he was, he went around hurting people and even his own parents had stopped loving him but he would never call her an idiot. He cared about her deeply but he wasn't allowed to act on that. She always prioritized other people and that scared him. In this world, if you didn't protect yourself then you would get hurt and taken advantage of. She held a passion that made her blind to the world around her and yes, it developed a fighting spirit but it often led you to go down one road.

For instance, she had told him that she hated studying when she was a child but she was determined to do so because she wanted to get straight As for her mother to love her. He didn't know if even that was enough to make a parent love a child but she had been determined to do so. Although you overcame weaknesses by being headstrong, you needed to enjoy life too. He was being judgmental in that, he should be following that logic as well if he truly believed it.

Hopefully she enjoyed acting and it wasn't taking away time that would be better used for herself. He wanted her to only study acting if she wanted to love it, if she was doing it for herself. He closed his eyes not realizing that Kyoko had found him. It was better for him to be alone. He wouldn't hurt people were he alone.

Right now though, he was supposed to be concentrating on his script so that he didn't let anyone else down. He had to figure out how to make his sacrifices worth something. That was the reason why he was acting anyway, to make it count and make it worth something. He had to get the script memorized otherwise he was useless as an actor and it would all be for nothing.

End of Act 55

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 54

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD,