AN: Wow, it's been a very long time since I updated this one but I have scheduled more time to update, I've just been busy these days. Hope you enjoy.

Act 56 – Stairwell Confessions

Ren was attempting to keep his voice from echoing down the hallway but he looked at the script, staring at the words that were somehow not sticking in his mind. If he didn't get over this sickness soon then how far would he truly fall as an actor. "Anyway, it's still 48 hours before it's statue-barred." He sighed and didn't realize that Kyoko was hiding right under the stairwell listening to him.

She paused. She shouldn't be hiding from him. She was his friend and shouldn't friends be showing support to one another whilst looking at one another. She froze, the cold chills going down her spine. She somehow felt that she was impertinently eavesdropping on him. That wasn't something that a friend should do but she was worried for him. He wasn't himself because of the cold and he had sacrificed his life to being an actor. She wanted to do something to help him.

However, he didn't seem to read the script alone in public because of that image which he tried to protect, the way people saw him in the industry was important. He didn't want to let a weakness like trying desperately to commit his words to memory to slow him down or make him any less impressive. He was still impressive to her but he must have risked something huge to change his life so much.

"Anyway," Ren continued, "It's still 48 hours before it's statue-barred."

Kyoko sat up more. He was repeating the same words. This meant that he really did have trouble keeping them in his mind. She admired the way that he was able to act but this was slowing him down and she wanted to do something to help.

"Our right to investigate has been taken away by the prefecture police," he continued and Kyoko tried to think of what she had read after this line, after all she had spent time reading the script when she was meant to be studying but she was too fascinated by the acting world to pay attention to the entrance examinations.

"We can do anything," she said with her eyes closed. Even if she was young and a newbie actress who he might not take serious in this field, she could still help him. "So, you wanna give up?" she asked him.

Ren paused, his eyes widening and he lifted his head. Someone was responding to his words, no she was responding with the other lines and she was acting well. She had placed the character's emotions into the words that she was saying. That wasn't something that a lot of beginner actors could do. Had she been able to conquer and attain skills that were rare in a beginner. Hadn't she wanted to use acting as her revenge?

"I can't believe it, hearing the same phrases over and over again," she said with a sigh and Ren got to his feet. He wanted to find her. He wanted to act opposite her again just as they had done so in the acting test with Ruriko. He wanted to see her passion and her drive again. He wanted to enter into that partnership with her. He started to slowly make his way down the steps.

"Yazaki is your enemy. He has murdered your father. You've been hating him for the last fifteen years," she continued with drive and motivation in her words that he wasn't even getting from his partner in this drama. He wanted to know how she had developed these skills and most importantly why she had developed these skills so well? She was good at acting, was she aware of that?

"If you don't hunt him down who else will do it? After all, I'm the one who should be angry. The prefecture police have taken Yakazi away from us!" Ren felt an excitement cover him with the thrills that ran through his body. How had she achieved this so well. She was getting furious when she spoke just as the character would. The pronunciation of the words was even in character. He wanted to see her, he wanted to see what kind of expression she was using.

"So what, the prefecture police is persecuting him because of another matter so who cares? We're persecuting him because of a robbery with murder that will be statue-barred soon," Ren said as he heard his footsteps and he reached the bottom of the staircase. He peered around to where Kyoko was. She was already skilled as an actress but that was what surprised him. Motivating oneself with hurting another didn't bring out this type of result. Was it something else?

"You want to say you can go against the prefecture police?" he asked as he saw her stubborn expression. It was truly as if she were embodying the character within the script. She was starting to become her. She smiled and he was struck speechless. Someone who was acting with revenge in mind wouldn't be able to create that expression. What were her real motives behind this? Had she told him and he just hadn't listened to her? He felt that he needed to know what it was.

"Of course," Kyoko said defiantly and Ren smiled. Somehow she was beginning to open up and change to the girl that she had once been. Although he didn't want her to lose her spark and her independence, he wanted her to find her own sense of happiness and passion. He wanted the beautiful things in life for her.

Kyoko watched him. He wasn't responding to her and she worried that he had forgotten his lines but that wasn't possible. They were almost at the line that he had said that had emotionally wounded her at breakfast time. He had known those lines this morning and he wasn't acting back. She was worried for him? Was his fever back? Was he experiencing cold sweats?

"Your acting skills have improved in a very short amount of time," he commented and Kyoko's eyes widened. She smiled weakly at the comment before looking down and blushing. She hadn't been expecting that. Each time at the acting lessons she had compared herself to Moko and now she was being praised. She definitely didn't feel that she had conquered any skills but she was getting the ultimate praise, she was getting his praise.

"Re-really?" she asked and Ren hummed with a smile, he nodded and Kyoko felt her face turn even redder in response.

"You did well playing the character's role," he followed and Kyoko blinked back at him. "Not only are your lines accurate. Even your expression is quite good."

Kyoko stood with excitement as she faced him. She wanted to tell him so much of what she had experienced in the time that they had spent apart. She would have told him at the time but they hadn't been talking and she felt a lot of regret about that. "I learned this from school," she told him eagerly and he grinned as he listened to her. "In the lesson where they taught don't only depend on a script for acting. I learned that it could be the same setting but depending on the role, it could give a different mood. In class students had to perform many times using dialogue exchange, because I never did it before, I had to pay extra attention."

Ren looked at her, his eyes showing his realization of the thrill and beauty that acting had helped her blossom inside. Just as he had wanted it to do, acting was nurturing her and pulling her into the sunlight that she deserved. She had found something that she enjoyed. Hopefully that part of her heart that desired revenge would be filled with the passion that they shared.

Kyoko smiled happily as she clutched tight to the items that she had. She had prepared the soup for Ren but talking about acting made it so that she could ignore most everything else. She laughed softly as she stood there. "Even though it's very hard but," she smiled and Ren's eyes widened at the purity that her expression held. "I'm very happy."

Ren froze and tilted his head to the side. Had he been overlooking something here? "Why?" he asked wanting to nurture her and try to help her and inspire her. "You…learned acting…isn't it for revenge against Fuwa."

Kyoko looked at him and bit her top lip for a moment before shaking her head. She couldn't believe that he thought that about her. No, it made sense for him to think that but it was very very wrong. "No way," she said quickly, "Who would do it because of him? Never. I swear on my life, that's definitely not it. My goal wasn't to get revenge on him when I went to stud acting!" she said loudly and Ren had to take a couple of steps back so that he wasn't pushed over by her energetic reply.

Ren was stunned but he wanted to rely on his acting skills in order to keep a calm and neutral expression. He didn't want to show his shock at her loud words and the energy that she had hurled towards him. "Then…" he said as he stood there, his body language more open and relaxed, "For what reason?"

Kyoko stood thoughtfully as she gazed out into the distance. Acting had started to mean a lot to her and she could feel the passion that Ren felt when he acted. It was as if it were a new type of magic. "Maybe it's to change to a new Kyoko Mogami," she announced.

Ren watched her. That was what he had wanted for her, for her to be free from the shackles of the past and it seemed that she was getting her wish. His lips parted as he watched her. She was like a new flower in spring, filled with possibilities and innocence.

"I," Kyoko continued, "have never done anything I've wanted to do since I was young. Every time I did something, it was for someone else, for other people. I've always lived till now," Kyoko sighed as she seemed to look into her past and Ren could understand her feelings but this was what he had desired for her. He hadn't wanted her to focus her energy upon other people when she only had one life to live. She deserved the happiness that he didn't.

Kyoko laughed happily, her smile lighting up the area and making Ren forget about his trouble with the script, "but, It's different now. Learning how to act, I feel like I'm doing it for myself, using it to create my new self. This makes me very happy. I want to experience more things, absorb more, and open up my own world. That's why I started to learn how to act." Kyoko blushed as she thought about the new her that could be possible. She was living in a world where she might even be able to create the purity that Shotaro had stolen from her.

Feeling nervous about what she had said, she looked down nervously. "I bet, you don't believe me."

Ren looked upon her affectionately, his smile could bring anyone happiness and there was a sense of pride in his eyes as he gazed at her. He was happy for her. He was happy for his friend.

"No," Ren shook his head and Kyoko looked up at him, her heart pounding in her chest. "I believe you."

End of Act 56

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 55

Erza, H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD,