AN: Changed a few details in this. Hope you enjoy

Act 62 – Ninety Points

Ren gazed down at the book as he used his 100% stamp. He smiled as he looked at it. Maybe it wasn't a lot that he could give her but she had given him something special to hold onto and as much as he didn't want to admit it, seeing her happy was what had become most important to him. He would even sacrifice his own happiness for hers. They had both struggled through so much but he wanted to see her blossom not only as an actress but as a human being as well.

Kyoko smiled, "I didn't think you'd give me high points, Tsuruga-san," Kyoko said and Ren looked at her surprised. He cared about her. He wouldn't just subtract points for that reason. He wanted her to be happy. Giving her no points or low points wouldn't lead to happiness but it might lead to a little disappointment.

"Because I still want to get points in order to get revenge," she said and Ren paused, he stared at her, his hand gripping tighter to the book. "I also didn't think I did anything worth thanking for. I mean, anyone can look after you when you were sick, cook, and protect your attendance. That's something that a manager does, it's not something that someone special does so that you support my revenge plot is inspiring."

Yashiro stared at her and coughed, "Eh? Managers don't usually do those kinds of things, especially protect the attendance," he tried to tell her but it was as if Kyoko was ignoring his words. "You are so modest, Kyoko-chan," Yashiro said and Kyoko felt a little flustered.

"What?" she asked surprised and turned between the two of them, "You got it all wrong. Isn't that our job? This would be part of my job in taking care of Tsuruga-san when he's sick or else if Tsuruga-san had to take a day off, then wouldn't it be my fault?" she asked and Yashiro still turned to her surprised. Ren looked away. Had he been that manipulative. He hadn't felt that he was doing wrong by Kyoko and he felt a little unsettled in their friendship.

"That kind of thing, I definitely can't accept. Like I am using it as an excuse," she protested. "I should have learn from Tsuruga-san in order to market myself as the best and leave him in the shadows to lick his wounds. Anyways, I am only doing what is given to me to the best of my abilities. Nothing to do with being modest."

Ren looked between them, somehow he felt that she had ripped his heart out of his chest and was now stomping on it and he couldn't help but feel like he had been reading all of the wrong signals. "Mogami-san," he said and Kyoko quickly turned to him, her eyes widening as he held out his hand with the book in it. "Okay, I'm done," he told her and Kyoko took it excitedly.

She wanted to see his handwriting in the book. She didn't know why but his handwriting was important to her, she would be able to keep it with her. "Thank you," she said happily.

"You're welcome," Ren smiled as he waited for her reaction to what he had done. He knew that he was being petty but she was still working for revenge, he couldn't support her when it came to him. He felt guilty for feeling it but he wanted to be the only one on her mind, for her only to think of him.

Kyoko felt excited. Since they had talked and he had told her his true name, their friendship had been on the mend. He was supportive of her dreams. She finally had Corn back in her life and she didn't want to screw it up. Whatever he gave to her, he had his reasons for doing so.

Kyoko looked to the book before her eyes widened, he had given her a full points mark and a negative ten points mark. "What…is this?" she said slowly and Ren lifted his chin trying to act in a professional manner but Kyoko could tell there was something else behind his words.

"You need to ask?" he said in a steady voice, "Doesn't it clearly say 90 points?"

Kyoko's body twitched. Yes, that was right, it did say 90 points. Was he saying that she could have done better? Why stamp the 100 point stamp if that was the case. She knew that there was always room for improvement but had he changed his mind somehow? "I'm not asking about that, I-It was, you clearly stamped 100 points…" she trailed off, "Why did you deduct afterwards?"

Ren sighed, "Oh, because it was the wrong stamp," he told her and Kyoko wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. As professional as Ren tended to act, he did have that childish side and she hoped that she hadn't said something to hurt or annoy him and that was the reason he had changed his mind. Was it her talking about needing the stamps for her revenge? She shouldn't have said that, she knew how much Ren hated hearing it. "I didn't realize it wasn't the 90 points stamp."

Ren turned to her with his gentleman's smile which usually meant he was trying to hide his anger and Kyoko's eyes widened as she took it all in. "Sorry about that," he grinned and Kyoko shook his head. He had something on his mind that had led him to do this. This wasn't an accident but it didn't seem as if he was ready to talk about it.

"That smile is fake," Kyoko said as Ren started to walk away from her, "I won't fall for that. I bet you suddenly changed your mind."

Ren sighed before walking further away from her. He knew that he was being immature but hearing that Kyoko was still thinking of him and not of himself, it made a competitive bitterness gnaw away at him. "Let's go, Yukihito-san," he said and Kyoko chased after them.

"That's too much," she said, "You're too much. How could you suddenly change your mind? What happened? What went wrong?" she asked and Ren looked ahead of him, not wanting to talk about it but Kyoko still sensed that there was something wrong in his expression. He appeared as if he were hurt but he wouldn't open up to her about it. "Don't you feel that you are acting like a kid, Tsuruga-san?" she accused him.

Ren rolled his eyes knowing full well of his emotions, "You're too suspicious," he told her and Kyoko continued to stare at him. "I have already said that it was the wrong stamp. You have a job right?" he tried to remind her and Kyoko stomped after him, mad at his long legs that his strides made it so that he moved so fast. "You should go there."

"Don't change the topic," Kyoko accused him, "What is your reason to deduct points from me? Did I hurt you? Did I say something wrong just now?" she froze, did she ruin their friendship by saying the wrong thing. She hadn't meant to but Ren had told her not to fall in love with him, that also meant that she had to hide her affection for him as well.

"Because it was the wrong stamp, geez," Ren sighed feeling exhausted by the conversation and Yashiro watched the two of them speechlessly. He didn't know how to interact with either of them, the only thing that he could do at that moment was be a spectator to the conversation.

"You're definitely lying to me!" Kyoko accused him as she tried to read his facial expression and find out if she had created such a deep hurt that it would affect their friendship. She didn't want to end their friendship. She saw Ren continue to walk away from her and stopped. She bowed her head and sighed. He didn't seem to want to tell her and so she could only hope that their friendship was secure. There was nothing else that she could do in that moment.

…

…

Later the next week, Yashiro was with Ren at the airport, for some reason Ren always had a special check in with the same group of people – all working with the president to protect his identity since he legally had to fly using the name Kuon Hizuri – and he never allowed anyone to come up to the counter with him. They would be going on the shoot together but Ren was always so secretive with his check ins and Yashiro wondered if it was because of his secret identity, well Yashiro would never reveal those details to anyone else.

"Did you tell Kyoko-chan?" Yashiro asked, "That we have to film elsewhere, so we'll be leaving Tokyo for a week or so?" he asked and Ren paused. He hadn't told her the details but he was a little nervous about Yashiro saying this in public since he didn't want anyone to overhear and harm Kyoko.

"Huh? Nope," he replied, "I don't need to tell her this sort of stuff."

Yashiro froze, he had seen that Ren looked at her affectionately, he had seen the strong emotions that Ren had in his heart and he didn't know why Ren was trying to avoid something so obvious instead of making his move. "You two were very friendly to each other last week, right?"

"Yeah," Ren shrugged, "but were always the same, nothing changed," Ren said as he tried to not say that his feelings had definitely deepened for the younger girl.

"No," Yashiro commented, "The most obvious change is the way you look at Kyoko. Your eyes are more gentle now," he told him and Ren paused. If he continued this way then even she would figure out the truth about how special and treasured she was in his heart. That was something that might cancel out all of those sacrifices he had made for years.

"Really?" he asked panicked. Nobody should know that he was starting to feel those affectionate moments for her.

"Yeah," Yashiro nodded, "A soft gaze that'll melt the heart of even the most cold hearted girl," he said and Ren felt a little sweat run down the back of his neck. He didn't want this to enter the media. The main reason he didn't acknowledge Kyoko as his friend in public was because he didn't want for her to be hounded by the press, now it seemed like he was delivering her to them. He had to keep his distance from her so that she didn't find out.

Ren looked at the crowd before him, "Look like we can go," Ren said and Yashiro nodded slowly, "We should get going now or they'll leave without us," he said and Yashiro paused.

"Ren," he said with a steady voice, "There's something else I want to ask."

"All right," Ren said with a natural smile, trying to reflect on the best possibilities for sealing his emotions away, he didn't need to burden or confuse her with them especially since he wouldn't be able to act upon them. "You can ask me later," he nodded.

Ren knew the question. The reason as to why he had given her those negative stamps had been because he felt jealous. He felt jealous of how he was still on her mind when he had done nothing to deserve it. He had made it so that she couldn't concentrate on acting as much as she should be able to. Everyone only had one chance at a precious life and he felt from experience that he knew how painful it was to give up to the bad emotions.

He looked into the distance. If she was continuing to think of revenge as her reason to do certain things then he hoped that they never met again. Kyoko's pain would melt with time and then if they weren't to see each other again, she'll forget about him. That was if they didn't meet again which he was hoping with his whole heart would never happen.

End of Act 62

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Thank you to the reviewers of Act 61

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