Act 69 – You're On My Mind

Ren was glad that he had learned to not let his body sweat a long time ago. He had trained for hours to make it not happen, it wasn't the most attractive look. However, even he had to admit that the shooting location made it feel like he was a bit drained even in a sleeveless shirt. He looked to the man staring at him, studying him as if trying to find some kind of answer.

"I really," Yashiro Yukihito said as he studied Ren, "do not get you."

Ren blinked at him, trying not to show his surprise at that being said. To Ren it had seemed to come out of nowhere, such a casual statement. "What is it?" Ren asked as he turned to his manager unsure how else to respond to him. "All of a sudden."

Yashiro continued to frown at him, studying him the way that one studied a difficult math equation. "You are," he continued to state, "a prudent person in both judgment and decision. It is a first for you to carelessly stamp something," he said and Ren paused. Hadn't they gone over this before? Why was he being asked about it again?

"And it's a first for you to try to discipline a younger and less inexperienced actor in that kind of way. You say it was a mistake but I think you're making mistakes by not admitting your feelings about her." Ren looked at him before sighing, he saw Yashiro staring at him in an unamused fashion. "You are saying you haven't developed feelings for her."

"You're still on that," he said before shaking his head, "We already discussed this," he said and Yashiro raised an eyebrow. "My giving her those stamps wasn't out of any emotional feelings for her. My job requires me to look at other people's work objectively. I can't let my emotions mess with how I treat others," he argued. "She wouldn't have learned from a 100 points stamp."

Yashiro sighed, "Poor, Kyoko-chan, there are lessons to be learned from 100 point stamps even if you don't try to correct them. She tried really hard for you. You're never going to fully sway her heart if you act with tough love towards her. She worked herself half to death for your sake," Yashiro lamented and Ren gave a solemn look as he stared at the area in front of him. Was he getting too close to her? Was he going to start affecting her with his own pain or was it too late, was she already hurt because of him. He had felt that she understood that he wasn't a fairy but maybe that still stung a little. Even if he had said that to her as a child, he should take more responsibility for it.

"Even if I did have feelings for her," Ren said as he looked into the distance to avoid eye contact with his manager. "It wouldn't be worth saying that. In her mind, she still has another who takes up more of her attention than me and I can't bring her happiness. Even if those emotions did exist, there's no chance of them coming to fruition."

"She cares about me as a friend and in those instances, she was trying to act the role of my manager but she was only acting a part. Besides, she might not have forgiven me if I wasn't at least a little bit critical. That is the way she was brought up, the way she lived her life as a child," he said and Yashiro looked to him not believing that that was the reason as to why Ren was acting this way. Was he actually scared of getting involved in an adult relationship? Was he scared of committing to any one woman?

"So you are treating her like a child," Yashiro said and Ren turned to him with shock. "You sound as if you're making her decisions for her."

Ren blinked and sighed, "Am I being childish?" he asked the older male, "To use my own thoughts and feelings to decide what kind of stamp to give her."

"Yeah," Yashiro nodded and Ren hesitated. He couldn't truly explain his reasons and he sounded like a jerk wanting to offer her, 'tough love'. "However, I can understand your feelings," he smiled and Ren paused as he looked at him. He didn't want to turn into one of those kinds of guys who was a jerk to women because his ego was threatened. His father hadn't taught him to be like that.

"You wanted to imagine that those were the actions of a girl that was your girlfriend," Yashiro commented and Ren stared at him. He hadn't wanted to hear this but the words Yashiro was telling him were completely honest. "You were shocked when you woke up from the reality. You've fallen for her, Ren, it's beyond obvious," he said and Ren paled. If Yashiro knew this was there a chance that Kyoko would know this as well? No. He needed to keep to his choice not to have important people in his life. He couldn't place more importance on her. It wasn't fair to her.

"No, I…I didn't want her to … I don't want to be her boyfriend," he laughed weakly and Yashiro stared at him, continuing to stay unimpressed. "I'm her friend, that's true. Maybe I wanted to be a little spoiled by her but only because I don't really get spoiled by anyone. She also is someone who takes pride in her jobs and I wanted to provide her with a little bit of experience at what being part of the Love Me section really means. It's not about wanting to be her boyfriend," he said and Yashiro took a step back.

He hadn't expected for Ren to say this but something about Ren's facial expression and body language seemed to say the same thing. Ren wasn't interested in being Kyoko's boyfriend. It seemed like the logical step in Yashiro's mind. Ren loved being around Kyoko. Ren trusted in Kyoko. Yet, he had no desire to conquer her. Was this because Ren was inexperienced? How could someone look the way that Ren looked and still be inexperienced in the matters of love.

How could he truly be this clueless?

…

…

Kyoko stared at Shotaro with a superior smile on her face. Everyone was looking at her in shock because of the magical transformation of the magic. She really valued and appreciated the makeup and its magic spell and that was the reason she was able to become so beautiful. However, as she heard the gasps and shock of those around her, her attention drew back to Shotaro.

"You," he began, staring at her in confusion and Kyoko smirked. She knew that with that dumb and idiotic look on his face, he could be destroyed and that's what she wanted most, to destroy him. "Kyoko?" he asked and Kyoko kicked him in the shin hard enough to feel the bone under her foot. Everyone gasped around her but now that he knew who she was, she would take her opportunity to hurt him.

"Did that hurt?" Kyoko smiled coldly as she saw the pained expression on his face. She grabbed his collar and pulled it down, her eyes narrowing and a fire burning within them. She had the look of hate in her eyes. She wouldn't forgive him for what he had put her through, she knew that much.

"But," she continued in the same cold manner, "My pain in here," she said as she directed a thumb to her chest and her voice and facial expression turned even more demonic as she reflected on the pain and how she wanted to take revenge on the one who had made her feel such terrible emotions, "Is much greater."

Sho took a step backwards, trying to collect himself and not show how much seeing her evil side had affected him. He heard the cruel and evil laugh which came out her mouth and tried to gain balance as he stared at her. Kyoko knew that in Shotaro's small mind, she had become a demon, a monster but that was what he had done to her. He had been the catalyst for this change.

"You, how dare you kick me?" Sho asked uneasily, "And staring at me with those eyes and pointing at your chest."

Kyoko looked at him sickened, how could he even interpret the way that she had pointed to her chest as anything even remotely sexual or provocative. No, of course he wouldn't have interpreted it that way. He was an idiot who only saw her as plain and boring. He would never be attracted about her and she was glad about that.

"What's wrong?" she whispered as she attempted to test his "manhood", "You think I won't dare to kick you?" she asked and looked into his eyes. She could tell that he was thinking of the pure Kyoko that she used to be before she got that cold wake up that was caused by him. There was no way of her going back to that nice, sweet, soft spoken girl. She wasn't going to stop livjng her life for her and only for her. "You are comparing the old to me to the current me, right?"

Sho paused, unsure how to answer and Kyoko smirked again. She pitied him but that didn't mean that she would stop with her revenge plan. He needed to suffer. He needed to suffer as much as possible. "Unfortunately today," she whispered to him, wanting to intimidate him or at least make him feel a lot less confident than he was claiming to be. "The naïve, pure Kyoko you used to know…no longer exists."

She pushed Sho backwards, her eyes challenging him to argue with that and he stared at her in shock. Nobody treated him in this rude fashion, all the girls that he had met had fallen head over heels in love with him. Kyoko used to be one of those girls but this woman in front of him. Kyoko was glad he was looking at her this way, she could read his thoughts and feelings just as she had his whole life.

"It's good," Kyoko finally said with a look of confidence on her face as she focused on the character, the angel who got to finally kill Shotaro, "That you like to pretend that no one else exists and decided not to drop me from this project. I will make you so regretful that you will want to die," she said as she glared at him and Sho didn't answer her, he didn't know how to answer her.

A fire was burning from within Kyoko's heart and it didn't seem that it would ever stop burning, at least not until she claimed her win. Today the one who will suffer, will be the demon.

End of Act 69

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 68

Callisto, Erza Tsuruga, H-Nala, JeremyVD, Kaname671, Lizalee, Marca 05

AN: For everyone PMing me to update X or update Y, please stop. I have a ton of Skip Beat fics out there and you can read those. I really want to write the ones I want to write. I've actually become much happier about my writing this way. If I remain happy there's greater chance of my updating other stories but I don't think I'll prioritize all of my Skip Beat fics the way I did in the past.