Act 90 – A Small Prince and an Older Food Lover

Kyoko turned to Kanae with a smile as they both sat down together. They faced the laundry that was waving back and forth in the breeze. Kyoko smiled as she saw Kanae's frustrated and worn out face, she was still very excited that she was able to spend the night with her first female friend. "So that's it," Kyoko said as she sat with Kanae, "Moko-san is responsible for washing clothes."

Kanae frowned. It was obvious to Kyoko that Kanae didn't like the task but that's how it must be with so many younger siblings who weren't able to truly care for themselves and the parent away. Kanae sighed, "because both of our parents are working," she started to explain to Kyoko. "The ones who take care of the housework are my big sister and I."

Kyoko laughed softly, she saw Kanae turn to her and she looked away with a smile. She didn't want to be rude and laugh at her friend but it made her feel a little bit of a connection with the girl who was sitting next to her. "Moko-san, you said I gave off a typical housewife vibe," Kyoko commented before grinning. "But Moko-chan, you're quite a typical housewife too. I can't do such a light speed washing. You're better than a housewife," Kyoko said as she giggled.

Kanae groaned in response showing her anger and distress, "Keep on laughing," she complained, "That's why every time I see you, I see a bit of myself and become angry, it's been like that since the first time," Kanae told her and Kyoko stopped laughing as much. Kanae continued and Kyoko felt the laughter to be more inappropriate. "You made me remember the scent of detergent. While I work so hard to stay away from home to forget my typical housewife-self and put an actress face."

Kyoko sighed and looked down. She had to admit that she wasn't living a glamorous life at all and she already had so many debts to pay and money that she owed. Unless she married a rich guy like Ren she would be having to deal with paying people back for years to come. No. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that marrying someone with money would help her, that would only be taking advantage of someone else's kindness and generosity.

Kyoko was starting to think about all the debts that she owed when she heard Kanae give a weak laugh that showed her low spirit. She stared ahead of her and Kyoko could imagine that she felt her world crumbling around her. "But, maybe I won't be able to show that actress' face again in the entertainment world."

Kyoko looked at her, trying to figure out what had happened that had caused that pain on Kanae's face. She had believed that when Hiou had returned home, he had no longer been angry at the situation. Kanae had explained it to both of them and if Kyoko understood it then Hiou must have as well. "Why?" she asked curiously and Kanae sighed.

"Because Hiou-kun's face when he went home last night. It seemed like he was still angry," Kyoko sat there silently. She didn't think that the emotion that Hiou had had was anger or frustration. She had felt that he was pouting because he had been proved wrong and he didn't want to admit it. "Last night, I wished to show Hiou-kun that I didn't harm him on purpose or with evil intentions," Kanae continued. "I hoped he would forgive me but it seems real life is not that sweet."

Kyoko felt a little awkward as she sat there with Kanae. She knew that Kanae cared a lot about being an actress and that might make her view of the situation narrow a little bit but Kyoko was having different vibes from the situation, surely the best thing to do was tell Kanae what she had observed. "Moko-san," she said with a weak smile, "It won't happen."

Kyoko leaned in playfully as she saw Kanae's confusion over what she had just said, "Hiou-kun's angry face you saw is because he understood that Moko-san didn't treat him like a kid and without realizing it, his face began to loosen up." Kyoko could remember that smile that the kid showed. It was one time when he actually looked more like a sweet boy than a terrifying brat. "So, he tries to hide it so it won't be discovered."

Kanae stared at her in silence and Kyoko waited for her to react. Did this mean that Hiou really admired Moko or that he had even started to have a crush on her, would Moko be able to recognize that. "Weird…" Moko commented and Kyoko blinked as her imagination started to tell a story about an unrequited crush that maybe Hiou-kun had on Kanae.

"It means that more than about the injury that you gave him, Moko-san," Kyoko attempted to explain, "Maybe he is more irritated to be treated like a little kid." Kyoko did sense that when Kanae compared Hiou to her own siblings he had seemed a little irritated because he had thought that she wasn't treating him as a professional actor.

Kanae leaned forwards and Kyoko knew that she was blind to what the situation was really about which was very unfortunate for Hiou. "In other words," Kanae asked, "Hiou-kun is happy when I treated him like an adult instead of a kid? That's why his face is loosening up?" she asked and Kyoko knew that this was the way Kanae's brain worked, everything revolved around her favorite thing, being able to act and to perform,

"Yes," Kyoko nodded as she turned back to Kanae. That was nearly correct. There was a lot that Moko was missing but it was up to her to discover it for herself.

"Hmm," Moko thought to herself, "So maybe, Hiou-kun is…" she mused and Kyoko laughed. Yes, Kanae was figuring this out for herself so it wouldn't be a big surprise were Kyoko to tell the truth about Hiou. "Right," Kyoko nodded, "Right, Hiou-kun must be in love with Moko-san."

Kanae spoke at the same time as Kyoko, "Not angry with me anymore," she said before she was struck silent by what Kyoko had just said. Kanae looked at Kyoko in a strange manner as if she had just revealed that fairies were real. "Huh?" she asked and Kyoko smiled.

"Maybe this time he's furious because he likes you," Kyoko tried to explain because it was too late to put her words back into her mouth. The only thing which she could do was to say them truthfully. "A beautiful big sister who accepted him normally the first time, so he holds a small flame of love in him but suddenly he was treated below his real age so he was shocked." Kyoko could see the way that Kanae was staring at her as if she found her to be insane and it was pissing her off. Kyoko, however, continued to talk about the experience she felt she had witnessed. "Yeah, for Hiou-kun, it's hurting his pride as a man."

Kanae looked frozen as she stared at Kyoko appearing to be very annoyed by those words, "What?" she asked with a stone face.

"Moko-san, you know Hio-kun is eleven years old, right?" Kyoko tried to explain and Kanae nodded slowly, not quite following where Kyoko was going with this. "It's natural to have one or two crushes."

Kanae looked up into Kyoko's eyes feeling a little awkward about all of this. She spoke in a very uncomfortable manner, "Wait up, please think first before you talk," Kanae said as Kyoko paused patiently, "How many years do you think the age gap is between Hiou and I?"

"Only six years, right?" Kyoko asked as she blinked not sure why that age gap made a difference since there were a lot of cartoons and shows where an elementary school kid might have a crush on their teacher. Compared to the twenty or thirty years that were there, six years seemed realistic. "It's still quite possible."

Kanae shook her head, "It's impossible," she argued but Kyoko didn't change her mind on this. All of the clues seemed to be there in plain sight. You didn't have to have a degree to acknowledge the situation for what it was.

"If you think of it in normal ways, it's weird," Kyoko said honestly as Kanae stared at her, not knowing the meaning behind her words. "You say that but you were acting as if you were the girlfriend of a college guy yourself," she said referring to the person Kanae had told her that she had been acting as a girlfriend to so that his stalker would leave him alone. "Do you have any special feelings towards that college student?" Kyoko asked. She had seen the way that Kanae had smiled and the twinkle around her that made it seem like an actual date. Kyoko couldn't convey that with acting yet and maybe there was a deeper tie for Mo –

"No way," Kanae denied leaving Kyoko speechless, "He's only a second year college student," she said casually, "It's not like he's an actor who can appreciate my pro acting. Special feelings?" she laughed before shaking her head casually, "It's pointless. How can an amateur heat up me, an actress?"

Kyoko was stunned at how Kanae had reacted. She really did truly care about acting. Kyoko knew this because when Kanae had explained what she had been doing she talked about things like watching videos, reading in order to research, and trying to fit into the characters she had been assigned to play. She had changed her appearance, her voice, her mannerisms but all of those things had been a copy of who she had been hired to play. Love was less of a motivating force for Kanae than it was for Kyoko and Kyoko felt a link between them in that.

Still, it wasn't really that she needed to make the characters in order for the people who hired her to be pleased, that would mean she would have no need to be in the Love Me section. Her way of developing and forming her characters was all due to the passion and desire she had for acting.

Kanae coughed which pulled Kyoko out of her thoughts, "How did we get from Hiou-kun to my part-time job?" she asked and rolled her eyes. "Just what were you thinking?" Kyoko stood quietly as she rolled her eyes and attempted to come up with an explanation. She had truly said those things because if Kanae had shown an interest in the college guy then those emotions could be explained with regard to Hiou. It didn't seem that that was an option anymore.

"Anyway," Kanae sighed and Kyoko found her attention to be drawn back to her friend, "When I was an elementary schooler my motto was Hana Yori Dango, Food over romance," she said and Kyoko watched her. She had already had dream of marrying Sho at that age and that she wanted to be his wife. She loved him and always wanted the two of them to be together. That meant that she had always favored Shotaro over food which seemed stupid in hindsight.

"That's why it's impossible for Hiou-kun to love me," Kanae reasoned to herself and Kyoko watched her. She didn't want to intrude on this situation further when Kanae appeared as if her world was crashing down around her.

"Maybe you're right," Kyoko said before they heard a voice from the side. Kyoko paused, that voice, it sounded just like.

"Kanaee!" Hiou yelled as he made his way towards the area where the two of them were, "Kanae. Are you awake!" he yelled before pushing through the clothes bitterly. "What's with this huge amount of clothes, it makes it so hard to get through. How annoying."

Kyoko looked between HIou who was approaching them and Kanae who looked shocked at the fact that Hiou had even been there. He had come back because of his want to work with Moko-san.

"I won't acknowledge you if you're not awake yet!" Hiou announced and Kyoko felt an excitement inside of her as Hiou moved towards them like a small prince getting off a horse for Moko who was his princess. "I came to get you," Hiou said as he stood in front of her. "We're going to work, Kanae," he said and Kyoko smiled.

Hiou definitely seemed to be a much better person than he was yesterday and the happiness in Kanae's face was something that Kyoko was incredibly happy to have witnessed. That was the type of happiness that led everyone else to feel that same way themselves.

End of Act 90

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