Act 99 – In the Father's Shadow

Kyoko quickly stuffed the contents of the plate in front of her into her stomach. She chomped quickly wanting to prove that she could eat the whole thing and that there was no need to get Shotaro involved. She definitely didn't want that idiot to have her cell phone number. She wanted to reserve that number for work and…and Kuon. She paused as she finally took a look at the director. Ogata was very still and reserved and he still had his still image. He really was a very formal presence but people who hid themselves often were.

Seeing him sitting there and holding the wine glass gave her flashbacks to Kuon…Ren and how silent he could be at times. She bowed her head a little before lifting it. She worried about him. If this was a connection to his father then what did that mean. Ren didn't really tell her about his family and even though she knew who his father was and what his true name was, that didn't mean anything. A person could act out a character whilst at the same time being completely different. Was their relationship tha twisted?

She didn't know but she did know that he was struggling to follow in the footsteps of his father. Director Ogata wanted to break out of the shadows too. He wanted to prove that he could meet his father's level without harming the name 'Date'. Were those where Kuon's thoughts were as well? Kyoko didn't know about that but she did know that she ached to speak to him. She wanted him to know that she was supporting him and that if he ever needed her, she'd be there. That was what she wanted for Corn.

RPSRPSRPS

After eating the meal, Kyoko excused herself. She wanted to talk to him but she didn't want anyone to know about their close relationship. She managed to find an empty restroom and dialed the number she knew by heart and of course reached his answering machine. She took a deep breath in.

"Hello," she whispered wanting to be with him but knowing that would probably not be the best idea especially when they were performing in the drama together. She quickly looked from side to side to see if she was alone. "Excuse me, this is Mogami. Director Ogata has regained consciousness. There's nothing wrong with him physically but…"

Kyoko closed her eyes as she thought about what she had witnessed. Director Ogata had lived a hard life with everyone crediting his success to his genealogy rather than his own skills. She knew that Kuon had felt that too for himself. There was that fear that you would never get out of the shadows, never discover a world of one's own. That was what had clipped Corn's fairy wings and sent him down to earth and it seemed to still do that. She closed her eyes. She imagined that if she had ever wanted to have become a lawyer, that would have been her fate as well. She just really hoped that the relationship which she had with her mother was more difficult than Kuon and his father's.

Kuon had also decided to change his name to that he could walk out into the sunlight but if the connection was ever found out that Kuon Hizuri and Ren Tsuruga were the same person, he would have the shadows cast upon him yet again. He wanted to become a better actor than his father but he hadn't done that yet. Ren Tsuruga was the most celebrated and popular actor in Japan at the current time but still he didn't feel good enough, he had to improve. The director had to be feeling a bit of the same, he had to be feeling as if he were just chipping away at the surface of the mountain rather than climbing up it. They both wanted to escape from feeling insubstantial and wanted to recreate themselves.

Kyoko felt her eyes widen as she heard a click. She had been drifting off again and she had failed to leave him a proper message. Most of the message had been silence. Would he be annoyed by that? Would he be worried about that or would he tell her that she needed to leave proper messages especially when talking with him? She wasn't sure what was worse but however he felt, she wanted to be there to share it with him.

She felt her heart shiver, she definitely was sorry for what she had done by failing to do what he requested and tell her the results from the hospital and now she had wasted his time with silence. She felt herself crying on the inside. She wanted to support Ren but more than that, now she could understand that their stories were so similar that support extended to the director as well.

RPSRPSRPS

"All right, Kyoko." Director Ogata smiled as they stood outside of the car on the way back from the restaurant. "Thank you so much," he told her and Kyoko dropped into a low and elegant bow. She always had to act formal despite wanting to show support and care towards him. She was an actor and he was the director, she wasn't even a lead actor so she shouldn't speak so freely about wanting to help the director.

Kyoko paused before replying in her usual manner of respect, "No, no, thank you for the meal," she told them and saw them go. Both Ogata and Haruki waved goodbye to her and she stood there for a moment just watching them. There had to be something she could do with her strong desire to help him and support him. She had to find something to do for him.

She watched him leave and her eyes widened as she thought of what she had power over, it was something that Ren had spoken to her about. She could work on the script. She could use the script which she had to create and form the best Mio possible. She could help both Ogata and Ren out at the same time by doing her absolute best.

Taking the script out of her bag, Kyoko lifted it to the sky knowing what her next goal would be. She would do anything she could to help those two men. She would have to work hard on her goal to create a better Mio than the original. She would have to know how to shape and change and grow her to the modern world and she could help both of them surpass their fathers.

Have you already created a Mio that's better than the original?

Those were the words which Ren had asked her. She hadn't known what to say to him in response at the time, she had been too frightened and intimidated by the task but she wasn't one to be so easily scared off. She would have to read the script again from the very beginning to find the Mio that she could create. They had to be different from the one twenty years ago and they had to be her own. She could do it though, she just had to have belief in herself and determination and she would be able to fulfill the task.

Yes, she could do it.

RPSRPSRPS

Ren sat alone in his apartment. He felt strange about what had happened and Kyoko's message had dropped off meaning she had become lost in thought. He saw he had another message from her and listened to it. He sighed. She was always so apologetic, it reminded him of an earlier him when his parents still loved him and he hadn't been tainted and tortured by the harsh realities of life. He looked again at his phone and saw a text from Lory.

He read it and sighed, 'Don't go to LA Japan site tonight.' It warned and Ren rolled his eyes. He was suspicious about the meaning of this. It wasn't as if he even checked the website frequently and even less the past few years. Sometimes he would go there to search an actor that he would be working with or appearing with, it served the same role as a dictionary to him. However, he hadn't had any intention of visiting the site until that text message came through. Ren really hated what he saw sometimes. The proud faces of Kuu and Julienna Hizuri. They were always happy and smiling, they were always so pleased that they didn't have the responsibility of their screwed up son. He hated seeing it and feeling so insignificant.

Still, going onto the site was all that he could think of thanks to that text.

He clicked on the website and his eyes widened as he saw that there was an article on the beginning of Dark Moon on there as well. Were people in America this well-informed about what was new in the country. For them to already be focusing on this added pressure to him. Were people going to try to watch internationally. Ren was sure that this wasn't something that Kyoko had given full consideration to but it did happen often with people watching Japanese dramas and movies, especially those in the Japanese community.

Was this what the president hadn't wanted him to see? Was it critical about him? Ren sighed before reading the bottom of the header. Special interview with former Katsuki actor – Kuu Hizuri

Ren felt his stomach fold over as he saw that. He looked to the side and there was a picture of his father as he appeared now and a picture of how he looked in the drama. He looked happy, laid back, chill. He was excelling without his son in his life and maybe this was what Lory had tried to worn him about. He shivered and against better judgment clicked on the link.

It took him to a video where his father was as charismatic and confident as ever. He was talking to an off-screen interviewer and he didn't hold any grief from the five year separation. Ren didn't know what he was expecting but listening to his father's answers as he talked about his acting only reminded him that he didn't have a place in that family any longer, they had given up on him, they had gotten rid of him, did they even choose to remember him.

"So," the interviewer said and Kuu had a comfortable smile on his face. "The actor playing the role of Katsuki is fan favorite Ren Tsuruga. Ren has appeared in numerous dramas and films," the interviewer said and Kuu didn't make any move. His face even appeared to show a little disinterest. "What is your opinion of him? Do you think that -"

"I have no opinion of him, he's not connected to me. I mean the best of luck to him in performing this iconic role but I don't have any opinion of him," Kuu said and Kuon leaned forwards. So, he really was nothing to his father? That was what his dad appeared to be saying.

"So, he's nothing to you, unimportant?" the interviewer asked and Kuon swore he saw a flash of panic and distress in his father's eyes as that question was posed to him but he seemed to go back to being apathetic about the subject.

"Yes," he said, "In a less harsh manner of speaking. I have little interest in him or his work. I wish him the best but I don't think of him as much as you would think," he laughed and Kuon felt that the slight pain in Kuu's eyes was his want for it to be there, his desperation for his dad to love him and to want him.

He should have followed Lory's advice and not clicked on the link. This was the worst thing he could have heard at this point.

End of Act 99

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 98

Claraowl, H-Nala, kurokazeryuu, miemieo86