Act 105 – The Reason

105.1

More than anything, Ren needed to remain cool about what he had done and preferably pretend that it hadn't happened. He hadn't contacted Kuon's father and said that. Well, it didn't matter anyway. Kuu Hizuri probably had a team looking through that particular email address, maybe he wouldn't even see it or if he did see it he would dismiss it. His father probably hated him anyway. He wouldn't want anything to do with him. He had already seen that.

So, he needed to keep his mind on what was happening here. He was filming Dark Moon. He was talking with Director Ogata. These were facts. Thinking that Kuu Hizuri would somehow plan a reply to that message he sent wasn't factual. Still, he wasn't sure whether he wanted Kuu to ignore him, whether he wanted a positive message, or whether he wanted to hear him say he hated him.

He took a deep breath in and looked up to see Yashiro running towards them with a panicked expression on his face.

"Kyoko-san ran away," Yashiro panted and Ren froze.

He had trusted that girl, they were friends and yet he had never expected her to do something such as this. This was cowardly and that wasn't a word he would have ever picked to describe Kyoko. No. She had run away because she couldn't understand how to portray the character? She had run away and acted unprofessional? No. That girl was more professional than people twice her age. She wouldn't have done that for no reason. Still…

"What?" Ren asked completely shocked to hear the news, "She ran away? She did? Why?" he had to ask, this was spinning around in his head too fast. He would have never expected for her of all people to act in this manner.

"That I'm not sure myself," Yashiro said and Ren had to wonder what she had done and said before that moment. There had to be some kind of trigger. "She seemed to remember something and got up and rushed towards the campus. I thought she was done thinking about her character and came back here but then she got her bag and ran out."

Ren shifted uncomfortably as he heard that. Grabbed her bag? Ran out? These things definitely didn't match the Kyoko he knew, the Kyoko he was friends with.

"But I couldn't just let her run away," Yashiro continued, "So I chased after her. However, Kyoko runs so fast. That girl…" Yashiro started to pant heavily. "I can't believe it. She out ran me even thought my running isn't bad."

Ren stared at him completely speechless. He knew how fast she could run, how fast she could ride a bike but the fact that she had left without an explanation. What was going on here? As he had reflected upon before, this just wasn't like her. Had something truly changed her or switched something on or off in her brain to make her act in such a reckless and most of all unprofessional manner.

Iizuka-san came over to them still looking furious about the whole ordeal. Ren looked to her, if she had any trust or belief in Kyoko from before then it was completely pushed aside by this action. As much as he wanted to stand up for his friend, he was flustered at what would calm the woman down. He didn't even blame her for being angry. He was frustrated himself.

"What is going on!?" Iizuka-san demanded to know. She turned to Director Ogata, "What? She actually ran out during a shoot. Is that true? Maybe she doesn't know how to act as Mio, so she ran away," she stated, lifting her chin as if to say that her feelings and view on Kyoko had been correct.

Ren took a quick look to where the other actors were and they had started to gossip about Kyoko. He couldn't blame them. Even though they were young and new to the field, a lot of them had other work that they needed to get done and Kyoko was holding up filming. She was also much newer to acting than a lot of them and her connection with him, whether anyone suspected it or not, might be viewed as her getting the part. That was why he was so hesitant to even show that they were friends.

"No, I think she…" Yashiro said before Ren could get a word out himself, "She wouldn't do that because it seems like she remembered something."

"Then she should come back here. Why did she run out? Where did she go?" Iizuka-san demanded and Ren wished he knew the answers to that. He hadn't meant to make her feel stressed but he had relied upon her intelligence. He knew how smart she was . She should have been able to figure this all out by herself. Was he being too mean to her.

"That…that," Yashiro struggled again

"This doesn't even have anything to do with acting skills!" Iizuka-san finally snapped as she stared them down and Ren hated that he could understand her point of view. He wanted to be with Kyoko and protect her but he knew that this didn't look good on her. "It's about not having passion! It proves she doesn't have any respect for the job! Because of Ren I believed her. What about Ren's reputation?"

Ren sighed as he heard that. He didn't want to think about things about how people were watching him and looking at him. He especially didn't want to think about something like a public reputation. He had wanted to make a name for himself in this country and eventually return back to California, back to his parents but his father didn't care about him any longer so what was the point? No. He couldn't allow himself to think about that. He had to think about what he could do and how far he had come as Ren. It didn't matter if Kuon died but it mattered a lot if Ren did.

"Director," Ren said softly before lifting his head with a strong and deliberate smile. "Let's continue filming," he said and heard everyone around him turn to him surprised by that statement. To Ren it seemed the most logical thing to do.

"But…" Director Ogata hesitated, "Kyoko, she"

"Didn't Yashiro just say that Kyoko seemed like she remembered something," Ren said as he gestured to his manager wanting to place a certain trust in his words that he wasn't sure how he could express himself. He had to rely on facts. Facts were more his friends than feelings. Feelings just meant burying his head in the sand.

"Yes…yes that's true," Ogata-san said slowly.

Ren lifted his head and nodded, "She'll be back for sure," he said with full conviction behind those words. Ren took a deep breath which was unnoticeable to those around him. He wanted to show how much he believed in his following words. "That girl definitely isn't the type to give up on herself in the middle of work."

Ogata looked at him and Ren shared a look. Although he wasn't sure of what was going on, by relying on those facts then he knew that Kyoko would blame herself were the work to go wrong because of her. She had to have some kind of plan that was making her act this way and though he could tell her about his disappointment that she would do such a thing, that didn't matter right now. There would be time enough for that later. He had to keep believing in her, she had done nothing major which should have even make his mind waver on the subject.

"Then…okay" Ogata-san said with determination and Ren smiled to him.

"Are you joking?" Iizuka-san said as she looked even angrier in her expression. "You don't care? She probably ran off!"

"I really believe in Kyoko," Ogata said as he turned to face Iizuka-san square on with his whole body. He held his head up which mirrored the confidence in his voice.

105.2

Kyoko stared at the salon in front of her. She felt her heartbeat pounding in her chest. She was struggling with going in because it was now falling upon her that she had run away from the set. She looked as if she had given up on the role and that wasn't true. As much as she hoped that Yashiro-san and especially Ren would believe in her and they would defend her, it felt bad that she needed that defense and protection right now. Still, she had come here for a reason and she couldn't give up and return back to the set without a reason for running away.

As scary as it was, she had to face the consequences for her actions and she had done this on Mio's behalf. This was the best way to create the Mio which she had in her head. She also didn't want to become a burden to Ren and have him hate her. He was Corn and although he was her fairy prince, she couldn't just expect that he would never get too angry at her. Hopefully this choice wouldn't break their friendship.

Also, the idea might be completely rejected by everyone and then she would feel stupid and unprepared. No. She had to be strong and step into the salon if it meant the end of her.

Kyoko touched her scalp where the makeup for the scar still was.

She needed to reflect on her idea and what it meant to Mio's depiction. Even though what she was planning on doing could easily lead to her getting into trouble and the idea being rejected by everyone, it meant that she was taking her steps to give Mio the character in her heart and in her head. This was exciting to her, creating such a Mio. When she saw Mio there was something she was drawn to and this was the beginning of that Mio.

Kyoko wanted to be sure to portray Mio's heart but because she hadn't been told that what she was about to do was acceptable it was hard to go into the salon but she wanted to turn herself into Mio and so she had to withstand this fear of getting in trouble, of getting rejected. Still even if people thought she was crazy, she wanted to enjoy Mio's personality and this meant that she had to bring a new Mio to life.

"Hey miss," Kyoko heard a voice from behind her, "Are you going in or not!? Hurry! Quit stalling or else I'll flip up your skirt and pull down your panties."

"Not enough time," another voice said as they physically forced fer from the door. "Hurry and scram! Go!"

Kyoko's head snapped up as she felt Mio grow inside of her and she stood up falling into character. She looked at them in a challenging manner. "Stop right there, dumbasses. That sort of low-class talk, should you repeat it once more? I'm not used to hearing it so I can't understand it very well," she said as she drew her hair back. She stepped forward and the wind pushed the wig back where the gang could see the makeup of the scar. "If you don't mind could you please speak properly, so I can understand and repeat it once more?"

End of Act 105

Thank you for reading

Thank you to those who left a review on Act 104

C.O.18, Inna Konovalova