THE DREADFUL PREDICAMENT.
After hurriedly shrugging on her cozy bathrobe, Kyoko fastened it around her waist and dashed outside to get away from the awkward tension inside the bath. However, what she did not expect was that she was walking straight into the ocular battle between two of the most influential people in the music industry, which was raging right outside. Not to mention the little detail about how she scorned both of them with every ounce of her being and hated their very guts.
Kyoko was about to shrink back inside before they noticed her presence when one of the Beagles pointed his scrawny finger at her and exclaimed, "it's the fake angel!"
The other five heads cocked in her direction as well. Kyoko suddenly felt a lot more conscious about wearing only a single bathrobe. Since it was almost down to her ankles, it did a good job to hide her legs but her non-existent cleavage was pretty much on display. She didn't even get a chance to enjoy the bath because it was getting really uncomfortable with Shouko there, but if she had any idea of the tension thickening the foggy air out here, she would have gladly chosen to stay back.
While everyone else remained glued to their spots, the vocalist of the Vie Ghouls, Reino moved forward. For some unfathomable reason, waves of terror crawled up on Kyoko's skin as he once again fixated the intense stare of his dark eyes on her, and she had a sudden urge to flee from there. She would have, if her legs weren't so darn heavy, if her feet weren't glued to the ground and if she wasn't completely paralyzed under his chilling gaze.
"Hey," Reino stopped right in front of her. "We keep seeing each other today, don't we?" His voice was low and breathy. Purely seductive, but there was also something really cold about it. In fact, not just his voice but his whole demeanor. There was an icy cool aura emanating out of him that turned the whole cozy ambience of the hot spring into something dangerous and threatening.
"What are you talking about?" Kyoko managed to speak, bur her words came out shrill, a warbling croak. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, making her lie more obvious. "I don't remember meeting you today at all."
"Ah. Certainly. We didn't meet, but our eyes sure did."
So he did see her! Kyoko opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out just like last time, almost as if some outside force had snatched away her voice. Her eyes bulged out without blinking. A small trace of the fear creeping inside of her, evidently shone in those wide and hazel spheres, as his eyes sluggishly and leasurely strolled down from her face to her chest, all the way down to her feet, before coming back up again.
Something ravenous sparked on Reino's face as he moistened his ghoulish, pale lips. Kyoko would have shuddered, or forced shut the V-neck of her bathrobe to hide the thin strip of skin of her chest that was still visible, if she had been able to move at all. But even that wouldn't have helped because the way he was undressing her with his eyes, breathing in the sight of her vulnerable and defenseless body, no amount of clothing would have made her feel safe again.
"You're on alert," Reino's lips quirked up in a smirk. "Well, you should be. Because with those wet hair, you look quite... erotic." He gently grasped a lock of her hair between his fingers. A drop of water dripped down from it as the dark silk threads of her hair glistened with beads of sparkling water, under the bright lights of the room. Leaning in, his let his lips almost brush up against her ear before he whispered, "god, you're turning me on...!"
"Don't just freeze, you moron!" Sho suddenly shouted as she grinded his fist on the top of Kyoko's skull making her grown aloud.
"Ouch! What the hell...? All of a sudden!" Kyoko threw a punch atSho and successfully landed one on his chest, but he didn't even wince.
"I only did that because you were in a trance when that bastard praised you!" Sho pointed out, jabbing an accusing finger in Reino's direction.
"Who was in a trance again?" She threw another barrage of punches at his way, but this time he successfully dodged all of them. "Besides, just when did he praise me?"
"Considering how you are not used to having guys fawn all over you, I thought you would take his words as a compliment."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" She threw one final punch at him with maximum force, which connected with his shoulder and judging from the way Sho winced sharply, it must have hurt like hell.
"You should be thanking me!" Sho tightly clutched her hands before she could punch him again, and they both pushed each other like sumo wrestlers, grinding their teeth.
"What's with them?" The Vie Ghouls talked among themselves.
"You think they're going out?"
"Sure looks like it."
"We're not going out!" Kyoko and Sho unclasped from each other and yelled at the same time.
"She is just a childhood friend, that's all!" Sho exclaimed.
"There!" Kyoko noded. "You heard him! There is nothing going on between us. Don't you dare use words like passion or love in the same sentence as us!"
"So, she is not his girlfriend after all," Reino's best friend and also the bassist of the Vie Ghouls, Miroku put his elbow on Reino's shoulder. "Too bad. You intended to take everything that belong to Fuwa. Well, it turns out she doesn't belong to him in the first place. Besides, even if she did, she is too low for your standards, Reino." Miroku spoke so casually as if he had no idea that Sho and Kyoko could hear him, or he just didn't care.
"No," Reino replied. All this time, his eyes still hadn't left Kyoko's. "It doesn't really matter to me now, weather she belongs to him or not." His features twisted into a smug look which seemed to be saying to her that, "I will get you!"
Kyoko dashed inside her suite and slammed the door shut, letting out a puff of air. Putting both her hands on the wooden jambs to lean on it for support, she finally relaxed and slumped her shoulders.
"Welcome back! How was the bath?" Itsumi stepped out of the bedroom, dressed up in her jammies.
Kyoko didn't reply. Still gasping for air, she put one hand on her chest, as if she hadn't even heard her new friend/temporary roommate.
"Kyoko?" Itsumi lightly touched her shoulder.
With a startled shriek, Kyoko jounced away from her touch. "Er... Yes! Um... It was pretty big!"
"Are you okay? Your face is all flustered. Did you catch a cold?"
"Um... I guess so."
"In that case, I'll ask room service to bring you something warm."
"Thanks."
"Wait," itsumi turned back. "Why aren't you wearing your clothes? Did you come all this way in just your bathrobe?"
Kyoko looked down, as if she just noticed that for the first time. She had been so focused on getting out of the hot spring that she didn't even realize running all the way back to the hotel while being half naked. Ordinary, she would have been embarrassed as hell, but right now she was just great for making it back safely.
Just the thought of Reino looking at her with those dark eyes of his, touching the tips of her hair, and whispering those words in her ear – was enough to make the goosebumps stand tall on her skin.
She shuddered, fighting back the tears that were threatening to show up, as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, her shoulders drawing in.
"By the way, Kyoko," Itsumi stopped. "Your phone had been constantly ringing the whole time you were away."
"Oh." With her heart still pounding like a hammer, Kyoko sat down on her bed with her back against the door, and picked up her phone. Her fingers were numb and trembling like crazy. Reino's words kept ringing in her mind loud and clear, like a cold warning.
It doesn't really matter to me now, whether she belongs to him or not.
The way he had said it, it didn't sound like a joke. Kyoko had been unable to move, completely frozen under his touch like he was made up of ice. Her stomach churned. If Sho hadn't been there, what would I have done?
She gazed at the screen of her phone without actually looking at it. She was too was lost in her thoughts to actually focus.
Until, all of a sudden, her phone started beeping in her hands getting her attention.
This call, like all the others, was from the same person. Never before had she been this grateful to see his name pop up on her screen. Answering it, she lightly pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hello. Kyoko?"
The moment she heard his voice, relief gushed inside her. All which she had been holding in came out of her system in a puddle as her eyes flooded with tears.
"Hello? Can you hear me? Kyoko, are you there?"
"Ren," she whispered his name. Though she only spoke a single word, the overwhelming anguish and fear that was gripping her heart was evidently mingled in her voice.
"Kyoko, what's wrong?" She could almost hear him clutching his phone tighter. His voice clouded with worry. "What happened...? Hello? Why aren't you saying anything...? Are you alright? Kyoko, talk to me!"
What am I doing? Kyoko thought. Finally regaining her composure, she realized that he wasn't even sure if Reino was after her. What was she supposed to tell Ren. That she was scared of a big celebrity who was probably coming after her because of his grudge against Sho. When she said those words in her mind, she noted just how ridiculous they sounded. Besides, Ren had already been worried about her coming on location. She did not want to distract him even further by indulging him in her petty insecurities. She might have confided in him if he were actually here, but there was no point in telling him while he was so far away, in Okinawa.
Holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear, she wiped her face dry and pinched her cheeks hard, before speaking again. "No. Everything's totally fine." This time she sounded completely normal. Her tone bubbly and cheerful like usual. "Sorry, the signal seemed to have gone down for a bit. Anyway, the shoot went really well. So you don't have to worry about it."
"No. I wasn't particularly..." He hadn't called her to ask about the shoot.
"Oh. So what is it then?"
"I...uh... I just wanted to check up on you."
"You don't have to worry about me either. I'm doing okay. Besides, the whole crew is here with me."
"Right."
"Just focus on your photoshoot. You will be here in two days anyway."
Itsumi was about to enter the room with a steaming hot bowl of soup in her hands, but she stopped when she heard Kyoko talking to Ren on the phone. Though, she couldn't actually see her face, since Kyoko was sitting with her back against the door, but judging from the tone of her voice, she sounded really happy. I had no idea that she was so close to Tsuruga, Itsumi thought.
With a warm smile, Itsumi turned to leave the bedroom thinking it best to give the two some privacy. When she turned for one last glance, Itsumi halted to a stop and her eyes widened when she noticed that despite her cheerful tone, Kyoko's hands were trembling like a leaf, almost as if she was terrified.
"Kyoko," before hanging up, Ren asked her one last question to get rid of these doubts creeping in his mind, and to assure himself that he only imagined the fear in her voice. "Nothing really happened, right?"
"Nothing at all," she lied without hesitation, using the most convincing tone she could manage.
"You cannot be serious!" Shouko exclaimed. "I know you're mad that the Vie Ghouls stole your latest song, but we don't have enough time to make a new one. You have to make do with only changing the one you've already got."
"No," it wasn't a scream. Sho only said it quietly, but there was a finality in his tone. "That won't be enough to beat them."
"Are you really sure you can do this?" Shouko asked softly.
"I've never been more sure," Sho said and got up to leave.
"Wait, where are you going?" The manager demanded, but all she got in an answer was the loud bang of the door slamming shut.
Sho briskly walked outside the hotel. He wanted to be alone to regroup his thoughts. Up till now he had been taking those Beagles lightly, but after how their vocalist, Reino had reacted at the hot spring today, it became personal. He had to put them down and show them their real place. And he was gonna do that by snatching back the top spot on the sales chart from them. Or else...
It doesn't matter to me now, weather she belongs to him or not.
He didn't dare finish the thought of what might happen if he didn't soon deal with those plagarists. He knew Kyoko would rather die than accept his help, but he was not about to let that bastard lay a finger on her.
In one of the luxurious and ridiculously extravagant booked studios in Karuizawa, all five members of the Vie Ghouls were comfortably seated around a small glass table.
"Is he an idiot?" One of them chuckled humorously. "Not only did he refuse to change the studio, but he's writing a whole new song now!"
Except Reino, who was lost in his own little world, the others laughed.
"The mole is surely keeping us updated. Paying him all that money was worth it after all."
"Yeah. Of course we'll steal Fuwa's new song as well. But he hasn't even realised it yet!"
They all laughed again with the same exception as before, Reino. Meddling with Sho Fuwa's career had been pretty fun in the beginning, but now it was getting boring. And Reino always ditched the things he found boring.
Since she was a child, Reino have had a very different definition of 'fun' from what others had. A lot of people, including his bandmates except for Miroku, always assumed that this was the reason why Reino had been deemed a social outcast, in addition to his albisim and pale features, which despite being strikingly beautiful, could be enough to freak anyone out, but only if Reino wanted it that way. As for the truth, no one knew that it was only partly the reason why Reino's personality turned out to be so twisted. In reality, it was something which no one could understand probably because Reino himself hadn't understood it yet, even after all these years.
Unlike everyone else, Reino couldn't control the things he sees in his mind. The moment his skin makes contact with anything, anything at all no matter a person or an object, he started seeing things. Not exactly things, but memories. Memories that by all rights and laws of nature, he should not be able to see.
Because of his additional knowledge at such an early age of things that were not related to him, Reino was considered what people might call a 'weirdo' and was always left alone. That fact helped up shape up his dark and twisted mentality.
While the Vie Ghouls were at the Japonet Scoop Studio, Reino had purposely squeezed Kyoko's shoulder. Partly because it was a mocking gesture intended to humiliate her, but also because he wanted to get a glimpse of her past to satisfy his curiosity.
What he had found had left him thrilled. Up till now, Reino had always assumed that he was destined to die alone, because there was not a soul in this world who could understand the darkness in his heart. Before he met Kyoko, Reino had thought it was impossible for a person to exist with a darker heart than him, but Kyoko Mogami had proven him wrong.
He was only able to catch fleeting glimpses of the actual hate, resentment and anger she had for Sho Fuwa, but it was enough to rouse him with excitement and an unexplainable craving for her. He wanted Kyoko Mogami. And he would go to any lengths to possess her.
The next morning, Kyoko poked her head out from the small creek in the door of her suite and checked the empty hallway for any sign of the Beagles, before she stepped out.
"Kyoko, what's up? You've been acting strange since last night." Itsumi's brows furrowed with concern. She wanted to know what Kyoko was so afraid of last night that she was trembling, but on the other hand she didn't wanna pry either. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, um... Just being careful. You never know when or from where disaster might strike..." Kyoko babbled and then immediately put on an impish smile to show Itsumi that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry.
After breakfast, Kyoko had to go on the set for her shoot, while the Beagles would be staying back at the studio. So all she had to do was make sure that she doesn't run into them at the hotel.
With Itsumi at her side, Kyoko made it to the VIP Lounge of the hotel, which was only open to special guests and celebrities. She stood near the buffet holding an empty plate, as she discreetly searched for any sign of a certain platinum blonde head among the crowd.
"They're not here."
Kyoko cocked her head at the sound of the voice and found its owner Sho standing beside her.
Before she got a chance to object, he hurriedly filled her empty plate with small servings – but not too small, exactly the right amount she would have wanted – of a few items from the buffet. "Your shoot will be starting soon. If you don't want to be late then hurry up and eat already."
"Hey, who said you could do that!" Kyoko whisper-shouted at him, biting back the retorts she was about to fling at him, just in time to realize that Itsumi was still right beside her and in hearing distance.
Sho turned his head and looked straight into her eyes. "Does it matter? It's not like I made the wrong choice."
Kyoko glanced at her plate as she opened her mouth to object but closed it when she noticed that he was right. There were no red beans in her miso soup, just like she wanted and her tofu was filtered and not coarse-grained, exactly how she loved it. The fish he had picked was also grilled instead of dried. When she found nothing to complain about, she humphed and snapped, "I was gonna try western today!"
"Hey look!" Sho nodded towards entrance. "It's the Beagles!"
Kyoko failed to resist a fierce chill going down her spine as she immediately ducked down on an empty table, cocking her head "where? Where are they?"
"I was only joking!" He chuckled lightly as he sat beside her. "Of course that unhealthy bunch wouldn't mix up with normal people." His hand reached for her plate and he stole a small piece of tofu from her breakfast, putting it in his mouth.
Kyoko only shot him a glare. She thought it best not to reply, especially because once again, the eyes of the entire crew with addition of some new strangers were fixated on the two of them. She pretended not to hear them whispering about her behind her back.
"Look at that! Sho Fuwa is having breakfast with Kyoko."
"What the... Those two really are going out!"
"Hey, Who's that girl Sho Fuwa is sitting with? His girlfriend? I've never seen her before."
Kyoko hated the fact that they were all assuming her relationship with Sho to be more than him being her arch-nemesis. But, though she would never admit it out loud, she was a tiny bit relieved to not be alone in a place where Reino might pop up at any moment.
