BOX R.
The sky was overcast and it was quite a slothful morning on that particular day. As usual, Ren and Yashiro arrived at the location of the shoot a few minutes earlier than everyone else. Since no one had arrived yet, there was an odd, subdued silence stretching there but Ren was accustomed to it. In fact, he quite enjoyed it and found it comforting.
It stayed hushed like that for a while, before a shrill voice squealed his name disturbing the dear serene quietude.
"Ren!" As the person calling out to him ran nearer, the voice grew louder as well.
Ren didn't seem to mind though, because the sound of her voice was like music to his ears. An easy smile formed on his lips when he laid eyes on her face. She was grinning ecstatically.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much again for that beautiful rose!" Kyoko exclaimed with the excitement of a kid who just got her ultimate wish granted. "This time I mean it from all my heart!" She was so happy that she literally danced. She spun around. Raising one foot in the air, she tried performing a triple pirouette, but by the third round, she lost her balance and would've stumbled down if Ren hadn't steadied her in time by grabbing her by the waist.
Kyoko didn't react to Ren's kind gesture of catching her at all, because she was too thrilled to notice it. With her grin still flashing on her face, she took something out of her pocket and showed it to them. "You see this?"
It was a pink tear-shaped crystal. Yashiro squinted his eyes at it questioningly.
"I found it in that rose. It must be a tear of Queen Rosa! I believed in it and I found it!" She ranted on cluelessly.
"Wow!" Ren pretended to be amazed. "I guess if you truly believe, then miracles do happen." Yashiro threw him a dirty look from the corner of his eyes once the manager caught on.
"I know, right?" Kyoko kept grinning like an idiot. She was now sure that whatever role would come her way, with the lucky charm of Queen Rosa in her possession, she would excel at it.
Soon, more and more people started filing in, and Kyoko left for her dressing room. Yashiro narrowed his eyes dubiously at his employer. "You're the one who put it in, aren't you?"
Ren chose not to answer.
"A crystal, really?" The manager shook his head. "It must've cost a lot. Knowing Kyoko, she would've never accepted something so expensive, and so you carefully planned this whole thing, placing that crystal in the rose. You then made up that whole story so she would take it. The crystal was her real present, right?"
Ren smiled. His face a picture of innocence. "I don't know what you mean."
"You sly man!" Yashiro slapped his back. "I finally understand why you and the President get along so well..."
"Cut!" The Director called. "And that's a wrap. Kyoko, you were perfect. Keep that up."
The crew members at the Box R set showered her with applause, as they stared at her with wonderstruck eyes. Even her costars were impressed by her exceptional acting skills.
"She really is from LME. It's like she doesn't even know the meaning of retakes!" Kyoko heard someone mumble behind her.
"I agree. Just what you'd expect from someone who had co-stared with Ren Tsuruga."
Kyoko couldn't help it. Her cheeks burned into all shades of red.
The sound of the applause didn't seem to fade, instead it grew louder and louder, until Kyoko finally woke up and smacked her alarm clock shut, making it's noise instantly die down.
"... And that was the dream I had." That morning, inside the Love Me locker room, Kyoko slumped down at the table in the middle of the room and narrated it to one of her Ren voodoo dolls. Her head drooped in shame, almost as if she was talking to the real person.
"Seriously? There is a limit to how impudent and cheeky one can be." Pretend Ren snorted as he scolded her, but actually it was Kyoko herself mimicking him.
"I know!" She replied in her normal voice. "And what's worse is that I haven't even decided yet how I'm going to play Natsu. Yet I keep having the same dream over and over."
It was the middle of January and the shooting of Box R was starting the next day. But Kyoko still didn't have a clue as to how she should approach Natsu's character. Ordinarily, she would be freaking out. But since she had gotten her hands on Queen Rosa's magical tear, this groundless confidence keeps flowing through out her, making her feel like she could conquer the world if she tried.
"Just because you got your hands on a little miracle, it doesn't give you the right to laze around," Pretend Ren chided. "How much cocky are you gonna be exactly?"
"I'm sorry!" She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
All of a sudden, the door swung open, and Kyoko reacted just in time to shove the doll in her bag under the table before anyone could see it. Then she turned to face this intruder. It was the real Ren.
Kyoko froze. Please don't tell me he saw the doll! She prayed silently, as she tried not to flinch.
Ren looked at her strangely for a moment, as if he was expecting an explanation from her. When Kyoko didn't provide one, he asked himself, "so why bullying yourself using my tone?" His eyes narrowed.
Crap! He heard me! Kyoko stammered. "I'm s-sorry."
"There is no need to apologize." He invited himself in and seated in front of her on the other side of the table. "But I do want to know why you were mimicking me. Speaking of which, I remember you did it before. When you became my substitute manager, didn't you?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "That time you called yourself a moron."
Kyoko freezed into a block of ice. Her mind went numb and her eyes fluttered nervously. How was supposed to answer him without offending him?
Ren sighed. "I must say that I'm shocked. I didn't know that you thought of me as a bully." He knew he probably deserved it back then, when Kyoko was acting as his manager. Until he had realised his real feelings for her, he had acted on every opportunity to be a jerk to her, so he didn't blame her exactly, but it still didn't hurt any less that she still thought of him that way.
"No, that's not it!" Kyoko sprang up to her feet, her palms pressing on the top of the table. "I wasn't bullying myself." She tried explaining. "It's just, you're the only one who would scold me and reason with me if I did something reckless and-"
"Something reckless?" He frowned. "What did you do?"
Kyoko sank back into her chair with a sigh. Then, she told him everything. Like how the shoot was starting the next morning and she still had no idea how to play Natsu. "And you know what, I'm not even scared one bit! Since I got that lucky charm from Queen Rosa, I feel like I can make anything happen. And so this groundless, weird confidence I have, it's freaking me out."
Ren picked up the script of Box R which was sitting on the table and flipped through it's pages while he listened to her. And when she was done, he chuckled. "So you're confident, but isn't that a good thing?"
"What?" Kyoko cried desperately. "But I haven't even decided how I'm going to play my character. The Director told me to play her exactly like Mio during the bullying scenes, but the rest of the scenes are so plain and boring, that I have no idea how to be charismatic or popular. With that plain kind of Natsu, there is no way I'll be satisfied!" She cupped her face.
"When does the shoot start again?" He closed the scriptbook with a snap.
"Tomorrow."
"Then how about," he slid the book towards her on the table, "you start your role by playing it exactly as it's written?" He suggested.
"Do it exactly as its written? Oh, like it's so easy!" Kyoko groaned aloud as she grabbed her hair and pulled. She was seated at the comfortable kotatsu in her room, racking her brain to come up with some idea for the role she had to perform the very next morning. But the more she thought about it, the more vague and out of reach Natsu Kitazawa seemed to her.
After the trouble Hizuri went through to train her at character building, she was still at a loss when it came to it. Kyoko thought how she was disappointing him, and the thought shamed her.
She pinched and slapped her cheeks to get it together before diving back into the scriptbook. The bullying scenes didn't seem so hard because she knew she only had to pull off that evil glint in her eyes and that malicious aura, which she already had mastered at this point, thanks to all the practice she had gotten playing Mio. But in all other scenes, Natsu was always disinterested and bored. She would behave normal, smile politely and act friendly, hiding how empty and dispirited she felt inside. Kyoko could do that. But those scenes were so ordinary that she had no idea how to appear cool and charismatic while performing them.
Maybe ordinary is what you should be going for... A tiny voice from the back of her mind suggested. And as Kyoko pondered on it, it made more and more sense. Other than being super popular at school, Natsu Kitazawa was still an ordinary person. She did not have a dark past like Mio, or a famous background like young Kuon. So maybe she shouldn't be thinking too hard about it and play just normally. Like it was written.
How about you start your role by playing it exactly as it's written? Ren's voice rang in her mind once again. Maybe that's what he had been telling her too.
To be an actor, one first needs to feel the joy of being in character. Hizuri had once said something similar to her. Kyoko had always assumed that in order to get in character, she needed to think hard about it and do something different, something special. But maybe she was looking at this all wrong. Maybe, she needed to stop thinking of getting in Natsu's character like it was some chore she must do and be done with it, and instead just try to enjoy being her. She didn't need to do anything different to act her out, but become her entirely by being ordinary.
She raised up to her feet. What would Natsu do if she were here? Kyoko thought as eyes darted around her small room searchingly, looking for something that would catch her eye. Something that would catch Natsu's eye. After some careful consideration, her eyes settled on the long wall mirror. Kyoko studied her reflection with keenness. Her casual sweater and woolen skirt were as far from Natsu's stylish wardrobe as they could be. Natsu would never wear something like this, she decided. What she would do is... Kyoko left her thought lingering as she reached for her cupboard and took out her brand new makeup kit.
The sun was setting, and the view of the pink twilight sky was quite a view to behold, especially from the glass wall of that diner. But the four girls sitting at the table beside that very wall paid no attention to it whatsoever, since they were too busy enjoying their success. Or at least three of them were.
In reality, Chiori Amamiya couldn't wait to leave. After all the hard work she had put in to get this role, she couldn't afford for anything to go wrong. Which was why she was here, wasting her time with these three losers. Chumming up to her co-stars, pretending that she actually cared to be friends with them. She snorted silently at the repulsive thought. As if they could if ever be my equals!
"How about another round?" Rumi Maruyama suggested, and the other girls agreed. Whenever Rumi suggested anything, they would always agree since she was the girl playing the lead in their new drama.
Rumi Maruyama used to be a social media influencer, who debuted as an actress a few years ago. In Amamiya's opinion though, the young actress/influencer had cotton cheese for a brain. But no one minded her being an airhead since her blonde curls, rosy cheeks, and her half-assed acting skills pretty much made up for her naivety.
The other two girls named Honami and Yuka were even worse. They were only supporting actresses with minor roles, average looks and even more terrible acting skills. For Chiori Amamiya, they weren't important or talented enough to be considered competitors or to be paid any attention. Sadly, the one Amamiya had been looking forward to see, the one who was her ultimate rival, she didn't join them.
Their drinks arrived. "Let's have one more toast!" Rumi giggled. "I can't believe that I'm actually gonna star in a real drama!"
The other girls joined her squealing before raising their glasses and clinking them together. "To Box R!" They cheered together.
"I feel bad that we didn't invite Kyoko Mogami to join us," Rumi admitted, and Amamiya perked up her ears at the mention of that name, suddenly interested in the conversation. "She is also a part of the main cast. It would have been nice to get to know her."
"Don't bother about her!" Honami rolled her eyes. "She probably thinks she is better than us, just because she already had a big role in Dark Moon. Why else would she be careless enough to come late for the script reading?"
"Right," Yuka agreed. "Did you see the nerve of that girl? We waited for her for an hour and she didn't even bother giving us an explanation! Even the Director gave her special treatment. If it was any of us who arrived late, he would've definitely scolded us."
"Maybe she got caught up in something," Amamiya smiled innocently. "It happens to everybody. We shouldn't judge her too harshly."
Yuka shook her head. "Chiori, you're just way too nice and forgiving."
Before Amamiya could answer, her phone beeped. She glanced at the screen. "Anyway," she said, raising to her feet. "I should get going."
"Already?" Honomi pouted her lower lip. "You should stay."
"I can't. Sorry. My manager is here to pick me up," she informed with an apologetic smile.
"Okay then," Rumi waved her goodbye. "See you at the set tomorrow."
"Bye!" Honami and Yuka chorused.
"Bye. See you all," Amamiya waved back to her co-stars before turning to leave.
Outside, she found her manager, a hefty woman in her mid-forties, waiting for her by her car in the parking lot.
"Thank you for coming to pick me up," Amamiya smiled politely, like always.
"It was no problem," the manager was also supportive as usual.
They seated in the car and the two ladies chatted for a while. The manager was just as thrilled as her co-stars about her securing the role of Yumika in the upcoming drama Box R. Originally, Amamiya had auditioned for the role of Natsu Kitazawa, but they thought she was better suited for the part of Yumika because of her innocent appearance.
"I know that you may think that Yumika's role isn't as major as Natsu's, but it isn't any less difficult," the manager shared his views on the subject. "Just like Natsu, Yumika also has a double personality. She has to pretend that she is one of the bullies, but deep down she is a nice person. It's quite hard to portray if you ask me. But if I'm sure you will do it wonderfully. In fact, if anyone can do the role justice, it's you."
"Thank you so much," Amamiya blushed. "I feel so confident. I would love to talk, but I have to memorize my lines now so if you don't mind..."
"Sure. I won't disturb you now."
Except for the noise of a nib scratching on paper as Amamiya's scribbled something in her diary, the rest of the ride passed in silence. Neither of them spoke again, even though Chiori had a lot to say. But she would never share her thoughts out loud with anyone, since she had to maintain this nice girl image of hers. Instead, she would write them down in her diary.
Who the hell do you think I'm, comparing me to that bitch who stole my role? She scribbled furtively. You're the worst manager anyone could hope for...
The next morning when Kyoko woke up, the first thing she did was to take out Queen Rosa from her cupboard and press the tiny crystal to her lips. After that, the welcoming feeling of confidence washed over her again and she felt absolutely unstoppable.
With Ren's advice and the magic of Queen Rosa at her side, Kyoko was sure she would nail her part. She was ready to be Natsu.
Once she arrived at the set, she was greeted by a very enthusiastic Director Kazutoyo. He was an easy-going man in his early thirties with pale hair, small eyes and a strong jaw set.
The Director was bubbling with excitement as he offered her the friendliest smile he had to offer. Apparently, it was his first major project, which was why almost all of the cast members chosen were newbies and rookies. None of them had much experience, so they weren't particularly spectacular, or in high demand, with one exception. Kyoko Mogami. Since the outstanding ratings of Dark Moon, the fans were looking quite forward to see the famous Mio in action again.
Since Kazutoyo was lucky enough to have Kyoko play a villain in this project, he knew that he now had the power to make Box R into some of the best shows out there.
Meanwhile, Kyoko was also thrilled to start something new. The friendly attitude she received from the Director and the rest of the crew made her feel immediately welcome. The only unsettling thing was that none of her co-stars paid any attention to her. Kyoko knew she should try and clear the air by apologizing to them for making them wait on the script reading day. But before she could get a chance to speak to them, the Director walked her to her dressing room.
It took her stylist probably half an hour to get her in costume - which was an ordinary school uniform, and makeup, which compared to the expensive and extra lavish makeover she received at the set of Dark Moon, seemed pretty light.
When she finally stepped outside again, she found her co-stars waiting, already in costumes, which were similar to hers. Matching navy blue school uniforms. Unfortunately, Kyoko didn't get a chance to even speak to any of them, let alone apologize. Because without wasting anymore time, they started the shoot.
