THE IMPROV.
The only thing Kyoko wore, as she made her way in, was a slicked-black leather jacket, which left most of her stomach bare; and a dark mini skirt, barely covering her thighs. A round labret was pierced into a corner of her blood-red lips, and it was connected through a silver chain to the spiky choker tightened around her neck.
Her beautiful hazel eyes were now smoky and piercing blue: the same shade which Ren was currently wearing in his Cain Heel getup; and they had been fixated on her since the moment she stepped inside, with his jaw slacked to the floor.
Upon reaching the centre of the room, Kyoko placed one of her hands on her hips and used the other one to stroke the wig of wavy pink highlights among her strawberry-blonde hair which were combed in a brilliant and stylish hairdo.
Barely managing to keep her face from burning up in shame, she maintained her pose for a few seconds, until Takarada started clapping his hands, when she immediately straightened. Her back turning stiff.
"You look fabulous!" The President exclaimed. "Even better than the Setsuka I had imagined!"
"Dosen't she?" Jelly gushed, cupping her cheeks. "I told her not to be shy!"
Kyoko had used the Natsu within her to walk as her character was supposed to, however, not being used to standing around half-naked in front of other people, what little courage she had mustered was about to run out.
Resisting the urge to cover her barely hidden chest and completely bare stomach, she dared to look up at the last person in the room, who still hadn't said anything.
How could Ren speak, he didn't know. He had forgotten how to, being frozen, stunned into silence. And his eyes were somehow glued to the girl in front of him, because no matter how much he tried, he couldn't manage to tear them off of her.
"This is perfect!" Takarada rambled on. "Kyoko, Jelly must have filled you in on your role, right? Wonderful! So from now on, you're Setsuka." Turning to Ren, he added, "Cain and Setsuka. The Heel siblings."
"Siblings–" Ren blinked, suddenly finding his voice back. "I'm sorry, what?"
The President ignored him. "Kyoko, you do understand your role now, right?"
She nodded. "I'm playing Cain Heel's younger sister, Setsuka. Though, in a way, I'm supposed to be Ren's manager."
"Correct. Besides maintaining your character, your only job will be to look out for Ren. You know he can't be trusted to take care of himself when he's alone."
"I know. He'll skip meals after meals unless someone forces him to eat."
"Wait," Ren tried to intervene, "that's really not necessary. When I get hungry, I can eat, you know!" Even as he said it, judging from the looks on the faces of Takarada and Kyoko, it was obvious how unconvinced they were.
"Leave it to me," Kyoko turned back to the President. "I know how irresponsible he is when it comes to food. I'll take care of him."
"I said it's not necessary–" Ren tried to speak again, but no one paid attention to him.
"Excellent, Mogami." Takarada patted her shoulder. "I knew I could count on you."
"But–" Ren was saying, but was once again cut off by the President.
"Here you go," Takarada handed Kyoko a small pouch of cards which he fished out of his pocket. "These are keycards of all the hotel rooms Cain Heel will be staying in during his stay in Japan."
Kyoko blinked, mystified. "Why are you giving these to me?"
"Kyoko, what did Jelly tell you about Setsuka's personality?"
"That she has a major brother complex. Her obsession is so extreme that she has a pathological crush on him. She has eyes for no one but her brother, whom she considers as the most important person in the world. The main reason she's such a brat is because her brother equally spoils her by giving into her every demand."
"Correct. So, do you think that a girl like Setsuka, who is so unnaturally obsessed with her brother, would stay in a different room alone instead of being with him?"
As the meaning of his words settled in Kyoko's mind, all the colour was drained from her face. Surely he doesn't mean... she thought.
"That's right." As if he had read her thoughts, Takarada confirmed it. "You're not getting a separate room. You're sharing the one Ren will be staying in."
At first, Kyoko supposed it was only herself feeling awkward about this improvisational exercise, but one glance at Ren proved her wrong. She could practically see the discomfort etched into the lines on his forehead as the two (supposed siblings) made their way inside the hotel room.
As usual, it was the President's idea to send them on a practice round before the beginning of the actual shoot. They had to stay in their characters for the rest of the day, so they could get used to them. The main reason why Takarada had asked them to do this exercise was because they couldn't afford to make any mistakes while on set without blowing their cover.
Kyoko understood the need of it. But the fact that roles were to be some sick lovey-dovey siblings was quite awkward, and without anyone else being around to witness their acting made it ever more cumbersome.
The main reason why Kyoko couldn't connect with her character was because of the fact that her character was supposed to have a crush on her actual brother. It felt as creepy as it sounded. According to what Jelly told her, it was part of the President's plan to make the two of them even less approachable, so their real identities may remain a secret.
This is wrong on so many levels, she thought, sighing inwardly.
"Setsu," Ren cleared his throat, his discomfort apparent. "I'm really not sure about this," he said, nodding towards the bed. It was getting awfully hard for him to maintain his character with a bazillion things running loose inside his mind. Not only did he have to speak in english (which he didn't mind), but he also had to keep up his british accent, and it needed a little getting used to.
"I'm so sorry," Kyoko apologized, though in english, but without the accent. She had forgotten that she was supposed to be in character, and that her character had nothing to apologize for. "I shouldn't have said yes to the President. I feel like it's all my fault."
In the heat of the moment, she had done so since she wanted to help take care of Ren, but she agreed to do the job without even thinking about the consequences. And with Takarada involved, there were always consequences. Heavy ones, Kyoko thought with regret, gulping at the sight of the large double-bed in the middle of the lavish hotel room.
Her cheeks burned as she was suddenly reminded of how less she was wearing. Why am I being ashamed now? Kyoko wondered, thinking how she had not cared about this fact a minute ago when she crossed the crowded road in the same attire to get to the hotel.
The only difference was, before, her mind had been fully engrossed in wondering how would Setsuka react to have room for any thoughts of her own. Now, however, being alone with Ren in a hotel room while wearing that notoriously revealing outfit, she was the nervously-wrecked Kyoko again.
Hearing a disappointed sigh from Ren, she cocked her head to face him. She instantly assumed the reason behind his distaste was for her not being able to focus on maintaining her role.
However, it was only partly true. Ren was indeed trying to give Kyoko signals whenever she acted out of character, but at the same time, half of his disappointment was for himself.
There was nothing easier for Ren Tsuruga than acting, but being trapped in a room with Kyoko alone, the last thing he could do was focus on the thoughts of some fictional being. It was driving him insane to think about anything else when the girl he loved was right in front of him, and specially when she looked like that.
Kyoko, feeling conscious of his heavy eyes upon her half-naked body, felt the urge to cover herself in a blanket despite the heat. "Where am I supposed to sleep, Cain?" She asked, using her accent this time, being desperate to make conversation in order to think about anything else. "Shouldn't we get another room?"
"I don't think the President would approve," Ren answered, barely managing to sound like Cain.
"I can sleep on the floor."
"Setsuka Heel, do you think I'll ever let my little sister sleep on the floor?"
"But..." Kyoko found herself at a loss of ideas. She knew that if they truly wanted to fool the whole crew of the Tragic Marker about their identity, they couldn't afford to slip out of their characters even for a second. Not even when they were alone, since anyone could be listening from anywhere.
"Since when did you get so shy?" He smirked, carelessly caressing the side of her face from his gloved hand. "Let's get some sleep."
"But–"
"I'll let you use my arm as a pillow."
A literal chill crawled down Kyoko's skin and she fiercely shivered. Her heart speeding up, she was about to take an uncertain step back, when the doorbell rang.
It turned out to be the hotel staff checking up on them. To Ren's disappointment, Kyoko immediately dropped her character and greeted the staff as politely as she would usually do, instead to acting mean like Setsuka would have behaved.
This isn't working out, Ren decided. Not only was Kyoko not used to being a brat, it was getting harder for him as well to stay in character with her there in those distracting clothes.
The President was really going all out in testing his patience. No matter what he had said, Ren knew that Takarada had only sent Kyoko along with him because he was being overprotective, and also because he didn't trust Ren to handle the situation alone.
Which was why, he had been trying to scare Kyoko off by asking her to sleep in the same bed as him. However, that didn't work.
He turned his head to glance at Kyoko, and found her sitting by the bed on her knees. She had clumsily bumped into the bedside table spilling it's content on the floor, which she was now picking up.
Not being used to wearing such clothes, she didn't have a clue how her cleavage was clearly visible as she bent down.
Ren winced at this mental torture of being forced to hold himself back, and squeezed his eyes shut before he saw too much and did something he would later regret. Since he couldn't persuade the President to let him do this alone, the only option left for him was to learn to properly get in his character despite Kyoko, and also coach her to build her own role.
Taking a deep breath, he told himself to focus and reopened his eyes. This time, he wasn't Ren anymore.
As Kyoko sat there on the floor, she looked up to find Ren looming over her. She blinked questioningly, dropping the stuff back.
Without a word, he gently grabbed her hand and pulled her up.
"Cain, where're we going?" Kyoko tried asking but it was in vain, as he dragged her outside without bothering to answer.
Kyoko tried asking Ren, where he was taking her several times as he half-dragged half-carried her outside the hotel. However, her attempts were in vain.
From the corner of her eyes, she spotted the streets to be almost empty as it was half past ten already. Except for a few nefarious thugs clustered into groups, not much people were seen.
While being dragged, Kyoko called out to "Cain" to stop or at least slow down, and when he didn't even bother responding, she wondered how would Setsuka react in a situation like this. As much as she could guess, her character would never let herself be dragged like this.
Cain had almost reached his destination when an unexpected resistance from the hand he was holding stopped him. He swivelled back to find Setsuka frowning at him.
"Slow down, will ya?" Kyoko snapped, slipping into her character. "I can't keep up."
Her companion sighed before responding: "I was in a hurry, the store's about to be closed." He took her hand into his own and went on, though in a much slower pace now.
"Where are we going?" She asked aloud, although, in her mind Kyoko was trying to figure out the reason behind Ren's sigh. She thought she sensed some disappointment from him when he sighed like that. Because back when they were rehearsing as Katsuki and Mizuki, Ren had often sighed exactly like that whenever she made a mistake.
Maybe that's it, Kyoko figured. Maybe, Ren's trying to coach me my role by pointing out my mistakes.
After a little while, they stopped in front of a lavish and what seemed like quite an expensive showroom of designer clothing.
Kyoko gaped at the building with curiosity. "Why are we going there?"
"Why else? For shopping."
"Now?"
"I noticed you haven't packed a lot of clothes for this trip. So go ahead, pick out anything you like, I'll buy it for you."
"There's no way I can let you do that!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself, and in response, she got the same sigh from Ren, which immediately showed her her mistake.
On one hand, Kyoko could never let Ren Tsuruga buy her clothes, and specially from such an expensive place. On the other hand, Setsuka, being a bratty diva, would never refuse such an offer from her brother.
Kyoko was perplexed on how to react. She wondered why Ren would offer something like this when it suddenly occurred to her: it was a test. Ren was trying to test her to see if she would behave the way Setsu would.
"Are you sure?" Kyoko took pains to make her voice sound extra cute and appealing, the way she imagined Setsuka would speak in front of her brother. "Because I might just take you up on your offer." She giggled seductively.
To Kyoko's contentment, a smile appeared on Ren's face. His lips only upturned into an infinitesimal curve, but it was definitely a smile. Not like his usual angelic one, because it was Cain's smile: a slight display of his approval.
Which meant, Kyoko had been right in guessing that Ren was trying to draw Setsuka out from her.
"Take whatever you want," he said.
Kyoko went inside and started to fiddle through the endless rows and columns of designer jeans and tube tops. She was so giddy from getting Ren's approval that she almost didn't notice the judgemental glances of the other customers who would occasionally throw her nervous and guarded looks.
Her mind was too busy to pay any attention to them, since besides feeling good about herself,she was trying to understand the relationship between the Heels. From what she gathered, it was not only Setsu who had an unnatural obsession with her brother, but Cain also spoiled her to lengths. He would rarely show his affections, but it was enough to see that he doted on his sister.
So that's how it goes, she stroked her chin as she pondered, Setsu's brother is indifferent to others but he spoils her, so she clings to him even more. And in turn he finds it cute and spoils her even more. It's an endless cycle.
Kyoko finally understood what all those sighs from Ren were about. She wasn't expressing herself as clearly as she should be. She was supposed to get angry over petty things and sulk more, like a spoilt little sister. The more Cain was spoiling her, the more she was supposed to demand.
She tried imagining how Ren would react if she did act spoilt, wondering if he would indulge her and cajole her, and her cheeks flared up at her own imaginings. With her face as red as a tomato, she went ahead to give it a try.
Ren was waiting for her by the entrance when Setsuka called out to him, "Cain, I just picked something," she added with a smirk: "it's a little expensive though."
Clasping his hand, she took him to one of the mannequins and pointed at the most expensive dress she could find. "That one."
"You really want it?" Cain asked.
Setsuka nodded, her hair fluttering in the process. Her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"We'll take it," he gestured to the salesman.
Kyoko almost gasped aloud. "Wait! Did you even check the price tag? It has five zeroes on it! Five!"
"I can afford it."
"I– That's–" Not being sure how to explain her reasoning without breaking character, Kyoko groaned aloud.
"What? You said you wanted it."
"I don't!" She humphed. "I– I was only trying to annoy you."
Instead of getting angry, Cain let out a small chuckle, raised both his hands and pulled her cheeks until they turned red. "Who's being sassy?"
Kyoko tried to protest, but with her cheeks being squished between his fingers, she couldn't even talk.
"Now, enough messing around," Cain said, letting go of her cheeks, leaving them bright red.
That was just messing around? Kyoko thought, cupping her aching face. My cheeks are still hurting!
"Since you didn't pick anything, I'll get something for you." He returned after a few minutes with a pair of high-waist black jeans and a dark inner. "Try this on."
Kyoko obliged, and after putting on those clothes in the changing room, she felt dressed again. The jeans was tightly-fitted, revealing the shape of her legs, but that was much better than leaving them bare. And with the inner, at least her bra wasn't showing anymore.
After being dressed again, she heaved a sigh of relief. She finally understood why Ren had brought her here all of a sudden. He must've noticed her discomfort in that tiny skirt, and so he deliberately bought those clothes for her.
She couldn't help smiling gratefully.
When they were done, Cain asked her to wait for him at the door, while he paid the bill. Instead of waiting inside, she took lieberty to go out by herself.
Standing there, Kyoko reflected upon her character, and for the first time she realized, she was starting to relate to Setsuka. When she thought about how Ren had doted on her, and how his Cain acted so tough and dangerous around everyone else but around her, he switched back to those puppy dog eyes of his, her cheeks burned into the deepest shade of crimson as she blushed up to the roots of her hair. She couldn't help it, because Ren just seemed so cute when he acted like that. She felt her Setsuka was finally being born and it was bursting to come out of her.
A thrill deep within her left her heart hammering. She remembered feeling this way, back when she improvised as young Kuon. At first, she was too ashamed to play Setsuka because of her clothes, but now she was starting to enjoy her role almost as much as Kuon.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a hand being pressed on her shoulder. Assuming it to be Ren, she turned with a smile. "You're back–" she was saying, but her words halted when she realized that the intruder wasn't Ren, but one of the drunk hoodlums.
