STREET FIGHT.
A palm came to rest upon her shoulder interrupting Kyoko's thoughts. She swivelled her head with a smile, hoping to see Ren. "You're back–"
Instead, it turned out to be a middle aged man with long greasy hair and an unfamiliar face. "Hey there, hot stuff." He whistled, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. The action evoked shrill laughter from his befuddled companions.
Kyoko gagged inwards when she caught the horrible whiff of his intoxicated breath. However, knowing that Setsuka wouldn't get scared of something like this, specially when her brother was around to protect her, she tried to keep a straight face: the same bored and uninterested look in her eyes.
"We're gonna party. Wanna join us?" Another guy asked in a similar shaky voice, who was occasionally sipping from his bottle of alcohol.
Kyoko didn't need to turn her head to know that she was surrounded. She had already heard them approach. Yet, she wouldn't allow even a pinch of fear to be detected on her face. Partly because her character wouldn't, and also because she had nothing to be afraid of with Ren around.
"Really?" She smirked in a tantalizing manner. "A party! Yay!"
"That's a good girl!" The guy holding her cheered her on. "We knew a hot girl like you wouldn't say no to us!"
His friend flashed a smile, revealing his yellow teeth. "Yeah! Let's go party! Then we'll take you somewhere special."
"You wanna play with me?"
"Aren't you a smart cookie!"
"Sure, I'll play," her smirk widened, "but first, you'll have to get permission from him," she pointed at the entrance of the store from where Cain Heel was exiting. His cool blue eyes, betraying nothing but his inner frostiness, remained fixated only on Setsuka, not even glancing at her new acquaintances, as he made his way towards her.
"These guys said they wanna play with me," Setsuka commenced, once he was in hearing range. "Can I go, Bro-ther?" She pouted her lower lip, emphasizing the last two syllables.
"Brother?" The ruffians exchanged confused glances, because they all had simultaneously mistaken the Heels to be a couple. Judging from their appearance and their behaviour, they seemed as far from being siblings as possible.
Cain, without bothering to answer or to pay any attention to the small crowd of waiting thugs, enclosed his sister's hand into his own. "Setsu, let's go."
"'kay." She followed him without complaining.
One of the ignored hoodlums called out a warning to Cain to stop or else.
When Cain didn't oblige, the strongest one of the bunch ran ahead, and threw a punch at him from behind. Before it could connect, Ren ducked below, dodging the attack without even turning.
That caught the attacker by surprise, and the rest of his companions mocked him with hysterical, drunk laughter.
Embarrassed, he tried winning back the respect of his friends by making up for his missed punch launching another hit. However, the second attempt was no more successful than the first one as Ren easily dodged this punch as well.
The attacker's eyes glinted with a new found determination to settle the score and he clenched his fist menacingly with a sneer. Meanwhile, Ren let go of Kyoko's hand and put his own in his pockets, finally turning around to face his opponent.
Guessing what was about to happen, Kyoko cupped her mouth, panic creeping inside her. Ren ending up in a street fight was the last thing she imagined would happen because of her. If she had any idea things would get this rough, she would've gladly broken character and ran away from the thugs by herself instead of involving Ren.
Now, however, it was too late. If Ren was provoked enough to attack an ordinary man, and worst case scenario, if he was caught doing it, the press wouldn't care who started the fight. Only imagining how this incident could hurt his career made Kyoko's blood run cold.
Not only had she put Ren and his reputation in danger by messing with those thugs, but she had also put the whole secret project of Tragic Market in jeopardy. Trembling, she crossed her hands and silently prayed for the better.
Glaring at Ren, the drunk ruffian showered him with a barrage of punches, but not a single one connected, as Ren skillfully dodged each and every single one of them.
Dodging did seem like the best option to Kyoko. At least Ren wasn't angry enough to take the offense. She let out the breath which she had been holding, however, her chest remained tight with worry as she watched the one-sided match.
The punches continued to come one after another, but Ren ducked, backed away, and jerked to the side, rendering them useless, only tiring his opponent in the process. His technique seemed so flawless that it looked like he had done this a million times before.
The other spectators weren't laughing at the loss of thier friend anymore, instead, they seemed pissed. Silently exchanging nods, two more guys took their weapons out and one of them tried to stab Ren on the back with a knife.
"Behind you!" Kyoko shouted, trying to warn him, but he so easily knocked off the knife from his attacker that it seemed like he did it reflexively not even needing to be warned.
Mincing his teeth, the third guy stepped forward, swinging up his baseball bat, but before he could land even a single blow, Kyoko caught his bat and tried to snatch it away with what little strength she had.
"You are the absolute worst! How could you gang up on a single person like that? At least fight fair! You are shameless!" She babbled hysterically, still holding on to his bat.
"Out of the way!" The man thundered, snatching his bat back and pushing Kyoko away. The impact sent her flying.
Hearing her scream, Ren jerked his head up, and seeing Kyoko pushed to the floor, his eyes widened at first before slowly narrowing into slits that burned with cold, merciless anger.
His features twisted with rage, and he shot his death glare to the man who had been unfortunate enough to lay a hand on Kyoko.
Kyoko immediately picked herself up, but before she could protest and try to stop Ren, he was already running towards the man who had pushed her.
His coat tails fluttering in the wind, he ran as fast as an ominous arrow, riding the black wind and soundlessly approaching it's prey.
Kyoko didn't know much about BJ yet: the villian Ren was supposed to be playing, but as she looked upon his features at that instant, she was reminded of the heartless, bloodthirsty killer.
Upon reaching his target, Ren swung a wild punch at the man, and the ruffian was instantly out cold with his nose reduced to a bloody pulp.
Kyoko gasped with disbelief. She had always supposed the real Ren to be incapable of ever showing violence, so the only conclusion that came to her mind was: while fighting those thugs, his character BJ had completely taken over his head somehow. Because even Cain Heel wasn't that brutal.
After their friend was down with a single punch, two more thugs ran towards Ren, their eyes sparkling with hostility.
Ren caught one of them by his hand and sent him flying. He crashed down a couple meters away. The second guy was unfortunate enough to be picked up by his neck, as Ren enclosed his fingers tightly around his windpipe and squeezed, almost choking him in the process.
Kyoko's heart was beating so fast that she was afraid it might jump out of her throat. "Stop!" She managed a scream, squeezing her eyes shut not having the courage to witness the outcome.
The moment her words reached Ren, something snapped within him, and the horror of his actions finally registered in his mind. He almost instantly let go of his opponent, who shrunk against the floor. Leaving him, the ruffians turned tail and ran away. Ren held up his gloved hands and stared at them with disbelief and then remorse.
When Kyoko dared to open her eyes again, she found the thug cowering hysterically on the floor, and Ren leaning on the nearest wall for support with both his hands pressed against it, and his head hung low.
She immediately ran to him. Upon closer inspection, she saw the look on his face and concern welled up inside her, for she found Ren frozen, staring at the wall, but his eyes looked vague as if they were looking at something far beyond. She detected guilt in them mixed in with disbelief.
"Re–Cain?" She muttered softly.
His eyes snapped back to the reality at the sound of her voice, and he cocked his head towards her. He looked so desperate at that moment that Kyoko couldn't detect at all what was running in his mind. She couldn't even manage to figure out who he was at that moment. He was definitely not Cain, but he was not Ren either. He seemed like a totally different person whom she didn't even know.
"I..." He closed his eyes and placed a hand on his head, "who am I?" He muttered more to himself than to her.
That's what I would like to know, Kyoko thought.
Realising that he had just spoken aloud, he tried to regain his composure. "Good God, I thought I was possessed back there! I don't know what came over me." He sighed, switching back to his Cain Heel speech pattern and intonation.
Knowing that Ren was in character again, Kyoko knew what to do next. She spread her lips into a smile, and when she spoke, she was Setsu again. "I'll tell you who you are." She playfully flicked on his forehead. "You're my no-good, dorky brother."
He put his arm around her shoulder. "Let's go back."
"Sure."
"Setsu, there's one more thing. Thank you."
She raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"For stopping me," he replied sincerely. "I almost crushed that man's face. If I had, I would've ruined the whole movie. When I came back to my senses, I was creeped out with myself. So thanks."
"That's my job," she smiled. "To look after you." And they walked back the rest of the way hand in hand.
The moment they arrived at the hotel, Cain announced: "I'm gonna have a bath." Without waiting for an answer, he slammed the bathroom door and locked himself in, leaving Kyoko even more worried.
She still wasn't sure if there was really something to be worried about, but the image of Ren looking so pale with guilt kept popping in her mind. If he had been in character at that time, it didn't make any sense for Cain Heel to be frozen like that. And if not, she didn't know what made Ren go berserk like that and then freeze up afterwards. Whatever it was, it bugged her to lengths.
Meanwhile, Ren placed his trembling hands on the sink leaning on it for support. His head hung low with the weight of all the painful memories overflowing in his brain. He could still recall those screams from five years ago calling him a murderer.
He squeezed his eyes tight shut, desperate to forget, but not being able to. Tearing off the gloves from his hands, he closed his fingers around his wrist watch, rubbing it tenderly in order to find some solace.
His knees buckled with weakness and he slumped on the floor. His shoulders heavy with the burden of a broken vow, as he blamed himself over and over again for failing to keep his promise. He had sworn to himself that he would never ever hurt another human being as long as he lived, yet back there he forgot all about it. If Kyoko wasn't there, he shuddered even imagining how things would've ended.
More than an hour had passed, and Ren still hadn't returned from his bath. Kyoko cast another of her many fretful glances at the bathroom door, her thoughts cynical.
Is he alright? She wondered. All of a sudden, panic crept up inside her. Wait, what if he had fallen asleep in the tub?
She hysterically dashed towards the bathroom in order to rescue Ren, and without even giving a second thought to the consequences of her action, she jerked open the door.
What she saw left her dumb. She was frozen into time staring in awe at the sight before her. Ren wasn't in the tub. Instead, he was standing below the shower with a thousand beads of sparkling water splashing on his flawless and very naked body.
Even though Kyoko's brain had just gone haywire by watching a little too much of a certain someone than she could have desired, she collected herself just in time before she broke her character. Keeping her eyes peeled open, she somehow managed to land them on Ren's face, and only on his face, even though they were drawn to his impeccably hard, well-toned abs, and even further below like a moth was drawn to a flame.
He smiled. "What's up, Setsu? You jumping in?"
Gathering all the courage she could muster, she shook her head, "No, I was just worried that you fell asleep." She forced a smile, before retreating. "Maybe later."
Once outside, Kyoko was faced with the horror of the reality. Cupping her tomato-red cheeks, she shrieked aloud, though not loud enough for Ren to hear her over the sound of the running water.
Her legs were as weak and wobbly as noodles, and they immediately gave over, letting her fall. She rolled on the floor, still groaning softly. "What did I just do? What's wrong with me?" She hid her face in her hands.
It's not your fault, you thought he was sleeping! A tiny voice objected in the back of her mind. It's not like you actually tried to look.
"That's right! I did not see anything. I just saw his face!" She told herself, hoping that if she said it out loud, it might turn into the truth.
But that didn't change the fact that even if it was just a small glance, she had seen what she was never, ever supposed to see.
As embarrassed as Kyoko was over this little "accident", which was what she called it, there was a part of her which was deeply regretting. Not because she acted on impulse and burst in, but for the fact that she had that once in a lifetime opportunity, and she did not use it properly and paid more attention.
Why wasn't I brave enough to seize the moment and look better? She thought, holding her head in her hands.
It took Ren ten more minutes to finish up, and when he stepped outside, he was wearing a white bathrobe with his dark hair glistening wet. He found Kyoko, or rather Setsu, perched up on the corner of the bed.
"You done?" She asked, pointing at the bedside table where a bowl of soup awaited him. "Get some dinner before you sleep."
"I'm not hungry," he jumped onto the bed and wrapped himself in the blankets.
"I won't let you skip dinner!" She snatched his covers which he tried to snatch back, and their tug of war continued until he finally gave in and picked up his dinner.
"You're so dramatic," Setsuka rolled her eyes at her brother. "Even after I made you something light! You can at least drink the soup!" Reaching for a towel, she announced: "I'm going to have a bath. And you," she snapped her fingers, "this better be finished when I get back!"
She slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked herself in. Her blush returned once she was alone. Did I act Setsu right? I wasn't blushing, was I?
Kyoko had first planned on having dinner together with Ren, but now she was too embarrassed to face him. So she used the excuse of a bath to get out of there without breaking her character.
As she got ready for her bath, she found Cain Heel's clothes which Ren was wearing earlier bundled on a rack. She started to empty the rack to make room for her own clothes when something slipped out from his dark glove.
Bending down to pick up the fallen object, Kyoko examined it, and it turned out to be a wrist watch. To her surprise, it was not a part of Cain Heel's wardrobe, because Kyoko instantly recognised that watch to be the one which Ren generally wore.
This struck Kyoko as odd because Ren, or any other actor, never wore personal belongings in the middle of an act. She had almost always seen Ren wearing this particular watch, this and a golden metal pendant. However, only when he wasn't in the middle of an act. He would always remove them whenever he got in character.
So Kyoko couldn't help but wonder what was different about this time for Ren to keep wearing his watch. Even if it was hidden beneath the glove, it was highly unusual for Ren, since he always acted with his all no matter what the role was. Was it because this was only a rehearsal or something else?
Kyoko was about to set the watch back down, when something else captured her attention. The needles weren't moving. They were stuck at the time 2:13.
The minute Kyoko had left for the bathroom, Ren slipped out of his character, which he had been holding from a thread, and allowed a smile while shaking his head at the door. With a sigh, he started sipping his soup.
In the middle of his dinner, the events from this evening popped in his mind evoking a chill and he reflexively reached for his wrist to touch his watch. Upon finding his wrist bare, he sighed remembering he had left it in the bathroom.
I had been that shocked that I even forgot my watch in there? He ran his fingers through his hair. The reason of his carelessness was undoubtedly Kyoko's intrusion during his bath. To be precise, it wasn't the intrusion he minded, but how calmly Kyoko reacted afterwards.
For a girl like Kyoko, who was so much over the top, that she would fret over even about the tiniest of things, to not even blink an eye upon seeing him naked! This was the first time he had been so badly ignored by a girl in his whole life.
The least she could've done was blush a little reflexively, he sighed, cupping his head. The only conclusion he could come up with regarding Kyoko's reaction, or the lack of it, was that she didn't see him as a man at all.
The air around him grew thicker with despondency as he hung his head and sighed at the lack of progress of his love life.
