Disclaimer :
I write this fic for entertainment purposes only. I do not own SkipBeat! and all of its plots and characters. All of them belong to Yoshiki Nakamura Sensei and the crews. I only have this idea of mine and another fanfic of my own to use for Kyoko's new drama plots.
Author Notes :
Hello all, this is my first time writing SkipBeat! fanfic after reading the manga for around 15 years or more, and English is not my first language, and I this fic wasn't being beta-ed, and also no proofreader for this, so I am sorry in advance for the choice of words or the grammar thing. I just want to try writing for my forever fave couple, thank you.
Chapter 1 – The First Meeting
"It can't be true!"
"It can't be true!"
Both exclaimed in unison right after they had read the main articles on her cell phone's search page.
In the tone of disbelief.
Feeling surprised because of the other voice she heard aside from her own, she quickly turned her head and saw him behind her peeking at her cell phone with terror all over his face before suddenly, without her consent, he snatched her phone away and read the articles again.
"Koga-san..." she raised her hand to snatch back her phone only to fail miserably as he raised his hand even higher
"Kyoko-san, this is... this is..." the actor paused, at a loss for words, "How... What... But..." he rambled on some incoherence words as he tried to find the best words to describe his 'shock' at the moment, but to no avail.
Silence fell between them.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, four sec—
"BUT HOW COME?!" Then he shrieked in panic, trembling all over. "This news isn't supposed to come out yet! They are supposed to release thisnewstomorrowbuthowcouldtheydothistous." he began to lose his ability to compose comprehensive words again.
"Pardon?"
He hastily returned her phone into her palm before he walked back and forth over and over before her. "It can't be true. It can't be right. There's no way that news is true. They must be kidding me. It must be fake news, yes, it must be a piece of fake news. It can't be—"
"Koga-san..." she called his name for the second time of the day as she tried to get his full attention.
"Yes?" He stopped dead in his track, staring blankly at her.
"Breathe."
Another moment of silence between them.
"BUT HOW?!" He shrieked again, louder than before. Then, as if he couldn't hold himself together because of the 'surprising news', he sat down on the chair, both of his hands ran through his hair before his face fell. "But how come?" He said in despair. Looking more desperate than before.
Watching his devastated state at that time, the actress couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. Yes, it was true that their beginning wasn't going so well for the first few months they acted together as Momiji the female ninja and her master Shizuma, but after months of working together, their relationship had grown into a good one, maybe a bit like her relationship with the Ishibashi brothers (minus the 'more than a friend' feeling Hikaru had towards her, BUT plus the non-stop teasing (or mocking) from Koga's part). Well, if she wanted to be honest, of course, she knew that him being softened towards her was originated from his pity because of the continuous rumors of Tsuruga-san and Kana-san being together, but still, it could be counted as a development for their friendly relationship. Sometimes he would see her as an ally in 'disliking' that Tsuruga —Even though sometimes he still felt that her dislike towards Tsuruga Ren was fake—, and sometimes it's just him seeing her as a lunchtime company or as a friend to talk to —Even though he was still trying so hard to deny it— but still, they were 'friends' after all.
She then looked at her phone and read the article again.
"Japan's most desirable men 20xx"
1. Ishikawa Yuuto
2. Tsuruga Ren
3. Koga Hiromune
4. ...
5. ...
etc
Who is this Ishikawa Yuuto? —Kyouko thought— I never heard of him before. I was just trying to find his picture online because Amamiya-san messaged me that she accidentally heard The President talked with Sawara-san about Ishikawa Yuuto as the main lead for my drama debut. I wonder why the president tried to hide this information from me. It's not that I would object to him as the main lead, I don't even know him anyway. —Kyouko frowned— And today, I just want to see his picture before we meet today. It will be rude of me if I don't recognize him at our first meeting, but honestly, I never thought that I would read this article instead—She took a glance at the still devastated Koga-san then she sighed inwardly— He might have been waiting for the announcement of this year's winner since he thought he would get the first rank this year because of the rumors between Tsuruga-san and Kana-san.
She unconsciously heaved a sigh as she recalled those so-called rumors. Of course, she knew that the rumors weren't true. They were fake. Tsuruga-san already told her that he and Kana-san couldn't be together (for this case, he told Bo to be exact), and she also knew that the one Tsuruga-san's like was herself, but still, sometimes she couldn't help but thought that Tsuruga-san and Kana-san looked so good together in screen. It was like they were meant to each other as her fellow costars used to say on the set of "Lotus in The Mire" months ago.
She furiously shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and paid her attention towards her phone again, closing the announcement page and opened a new page. A page with lots of Ishikawa Yuuto's pictures in it.
He really was quite a handsome man.
Honestly speaking, 'quite' a handsome man would be an understatement since he was indeed one kind of devilishly handsome man. Pale and delicate skin, high nose, sculpted lips and cheekbones, gorgeous gunmetal eyes, and his cool hairstyle. a shoulder-length jet black hair that he pulled into a half ponytail, added with the unruly mop of hair falling in choppy layers across his forehead that gave him the sense of 'The hell I care' image and a little bit of bad boy trait in him, he was truly a handsome man indeed.
Well, (of course) not as handsome as the ridiculously, otherworldly handsome Tsuruga Ren, but still, those Ishikawa Yuuto's handsome features would definitely bring some women to their knees.
The actress continued to read his biography.
Name: Ishikawa Yuuto
Age: 20 years old
Height/Weight : 184 cm/71 kg
Family: Father, Mother, and one younger sister
Descents: Japanese, European.
Filmography: Wish Upon A Star, Healing (in England).
Discography: "Innocent"
etc.
.
.
The space between Kyouko's brows furrowed, Wait, Innocent? Is that a song that held the first spot for four weeks in Japan right now? Wow! What an accomplishment indeed. An actor, and a musician at the same time, how could he even manage them at all? and...
"Hello."
She snapped out from her reverie. Looking up, her eyes darted up towards the voice from the person before her, and she found her eyes locking at those gorgeous dark grey eyes she saw in pictures before.
Ishikawa Yuuto.
In flesh.
Waving his hands in front of her while smiling tentatively at her.
A realization dawned upon her. "Y... YES?" she exclaimed in panicked, "I... I... I am sorry I didn't put any attention before. I didn't see you coming, and—"
"It's okay." he genuinely smiled, automatically stopped her usual unstoppable rambling, "I just arrived and I want to greet you," He smiled again, "Uhm... Kyouko-san, right?"
"Yes!" She bowed deeply, "Nice to meet you. I... Ishikawa-san." Then she straightened her back before she faced him again, smiling innocently, unaware of the thing he would do next. It just never crossed her mind that on that specific day she would meet a man who would do something like that to her and made her instantly froze, unable to move.
He took her right hand and pressed his lips onto the back of her hand while slightly bowing towards her, "Nice to meet you too, Kyouko-san. Just call me Yuuto. It's more casual." He tenderly smiled while talking so innocently at her in English.
IN ENGLISH.
With an accent.
A melodious accent to her ears if she recalled it. An accent she usually only heard in those fairy tale stories.
A princely type of accent.
She finally blinked, then slowly, her eyes widened in surprise before she forcefully pulled her hands from him, a little bit too hard, and ended up earning a surprised look from the man in question. He just opened his mouth to ask her, but suddenly a very loud traditional Japanese song coming from the hallway outside the meeting room, so he swallowed whatever words he wanted to say to her at the moment.
"What happens?" He confusedly asked. But before someone could answer his question, the door to the meeting room suddenly opened and President Takarada of LME entered the room with all of his Samurai Theme glory, including the full armor and sword, and not to be left out his chonmage hairstyle.
Every person under LME Agency inside the meeting room could only take a deep breath while they saw their eccentric president, but for other people who weren't under LME Agency, they were gaping as soon as they saw the 'uniqueness' of LME President with their own eyes.
"Welcome everyone!" The president shouted, "Thank you for participating in My Love-Me member no 1 Mogami-kun first debut drama." He sniffed, then Ruto gave him a handkerchief to wipe his teary eyes. "Welcome, welcome, have a seat." He said again before he took his own seat and began his speech.
"As you all know, it was the time for Mogami-kun to debut as a lead female in a drama. I've already got a good script for her drama as well as I also already have the consent from two great directors to lead this drama. It is a very important drama for Mogami-kun, so of course, I had chosen the script wisely." He paused, then a proud smile appeared across his face. "Anyway, before I talked about anything else, I am sure that almost all of you already read the script for this drama, but let me talk about it again, just to refresh your minds. So, it's a historical or period drama where the female lead is a crown princess in a fictional kingdom on a fictional island who was happened to fall in love with her fiance's guardian, a samurai, or an Imperial Army Captain to be exact." He paused again, wandering his eyes around the room, paying attention to familiar faces inside the room. He then gestured towards Ruto to turn on the screen projector. "I want to say thank you to all of you who participated in this project. As you noticed, I've already requested at least one previous co-star from some of Mogami-kun previous projects to take a part in her debut, while for some other parts of the drama, I've already held an audition for it." He winked to some of the audience. Then, he gestured towards Ruto to start the projector and the familiar faces began to appear on the screen.
"Thank you to Director Ogata and Director Shingai who already accepted to lead this drama."
Both of the names mentioned stood up and bowed slightly to the President and the audience.
"Thank you to Mogami-kun previous co-stars Hidehito Kijima-san from Dark Moon to take part as Lieutenant Tanaka Ryota, the best friend of the male lead Captain Kudo Tsuyoshi. Thank you to Maruyama Marumi-san from Box-R to take part as Princess Ando Misaki. Thank you to Hiromune Koga-san from Lotus in The Mire to take part as Murakami Hayato, one of the best friends of the female lead Sato Megumi. Thank you to Takuya Abe-san and Sayuri Ueda-san from Hansel and Gretel Chocolate commercial to take part as Sato Madoka the twin brother of the female lead Sato Megumi and as Yoshida Kumiko, the female lead 'rival', and to last but not least, thank you to Kanae Kotonami-san from LME who had a lot of projects together with Mogami-kun to take part as Shiori Kato, the ex-fiance of Captain Kudo Tsuyoshi, only a small part in this drama, because she had to do a double job as Mogami-kun manager for this project as my request to her." He smiled at her and the other names he mentioned who stood up and bowed after being mentioned.
He then looked at Kyouko, "Mogami-kun please stand up, I need to introduce the lead roles."
She stood up and timidly smiled at the audience.
"For the female lead, I know that almost all of you must've known Mogami-kun because some of you had worked with her before, but of course I still need to introduce her before the other lead roles," He grinned. "This is Kyouko, the female lead for this drama."
She deeply bowed at them, "Thank you for participating in this drama, everyone. I am looking forward to working with all of you."
The President nodded and smiled at her before he then watched at the screen again, waiting for the second part of the presentation to be played.
"For other actors and actresses who got this part of the drama by audition, could you please stand up?" He smiled, "I need to introduce you to the others." Then he nudged towards the two people in the meeting room. "To Ayaka Hasegawa-san and Yuuto Ishikawa-san, thank you for joining us."
Both of the names mentioned stood up and bowed to the president, then the audience.
The first one to introduce herself was the female one, a tall and beautiful girl with waist-length dark brown hair with layers cut who wore a simple beige knee-length lace dress added by white pointy heels to the meeting.
"Hello, my name is Hasegawa Ayaka, I got the role of Miyamoto Yuka, one of the best friends of the female lead Sato Megumi." A warm smile came from her nude color lips before she turned towards Kyouko, "Kyouko-san, I am looking forward to working with you."
"Me too, I am looking forward to working with you, Hasegawa-san." She couldn't help but smiling widely at the actress before her while subconsciously drifted to her La-La Land as soon as she stared at the actress.
She looked like a princess, Kyouko thought, admiring the appearance of her new co-star.
"Please, just call me Ayaka." She corrected.
"Ayaka-san." She smiled again before she turned to Yuuto, waiting for him to introduce himself.
"Hello, my name is Ishikawa Yuuto, I got the role of the crown prince Ando Masahiro. I am looking forward to working with you, Kyouko-san."
Kyouko blinked.
Wait... What?!
"The... The crown prince?" Kyouko asked, confused.
He nodded excitedly, "Yes, the fiance." He winked at her. "It seems that they haven't told you about it, right Kyouko-san?"
"But... But I heard you will act as the Captain... So... so..." she stammered, clearly in shock for the revelation.
He let out a small laugh. "Ah... Yes, to be honest, at first, I was auditioning for that role, and I almost got the role, but then someone else beat me in the sword combat, so they offered me the role of the crown prince instead because they haven't found someone else fitted for that role. so..." he grinned, flashing his dashing smile, "Here I am, the crown prince."
"But who got the Captain role?" Kyouko blurted out, a little bit louder than she originally intended, and caught the president's attention.
"Mogami-kun." He called.
"Yes!"
"About that role, well, the one who got the role already told me that he would be late for this meeting a while because of his other job, but I think he is supposed to arrive soon."
"Who?"
"Well..." The president gave her a mischievous smirk, "You would never guess who had participated in the audition to get that role."
And just in time, someone knocked on the door, shifting their attention towards the door.
The president smiled, "Well... it's just in time." He then gestured Ruto to open the door. The door opened and revealed the person outside.
Kyouko's head immediately turned towards the door, and her face paled as soon as she saw the man in question.
.
.
You must be kidding me...
(to be continued)