Competitors

Kyoko shifted and tried not to open her eyes, knowing that as soon as she did, she would be unable to go back to sleep. The room was mostly dark, but even the dim light was hurting her eyes, so she tucked her head into the pillow. There was something strange about her bed. Suddenly alerted to the strangeness, her sleepy brain attempted to figure out what was wrong, though her eyes refused to open. Shifting a little, she nuzzled her pillow and felt it move a little. 'Wait…move?' She shifted again. She was lying on what must have been a full body pillow, but couldn't feel a blanket over top of her. One of her hands was trapped under the pillow, which felt rather heavy, so she used the other to find the blanket. Groping around blindly behind her, she felt something across her back, but couldn't figure out what it was. Reaching awkwardly around her back, she suppressed a squeak when something grasped her hand.

Opening her eyes, she found herself staring at a shirt. 'Shirt? What?' Lifting her head, she saw two lips curved into a small smile, a nose, and finally, two dark brown eyes staring down at her. "Eep!" She squeaked, starting to bolt upright, when the arm around her back tightened. "Tsu..Tsuruga-san! I'm so sorry! I fell asleep on you! I can't…" He chuckled softly.

"Don't worry about it, Mogami-san. It's fine." He sat up carefully, helping her to sit next to him on the sofa, making sure that she didn't come in contact with a certain area of him.

"Um…" She was bright red. "What…um…how…"

He laughed softly, running a hand through his hair. "We were watching TV and I guess we fell asleep." He grabbed his phone and checked the time. "It's only three in the morning. We should probably go to bed." She nodded and yawned, and they both stood. Still mortified, Kyoko hurried to the guest room and shut the door firmly behind her.


Ren sighed as she fled the scene and dropped back onto the couch. He hadn't exactly lied before. They had been watching TV…

Kyoko finished the last of the dishes, despite Ren's protests, and not knowing what else to do, joined him on the couch. He was thinking about how to explain why he had a new pair of pajamas and a spare outfit in his spare room that were all her size, and she still wasn't sure why he wanted her to spend the night. 'That night, when he told me who he was…was he going to say that he loved me?' She thought nervously as he changed the channel. 'But…he only kissed me because he hit his head, right? There's no way he…'

"...you?" She looked up in surprise, her head tilted.

"Huh?" He smiled.

"I asked if you wanted to watch anything in particular."

"Oh. Um…I don't really watch TV, so it doesn't matter." She smiled a bit apologetically.

"Hm. Really? Never?"

She smiled. "Well, I wasn't allowed to at the inn very often, and I don't have a TV at the Darumaya."

He lifted an eyebrow and frowned. "You weren't…allowed?" He had to ask.

She looked down. "Um…well when we were little, Sho and I would watch TV sometimes, but after he left…I had to work a lot….so I didn't have fee time." His eyes softened and he shifted his hand under his leg, sitting on it to keep it from reaching out to her. "The Fuwas…they…they didn't care about me anymore…after I made them angry." His eyes widened. "So…I wasn't their daughter anymore." She whispered. "It was the same with my mom…she was angry with me…so she left." He touched her shoulder gently, wondering how they had gone from TV to her sad past. "Um…anyway…after Sho left, I had to work all the time, so I didn't have free time, like I told you when I was serving you." He nodded, squeezing her shoulder a little, and leaned back against the sofa.

He flipped through the channels in silence for a while, until she turned to him. "So…um…where are you from?" She asked quietly. He looked down at her in surprise. "I just…you know all about my childhood, and I…" He smiled and held up a hand at her apologetic rambling.

"I'm from America." He told her simply.

"Oh." She was quiet for a moment. "Why were you in Japan then?"

"Family trip. My dad had business here." He answered as honestly as he could without giving names. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you miss it?" She wondered. He thought about it for a moment.

"I don't really think about it." He admitted. "I stay pretty busy." 'Plus I've been thinking about you a lot recently, so I don't have time.' He didn't dare say that aloud, but the thought of her reaction made him smile. "What about you? Do you miss Kyoto?"

"No." She said quietly. Her eyes were dull and sad, and he regretting going back to that topic.

"Sorry." He said softly.

"No, it's fine." She gave him a hesitant smile. "I just don't like thinking about it. But I am happy here." She smiled brightly and he returned the look.

"So you like acting?'

"What little I've done, yes." She chirped. "The acting school is really fun, and hopefully I will be able to get more roles after the PV." He nodded.

"Hopefully. If not, you can always audition for some roles. You can't always wait for new offers." She nodded, listening attentively.

"Do you ever audition for parts?"

"Well, I usually multiple offers, so I don't have time to try for new parts, but when I first started, I auditioned a lot."

"What about Dark Moon?"

"The director asked me to play the part of Katsuki." He told her. "Though they're still looking for a girl to play Mio." A thought occurred to him. "Why don't you audition?" Her eyes widened and the blood drained from her face.

"Audition…for Mio!" She cried. She had read enough of the script to know that Mio was the main antagonist. "I…I can't!"

He lifted an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because!" He chuckled at her answer and waited. "I…I don't even have any real acting experience other than the PV!"

"Everyone has to start somewhere. It couldn't hurt." She shrugged and turned her attention back to the TV, uncomfortable with the idea of auditioning for a major drama series.

'It would be fun…but it would be so presumptuous! A newbie actress like me, trying out for such a bit part. There is no way I could ever get it!"

Ren watched from the corner of his eye as she drifted off, his arm around her. His own eyes were starting to get heavy, and he knew that he should get her to the guest room. 'But…this is so nice...' She was leaning against him, his arm around her back, holding her to his side. He turned the TV down and, leaning over, switched off the light. 'This should be fine. I'll just tell her we fell asleep while watching TV. It's true enough.' Lying back, he gently pulled her on top of him and put an arm around her, making sure that she was comfortable, then closed his own eyes.


Kyoko awoke in a strange place for the second time that morning, but this time she was in a bed. Stretching, she grabbed her phone and checked the time. She didn't need to be at LME until ten, but she didn't know what time Ren had to be at work. It was currently 7 in the morning, and she couldn't sleep anymore. Stepping out of the guest room, she followed her nose to the kitchen, where Ren was holding two pieces of black bread. She giggled softly at the irritated expression on his face and he jumped. "Good morning." She greeted softly. He smiled.

"Good morning, Mogami-san. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you." She blushed softly and stepped into the kitchen. "Are you…having trouble?" She asked with a cute smile. Ren sighed.

"Um….a bit." He dropped the bread in the garbage and looked up helplessly.

"What do you usually eat for breakfast?" She wondered with a soft laugh, coming closer. With a large smile, he held out a cup of steaming coffee and she sighed. "Of course." She opened his refrigerator, then a few cabinets, finally turning to him with a scowl. "Why don't you have an food?" She asked, crossing her arms. He smiled.

"I must have forgotten to do the grocery shopping this week." He lied. 'And last week…and the week before.' "Come on. Let's get dressed and we can pick something up." She seemed ready to argue, but finished her coffee instead.

In the car, Kyoko finally brought up the question she had been pondering for most of the morning. "Tsuruga-san…why do you have clothes in my size in the spare room?" She wondered, a little frightened of the answer.

"Oh. I got them in case you had to stay over." She stared at him dubiously as he pulled into the parking lot of a small restaurant.

"In case…I had to stay over?" She asked a bit nervously.

"Mhm." He stepped out of the car nonchalantly and she followed, still a little dumbfounded. He led her into the restaurant and they took a seat at a table in the back, telling the waitress their orders and then waited for their food. He looked over at her and noticed that she still seemed to be thinking rather hard about something. Smiling, he decided to get her mind off of the conundrum of why he would expect her to spend the night with him. "What time do need to be at work?" He wondered.

"Ten. I have some paperwork for Sawara-san, and maybe he'll have some more offers for me."

"Hm. You know, I really think you should audition for Mio." He told her softly. "The Director is out of the hospital, and auditions start next week. " The waitress arrived with their breakfast and she took a bite of her food, chewing thoughtfully.

"What if…" She took a deep breath. "What if I do get the part…not saying that I'm good enough to play such a big part!" She assured him hurriedly. "What if I do get it…and I'm not able to do it?" She asked his sadly. "I've never actually created a character before…so how am I going to created such a…complicated character." He smiled softly at her and, reaching over the table, touched her wrist.

"Hey. I'll be working with you. I'll help you."


Kyoko absentmindedly filed the papers into their respective folders, Ren's smile still lodged firmly in her brain. "Why do I do this?" She mumbled irritably to herself. "When he smiles at me like that, when he helps me out, when I spend any prolonged amount of time with him…I end up thinking about him all day." She placed the folders in a stack to deliver to Sawara-san and looked around the small pink Love Me office. "I can't help it! He's just so darn handsome!" She cried angrily to herself.

"Who is?" Looking up, she smiled happily.

"Moko-san!" She cried, jumping to her feet, and, as usual, throwing herself at her best friend, who dodged at the last minute, and landed sprawled in the hallway.

"Mogami-san?" Peering up, she smiled weakly at Sawara-san, who was looking down at her in concern and confusion. "Um…are you okay?"

"Yes." She picked herself up. "I'm fine." She bowed deeply. "How are you today?" She wondered. She had seen him briefly when she had arrived, and he had only given her a stack of paperwork.

"Okay…" He looked back and forth between the strange Love Me girls. "That's good…and I'm fine." He followed her into the office and she handed him the folders. "Thank you Mogami-san." After giving her 100 points in her stamp book, he handed both her and Kanae, who was sitting at her own small desk, a piece of paper. "Well, these are offers that were sent to the majority of LME actresses. I'm sure you've heard of Dark Moon?" Both girls looked up in surprise. "This is an invitation to audition for the part of Hongo Mio. If you are interested, you can see Director Ogata, and he can get you a sample of the script." Kyoko stared at the paper, and then at Kanae, who seemed excited. "Well, let me know if you decide to audition. Good luck." Sawara-san left the girls to the remainder of the paperwork and headed to his own office.

The girls filed in silence, neither one wanting to bring up the question on each of their minds. Finally, Kyoko was brave enough to speak up. "So…Moko-san…are you going to audition for Mio?" She asked quietly, placing the papers in her hand on the desk and looking up at her friend, who did the same.

"Of course." Kanae smiled a little. "It's a big part, and this is a great opportunity to act with some of the best actresses in LME." She hesitated, then spoke dubiously. "Are you auditioning? I mean…I know you don't really have any experience in acting…and…"

"I'm going to do it." Kyoko spoke with determination. Kanae stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

"Then…I guess we're competing." Kanae told her desk, clenching her hands in her lap. 'I knew this would happen. Competitors can't be friends, right? Now I've gotten attached and…' She looked up in surprise when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up into her friend's bright eyes.

Kyoko held out her hand with a determined smile. "We'll both do our best, and let the best actress win. Good luck, Moko-san." Surprised, Kanae took her friends hand and smiled hesitantly.

"Alright. Good luck." Privately, she was still worried. 'What if we get too competitive? Is a part, even one as great as this one, worth loosing my best friend over?'

Director Ogata glanced up at his friend. "Haruki, I've already said that I'm holding auditions."

"But Hiroaki…don't you think she'd be perfect?"

The frail man sighed, resting his head on his hand. "She definitely has what Mio needs…" He pressed pause, staring into her insane eyes. "I can't just call off the audition and offer her the part, Haruki, not when she doesn't have any other acting experience, and not after what happened with the last actress." The producer smiled sadly, nodded.

"Alright. But what if she tries out?"

"Then she'll have to prove herself, like every other actress." He told her firmly. "I am going to beat my father, and Dark Moon is going to surpass Tsukigomori. The only way I can do that is to hire only the best actors and actresses."

A/N: So I'm sorry that this one was short, but please let me know what you think :) I hope you all are still enjoying this story.