Chapter 3: When afraid, find escape.

If the moment Yashiro Yukihito held his cellphone on his bare hands for 10 seconds or Takarada Lory tell him his acting for the emotion of love is too fake didn't make him bewildered with disbelief, it certainly did when he finally turned the corner of the narrow hallway and see that.
He just saw the girl he is in love with kissing another guy.

He was walking through an intersection in the hallway when he heard their voices speak. They talked low and he didn't really mean to eavesdrop, but it was quite audible in the narrow, isolated part of the building - a special hallway for the celebrities to pass through within the studio.

And it wasn't the "shady guy" Yukihito-san talked about before whenever he tried to pry Ren to stopping from being a relationship idiot, it was Ishibashi Hikaru, one of the most well-liked celebrities today. And apparently, he and Mogami-san are talking about some secret only the two of them shared.

So this is what Kyoko was doing in A Studios??? She certainly wasn't here for Nipponet Scoop since she's already been there or Bridge Rock since he would have known if they would be guesting together.

She was here to see Ishibashi Hikaru.

"Aaah... Tsuruga-san!" exclaimed the most well-liked celebrity in Japan as he point at him.

Mogami-san jumped like a rabbit and turned to look at him, her face as red as Ishibashi Hikaru's.

* * *

'How embarrassing!' Kyoko thought widely as she turned her head to face him.

Her favorite senpai just witnessed her give out her first kiss. Yes, she was doing it in front of a camera and an audience later this evening, but still… The primary objective was so she can have her first kiss in private, not for the world – or anyone – to see.

Then she saw it, the evil gleam in his eyes that glint just before he closed them and his lips widened to another one of his fake smiles.

"I sense something in the air…" Three demons sang as they rose from her and gravitated towards the source.

"I'm really sorry to interrupt the two of you," he started towards them.

"Go-good afternoon, Tsuruga-san!" Hikaru exclaimed and bowed to the man.

"Ye-yes! Good afternoon to you too, Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko followed suit and gave Tsuruga Ren a formal bow.

"Good afternoon," he smiled at both of them. "Mogami-san, I didn't know that you were going to be here. Um… what are you doing here?"

"Um… I'm going to lunch with Hikaru-senpai," Kyoko straightened up, still trying to cool her face down. Not only did Tsuruga-san see her kiss Hikaru, which is embarrassing as hell, she's also trying to figure out how to conceal Bo's identity from him – she worked so hard for the last couple of months to do so! Tsuruga-san has already opened up so many secrets to Bo. He'd feel betrayed he ever finds out it was really her and might think she's doing it to dig in secrets about him!!!

This is really so, so, so, so times a million embarrassing!
"Kyoko-chan!" Hikaru-senpai turned to her in disbelief. "I always thought you were so close to Tsuruga-san that you'd have told him–"
"Aaaaah! Hungry!" Kyoko exclaimed before Hikaru-senpai says too much. "Let's go?" She looked up at Tsuruga-san remembering her manners and uneasily asked, "Would you like to join us? Tsuruga-san?"

* * *

"Tsuruga-san, you didn't know?" Hikaru looked at his face in puzzlement. He always thought that Kyoko-chan and Tsuruga-san were very close. At least, that's what the ever-efficient rumor mill of the LME office reports. And he was not exactly the type to be above to listening to office gossip especially since everyone's talking about it. Surely, since Kyoko-chan and Tsuruga-san that close, he would know that Kyoko-chan plays Bo in Bridge Rock.

"No," Tsuruga-san's eyes turned icy as he stared at him. "I didn't." He instantly froze but Tsuruga-san's face turned into its usual friendly look again.

"Oh!" Hikaru gave a short laugh. "Well, now you do. Would you join me and Kyoko-chan for lunch?"

There was a brief pause before he answered, "Actually, I already had lunch. I just thought the three of you guys would enjoy some pasta we got at the new place." He held out a fancy white paper bag. "I-if I knew there were four of you, I would have gotten another one."

"Wow!" Hikaru took it from him and happily. "I haven't tried that place yet! Thank you! Are you sure you sure you don't want to join us?"

"Oh no… as I said, I just ate," he stammered. "Um… I'm going to look for my manager now. I kinda lost him and not sure where he is. I think he's out here somewhere in the cafeteria… at the third table… by the window… that overlooks the nearby park." He quickly pivoted and gave them a quick wave. "See you later."

* * *

"Whatever happened to that fancy Italian food we had to take out so we can eat it with Kyoko-chan?" Yukihito-san complained as he and Ren sat down in the studio's empty cafeteria. "My efforts of getting you to spend time with Kyoko-chan and my precious fancy Italian pasta wasted." Then he paused at the mountain of food Ren has on his tray. "Are you really that hungry?"

"What?" Ren retorted irritably. "You always complain that I don't eat. And now you're complaining that I do???"

"So you finished all the pasta while I went to the vending machine on the other floor for the golden cola?"

"No…" He stopped in his tracks on his second forkful of cafeteria spaghetti. "I ended up giving it to Bridge Rock."

"I see…" Yukihito sighed. Always playing the nice guy, he thought. Then suddenly he realized that they were missing someone. "Where's Kyoko-chan? You said she'd be here and you'd go look for her while I get the drinks." He took out his trusty glove out his pocket. "I guess you couldn't find her… I'll just give her a call." He started flipping through his phone's address book.

"No, don't," Ren yanked the phone out his hand and gently placed it on the table. "You're going to disrupt the quality time she has with her boyfriend." He said quietly before taking another forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"Her…" It took a while before the words registered into his system. "What!? Who? How? When did this happen?"

Ren dropped the fork on the plate. "I don't know." She could have told him. They're at the point of their friendship where she's supposed to be able to tell him anything, right? If she told him about Ishibashi Hikaru, he would have stopped himself from opening his heart to her. "I'm not exactly sure when she started seeing Bridge's Ishibashi Hikaru."

"Ishi…" Yukihito's voice trailed off.

* * *

This is the worst! Yukihito's mind started to swirl. It's not Fuwa Shou or that weird guy who chased after her in Karuizawa or any other insane deranged guy with an ego to stroke, it's one of the most well-liked celebrities in Japan whose personality is just as real on-screen and off-… and a compatriot in LME to boot!

The grapevine around LME did have small talk that Ishibashi Hikaru had a crush on Kyoko-chan. But Yukihito didn't think the two have ever met. He just thought Ishibashi-san came to like her as Mio – which was a really strange preference since Mio is evil and scary and projected an ugly aura. There was no reason to, right?

Then a lightbulb lit up on his head. "That time!"

"What time?" Ren snapped out of his thoughts.

"That night before the Kyurara CM audtion!" Yukihito exclaimed. "We saw her here too! I remember because you were harassing her outside the toilets! She said that she was here on Love Me business but she wasn't wearing her uniform." His mind panicked. How come Bridge's manager, who he frequently talked to whenever they see each other in the office never told him? This is terrible!

*Sigh…* It would be so much easier to find fault if it was someone egotistical, overbearing and stupid like Fuwa Shou or that Vie Ghoul guy. Apart from being well-liked, Ishibashi Hikaru had a reputation of being sweet, adorable and amiable! No one would find fault or object to the next big star and the next big idol being together.

Yukihito looked over his charge and save the evil glint in his eye once again as he gripped his fork.

N-not good! He panicked. He didn't dig his own grave. He dug Kyoko's! Oh no! This can put him in a really bad mood and it will not be good for business. But he didn't feel like lying just to soothe Ren's raging soul.

He felt like he was going to be one of BJ's prey in the movie he was filming, but he said it anyway. "Well, it's not her fault you know," Yukihito crossed his arms over his chest.

"What?" Ren blinked when he said that.

"The fact that she's young and sweet and cute and strong-willed," Yukihito expanded. "It's not like she has a third arm or some skin disease that would make her any less attractive to any guy. If they had the guts, they would have asked her out already. And I'm sure Ishibashi Hikaru had the guts and was willing to overlook the fact that there's a four year difference between them." He suddenly felt a drop in Ren's temper, so he continued on. "Personally, even though it's not what I want, I'm glad it's someone like Ishibashi-san, not some weird pervert who will take advantage of her. Aren't you glad it's someone like that?"

"Who's side are you on anyway?" Ren sneered at him.

But it all looked like a kitten meow to Yukihito. "Yours. That's why I'm telling it you straight out."

"But that's not the point."

"Then what is?"

* * *

If it were a pervert, a jerk, a lowlife, an asshole, he would be able to be with her.

If it were Fuwa Shou, he would be able to calm her soul and be at her side, boosting her confidence, as she rises to the top without the motivation of revenge. Making her realize that she can do it for herself more than for anyone.

If it were stalker-kun, he would be able to protect her and give her courage to stand up against anyone.

"Your existence gives courage and self-confidence to me…"

Those were her words when he has finally accepted the fact he will do anything and everything in order to stay by her side. Her words that made him realize that she is not just another senpai that hangs around her when their schedules allow them the time together.

If it were Ishibashi Hikaru, he would slowly disappear from her mind and his existence would slowly fade away. Because he will become a redundancy.

Ren asked for a break before the start of the shoot. Yukihito warned him to stay close by in case he's already needed on set. He gave a non-commital grunt and wandered into one of the isolated hallways of the studio.

He came painfully close to scaring her away for good. He had to find a lame excuse of finding Yukihito-san before he let his temper flare. But Yukihito-san had a point – a frustratingly stupid, irrefutable, logical point.

But it didn't make sense to him. Because in his own frame of logic, the person who will stand beside Mogami-san was going to be him. Hasn't he been there from the start even though at the time she had an obvious dislike for him and he hated her motives? Him… Not some 20-year old–

Does he even know that there are laws against that? She's only 17, damnit. He was tempted to call up the police just to get to let them know. Ishibashi-san was compelling a high school student to cut school!

–rising idol–

What's with that? At the risk of sounding immodest, he's already at the pinnacle of the stardom ladder.

–who is living off the fame of his variety show.

And he has already received several accolades and praises from both critiques and fans.

So how come this newbie is getting what he wants?

But she lied to him. Again. Even after her heart-touching 'I don't want to lose your trust' speech some months ago, she has been hiding the fact that she's been running around to A Studios to see Ishibashi Hikaru. She could at least told him that. At least, he would have made a proper distance that would have prevented him from opening his heart up to her. Now that he's at the point where he can no longer close it, she was pouring salt all over it.

And that was his common sense.

'Yo, it's been a while!' a whiteboard started waving in front of him as his old friend in the chicken suit appeared.

"Hello, Bo…" He gave a sad smile and leaned against the wall.

'Can't talk, I'm working. I'm supposed to pick you up for the show.'

"We should go then," he moved to stand up and followed the chicken onto the stage where hundreds of his raging fangirls started screaming his name. "You didn't happen to see a girl in a pink jumpsuit running around here, did you?"

Bo stopped in his tracks and Ren turned around while he started writing in a message on the board. He raised the board that read 'She was here earlier, but she already left before the shoot started.'

"I see."

* * *

The show continued on without a hitch. But something's wrong…

Behind Bo's disguise, Kyoko can feel the tense aura coming from Tsuruga Ren. It was totally different from the mood he showed earlier when she picked him up from the spot where they first met. At the time, he seemed … sad? Maybe? Of course, spending constant time together because of Dark Moon, she has become somewhat in tuned with his moods. But it was easily concealed by his cheery persona that no one else noticed. But now, he was being his fake self again. Maybe he was just really like that when being interviewed? The Bridge Rock boys have the tendency to pry.

When Hikaru-senpai read a question about his love life, there was a definite pause and a death glare aimed at him before Tsuruga-san elaborated how his own busy schedule did not enable him to have time for a relationship.

If that was the case, Kyoko thought. Then he shouldn't be spending so much of his free time with her. Not that she didn't have a fault in it since she was always grateful for his company because it was always the time when she needed advice from him. He could just tell her that and she would have understood.

There was a definite crackle after Hikaru gave a follow-up question.

Tsuruga-san… she thought. What's with you today?