Chapter 4: If it's still scary, confront!
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"So…"
The hairs at the back of Hikaru's neck stood up at the chilly tone from the man behind him. He didn't need to look to know it was Tsuruga-san. He was standing in front of a mirror so he felt being attacked from the front and the back with his death glare with an imposing pose even though he's just leaning against the doorframe.
"Yes?" he asked feebly.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Kyoko-chan?"
Rumors in the office say that Kyoko-chan is Tsuruga Ren's favorite kouhai. There was even a rumor or two about a thing going on between them. But knowing Kyoko-chan not to be the starry-eyed type to guys who show any minute interest in her, (it hurts) he didn't really believe any of those rumors. As a senpai to Shin'ichi and Yuusei (in terms of age) and the fact that they're really close, he would feel slighted a little if they didn't tell him important things like these. But this much of a bad mood???
Tsuruga Ren is reputed to be one of the most courteous and most gallant gentlemen in show business. But the guys who stood before him was different. It kinda reminded him of dark Kazuki from Dark Moon. No… he corrected himself. It was much darker than the Kazuki that he's seen. Even Kazuki would look like a meek puppy beside this Tsuruga Ren.
"Since we first aired a couple of months back," Hikaru answered with a smile. He thought, Maybe he was just having a bad day? "It was supposed to be someone else, but then she came along… you know. She really fit the role so it was decided to keep her. Energetic, highly talented, funny to a boot."
"You're making it sound like she's filling a role." He unfolded his arms and he started towards him.
"Isn't she?"
He stopped in front of him and gave him a shove. Hikaru faltered back a couple of steps but recovered his balance. "What was that for, Tsuruga-san?"
"I was going to tell you that if you ever hurt her…" He took another step towards him and grabbed his arm. "She's not some-"
Tsuruga-san gasped in surprise as his hand was flicked away and he was pushed hard against the wall. He cleared his vision and saw "Bo?"
"If you think you can just come in here and bully Hikaru-senpai like you're the fricking king of the universe, you have another thing coming," his friend, the chicken, threateningly said as he stood beside Hikaru.
"Kyoko-chan," Hikaru pulled at Bo's wing/arm. "It's alright. Tsuruga-san and I were just talking."
"Kyoko?" Tsuruga-san bewilderedly repeated.
"That certainly didn't look that way, senpai." A death aura surrounded the only person who is supposed to understand him no matter what. She turned to him and started stalking towards him. "You've been very cold since I saw you lunch time," she said. "Considering you lectured me before about my attitude on letting things drag out, I'm reverting the lecture back to you. If you have a problem with me or with anyone, tell it straight out and don't hide behind that sparkling smile of yours."
Hikaru stared at Bo… The mascot's face never changed because it would be really freaky if it did, but he could feel the rage seeping through the feathers as Kyoko bravely confronted 'the' Tsuruga Ren.
Kyoko-chan is definitely the coolest girl he's ever met.
* * *
"Kyoko?" he repeated in disbelief. The chicken who has always relied on whenever he sees him is actually a girl??? And not just any girl… It was Mogami-san!
Kyoko removed Bo's headpiece and slammed it on the table and glared at Tsuruga-san. The aura that surrounded her intimidated, despite the fact that from the neck down, she was wearing a chicken costume. "Is it a problem that I play a chicken and didn't tell anyone about it?"
"No, that's not it." Ren felt like a total tool. Now he has completely humiliated himself since it's all starting to make sense why she was there all this time.
"Then what is it???" she shouted. He already knew that Mogami-san can have a really loud voice when she's felt compelled to scream out. But he never actually saw her shout at anybody, let alone at him.
"He-" he looked at the man who was his undefeatable rival and the man the girl he loves was defending. "You really are easy to deceive," he said as he turned to her. He suddenly felt BJ starting to rise on his side. Now is not the time for gentle explanations to her. She was going to get hurt by this guy who just said that he was just using her. He's taking the usual route of giving her the hard reality rather than have her heart get broken once she realizes it later. "This guy says that you're doing nothing but filling a role needed and you're not prudent enough to see through it while you're going out with him!"
Mogami-san gave her a puzzled look, then said, "I'm not going out with Hikaru-senpai! I'm not even interested! He's only my friend. If what you are referring to would be that kiss you saw earlier, that was a little acting exercise I need to do for Box-R later!"
Then he saw it… three flying arrows with the words 'not interested', 'friend', and 'kiss-acting exercise' to hit squarely at the young idol who just looked like he was just dumped. He suddenly snapped out of his dark mood and was filled with empathy for the Ishibashi-san. "Mo-Mogami-sa-"
But she was too riled up. Her temper flared when he tried to reach for her and flicked his hand away like how she did when she first introduced the cast of Dark Moon to her version of Mio. "To be honest, it could have been you or Yuusei-senpai or anyone else I consider as a friend. It just so happened Hikaru-senpai is there! If there's anyone using someone, it was me," she continued on, oblivious to the fact that Hikaru's face is falling and he looked like he was… melting. "That's right! I need to kiss someone for Box-R later on and it's going to be my first kiss. As hardened as I seem, I'm not exactly comfortable with the fact on giving my first kiss because of a script! So I kissed Hikaru-senpai! Someone like you who has probably kissed several hundreds of women would understand that!"
Her first kiss was given to Ishibashi-san? Ren turned to him and he seemed to still be recovering from being called an acting exercise friend who's she not interested in. He couldn't even get himself mad enough to… He only felt sorry for the idol who looked like he being buried alive.
But there was another issue at hand. He turned to her and said, "If we're so close, how come you never call me by my first name? It seems that you and Ishibashi are close enough to do that?"
"What?! What is that??? My stage name is Kyoko! Kyo-ko," she enunciated. "Since I don't the luxury of a last name for the my stage name, it's only natural people call me Kyoko-san or Kyoko-chan. And there are three guys on Bridge Rock have the surname 'Ishibashi' and they're all my senpais."
Now Ren started to feel the conversation starting to be a little ridiculous – mostly because of him. And since it was already at that point anyway, he decided to even take it further.
"So you won't have any problems if I started calling you Kyoko-chan too?"
Mogami-san just stared hard at him for a second and replied flippantly, "No, I won't. Since you're my senpai, you can pretty much do whatever you like. If you want to be just like everyone else and call me Kyoko-chan instead of being one of the few people who call me by my real name even if it's just my surname, then do it."
Be just like everyone else??? He never really looked at it that way. His turn of the conversation seemed to have calmed her demons down and she just looked tired.
Then she sighed. "Look, I'm going to get dressed. Then I'm going to leave because I have an important 3:00PM meeting with Sawara-san. I'm not really in the mood for this." She turned around, picked up Bo's head and stalked out of the room, past Yukihito-san who was staring at them wide-eyed with disbelief. She turned around again and pointed straight at him with a menacing scowl on her face. "You stay away from me until I'm ready to talk to you again!"
* * *
Kyoko's head was simmering as she stalked outside A Studios.
She stopped dead in her tracks and tried to calm down some more. She has an important meeting with Sawara-san and she can't bring her baggage from one job to another.
But that does mean it changes the fact that Tsuruga Ren is a complete psychopath! Under the fake smile is his real personality – she knew it all along.
But even though he is insane, temperamental, and scary, she felt a lump in her heart. Something empty and hallow. Not like the time that she had discovered she was being duped and had vowed revenge on Shotaro, where it emptied and quickly replaced by a burning fire of revenge.
She closed her eyes and did some heavy breathing.
When she finally calmed down, she opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Tsuruga-san's precious little car.
With utmost determination, she dug through her bag and took out a pen.