And now is the time when we first see a few rare signs of Kyoko and Ren getting along with each other. I'm sure you guys can tell from the title that there most likely won't be a lemon in this chapter but don't worry, there will be in future chapters. Please enjoy reading.
I don't own Skip Beat, Ren, or probably even Dream girl (her name for now).
The Love Me Girl's Fight, The Dream Girl's Scolding
The morning Ren found the evidence of that night's 'dream' he wore a turtle neck shirt again to hide the lines. What really had him stumped all day was how they got there. Both times his dream girl visited him there were no signs of her the morning after and his clothes were on him like they were when he went to sleep. Ren gave up thinking about it after the nail lines went away after the first day and he had his fifth headache on the third.
The fourth day since his dream girl last visited him came and with it another unknown drastic change in his life. The no-talent girl came back to LME to be famous again. This time he heard from Sawara-san that the president created a new section which allowed her to stay. Ren didn't agree with the president on this but he was able to at least give the new and first Love Me girl a hard time. It was simple really, once Ren smiled to a woman she had no choice but to let him do what he wanted, which was getting her in trouble with Kamio Kimiko-san.
"That looks heavy." Ren saw her look up at him. "Want me to carry some?" And before she could mumble more than a few incoherent words he took the rolling luggage from her hands. "It's a man's job to carry it at a time like this."
They walked behind Kamio-san and Ren told her the new Love Me Section and their new member: the newly dubbed Love Me girl herself. To make up for getting her in trouble, Ren gave her helpful advice of taking responsibility of her own work. He felt her glare at his back until too much distance grew between them and that was the last time he saw her that day.
The day after Ren teased the Love Me girl, he received an equally perfect opportunity to bully her outside of the LME building. This time she was doing actual Love Me work in the awful uniform the president designed himself. The irony was, it was the same uniform's painfully bright hot pink color that made him find her in the middle of a sunny field while the staff was fishing and waiting for Matsunai Ruriko. "Love Me girl. Found you." Ren looked down at the girl. "Are you rolling around because you're taking a break or because you collapsed?" He watched Love Me girl struggle to turn the opposite direction of him. "Looks like you collapsed."
Apparently Love Me girl was working with Matsunai-san. Just when he was about comment on her work so far, he noticed Love Me girl's skin was really red under her sock. "Excuse me." Ren flipped her over and inspected her ankle. Without a doubt her ankle was injured, at best, just fractured. "Let's take her back." Ren picked up the surprisingly feather light Love Me girl. "We can't do anything for her here. Hold on a little longer…" Ren walked to the set with his light load.
Of course Love Me girl made carrying her difficult, she kept squirming and yelling for him to let down since she was 'okay'. He finally let her down on the porch of the set and told Yashiro to treat, he then told the director the situation and went to get into costume. Later, Ren felt Matsunai-san's eyes constantly following him. It was a matter of time before she actually spoke to him and when she did, Ren had a feeling she didn't like what he said since she ran off.
"Then there's no point in including her, knowing the trouble we'll face." Ren responded to the director after he basically told to him to coddle her. There was no way Ren was ever going to baby and work seriously with a wanna be princess just for her to say she acted as professional. In the end he and the director both agreed to just blame the president if the movie never got finished.
It was a little while before Yashiro and Love Me girl came running (and hoping) back with Matsunai-san being carried by them. When Ren asked if the Love Me girl went to the hospital he was a little annoyed that she got it wrong but he did feel sorry for her when Matsunai-san pushed her down. In Ren's opinion, she needed to be taught a lesion but he didn't really expect Love Me girl to take up the challenge of competing in an acting battle with Matsunai-san.
Amazing. That was the word to describe Love Me girl when Ren first saw her in her wig and kimono. "What a change…" Ren talked to the director. "It's more than I expected." That was all he would admit. All though she did very well in her first task when she entered the room, she practically glided into the room. But sure enough that gliding did a number on her ankle.
As much fun Ren secretly had in teasing Love Me girl in the beginning he was worried about her health at the end of the acting battle against Matsunai-san. She was really pale and it scared him to no end for some reason. As soon as Ren got off the set and out of her eye sight, Love Me girl fainted. Ren asked Yashiro to take care of her at the hospital, a really small part of himself hoping that she will be okay.
But really, what environment was Love Me girl raised in to not show any pain in front of someone until her own body can't take it anymore? Her sacrifice didn't matter in the end though, the director just used her like a motivating dummy and tossed her aside when she did what she was supposed to do. Then again Ren might as well call himself a hypocrite if he thought what he said in the end was nicer than what the director had done. 'She'll never surpass Fuwa if she clings onto silly wants like having makeup on until it peels off though.' Ren thought to himself as he heard hear screamed something about killing a guy name Shotaro.
Ren went to his hotel room, paid for by LME, and got ready for bed. He was sure that his dream girl would come again soon. A few days have passed already and any night might be the night she came back. Ren wouldn't admit that he was some love sick fool waiting for his girlfriend, no, his dream girl was purely someone who did what she promised: let him relax and relieve stress instead of being the cause of it like his past faceless girlfriends – including that Katsumi girl from before. Ren went to sleep as easily as he could now and days.
"You are the biggest meaner I've ever met Tsuruga-san!" Ren got groggily up when he heard someone yelling in his room. "Not even the other guy was this mean – not in my face at least." Ren looked to the side of his bed and saw the frame of his playmate against the moonlight the hotel window let through. It looked like her promise was already being dashed away as Ren took in her folded arms and wide stance. "What do you mean 'I'm mean'?" He asked as he sat up, fully awake now.
"You use a gentlemanly smile to trick girls, you say the cheekiest of things to women, and you pick on people who don't deserve it Tsuruga-san." She paced across from him. The moonlight was now Ren's enemy as it kept glaring at him and bounced off his playmate's figure. "Who are you talking about? I've never done those things to you or to earn your bad mood." Ren stood up and that made her finally stop. He saw her shake her head and sigh. "Tsuruga-san you don't understand that you've been seeing me more often than just our first two nights." She looked to him and shook her head again. "I wish you would be a little nicer to me. Then again, I do start half the fights we are in. After all glaring and refusing your kindness is rather rude."
Ren hugged her despite his confusion. What the hell was she talking about? He sees her more than he thinks, she's fought with him? She's right in a way. He's barely seen any of her face to know what she looked like outside of their nighttime visits and she was rather rough their last time together. Ren's hands traveled up and down his playmate's body absentmindedly. He tugged up and down the top part of the clothes he felt but they wouldn't move, just when he was about to look down to take a look at the problem clothes, his playmate pushed away from him with unforeseen strength and ran to the door.
"You better be nice in at least the next few times I see you Tsuruga-san." She sounded like she was pouting. She left the room and closed the door without looking back again, Ren tried to follow her but the second he set foot beyond the door everything went dark and quiet.
Ren woke up on his stomach and his first thought was about his dream girl. 'Well last night was disappointing. If she wants to can someone mean then she should call herself a tease. She hasn't even offered her name and she already knows mine.' Ren sighed and got up when he heard someone knock on his hotel room's door. Yashiro gave him some time to get ready for the day and they later headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. They ran into Love Me girl there and her clothes did look strange, had he seen them earlier?... oh yeah, yesterday before she changed for her acting challenge. Speaking of her acting challenge, Ren, in his own helpful way, showed her how he disapproved of the reason she tried her best: for her revenge.
Love Me girl will never learn will she? Probably not, Ren answered himself. But what about what his dream girl said? What did she mean?
So Ren's dream girl is asking for him to be nicer to her, yet at the same time Ren is still being mean to Kyoko. Do you think his dream girl won't come back after all? I hope not because I'm having too much fun with her and Ren together. Thanks for reading! Have a nice day/evening.