Story - Love As Is
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?
Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.
Author's Notes: I apologize - I went on hiatus with this story for a little bit as I was struggling with both classes and two family deaths. I'm back, with a bit of writer's block, but I'm back all the same. I've never abandoned a story and I never will! This chapter is not my best - I'll admit it doesn't flow correctly, but no amount of self-editing appears to fix it. I'm sorry, it'll be better next time! Enjoy.

Fifth Act

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself. ~Marilyn Vos Savant

"Please explain to me why I need to meet you there." Ayumi's voice was the very embodiment of exasperation. "And why you don't understand the meaning of the word 'no'."

"Princess," Maya teased, "I get that it is super difficult for Your Highness to take time out of her prescheduled day for one of her best friends in the entire world, but let me just tell You, Your Highness, that it will be worth it regardless. Besides, could you please pretend to be happy since the holidays are well on their way?"

"Oh, shut up with that silly nickname. And what holiday could you possibly be thinking of? Besides, I would be an imbecile not to see you're trying to set me up for something."

"Me?"

"No," the other girl fairly snarled, "your cousin Eriko - yes, you."

"Why ever would you think that?"

"Because I know you," Ayumi said shrewdly, "and more importantly, I know how you and Rei function together so don't make any sort of excuses or fob me off with any lies. You planned this in advance - how silly of me, since I've just now figured out.

"What, we can't ask you out to lunch as friends who love you and want to see you?"

The innocent question didn't go over well.

"Who is it?"

"No one you might know personally."

There was a beat of silence.

"Maya, I know very many people impersonally."

Poor unsuspecting Ayumi.

Getting the Princess into a good mood was no easy feat, and Maya didn't think she was doing a very good job, but she and Rei had decided that trickery was the best way to get this blind date jig going. Which is why Maya and Rei were not actually luring their best friend into a blind date - what they were doing was leading the snooty brunette on in the hopes that she would completely disbelieve them when they did set up the date. Maya had pretty much thought of it all on her own, especially since she would still have to convince Toudou-san (a confirmed bachelor, really) to go along with it. Yeah, maybe this was a roundabout way to get Ayumi to relax, breathe and smell the roses, but it was one of the only ideas they'd had between the two of them so far.

And it would be successful, Maya just knew it.

"How close are you?"

"I'm standing at the entrance. And are you seriously side-stepping this question? Because I'm not in any mood to deal with someone!"

Maya turned to see the young woman herself marching towards her in full-blown angry stride. She'd clearly hung up the phone, since she was this close and give the brunette a pieced of her irritated mind. Maya could see the girl working herself into a tirade that might last all through-out lunch, and this was usually where Maya cut her off. It was usually best to distract Ayumi (even though that was rarely possible) before she entered full-blown irritation mode.

"Ayumi, you're awfully worked up this afternoon," Maya said sweetly. "Aren't you supposed to be the logical level-headed one? And the one who keeps her cool all the time? Jeez, you're way too suspicious to have such good friends who are trying to take care of you. It's just lunch."

"Just lunch? What, with a sideserving of secrecy and an extra order of lies?"

"Oh, are the cameras still rolling?" Maya rolled her eyes and craned her neck around to look for Rei, who should have been returning from the ladies' room any minute now. "That was dramatic enough to earn itself a place in a drama."

"My last nerve, Maya!"

That was a new octave, if Maya had ever heard one. That was also a decidedly hostile tilt to the blonde head. Honestly, if Ayumi had meant to strike fear into the hearts of men and women in the restaurant, she couldn't have made a more intense expression. As it was, the waiter who had been coming to help Maya back to her seat faltered in his steps. Maya watched with interest as he righted himself at the last moment and managed to paste a smile back on to his face. If she hadn't been watching him the entire time, she might have thought she'd imagined the whole thing.

Unfortunately, Ayumi was not finished.

"My last nerve," she repeated. "You are getting on it."

Maya smiled and pulled the girl into a hug.

"Good." She pulled back to loop arms with the unwilling. "Because this is payback for last week."

"Last week? What happened last-" Another glare. "Oh come on, he was a bore! A complete bore. Even Rei said so herself that she'd only thrown us together to make me appreciate the next one."

Another clever idea brought to light by Rei. The girl was a match-making genius, really - Maya adored the stage she walked on. There was no way that Ayumi wasn't going to be the least bit impressed by her next date if the last one had been the worst situation she'd claimed to have ever walked into in her life.

Which, thought Maya as she eyed the blonde she was dragging to the table, was really the point. She needs to be dazzled in order to be hooked. And this was just the way to do it.

"So how is work?" she asked Ayumi as they sat down. "Can we see the script yet?"

"It was fine and no, you cannot see the script yet."

"Oh, come on, come on," the brunette cajoled - Ayumi had the most ridiculous hang-ups about scripts sometimes - before making a bit of a face. "It's been two weeks - you know we'll end up seeing it before anyone else because you've gotten into the habit of running lines with us. So let's see it, shall we?"

"And I'd rather have that be sooner than later," she responded firmly, "because I'm willing to delay the inevitable for as long as possible."

"Like these dates?" Maya teased.

"Exactly," was the fierce response.

Maya laughed.

"I know you're biding your time because you can't find anyone at the moment."

At this Maaya shared a look with Rei. Ayumi seemed pretty convinced by her own sentiments, and who were they to disturb that? Still, it wouldn't do to give her any inkling as to what they had in store for her later this week.

"It's only because you've bullied half the males in the industry, and built a solidly terrifying reputation with the rest." Rei looked convincingly fed up. "We need an unknown."

"No, you both need lives. And speaking of lives, why isn't Maya speaking of hers?" Ayumi pinned with a shrewd look that managed to make her appear older than her years. "Rei, hasn't she been suspiciously silent these days?"

The brunette in question feigned innocence.

"Don't try that look with me. When did you see him?"

"Am I an open book?" Maya muttered as she looked heavenwards. Honestly, she was beginning to get the feeling that Ayumi had been clairvoyant in a past life, and that they had become friends if only for the blonde to continuoully blast down her walls and get to her emotions. She hadn't really wanted to do any talking about Hayami Masumi - he was like this delicious little secret that she wanted to keep to herself for the next few days - so she had to think fast. "Operation Forget is not coming along as planned."

"And why not?"

Why, indeed, she thought to herself.

Because she'd seen him, they'd interacted face-to-face, he'd sought her out and made a point of saying that he would continue to do so.

Because she felt as if this was a turning point, despite the hagard way he'd looked all those weeks ago, and the desperate discomfort she'd felt in that limousine long ago.

Because she somehow understood that this was the beginning of something new, and forgetting him would be pretty impossible after it.

"Because he's funding the play," was all she said aloud. "Because Director Kanjika gave him an open invitation to watch any and all of our practices, and I'm sure he's bound to come around soon."

"Well, there is that," Ayumi replied thoughtfully. "And he's always made it a point to come to your shows, even in the last three years when he's been slowly pulling back from public appearances."

"Really?"

Maya had never received a bouqet of purple flowers again, not that she expected it, but the absence of such a familiar steady thing had made her wistful. She remembered one time a few months ago, that she'd seen a man about Hayami's height with the exact same shade of dark brown of his hair after a play's opening night. For a minute, a strange double vision had set upon her and she'd found herself moving towards him before the vision dissipated. She'd felt a keening disappointment as she watched the look-a-like walk away, and the entire night had been somewhat dimmed by the experience.

"Are you sure?"

"When is she ever not sure," muttered Rei, pseudo-irritation.

"And when do you ever cease to annoy me?"

Maya laughed a little as she watched the two of them trade well-concealed barbs, then laughed a little harder when a very intimidated waiter moved forward to try and take their order. He must have been something of a fan since he blushed and hummed and struggled with looking any of the three young women in the face, and then blushed and hummed and tripped all the way back to the kitchen with the order.

"Has he come to practice yet?"

"Huh?"

"Lost in thought, I see," Rei said slyly. "Has he been able to come to a practice yet?"

Maya shook her head. She'd been wondering if something might have come up in the week since they'd last seen each other, but she hadn't been able to ask after him with a straight face.

"He hasn't been in to Daitou this week at all, though, so I wouldn't worry just yet," said Ayumi with a comforting smile. "Mother says that he and Shiori are finalizing their...papers, and sorting everything out, so it must be that which has kept him from going anywhere."

Shiori.

Maya couldn't even begin to explain what the woman's name stirred up in her chest. Sometimes, she'd felt a strange discomfort during the few times that she'd run into her over the years. It was a mixture of regret - because she could admit to herself that she did indeed feel something for the woman's husband - and envy (because...well...she felt quite a bit more than 'something' for the woman's husband!), and it had made it pretty impossible to carry on any sort of decent conversation. Maya had been markedly more reticent around Shiori, and even her manager had carelessly asked 'Is there something going on there?' after one of those awkward meetings.

Now she felt an even bigger burst of regret, but this time for Shiori and not for herself. It must have been hard, to do what she had done, to break things off with him like that, and it must still be hard.

For both of them.

"I see," Maya said lightly, because she did.

"Do you really?" asked Rei, sounding curious.

Maya smiled again, instead of answering, indicated the waiter.

"Your fan returns."

xXx

"I haven't worked out yet how to get through this scene," Maya admitted shamelessly. Lunch with Ayumi yesterday had only made her way more determined to corner Toudou Kenj and get him and Ayumi alone. To be fair to both of them, neither of them would see it coming at all. That way her best friend wasn't at a significant disadvantage while going in there blind. She'd figured out that the only way to get to the actor was during the times they worked together since anything else would be too suspicious. He had far more leisure time than she did, since he played best friend to the male lead and had only 3/4 of the scenes that she had.

"I can run them with you, if you'd like." He was friendly enough although he looked a bit puzzled as to why she'd ask him. "Is Mogata-kun in make-up?"

Maya leached on to the excuse with a quickness.

"He must be since I can't seem to find him anywhere around here. Just a few lines would be really appreciated."

Half her mind was on the lines she was reciting to Toudou-san, the other half was working out how to ask her question.

Subtlety is not really my strong point, she thought while she listened to what he was saying, and I don't know how well I could pull off anything- okay, well, it should be fine enough if I invited him to have lunch with us next week, right? But I shouldn't tell him-

"-right?"

"A-ah?" It looked like he expected an answer from her and Maya scrambled to agree to whatever the heck he was saying. "Ah, yes, indeed."

For some reason, he looked amused.

"You didn't hear a thing I said, did you?"

"What? Of course, I did," she said indignantly.

"So you meant to agree to wearing a chicken suit to help you prep for this line?"

"A-ah?" Uh-oh...he'd called her bluff.

Well, good thing Maya was stubborn until the end.

"Ah, of course I did. I mean, I knew you didn't mean it as a serious suggestion," she said breezily - honestly, she hadn't expected him to be as quick as Ayumi in picking up on things - and waved a hand carelessly. Unfortunately, Toudou-san looked even more amused.

"Well, that's good since that wasn't actually what I said."

"Alright, fine, you've got me." He laughed and Maya rolled her eyes. "I was still trying to bring the character to life in my own head."

"So what did you need me for?"

"Company," Maya said sweetly.

"Ma ma, you should have said so at the start, now shouldn't you?" Toudou-san finally laughed. "Don't mind me - I'll sit here quietly and watch your genius at work."

He's good-looking, he seems very friendly, and he's easy-going, Maya thought happily. Best of all, he's as quick with her mind as she is.

He was the laid-back calm to Ayumi's frenetic energy, the proverbial warmth to her ice. He was also one of the few actors who actually preferred to be out of the limelight. He was four years older than she and the Princess, and although he had been around in the entertainment world for a long time, he was more likely to act in privately produced indie films than mainstream dramas. How the producer had convinced him to participate in 'Shooting Star' was beyond Maya. The bottom line was that Toudou Kenji was perfect. He didn't know it yet, but he was perfect.

Now the crux of the plan - how to get this man and her best friend together?

"And this is it? This is the last of everything?"

The house that he'd returned to was unfamiliar. Everything that Shiori had changed about the place was disappearing faster than he could blink. All the little details - the royal blue curtains she'd bought during that first horrible month, the potted plants she lined the house with, even that damned rug he'd slipped on and almost broken his neck on last June - all of it was slipping away faster than he cared to notice. The movers had finally begun the quick process of getting everything up and out and gone to her new place in Shibuya.

Because when Shiori had said she was leaving, she had really meant it.

All the way to a different city.

His lawyer, a rotund man who was constantly breathing as if he needed a pace-maker, nodded. The divorce papers - actually, it felt like a single sheet of paper in the manilla folder - were here and he'd just been served. He couldn't help the phantom pangs of pain. He wasn't sure he might not descend back into his cups after signing this.

"Now, then?"

"You're free to sign it whenever you please, in the next week, and have it returned to my office."

The faint tone of censure almost made Masumi smile.

Almost.

"Not at all," he said softly, "I'll do it now."

The font was so official, the print so heavy, the black of the ink leaping off the page as if it was clamoring to get his attention. Which it really did not need to do, since it already had his undivided attention. She was getting a generous annual income from the homes she'd renovated for rent in her spare time, and he'd deeded her their newest house in Nigata since she'd intended to do another renovation and rent with it. Everything she'd come into the marriage with was separate and intact, and he'd given her more besides.

It might not ever make up for their failed marriage, but it would at least make her as independent as she'd ever wanted to be, and set her up for an even better life afterwards.

The pen pressed into the sheet of the first page with more weight than he intended, and he had to wince when he realized that he might have made a hole. Still, a few short strokes later, he'd signed the dotted line.

I am no longer a married man, he thought solemnly.

A divorcee.

Who would've ever imagined it?

He signed every single page indicated in the sheaf of paper, and handed it back to the lawyer.

I certainly wouldn't have.

He was officially among the ranks of the divorced men of Japan. Officially.

"I wish you the best of luck," the portly man said politely before handing him a small white envelope. "The mistress left a forwarding address and the information for her new set of phone numbers. I also believe she left a note. In any case, I'll take my leave."

Masumi was certain he appeared detached on the outside as the man left his office, which was good since he couldn't figure out what he felt on the inside. The lingering self-directed anger was beginning to dissipate after these long three weeks, slowly replaced by a strange...awareness...of the freedom of his new situation. He had to admit that a very small part of him felt guilty for feeling those things, but the rest was vastly relieved to halfway admit that Shiori might have been right.

And he wanted her happy, even if she didn't think he did. He wanted Shiori happy and he was mature enough to admit that he wasn't up to the task.

A knock on the door - damn it, this housewife act from his closest friend in the world was starting to get old - and the man was in.

"How do you feel?"

"Relieved." Karato's face remained expressionless but Masumi paid him no mind. "What's done is done and we're finally both free."

Karato indicated the white envelope with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Message?"

"I swear you know her even better than I do...yes, it is."

Masumi wasn't surprised when the man didn't ask him if he'd read it. Karato never intruded when he felt he was overstepping his bounds, although he'd certainly taken it upon himself to move in and direct te household staff as he saw fit.

"I'm going out in a little while," the blonde man said, and the careful way he said it was a dead giveaway to Masumi. "Do you have anything you want me to run over to the office? I'll be in that area, anyway."

He had a file in this very room on Sawatari Mina that he hadn't actually gotten around to perusing, and with Karato unsuspecting, he would be able to do so.

"Not a one. Go ahead," Masumi said, "I'll see you later on."

He waited for his friend to cross the carpet and exit the door before he tipped back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. He liked to organize things in his mind sometimes - it was rather the way regular people liked making lists of goals for the day. His mental list wasn't actually very long, neither was it an assembled set of goals, really. In fact, there were three things that concerned him right now: the fact that he was a divorcee, the Sawatari Mina file, and...the fact that he was a divorcee.

First...the note.

He could still remember how shy Shiori had been at the start of their acquaintance. So regal, so polite, so soft-spoken. He'd once joked to himself that he had better luck having lively conversation with his bedroom walls - and while many might view that as a very cruel thought, Masumi still maintained it to be true. She had been quiet and, as he later learned, unlike herself. As he fingered the edges of the envelope, he wondered what she'd chosen to write about. Her new home? His in-laws? Or ex-in-laws as the case may be... How she was faring without him? He instinctively understood that phone calls were off limits for the next few months - it would be too easy to return to that awkward stage of their relationship where they hadn't been friends - and he realized that this would be far easier for them to maintain.

And he missed her.

He missed talking to her, missed coming home to see her reading a book in their study, or busying herself with some floral arrangement in the kitchen.

Whatever she had to say, he wanted to hear it...he wanted to read it. He wanted to be friends again.

Masumi,
I'm sorry I changed the numbers without telling you. I rather thought you wouldn't be trying to reach me, anyway, and thought I'd be able to get the new number information sent to you before you realized. I love the house. But you already knew that, ne?
I don't know what to say to you here. I think separation is going to be harder than I thought it would be. It's already harder than I thought it would be. I need a little bit of time to myself, so I can better plan for the future, so don't be alarmed if I don't answer calls.
Don't worry, it'll only be for a little while.
~Shiori

Masumi scanned the note again, as if the second time would produce heretofore unseen paragraph, and then placed it on his desk. Reading hadn't been as painful as he'd thought, but it was still pretty damned unsettling. How did one even transition from thinking of himself as a husband and head of household and protector to simply a friend? And even more importantly, what could he say to her that would ease her way? Because he sure as hell didn't think a 'I miss you' would do anything for either of them. It probably wasn't even a healthy. Besides, she didn't want to hear from, did she?

She needed some time to herself.

Masumi owed her that, at the very least.

I don't think I'll be getting to the rest of that list, he thought wearily. He knew himself enough to recognize that he was quickly entering one of his deeply thoughtful moods.

That was alright, the Sawatari file could wait.