All right I have finally wrote a new one chapter. With the help of my editor, who not only helped with my grammer but also some more pointers on bringing you the best chapter I have ever written. To thank my editor I would recommend for you guys to read her own amazing story named Ludwig's Metronome, where Ren is in the future as his past self.Well enjoy this chapter and I wrote especially for 21han, who is waiting for my other story and since I have a little bit of a problem with that, hope you enjoy this.
Disclaimer: Do NOT OWN Skip Beat, but it would be amazing to own Ren ^-^
Kanae's POV
"Kanae, will you go get your brother?" Mom asked me after I set the table. I nodded.
It's been two weeks since we came to Tokyo. Mom found Seiji-san and he found us a place to stay. He told us to call him Akira onii-san, but that always left a weird taste in my mouth. I didn't like being disrespectful and neither did Ren. Mom raised us to be very respectful and very traditional Japanese and calling Akira onii-san just seemed improper. But the place he got us was amazing. I don't remember ever living in a place as big as the one we were living in. It had two bedrooms: one for mom and one for Ren and me. It even had a separate bathroom and a kitchen. Sometimes I would think I would get lost in it, that's how big I thought it was.
"En-chi, come eat so we can go to school," I called out to my brother. I nicknamed him that when I had a hard time distinguishing from Ren, the actor, and Ren, the brother. It is strange to think that we call a person that we don't even know nor were we giving permission by his first name. I asked mom about why she calls the actor Ren and not Tsuruga-san and after thinking for half a day or so she answered that she didn't know. It just seemed obvious to call him Ren. I opened the door to find him scrambling to cache something away in his pants.
"What's that?" I asked closing the door behind me. I knew whatever it was would upset mom.
"What are you talking about? What's what?" he asked composedly, as he used his hand to casually brush through his hair. His eyes scanned the room as he pretended to innocently search for the thing I asked about. He really can be a good actor. Too bad I knew him too well.
"Ren, I know you are hiding something from me." He stared at me like I was crazy. I sighed. "I promise I won't tell mom about it." He stared at me as he weighed the options of to tell me or not. Finally he sighed in defeat. Truthfully I don't even know why he tries, I always find out.
He reluctantly pulled a small flyer out of his pocket and handed it to me with a mild expression of guilt. I read over it and my eyes bulged out. It was an audition call for 8-10 year olds.
"You want to do WHAT?" I shouted.
"Shhh." He leaped over and slammed his hands over my mouth.
"Kids, what's going on? Come eat!" Mom shouted from the kitchen.
"We're coming, Mom. Just a minute," my brother shouted back.
"Suury…" I mumbled through his hand with an apologetic look.
He took his hands away and then looked down in sadness.
"Are you going to tell her?" he asked in a whisper.
I gave him an affectionate look. I might love my mom a lot, but I also deeply care about my brother, and it seemed unreasonable to me her aversion towards the two of us acting, especially when she followed the dramas of Kanae Kotonami and Ren Tsuruga and always gushed about how their acting was able to pull you into the world they create on the screen.
"Of course not," I answered with a huff. Honestly, how could he think so low of me? I glanced at his forlorn expression. Well, he knew how much I didn't want to upset mom, so I guess it was understandable.
His face shot up and gazed at me with the most hopeful eyes.
"Don't look at me like I am your hand of salvation. I'm not going to tell her, but I am not going to help you either."
His eyes dropped a little. It made me feel guilty. I hadn't even done anything, but I couldn't stand that pitiful expression.
"Ugh! What do you need help with?" I asked, resigning to my fate as his accomplice in crime. His eyes lighted up again and he hugged me.
"I knew you were the best, Nae." That was his nickname for me, and no one, and I really do mean no one, was allowed to use it except for mom and him.
"What do you need?" I asked in fake annoyance.
"To forge mom's signature on the audition application," he said in one go. I stared at him.
"Are you serious?" I asked him, hoping against hope that I heard him wrong.
"Come on, Nae. You know that I can't forge her signature to save my life, but you can and none would be the wiser."
"Until mom finds out," I grumbled in irritation.
"I promise I'll tell her, IF I get the role."
I sighed in defeat. "Fine, but I am not involved in any of this if it comes to light. Got it?" He nodded enthusiastically. I shook my head and signed the paper.
"Kids come on! You are going to be late." We heard our mom advancing towards our room. Frantically Ren stuffed the forbidden note in his backpack, I rushed with the final touches of my uniform and, just as mom's hand gripped the doorknob, we both hurtled out of the bedroom with benign smiles on our faces.
"Kya! You two scared me. What were you doing?" she asked as her eyes scrutinized us.
"We were getting ready for school," I answered, which was partially true.
She stared at us some more, and then not detecting any fault in what we said, she turned and strode back to the kitchen.
"Fine. You only have a couple of minutes before you have to go so eat as fast as you can." She turned to Ren. "Just don't get indigestion by eating too fast." I snickered but then she turned and glared at me. "And don't try to skimp out from eating because you think you might be late." I saw Ren smiling out of the corner of my eye.
I am not a big eater. The only time I ever really eat is if mom feeds me or when Ren makes something. If I am forced to, I have been known to force down a convenience store bento or a bowl of instant ramen. Ren is an amazing cook, got the skills from my mom. To say I am bad at cooking would be an understatement. Everything I make turns into a cancer causing chunk of charcoal, no matter how closely I pay attention to it. It seems completely unfair that as twins, my brother was born with the skill of making food good whereas I was granted the skill of making good food set on fire.
We ate as fast as we could and rushed out after saying goodbye to mom. We walked at leisure; we had enough time to get there in time.
"What time do you need to be at the audition?" I asked.
"10 o'clock this morning," he answered.
I stopped abruptly, and when he saw I was standing still, he pulled himself to a halt and stared at me a questioning look on his face.
"You're going to miss school?" I asked incredulously.
"I have to," he answered unabashedly.
"Mom is going to find out," I retorted, trying to make him see the inevitable consequences of his action.
He nodded.
"I know but she either finds out after I take the audition and I tell her about it myself or not at all, if you make up an excuse why I am not at school. I know teachers like you and most see you as more trustworthy than any 10 year old they ever met. You can lie for me." And then as an afterthought he added "or pretend to be me."
"Reeennn!" I yelled exasperatedly. "I said I am not going to get involved, but not only did I forge mom's signature for me, you want me to excuse you as well. That's too much," I complained.
"Ahh! Come on Nae… For me?" He knew that if I started helping I was going to help till the end. I hate that I can't resist him. He got closer and batted his eyelashes like a girl. I laughed.
"Oh, ok! Not much sense into resisting now."
"Yay!" he jumped up and then hugged me, the second time today. "You really are the best, Nae."
"Tell me you brought another change of clothes."
He took a pair of jeans out of the backpack and showed them to me.
"Let's get to school so people can see you. Change yourself in the bathroom and sneak out. I'll figure it out from there."
He nodded seriously.
We took off in a sprint seeing as our little conversation took longer than we thought. Seeing that his face was red and dripping from sweat when we reached the school I unbuttoned his shirt and loosened his tie to make it seem that he is so hot from the fever he couldn't stand being dressed and then told him to act as though he was sick.
"Convincingly sick." I added.
He nodded and went limp, seeking my support while walking.
He really was good. Everyone was convinced that he was one step away from his deathbed and by the time school started, I didn't need his uniform to pretend I was him. With my talent at fibbing I quickly weaved up a sob story of how Mom was working too hard and couldn't be bothered because she would get in trouble with her boss and that she let my brother in my care. Needless to say, his homeroom teacher didn't call her, and Ren was sent home. After walking with him for as long as it would take us if we were actually going home, I looked into his eyes and wished him farewell and good luck. As I turned and headed back to school, my stomach turned in knots, making me feel like I was the one who will take the audition, not my brother.
Ren's POV (en-chi)
I was finally out of the school after I said goodbye to Kanae. I pulled on a cap and pushed it close to my face and took off running towards LME, the best show business agency in Japan. I picked LME, not only because it's the best agency, but it also had my mom's favorite actors…that way she might be more lenient on me trying to become an actor.
I finally made it to the agency at 9 o'clock.
I entered the room and I was blinded by all the other boys in the room. They all sparkled. I felt intimidated. I looked somewhat like a beggar or just a little bit better, but these clothes were some of my best. I became scared: 'What if I won't make it? What if everyone else is better than me or will be picked because they look better? What if I went through all this for nothing?' I writhed in agony at the thought. People gave me a wide berth and the other participants looked at me like I was crazy and dangerous, but I didn't pay them much attention. I suddenly felt my whole body vibrate like an extremely dexterous hula dance move. I looked down and realized it was the phone Seiji-san gave me was going off. It was a present to mom for all of us to have cell phones because Tokyo is dangerous. I think it was only for my mom though because I saw how he looked at her and it was nothing like an onii-san would look at his sister. But I left it alone. Kanae said I was crazy to think that he might want more than a sibling relationship with my mom, but I think that's because Kanae has a hard time thinking that someone might suit mom eventually and she would actually consider remarrying, no matter how much she loved dad. It's hard for me as well to think that mom might end up remarrying so I try to wedge in between mom and Seiji-san when I know he is going to make a move. The cell phone was something I needed to get used to as I never had one before. I looked at it and saw a message from Nae.
"I know by now you are writhing in agony" I whipped my head left and right and did a whole sweep of the place with my eyes to see if she was there "and no I am not there" 'how does she know all these things' "stop trying to figure out how I know what you are doing." I shivered she must have ESP "Anyways, wanted to tell you that you will be fine. I am confident in your abilities, so go out there and give the best performance you can ever give. One more thing, know that if mom finds out, we are both going to be in a lot of trouble so at least win so that my efforts won't be for nothing." I can see her looking at me in a fake mad mood. I smiled. Her message made me feel a lot better. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Opening my eyes I felt my determination overcoming all my fears. This is what I want and I am going for it with the support of my best twin sister.
Ren Tsuruga's POV
I was getting frustrated with all the kids coming through the door. The minute they saw me they either became too flustered to act or they tried too hard to impress me. It was finally the last boy's turn. I was itching to get out of the chair and run home. It was supposed to be my day off. 'It's all the fault of the president with his obsessive desire for me to experience love again. How is being here going to help? ' I silently thought to myself.
"They don't even have an ounce of acting capability," the director complained as he stretched his arm out over his head and let out an irritated sigh. Iro Tako was a stickler for the best actors and he wanted the best. He hadn't been in the industry for almost a decade, and for his comeback he wanted to give people a romantic, cry your eyes out tragedy with the best actors. This meant I was going to play opposite both Kanae Kotonami, and Chiori Amamaya. With these two I knew this job was going to be like standing on a train track and watching myself be smashed to bits by the full force of my memories of "her". Kotonomi was going to be the wife I abandoned and Chiori was playing my sister-in-law. And the boy was going to be my son. He's the most important because the drama is mostly between the father and the son coming to terms with each other. After the wife and sister-in-law reluctantly excuse my character for leaving after discovering that he did it to protect them all, my character is left to seek the forgiveness from his abandoned child.
"Sir, the last boy will enter now," one of the assistants interrupted as the director carried on a heated discussion with the assistant director and product manager about how untalented the boys were in this audition call.
They all sighed.
"Bring him in."
The last boy entered. He had a hat on, quite inappropriate for the audition I thought, and faded jeans. He actually looked like a beggar of the streets, or something like that. I lost interest right away. He didn't take this audition seriously at all.
"Boy, don't you know how to respect your elders? Take your hat off," the director boomed angrily. The boy flinched and started to shake. I thought he was going to cry, but he took a deep breath and exhaled as he gained control of himself, took his hat off, walked straight to the front of the stage, and looked all of us straight in the eye.
"My name is Ren Ryoutarou, and I would like to audition for the part of Ikari Raii."
My head snapped to look at him and I couldn't believe what was in front of me. It was like seeing myself when I was his age, the Kuon version of myself—blond hair, green eyes—but what shocked me the most was that this boy reminded me of "her"; the way he spoke, the determination in his eyes and the formal bow. I was beyond myself that I didn't even realize that I rose up and slammed my hands on the table until the director spoke to me.
"Tsuruga-san, is something wrong?" I whipped my head to the sound of the director's voice and blinked. After a pause I smiled my gentlemanly smile and sat myself back down, bowing to everyone else in excuse to my inappropriate behavior.
"No, nothing is wrong." I looked back at the boy and I saw the same expression "she" made whenever I showed my gentlemanly smile. I wanted to ask who his mother was, I wanted to ask him a lot of things but I forced myself to stay seated. My whole body shook inwardly and I bit my tongue in order to keep quiet and not bombard the boy with my multiple insane questions.