A/N: Hello all! First off, I am so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been crazy busy lately… Originally, I was going to do one long finale-type chapter, but it turned out to be too long already and still wasn't finished. Therefore, I'm posting this one now, and I hope it makes up - at least a little - for the tardiness. The next chapter will still be a long one, and will be up within two days of this one. Again, I'm really sorry! Apologies for any OOC-ness. Thank you for every follow, favorite, read, and review - you guys are my motivation:)

Thoughts

English

"Dialogue,"

"Kyoko." Ren said, and that one word was her undoing. Her blush, which had been barely a dusting of rose on her cheeks, became much more pronounced.

"Kyoko," Ren began hesitantly, "I don't know how much of that you heard, but judging by your expression I'm going to assume you heard all of it." He cleared his throat tensely, and continued awkwardly, "Like you said, unfortunately, I have to call Yashiro back and get to my next location. But since we seriously need to talk about this...um, would you...uh, like to come over for dinner?" Nervousness danced fleetingly in his eyes.

Kyoko's heart leapt. "I would love to, Tsuruga-san."

"Please, call me Ren. It would really mean a lot to me, considering…" he said, trying to sound convincing.

"But Tsuruga-san," Kyoko protested, "I couldn't possibly address you so infor-"

Ren cut her off. "Please. If I should call you by your first name, it only makes sense to call me by mine…" he trailed off, seeing she was conflicted.

He could see only one way to get her to agree.

"Tsuruga-san, no fair! Not the puppy dog eyes…" Kyoko sighed and lowered her head in defeat. "Fine, R-Ren. You win." She looked down, her expression saying that she had been majorly cheated.

Ren pumped his fist internally. Despite having such a shitty day, it's always good if I make any progress with her, he thought. "Thank you, Kyoko. You don't know how much it means to me," he stated, relieved that she caved.

"It...it means a lot to me too...Ren." Kyoko responded. She looked up at him, a timid smile on her lips. As her eyes met his, her heart skipped a beat. A more intense version of his heavenly smile graced his handsome features, and it seemed to Kyoko that he could stare straight through her and into her thoughts.

Ren could barely hold himself back. He wanted so badly to touch her, to hold her...to kiss her. She called me Ren, and she came back to me. He couldn't believe that simply his name rolling off of her tongue could put such a dent in his self-control. The longer he stared at those golden eyes, the more weakened his resolve to not do something rash became. He could drown in her endless beauty, and the way she was so completely innocent made her so undeniably pure. There were so many reasons that he loved her, he would need more hands to count them all. His internal war with determination was an uphill battle, and he was a ball.

"Kyoko," he whispered, barely audible. The longer they gazed at each other, the faster that battle was lost. Ren reached his hand up towards her cheek, ever so slowly. One small step to close the distance between them came next.

She inhaled sharply, her breathing shallow in anticipation. Kyoko didn't care that her heart was beating a million miles an hour, it didn't matter that they had things to do. All she cared about was him, he was so close, and she couldn't move away. Not that she particularly wanted to. Kyoko was his willing victim. His hand touched her cheek. She honestly thought she might faint.

"Ren," Kyoko breathed. He loomed closer and closer, and her eyelids fluttered shut on their own accord.

"MO. This is annoying. Why do you have to drag me with you?" a voice echoed down the hallway.

The pair froze.

"I told you, it's a LoveMe assignment. And you know Kyoko-chan best, I figured you might have better intuition as to where they are." another voice responded, obviously exasperated.

The two owners of the voices stomped around the corner, only to come to an abrupt halt at the end of the hallway.

"S-s-sorry! We didn't mean to interrupt...wait, Ren? And Kyoko-chan?" Yashiro said, clearly baffled.

"MO! What are you two doing?" Kanae inquired, just as surprised as Yashiro.

Suddenly becoming aware that they were still incriminatingly close, Ren quickly dropped his hand and each stepped away from the other in unison. "Nothing." Ren said, even though his light blush was telling.

"Playboy!" Kyoko accused. Did that not mean anything to him? Was it all a trick? Her chest constricted painfully at her insecurities.

"Hey! Not true!" Ren said defensively to Kyoko, then turned to Yashiro and Kanae. "It wasn't nothing, it was something really, really good."

Kanae was bewildered, one perfect eyebrow raised in questioning. Yashiro was already halfway into fangirl mode, partially shocked and partially excited.

Yashiro was the first to speak. "Well, Kyoko-chan, I hate to take your kiss-buddy away but we reeeeeally need to get to the next location. I promise to make it up to you, though! Maybe you two conveniently run into each other…" he trailed off, almost completely immersed in his romantic fantasies.

Ren tapped Kyoko on her shoulder, and she jumped at the contact. "Here," he said, and handed her a key. He lowered his voice, and continued, "In case you get there before I do."

"U-um, if you're sure." She discreetly pocketed the key.

"Why are you guys whispering to each other like a married couple? MO. There are other people here." Kanae said, slightly miffed.

Kyoko instantly paled. "I'm sorry, Moko-san! I won't do it again."

"Well, it's okay, but look at the time. Don't you have Box-R soon?" Kanae asked.

Kyoko glanced at her phone, and her eyes widened. "I'm going to be late! I have to go, I'll see you all later! Bye!" And with that, she sped down the halls and out of sight, leaving her companions behind.

Yashiro turned to Kanae and motioned for her to hand something over. She narrowed her eyes at him, then reluctantly handed over her stamp book and stamps.

"Kotonami-san, are you just doing LoveMe work today?" Ren asked awkwardly, trying to break the silence.

She shifted her icy gaze to him. "Yes. I've already cleaned two stalls, mailed three letters, and passed notes eight billion times between two people who thought they were being cute. For the record, they weren't."

Ren didn't ask any more questions.

Yashiro poked Kanae, and handed her things back to her. Calmer now, he said, "We really do have to go. It was nice having lunch with you and Kyoko-chan, despite the slight bump in the road. Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

Perhaps it was just Ren, but he thought some of the ice in Kanae's gaze melted as she looked at his manager and responded, "Sure, sounds fun. I'll leave you guys to it then." She flipped her hair as she turned, and then left the same direction that Kyoko had.

The two remaining men looked at each other, and shared a knowing grin.

As soon as Kanae was out of the sight line of the two men, she whipped out her LoveMe stamp book. Not like I care what he gave me or anything, she thought. She flipped to the most recent page, and her practiced air of disinterest vaporized into that of an extremely pissed off predator. -10? Really? That bastard…! And right next to the bane of her existence, that glasses-wearing freak had the nerve to write "Check your attitude..."

However, before the frightening girl could rampage back to Yashiro, she noticed a little arrow pointing to the next page at the very bottom. Curiosity got the best of her, and even as she glared at the innocent-looking book, she flipped to the next page. There, she found twin stamps proudly boasting +100, and a short note there as well. It read, "...but that smile of yours completely makes up for it :) Thanks for the help."

Before she realized it, a warm smile, possibly the same as the one mentioned in the note, spread lightly across her face. I'll get him back for this, she thought, but there was not an ounce of malice behind it.

As soon as Kyoko arrived on set, she went straight to the director and apologized profusely for being late. He, of course, forgave her immediately and sent her back to the set.

When Kyoko was in character, her behavior was exactly like the girl she was portraying, but once herself, she couldn't get a certain someone out of her head. Her costars noticed her strange display of emotions, ranging from a deep blush to slightly disgruntled and then totally blank, only to repeat the cycle. Kyoko was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the whispers around her.

"Hey, do you think Kyoko-chan is ok? I want to ask her but I don't want to interrupt whatever is going through her head."

"I recognize the pattern. Once, one of my friends overheard that the guy she liked had feelings in return for her. She was like that for the next three days until they talked it out."

"Wow! I wonder who the lucky guy is?" The girl that spoke turned her attention on Kyoko and yelled, "Go for it! You've got him, Kyoko-san!" She then fist-pumped the air enthusiastically, making Kyoko turn tomato red once again.

"I guess you were right! There is a special guy!" The group of girls continued to chatter excitedly until the end of the break.

Ren's day was much like Kyoko's: Yashiro constantly had to remind him to check his face. Yashiro had caught eight girls with hearts for eyes gazing at him, and two had already fainted at his charming smile.

Yashiro turned to check Ren's schedule for the next day. His eyes skimmed the page, skipping to the most important events first. Being as skilled as he was, it only took a moment, but when Yashiro glanced back at his charge, his eyes narrowed in exasperation. Ren was surrounded by a horde of girls all clamoring for his attention. Yashiro sighed hopelessly. I tried, he thought. Then, he visibly straightened. An idea had struck him.

Yashiro marched over to Ren, a sly smirk playing at his lips. Once he managed to push through the crowd and was firmly next to his charge, he motioned for Ren to bend his head down to his level. Yashiro whispered in his ear, "Ren, if you keep this up, you'll be late for Kyoko-chan. We only have one photoshoot left, but it's going to be a longer one. The faster you finish here, though, the faster we can finish there and the faster you can meet Kyoko-chan~."

That did the trick, even better than Yashiro expected. The duo was back in Ren's car and heading for the next location within ten minutes.