Dear Sempai

Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat! or any of the characters from the Manga.

Summary: Lory has conceived yet another devious scheme, wrapped in the guise of a LoveMe assignment. All the girls have to do is to write at least one letter a week to the person they respect the most. Simple… right?

Letter 27

Dear Ren,

Please read this completely. Please don't obey your first instinct to ball it up and throw it away. I realize that you are angry, but I cannot and will not apologize for my refusal to yield on this particular issue. If you will only take the time to read this letter and to consider my reasoning then I think that you will see why I need to do this.

To be completely honest, I am both overwhelmed and chagrined to finally understand that I was the reason that you have always reacted so [Kyoko's writing became less precise here]… strongly whenever his name was mentioned, or whenever I ended up near him for one cursed reason or another. I do understand now, though if you only knew how deeply I have despised him, you might have understood how… unnecessary your concerns were.

Nevertheless, up until now he has held a power over me, only because of my own insistent determination to exact revenge. Now I am finally ready to release the chains of my past and move on. This is mostly because of the fact that a man like you, and dear friends like Kanae and Chiori, and older people like your parents have shown me that I can be loved… and loved deeply. Sempai… Friend… Ren, because of you I am ready to move on and release that past forever.

But to make that break complete and clean, I need to write that letter. I know that you don't want me to have any more to do with Fuwa Shotaro, and I agree. Yet to move on, I need to close that part of my life once and for all. Please understand?

There is also another letter that I need to write, but I will speak with you about that tomorrow… assuming that you are willing to speak with me again?

Sincerely yours,

Mogami Kyoko

oOoOOoOo

Fuwa Shotaro,

I am fairly certain that you never expected or desired a letter from the girl who you have long since closed out of your life. Still, I felt the need to write this letter. You may read this letter or destroy it as you wish.

First of all, I want to thank you for the friendship that we once shared. Although our current interaction is something less then amicable, you were once someone who I valued as a close friend. It will never be what it once was, but for what it was, I now choose to be grateful.

I have also come to realize that what happened was also partially my fault. You and I were friends, nothing more. It was me who allowed my imagination to run wild so that I entertained thoughts of it becoming something more. You never thought of me in any other way than as a childhood friend… until you began to think of me as nothing more than your personal maid [the last line was written with a heavy hand. It ends in a blot, suggesting that Kyoko might have broken her fountain pen]

[This new writing returns to Kyoko's normal, elegant style] The past is the past. It is clear that not all friendships last forever. Therefore it seems ludicrous for me to hold onto unnecessary and meaningless feelings of hurt and the desire for revenge. Such emotions are valueless. So, from this time forward, I release you from our shared past and I release myself from my pledge of revenge. I will continue to act for the sole reason that I love everything about acting. I will make a new life with people who are important to me in that new life.

I have good friends now. I have people who care for me with honesty, protectiveness and gentleness. One friend actually risked her career to confront an important person and find out an important truth. After she found the truth, she risked her career again to fly to me so that she could help me to understand and accept that truth. She is a true best-friend. Finally, I have a man who cares for me both as a person and as a woman. As impossible as it might be for you to believe, he feels that I am completely worthy of his love.

So then, Fuwa Shotaro-san, I will say goodbye to the past just as I say goodbye to you. As difficult as it might be for you to believe, I wish you the best in all of your endeavors. Take care of yourself.

Goodbye,

Mogami Kyoko

oOoOOoOo

Dear Maria-chan,

I'm sending this letter along with the post cards of the Louvre, the cathedral of Notre Dame, and the bridges of Paris because it would be impossible to write everything that I need to write to you in the spaces that the post-cards offer. Besides, if you decide to toss or shred or burn this letter you will still be able to keep the beautiful post-cards… though I dearly hope that you will not decide to do that.

In reply to your text-message-question: I am sorry, but the answer is "yes." Tsuruga Ren asked be to begin dating him and I agreed. Maria-chan, I know how you feel about him, and I'm sorry. If this seems like a betrayal of your trust, then I can't begin to express how much I regret it.

Please believe me when I tell you that I never pursued him like all of the other females who you despise. At first I disliked him and then I respected him. As time went on he took me under his wing and taught me how to be a professional actress. Eventually I began to think of him as a friend… and then, to my own surprise, as more than a friend. It was only when he confessed his feelings for me I was able to admit my own.

Maria-chan, I have come to think of you as my dear younger-sister and I value your friendship and your trust deeply. I cannot lie to you or to myself about my feelings for Tsuruga Ren. It might be that nothing will come of this in the end, but until then I want… no, I have to find out where our relationship together will go.

In four days we will arrive back in Tokyo. If you will allow me, I will come to speak with you as soon as I am able. Please, Maria-chan, will you meet with me?

Your hopeful friend,

Mogami Kyoko