Dear Senpai

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 29 – A Father's Hand

Dear Otou-san and Okaa-san,

As promised, I am sending you this letter with all of the relevant details. I will attempt to explain all that has happened as concisely and yet as completely as possible.

First of all, please forgive my insistence that you remain in California. I know how much you wanted to rush to my side and help me. I cannot begin to express how it makes me feel to have two people be so fiercely protective of me… you are, in every way that counts, true parents to me. Nevertheless, since Kuon is not yet ready to expose his secret, I also cannot risk an inadvertant revelation.

As you know, I was reluctant to continue calling you Otou-san and Okaa-san, despite your insistence. I was afraid that addressing you in that manner would imply something that… well, you understand. I did not want to seem to be conniving towards your son in any way. But now, after the deep and personal way that you took up my defense, even at the risk of your own reputations, I can't imagine calling you anything else. Regardless of what may happen in the future between Kuon and I, I will always think of you as my parents. [crinkling of the paper and blurring suggests that some water may have dripped on the paper here. Kyoko begins the letter again an inch lower]

Now, the details: I was very nervous about the news conference. Although Takarada-Shacho had a team of people work with me about what to say, what not to say, and how to avoid being led into mistakes by the press, I was still petrified. I am sorry to say that I argued with Kuon when he suddenly showed up even though I had specifically told him not too. Your son is very stubborn, however, and he just [the writing becomes erratic here] pulled me into a hug and held me until I stopped struggling. I needed that hug and he knew that I needed that hug. Anyway, after lending me his strength and that mysterious power that he seems to have, he agreed to make himself scarce. It wasn't that I didn't want him there; I just didn't want his reputation to be tarnished alongside mine.

It turned out to be fortuitous, but not for the reasons that I expected. The news conference began. I made my opening statement. The press began asking their own questions and they seemed to be increasingly aggressive. I don't know how it might have ended, but, as you must have seen on television, it all changed in a moment.

For the rest of my life I will never forget the scene of Fuwa Keitaro, Shotaro's father, dragging his son into the conference room by the scruff of his collar. I had not seen the Taisho for years. I had sent him a letter on the previous day, but I'm sure that he must have passed the letter on his trip to Tokyo. Whatever the case, he arrived in Tokyo early that morning at Akitoki, demanded to be taken to Shotaro's condo, and then dragged his son out of bed with a minimum of decorum (I know all of this only because Shouko Aki, his manager, made her own apology to me and told me the story). He then proceeded to grill his son on everything that took place since we left Kyoto three years ago. He must have extracted the truth because the next thing he did was to drag that boy into his truck and straight to LME.

A very red-faced and humiliated rock star stepped right up to me, bowed, and then turned to face the audience. The rest is history, though I still have trouble believing any of it happened. With a very stern-faced father behind him, Shotaro told the true story of our childhood, our friendship, and our flight to Tokyo. He even told the truth about our time in Tokyo and the eventual dissolution of our friendship.

I wish that he would have stopped there. I am dumbfounded about what he hoped to accomplish by pretending that he thought of me in a romantic way. It was ludicrous for him to imply that he lo[scratched out] cared for me when he regularly and clearly stated that he thought of me as plain, boring, and unworthy. Still, I hope that you were proud of me for listening to his whole confession without losing my temper or allowing my rising grudges to rip him into a quivering mass.

The next hour after the press conference was both grueling, nauseating and fulfilling. I certainly did not want to spend another second with Shotaro, yet I couldn't refuse Fuwa-Taisho's invitation to lunch after what he had done for me. Once again, it turned out to be fortuitous.

[Kyoko's writing becomes less fluid and more mechanical here] After a very tense beginning to the meal, with Shotaro grumbling under his breath like a small child, the Taisho and I had a good conversation. Shouko Aki had come along as well and I could tell that she was embarrassed by her charge's attitude in front of his father. The Taisho just ignored his son, except for the occasional hard look. He told me that he and his wife bore me no grudges for leaving in the manner that I did. He also told me that they thought of me as a daughter, not as an obligation. His sincerity touched my heart and made me reexamine a lot of my early preconceptions.

But it was after Shouko dragged Shotaro off to his next appointment that Fuwa-Taisho really opened up and told me the truth about my mother and my past. I suppose that I never understood why my mother despised me, and now I wonder what she really felt. The story went like this: my mother and father were truly in love. They met when they were middle schoolers and they fell in love instantly. My father was an orphan and was therefore treated poorly by his peers… but never by my mother. She loved him unconditionally and she continued to love him through the rest of school. The Taisho said that my father was highly intelligent, creatively gifted, and a little odd (it seems that he believed in things like faeries and spirits). My mother was down-to-earth and driven. Together they were happy… until the year I was four years old, when he was killed in a car accident.

My mother was never the same. More relevant to me, she couldn't stand to be around me because I reminded her of him. She moved us from place to place, burying herself in work and in the business of making money. The Fuwas had been friends to both of my parents and she often left me in their care. Eventually, when the neglect grew worse, Fuwa Sachiko and Fuwa Keitaro begged my mother to leave me in their care. The Taisho told me that Fuwa Sachiko has always thought of me as her daughter, but that she never allowed me to think of myself in that manner because both parents hoped to someday wed me to their son.

[The writing here is better, suggesting that Kyoko walked away from this letter and then returned to it later] He then informed me that he has asked for and received legal guardianship of me when I was twelve… which was when my mother disappeared altogether. I was never told this because the Fuwas wanted me to have the freedom of choice: they did not want me to marry their son out of obligation. They had always hoped that we might marry out of love. Then the Taisho told me one more thing: When and if I ever do choose a man to marry, he (Fuwa-san) would willingly sign the necessary documents. We visited for another hour and I promised to make a visit to the Fuwa Ryokan as soon as possible.

So then, what I have learned from that lunch is this: Just as you have often told me, there are many wonderful people in my life who love and who have loved me. From now on I will try to open my eyes, wipe away any false filters, and see people as they truly are.

The same applies to you. Though I may never fully understand why you accepted me into you family so openly, I choose now to accept your love for me as the gift that it is. It is odd: two years ago I thought that I was all alone in this world. Now I have small army of people who I love dearly.

So thank you,

Sincerely,

Your adopted son/daughter,

Kyoko