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 31 – Search and Sadness
To: Tsuchuhara Detective Agency
From: Mogami Kyoko
Subj: Missing Person
Dear Detective-san,
Thank you for accepting this case. Takarada-Shacho has strongly recommended your agency to me and I am confident that you can complete this search quickly and quietly.
I am searching for my mother: Mogami Saena. She is thirty-nine years old and a professional business woman. Unfortunately I do not know what her business was; nor do I know who she might have worked for. She was born and raised around the Kyoto area.
I was young when my mother left me in the care of the Fuwa family, the owner/operators of the famous Fuwa Ryokan in Kyoto. They knew my mother well, long before I was born. They have consented to answer any questions you may have and to cooperate fully with your search efforts.
Enclosed you will find my first payment for this case. Thank you for being willing to accept payments, as I am unable to pay the full amount required.
If you have any more questions, please phone me or text me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Sincerely,
Mogami Kyoko
oOoOOoOo
Dear Chiori-Chan,
Thank you so much for you letter. Of course I want to continue to receive your letters… even though Takarada-Shacho has decided to graduate me from LoveMe. As I understand it, it is only a matter of time before both you and Moko-san also graduate.
Regardless, the nature of the assignment did not require that the recipient of your letters be a LoveMe member anyway. I still feel slightly fraudulent receiving your letters as if I am worthy, but those letters have been so wonderful that I would hate to discontinue this tradition now.
Congratulations on your new role! Imagine, you're first starring role since childhood! And best of all, as you wrote, it isn't a bully or a mean girl role! I think that you will perform wonderfully as a deaf heroine. I can already picture my dear friend and fellow pink-sufferer saving all of the passengers on the airplane! You will be so cool in this film!
Thank you for promising to keep both my and Ren's secrets. Our movie will be released next week. If it opens as well as we are hoping, he will use that impetus to reveal his true identity. I personally think that he is worried unnecessarily. People in Japan love him and I don't think that they will hold this deception against him. After all, Otou-san actually changed his stage name by holding a massive funeral for the old identity. Anyway, after the announcement and after we gauge the public reaction, we will make our second announcement. It is still difficult for me to believe, but every day he makes me believe that he truly does want to marry me. How can one girl be so blessed, Chiori-chan?
It has been three days since hiring the detective, and still no word. Am I making the right decision in seeking out my mother? It is just… I want her to know that I am doing well now. And I need to know that she is doing well; even if she doesn't care to see me.
Good luck on filming. Osaka isn't that far away, but I wish that you didn't need to be gone for quite so long. Having just returned from Paris, it seems like everyone I know is now scattering. Perhaps it will be like this for all of us for many years to come. If so, then I hope that we will be able to continue writing.
Your friend,
Mogami Kyoko
oOoOOoOo
Dear Fuwas,
I could have passed this information on in a phone call, but I didn't know if I would be able to maintain proper composure. And I didn't wish to disappoint you with my lack of decorum. Still, since you were closer to my mother than anyone else I know, I wanted to pass on this news to you.
My mother, Mogami Saena, passed away one year ago in the country of Singapore, where she had taken up residence. For several years she owned and operated a clothing business there under the name of Takegima Shiora, until her health failed her and she had to sell it. She remained on the island, alone, for another seven months. She passed away quietly in her sleep after being admitted to a small regional hospital.
Tsuruga Ren is flying to Singapore with me in three days so that I can collect her possessions and settle any outstanding debts.
Thank you for being her friend. I wish that she would have turned to you in her loneliness, even if she never wished to see me again.
Sincerely,
Mogami Kyoko
oOoOOoOo
Dear Mother,
When this letter is completed it will be included in the mausoleum with your urn and with the other small tokens to the spirits. It is impossible to know if your spirit will see this, but I hope so.
I want you to know… No, I need you to know that I forgive you. I never understood why you rejected me as a child. It hurt terribly and it took many years, good friends, and the love of a truly wonderful man to help me to finally overcome that hurt. But I do understand now. I understand what it is to have someone become so completely dear to you that the very thought of life without him is… incomprehensible. And so I forgive you. I hope that this will give you some measure of peace where you are now.
Although I felt like I was intruding when I gathered your possessions, I am glad that I did. For all of these years I believed that you never cared for me. To find copies of my shows, copies of the magazines with my modelling attempts, and even copies of Fuwa Sho's "Prisoner" PV shocked me. It never occurred to me that you might be following my career. I hope that you liked my films, such as they are… and I want to believe that you might have been just a little bit proud of me?
More than anything else, I wish that I could have introduced Hizuri Kuon to you. You never knew about my childhood meeting, but perhaps you know of it now, wherever you are. Only fate could have allowed me to meet such a wonderful boy, and then meet him again as an even more wonderful man. A part of me still wants to run and hide and deny my good luck, but another part… the stronger part, intends to hold on to him for the rest of our lives.
And so, rest peacefully, Mother. I am well… and I am happy. I hope and pray that the same is true for you.
Your daughter,
Mogami Kyoko (Soon to be Hizuri Kyoko)