AGENT WALLFLOWER

Kyoko has a journalist-friend? Everybody else is suspicious except of course, Kyoko. How do you protect a clueless actress with secrets from a possible enemy masquerading as a friend?

Disclaimer: I do not own Skipbeat!

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The lawn in front of the LME building was a usual hangout for people who wanted to unwind. It was nice and relaxing especially for the office-going crowd who were always cooped in bland concrete rooms, and it also had an added bonus because you might occasionally see a popular movie star or a TV personality if you were lucky.

But not today.

Today, the lawn was almost barren except for some stragglers who were studiously avoiding a very morose gardener wearing a hot pink jumpsuit and wielding a pair of wicked-looking garden shears.

"This is punishment, Kyouko, so you better make this hedges look immaculate!" muttered the pink-clad gardener to herself. She paused and critically looked at her work before continuing on.

"How could you break character AND get caught like that?" she sharply snipped at an offending branch.

"Natsu doesn't smile like that!" she snipped at another branch.

"And why is your picture bigger than Tsuruga-san's? Tsuruga-san is the NO. 1 actor in Japan! How dare you do such a thing!" she snipped some more at the poor hedge.

"Because your picture is so big, even the Box-R cast picture is too tiny! What do you say to that?" the morose gardener started clipping like crazy until she finally realized that there were more leaves on the ground than on the hedge itself.

"TAKARADA-SAN! WHY DIDN'T YOU PUNISH ME?" she started bawling out, startling the few visitors left in the premises.

CHAPTER 4

"The photo didn't hurt your career, Kyoko-san, in fact I think it's making you more talked about, so there's no need to apologize," Takarada Lory, the president of LME said kindly when she rushed over to apologize after seeing the newspaper article. He was currently dressed as a monk, complete with brown hood and prayer beads. He made a gesture as if he was blessing her.

"But I broke character! Natsu would NEVER smile like that for a photo! And why do I have a solo shot anyway? And Tsuruga-sempai's picture is too small, even the picture of Natsu is bigger! I'm really sorry, Takarada-san, please punish me!" Kyouko wailed.

Takarada chuckled. "No, Kyoko-san. There's nothing to complain about so don't worry yourself," he said. "Have some bread and goat cheese before you go, my dear..."

In the end, the President refused to give Kyouko any punishment even when Kyouko pleaded over and over again. She dragged her feet as she left the office, still feeling guilty. The President was too charitable to her, letting her off after making such a big blunder (in her opinion) like that. She should be punished.

Kyouko squared her shoulders, she'll find some way to make it up for her mistakes. She looked around for something to do and espied the LME lawn. It looked like it could use some trimming. With that, she set out with renewed vigor.

-o-o-o-o-

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"What's wrong with this info? This couldn't be right," Monobu thought desperately.

He was sitting on his favorite sunny, quiet patch of grass hidden behind some hedges with his laptop in front of him, but his calm surroundings didn't mirror his sinking feeling. He had been researching on Fuwa and Mogami since he'd left the editor-in-chief's office and it was not turning out well.

Fuwa Shotarou, who was now known as Fuwa Sho, was very easy to find. The current no.1 music idol had hundreds of sites about him. Aside from some general information, Monobu quickly found out that Sho burst in the music business 2 years ago. He signed in with Akatoki and won his fans over with his good looks and great songs. His albums were always hits, and his songs were always on top of the charts. He was well-liked not only by his fans, but also by the people who have worked with him because, as they, said 'he's very dedicated to his work'.

In contrast, when Monobu researched 'Mogami Kyouko', he only got one entry and that was a student registration list from his old high school.

When he googled 'Kyoko', he got a fair amount of hits connected to Box-R and also Dark Moon, another TV show that she was co-starring in. There were a lot fan sites giving glowing remarks about Natsu and Mio, the characters she played in the respective shows. She had also appeared in a Kyurara Commercial and Fuwa Sho's Prisoner PV.

The only other relevant thing he had unearthed about Kyoko after some exhaustive clicking was that she had joined LME just a year ago.

Just a year ago? Shouldn't it be 2 years ago, just like Sho since they had ran away to Tokyo together 2 years ago? And why was Sho with Akatoki and Kyoko with LME? Wouldn't it make more sense if they were together in one company? And what's with the rumor in a fansite that Kyoko and Sho had been openly hostile with each other while working on the Prisoner PV? That's completely opposite of the Mogami Kyouko he knew from high school!

"Does that mean Mogami Kyouko isn't Kyoko?" Monobu uncertainly asked himself.

"TAKARADA-SAN! WHY DIDN'T YOU PUNISH ME?"

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Monobu jumped in surprise when he heard the shout and felt something pass disconcertingly close to his scalp. He whirled around and stumbled away defensively. Then his eyes landed on the wide-eyed, short-haired girl dressed in a hot pink jumpsuit.

As he gaped at her, tufts of hair flew down around him. His eyes turned to the gently falling hair, and then to the girl staring at the top of his head with horrified fascination. His hand unwilling drifted up to his head. Then their eyes met, and both screamed in unison.

"WALLFLOWER-SAN?" he yelled in disbelief.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I didn't mean to cut your hair, Monobu-san! Let me make up to you!" Kyoko frantically wailed, moving closer with her garden shears.

Monobu dodged her quickly. "No, no, it's okay, Mogami-san! You don't have to," he hastily said. They spent some time apologizing and dodging each other until they were both out of breath.

As Kyoko dropped down to her knees in exhaustion, she glanced up at Monobu again. Her lips quirked in a small grin which she tried to control as she looked at how evenly straight the top of Monobu's head was. He looked like some old-school American rapper or something. Her shoulders started to shake with the strain to hold the laughter in. After a while, she finally gave up and started laughing hard while holding her belly and pointing at his head.

Monobu had been cautiously eyeing the girl kneeling on the grass. When she started laughing at his expense, he was initially offended, but her laughter was so contagious he found himself chuckling ruefully along with her.

"How come you always make me laugh like that?" Kyoko asked while wiping her eyes, then she caught sight of his hair again and she was off laughing all over again.

Monobu endured her amusement. The girl in front of him was now more like the girl he talked with in the library before and less like the quiet, unassuming classmate he initially thought she was. But she was nowhere like the Natsu he saw yesterday.

They may have the same eye color and short hair, but this laughing, pink-clad girl rolling in the grass didn't have any of that elegant refinement of the actress he saw yesterday. She didn't have that fierce attention-grabbing aura either. And why would a fast-rising TV star be outside in a garish pink jumpsuit trimming hedges? Coupled with the information he had gathered earlier, Monobu unwillingly came to a conclusion.

Mogami Kyouko is definitely not Kyoko.

Isn't she?

-o-o-o-o-

After making sure that Monobu hadn't suffered any other injuries except for his untimely haircut, Kyouko finally collected herself and went back in the building to get a bonnet for him. Then they set out for a hair salon to get his hair properly trimmed and had to endure another laughing fit from the hairstylist and more profuse apologies from Kyouko. As if the apologies weren't enough, Kyouko treated him to lunch afterwards and promised she would cook for him next time when her schedule wasn't so hectic. She finally calmed down when Monobu said that all was forgiven as long as she'd let him hang around with her when he wasn't busy. She immediately agreed.

Monobu didn't know why he asked that. He decided it was okay to hang around Kyouko while he thought of another story to pursue. Besides, what better place to find a story than LME, one of the leading companies in the entertainment industry?

They got to talking as easily just like the old times. As they ate lunch together, Monobu found himself talking about his decision to move to Tokyo after high school so that he can study Journalism. He also mentioned his part-time work in Tokyo Daily as a Journalist, in which Kyouko looked at him with admiration.

"So you're famous? That's so great!" she gushed out.

Monobu reddened. "No, not really. I've just published one article after all."

"But still, getting published would mean a lot of people must've seen your name in the newspaper!" she said with conviction. Monobu just shrugged, but inwardly he felt puffed up with her praise.

"Currently, I'm assigned to cover the entertainment business, but I'm not really familiar with showbiz stuff so I'm having a hard time" he confessed.

"Well, maybe I can help you with that," Kyouko said cheerfully. "I've learned a bit since I joined LME. Maybe I can fill you in some stuff you don't know."

"Really? That would be great!" Monobu suddenly felt more optimistic about his job.

"Enough about me… So, what about you, Mogami-san? What have you been doing all this time?" he asked.

"Well, I'm working in LME, in the Love Me Section, as you can see with my uniform," she gestured to her garish pink jumpsuit with a grimace."It's like a Reserve Section, but most of the time I do a lot of odd jobs to get people's approval. It's some form of training, I guess. The President decides when I'm fit to graduate, in the meantime I do stuff around the office when I have the time."

'Glorified Janitorial Staff?' Monobu thought to himself.

Suddenly, Kyouko started shaking violently. Alarmed, Monobu was wondering what to do when Kyouko pulled out her phone and turned off the vibrate.

"It's Moko-san… Oh, I have to get back to the office," she looked at Monobu apologetically. "It was great talking to you again, Monobu-san," she said.

"Oh. Ummm… I'll drop by LME again, that is, if it's alright with you?" Monobu hesitantly asked.

Kyouko gave him a big smile. "Sure! I'll show you around the office!" she said enthusiastically.

She finally stood up and bowed to him. "I had a great talking time having lunch with you. I'll see you around, Monobu-san!"

With a final wave, she rushed off and left Monobu feeling a bit forlorn.

-o-o-o-o-

"That was a spectacular performance, Ren," Yashiro said.

Ren graciously accepted his praise. It was the end of the work day and they had just finished a meeting with the LME President and a movie director about a potential project for Ren, but the meeting had ended in an uncertain note.

"I don't understand why Takarada-san still has reservations for you to act as BJ. You nailed it back there! Even the director was impressed!" Yashiro said indignantly.

"I'm sure the President has very good reasons. He is only thinking what's best for my career after all." Ren replied with a gentlemanly smile.

"There's still another test anyway, I'll just show him that I can really do it."

Yashiro peeked at Ren. It didn't show on his face, but Yashiro was sure Ren must be disappointed. The President had been uncharacteristically reticent about giving him this movie role as the antagonist. Most of the time, he would let Ren choose whatever character he liked since Ren was really a good actor and also a great judge of projects that would be beneficial for his career. But today, he had expressed his concern that Ren might NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE ROLE. It filled Yashiro with indignation that someone, much less the LME President would think something like that of Tsuruga Ren, Japan's No. 1 actor.

Sure, this would be a very big gamble since this would be the first role he would ever play as a bad guy. If this movie bombed, Ren's career as a leading man would be really affected. But judging by the performance Ren showed earlier in the meeting, he could really deliver the part. So why doesn't Takarada-san want Rent to do the role?

"You're scowling so much, your eyebrows are turning into one line," Ren commented.

"What?" Yashiro said blankly, temporarily forgetting why he was mad. Then he scowled at Ren. "I'm getting mad for your sake, Mr. Japan's No. 1 actor! Now I'm too wound up because you always need to put that stupid 'gentleman' smile on your face! Let's go, I need to relax!" Yashiro stomped off, followed by a chuckling Ren.

It's true that Ren felt disappointed about the meeting, but he had decided that he shouldn't dwell on it. It would be better to just look ahead and put out all his skills in acting in the next test that the LME President wanted to give him. And Yashiro was already mad enough for the two of them anyway.

"If this wasn't supposed to be a secret, I'd tell Kyoko-chan all about it and she can show Takarada-san the definition of indignation!" Yashiro muttered darkly.

Speaking of his kouhai, Ren noticed that Yashiro was leading him to the Love Me room.

"Yashiro, why are we here? You're not actually going to tell Mogami-san, right?" Ren asked carefully.

"Tell me what?" Kyouko asked inquisitively.

Ren and Yashiro abruptly stopped in their tracks when they saw the three Love Me members standing in front of their locker room. Kanae and Chiori held a bunch of papers while Kyoko was empty-handed.

"Good afternoon Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san!" Kyouko cheerfully greeted the two men. Kanae and Chiori echoed her greeting but with more reservation.

"Good afternoon, Mogami-san," Ren warmly greeted his favorite kouhai before also acknowledging the other two girls.

"Kyoko-chan! Hi! Uh…" Yashiro, caught off-guard, started scrambling for some excuse for dropping by.

"Did you want to tell me something?" Kyouko prompted.

"Looks like the three of you are busy with something. Did we drop by at a wrong time?" Ren cut in smoothly.

"Oh, no. We just came from Sawara-san's office. Moko-san and Amamiya-san received their new Love Me assignments but Sawara-san said the President will need to brief me himself for my own assignment," Kyouko said. That explained the woe-begotten looks of the two girls behind her.

"Really? May I ask…" Yashiro started to say when Kanae threw a piercing look at him.

"NO, YOU MAY NOT!" she said icily. "Now, if you'll excuse us…," Kanae glared at Yashiro as she opened the door and stormed in.

"Moko-san…" Kyouko called out worriedly.

"I'm sorry for Kotonomi-san's behavior," Chiori said apologetically. Yashiro transferred his attention to the third Love Me member who was about to go in the room, too.

"That's alright," Yashiro answered sheepishly, "so may I ask…"

"NO, YOU MAY NOT!" Chiori gave the manager a glare identical to Kanae's and also disappeared into the room.

Yashiro blanched. Two girls had just walked out on him.

"Amamiya-san!" Kyoko worriedly called out to the other girl. She was about to follow when Yashiro blocked her path.

"Kyoko-chan! Please don't walk out on me, too! I'm sorry!" Yashiro blurted out to Kyouko who just looked bewildered. She reluctantly patted Yashiro's head as if he was a distressed puppy. Ren could barely contain his amusement.

Kyouko glanced at her sempai who had turned around to hide his chuckles. Mistakenly thinking that Ren felt left out, Kyouko moved to his side and reached up to pat his head, too. Ren looked at Kyouko in surprise and finally burst out laughing.

Kyouko was surprised when Ren started laughing and it looked like to her expense. She crossed her arms and frowned at him.

"Did you come here to make fun of us? That's not very nice of you," Kyouko coldly said.

Ren quickly collected himself. "No, of course not. I would never intentionally do something like that to you, Mogami-san," he said earnestly. "It's just that I was feeling a bit down a while ago and you just cheered me all the way up again."

"How did I cheer you up? I haven't done anything at all," Kyouko said suspiciously.

Ren gave her a dazzling smile. "Just by being you," he said softly.

Yashiro saw Kyouko's eyes grow wide and her cheeks redden in reaction to Ren's statement. He could also see that Ren had realized he had set Kyouko's anti-love alarms on. Ren glanced away from her.

"You know, you three Love Me girls and Yashiro-san can do stand-up comedy. I promise I'll be your audience," Ren chuckled. Kyouko gasped in outrage.

'Good save' Yashiro thought. "Anyway, Kyoko-chan, " he said loudly to change the subject. " I would like to report that Ren has been skipping lunch these couple of days." He grinned evilly at his charge. That's for that stand-up comedy quip!

"Tsuruga-san! How could you! You should take more care of your body!" Kyouko scolded Ren as Yashiro nodded sagely.

"Since he didn't eat lunch today, maybe you should have dinner with him to ensure he eats a healthy dinner tonight," Yashiro prompted. "He never listens to me at all when it comes to food," he sighed theatrically. He gave Ren a thumbs up sign behind Kyouko's back. When Kyouko glanced away from him, Ren threw dagger-looks at his manager but maintained a calm voice for his kouhai.

"I'd love to have dinner with you, Mogami-san. If you're free tonight, that is," he said.

"We have to make sure you eat right, senpai. Sure, I'll accompany you to dinner. It would be better if I could just cook for you but I have an early meeting tomorrow with the president," Kyouko said determinedly.

"Looks like I'm bothering you…"

"No, no! I want to support my senpai in his career!" Ren and Yashiro was taken aback by Kyouko's fiery pronouncement. She hastily entered the Love Me room to change out of her jumpsuit after asking them to wait for her. As soon as the door closed, Ren turned menacingly at his manager.

"Yashiro…." Ren's growl was at odds with the gentlemanly smile pasted on his face.

"Good night, Ren! I just remembered I have an engagement tonight… a… a…. my aunt's getting married!" Yashiro giddily said as he scurried away. "Tell me all about your date tomorrow!" he called out as he disappeared at a corner. Did he just hear his manager giggle like a teenage girl? Ren shook his head. He'll strangle his matchmaking manager tomorrow, but tonight he'll do what his manager apparently wants him to do. That is, relax, forget about his problems and just enjoy the company of the girl he loves.

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- Hi everyone! Thanks again for the kind reviews! I'm very grateful for all your comments. It makes me want to sit and write a bit longer, think a bit deeper… and question myself again and again what the heck I got myself into. Anyway, I really love hearing from you guys, so just keep those reviews coming!