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!
Chapter 6
President Takarada impassively watched the two hunched figures in front of him. His favorite Love Me girl squirmed under his gaze, clearly distressed, but the other person just placidly stared at him head on. Finally, the handsome young actor reached over and patted the girl's shoulder in a reassuring manner. The girl smiled up at him but kept twitching in place.
Takarada guessed he'd already made them stew long enough. He let out a small sigh as he lay the pipe he had been smoking down.
"Are you an idiot?" he finally said to Ren. "Why'd you reveal your disguise to her? You're supposed to be Cain Heel, the actor who's going to play BJ. This is supposed to be a secret, you know?"
"I'm pretty sure Mogami-san can keep this a secret," Ren said quickly, and then added in a sheepish tone, "I unexpectedly frightened her so much, I felt bad."
Takarada watched as Ren glanced fondly at the petite girl, although the girl in question was currently making watery puppy-dog eyes at him."I guess he couldn't stand Kyoko being afraid of him. Can't say I blame him, that's how people in love think, I guess," he mused.
Takarada shrugged his shoulders. "Well, no harm done. According to the report, Ren was able to fool everyone in the station so he passed the test," Takarada said. Kyoko heaved a sigh of relief. She hadn't jeopardized her senpai's role.
"But since you already know about this, I wonder if I can give you another assignment, Mogami-san," the LME President said to Kyoko speculatively.
Kyoko felt a weird chill run down her spine, but she rallied up her demons to gather up her courage.
"I'd be happy to do whatever you need me to do, President!" her bold statement was spoiled though by the quaver in her voice.
In response, a Cheshire smile slowly spread on Takarada-san's face.
"Good! Now I'd like you to meet someone first before I explain everything. There's some minor changes we need to do on Kyoko-san before we can proceed." he said happily.
o-0-o-0-o
Today was going to be a crappy day.
Monobu reluctantly crept forward, his steps weighed down because of lack of sleep and frayed nerves. His destination: the LME receptionist's desk.
Yesterday, he spent the whole afternoon and evening combing the Shibuya station for any sign of Mogami. He didn't realize how late it was until the last train left so he had to walk to the Tokyo Daily Buzz office which was fortunately close to the station.
He found Shio-san in the office and she suggested that, since it was already too late to call LME, he should try to get in touch with Mogami's friend, Fuwa Sho. Maybe he had an idea where Mogami can be found. At that time, Monobu felt that anything was worth a shot, so he His call to Fuwa Sho's manager last night had led to nowhere. Apparently, she didn't believe him at all when he said that he was Sho's classmate back in high school, and had refused to give the singer's contact number to him, or even answer if Sho knew where Mogami Kyouko was at all. He mentally cursed her for being too suspicious. He wasn't lying, and this was an emergency, damn it!
He had no choice left but to spend the night on Shio-san's office couch and wait for morning to report to LME.
So now here he was.
"H-hello, I'd like to speak to Mogami-san's supervisor," he hesitantly said.
The receptionist flashed him a peppy, professional smile. Maybe he was just feeling ornery, but the smile looked too fake and manufactured for him. It somehow grated on his nerves. His mind perversely compared the receptionist's smile to the blinding one of Kyouko's and he got more irritated.
"Good morning! You must mean Sawara-san. He's the Love Me Division's Manager. Gosh, he's got his hands full because of those girls! You're here because of Kyoko-san? Are you here to schedule an interview? So exciting! May I know from what company you're from? Oh, I haven't asked for your name, have I...?" she chattered as she reached for the phone and punched some numbers.
'Man, this girl could talk a mile a minute', Monobu rudely thought. He tried to follow her prattle, but his eyes started to glaze over after awhile. Suddenly, Monobu realized she had stopped speaking and was looking at him expectantly for an answer.
What was she saying again? "Oh, right... My name is..." he started to say when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
o-0-o-0-o
Kanae tried to peel off the hands that were holding on to her arm, to no avail. She placed a hand on the dangerously close face instead and pushed it away. That got the desired effect.
"Ow! You're so mean, Moko-san! I just want to hug my best friend!" Kyoko complained as she massaged her nose and stepped away.
"I told you, stop doing that already!" Kanae scolded but relented a little when she saw the injured look on Kyoko's face.
Behind them, Chiori tried to stifle a chuckle, but it still came out anyway. "You should have learned that by now, Kyoko-san," she wryly said. Kyoko pouted at her.
"I'll give you a hug, onee-sama!" Maria declared, holding out her arms in front of the orange-haired girl. Kyoko gladly accepted and twirled them around the lobby, much to the little girl's delight.
Kanae rolled her eyes at Kyoko's antics and quickened her pace, half-trying to disassociate herself from the others.
"HEY! She's getting away! Catch Moko-san!" she heard Kyoko say, and glanced back to see Maria disengage herself to walk-race towards her. Even Chiori quickened her pace. Honestly, it's 'Tag Moko-san' now?! She put on a burst of speed in her step.
Suddenly, she was tackled from behind. "Caught her, Onee-sama!" Maria yelled gleefully.
"OOMPH! Maria!" Kanae yelped.
The impromptu wrestling match between Kanae & Maria was interrupted though by a disturbance at the Receptionist's desk.
When the girls curiously took a look, they found Kyoko being violently shaken by a man.
o-0-o-0-o
"Wallflower-san!"
Monobu couldn't believe his ears. He whirled around to find Kyouko smiling cheerfully at him, as if there was nothing wrong with the world at all.
" I'm so glad to see you here!" Kyoko cheerfully said to Monobu. "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye yesterday. I'm glad you're okay!"
Suddenly, all the pent-up worry exploded out of him. Kyoko was startled when Monobu stalked over to her with a scowl on his face. "Okay?! OKAY?!" he yelled out as he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard.
"I'm not okay! I've been worried sick, you know?! Where the hell have you been?"
"I've searched all over Shibuya station for you... ALL NIGHT!" he furiously said. "Did you forget that it was you who dragged me over there in the first place?! And you just upped and left me there to go God knows where?! You didn't even think to call me to let me know you're all right?!" he demanded.
"But I don't have your phone number," she timidly replied.
Monobu snatched the cellphone she was holding in her hand and punched his number. "THERE! You have it now!" he said angrily.
As he ran out of steam, he became aware of dark aura emanating from behind him.
"Are you BULLYING Kyouko-san?!"
"HARASSMENT!"
"I'm calling Grandpa!"
o-0-o-0-o
The next thing he knew, Monobu was in a locker room sitting in front of 3 irate females.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Wallflower-san, my classmate back in Kyoto," Kyoko sheepishly said.
"It's Monobu Kenta, you're Wallflower-san not m..." Monobu tried to correct her but one of the older girls made a threatening motion, so he clamped his mouth shut again.
"These are my friends Moko-san, Amamiya-san and Maria."
Monobu offered a weak smile at the girls but he was met with stony glares. As Kyoko tried to explain the reason behind the incident in the lobby, he inconspicuously studied them.
Perched on one of the chairs with her arms crossed adorably in front of her, Maria looked like an exquisite porcelain doll complete with long curly hair and extravagantly lacy dress. The look was slightly ruined though when she saw him staring at her and she rudely pulled down her eye and stuck her tongue out at him.
The girl Mogami-san introduced as Chiori-san was very cute but had a snobbish air around her. He could see that she had very sweet features although it was marred right now with a dark scowl.
The last person Mogami-san introduced as Moko-san was very beautiful indeed. She could very well be a model or a beauty queen with her long black hair and stylish getup, but right now she resembled an Ice Queen the most. She was the one who made a threatening motion at him.
Suddenly, Monobu realized that the two older girls looked very familiar.
"Wait! Aren't you in Box-R?" he blurted out at Chiori. "And Moko-san was in that commercial with Kyoko!" he pointed at the other girl in turn.
"Yes, so we were. What's it to you?" Chiori aggressively asked.
"Address me as Kotonomi-san please. Only SHE is allowed to call me Moko-san," the long haired girl told him in a icily polite voice.
"I don't like him!" Maria chimed in.
The increasing tension in the room was temporarily broken though when Kyoko clapped her hands delightedly.
"WOW! Moko-san and Chiori-san are famous! Wallflower-san said he's clueless when it comes to Showbiz, you know, but he recognized you two!" she happily crowed.
"But it's all because I've been watching videos of Kyoko," Monobu silently thought. The other girls seemed to get embarrassed with her fawning though, and that got him a break from the icy glares.
"Pretty soon, you two will be SUPERSTARS!" said Kyoko, starry-eyed.
"Okay, that's enough Kyoko-san," Moko-san said firmly.
Chiori tried to change the subject. "What is he doing here, anyway? Don't tell me that he's just here to visit you," Chiori asked.
"Oh, he's a reporter," Kyoko said airily.
The icy glares were back.
Hi y'all! Sorry for the late chapter. I am now not entirely unemployed... well, it feels that way. I felt that working in an office doesn't suit me at all, so now I freelance for a living. It pays the bills and it's pure bliss not needing to answer to anyone (most of the time :D ) Thank you for the kind comments and reviews. I hope you like this recent installment! Please review!