Author's Note: Alright, so some of you may have read the scans for chapter 204. I won't spoil anything, but since the author chose to take the story in a different (!) direction than what I was expecting, my story wasn't directly contradicted! Yay! Now, on to that date you've been anxiously awaiting!

XD

In this chapter, I use "Setsu/Setsuka" and "Kyoko/Mogami-san" interchangeably. The same goes for "Ren/Tsuruga-san" and "Cain". I tried to use their real names to emphasize their true feelings, but I admit that it gets kind of confusing.

Chapter 7: Conflicting emotions

Hand in hand, Setsuka Heel and her brother Cain walked over to the amusement park. Cain insisted on paying both their entrance fares, but got into a yelling match when the ticket jockey tried to charge him full price. He argued that there were only a few hours left before the park closed. Seeing that the argument could take a while to resolve, Setsu complained that the entrance area needed a few more rides before it could be considered fun enough to spend their entire evening there. With that comment, Cain reluctantly paid the cashier and they began their "date".

Tokyo Disneyland is divided into seven districts including Tomorrowland, Toontown and Adventureland. Much to Ren's surprise, Setsu claimed that she didn't want to visit Fantasyland because it was too childish and lame. Having planned to spend the majority of the night looking at castles and visiting with the Disney princesses, Ren was thrown for a loop. So, as Cain, he insisted that they check it out, if only to make fun of the people who enjoyed those silly fairy tales. However, Setsu wasn't interested.

She wandered in the opposite direction, dragging Cain along with her. Avoiding the mascots, rides and shows, she found one of the least childish attractions: the shooting gallery in Westernland.

Couples on dates lined up to use one of the many toy rifles to shoot targets in an olde-tyme saloon. The guns used laser beams to activate the targets, so the danger of bullets was non-existent. Two hundred yen ($2) got a sharp-shooter 10 "bullets". Smiling at her brother, Setsu hefted a gun over her shoulder and challenged him.

"I bet I can hit more targets than you!"

"Confident… especially from the girl who's never shot a gun in her life."

Watching a young man nearby hit three bull-eyes in a row, Setsu evaluated his stance and aim. Then, closing one eye, she copied his form and sighted down the barrel at a whiskey bottle on the shelf. She pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

"Missy, you'll need t' insert yer money b'fore that there gun'll work," suggested the attendant, whose striped apron and bushy mustache were meant to look like an old-fashioned bar-keep.

Setsu looked expectantly at her brother.

He sighed and pulled out his money.

"Might as well make it interesting," he muttered, activating his own rifle. He aimed for the deer's head on the wall and shot it right between the eyes. The light next to the target flashed red.

"If I win, we're going to ride the go-carts next."

His sister activated her gun.

"And if I win," Setsu countered, shooting the whiskey bottle using the technique she'd copied from the young man next to her. The light also flashed red. "We're leaving this tacky theme park."

"Huh?" Ren couldn't keep the surprise off his face.

Surely Mogami-san didn't want to end their date already?

They'd hardly been at the park for 10 minutes.

"Maybe you can take me somewhere more interesting… Do you think they'll serve me beer in our hotel bar?"

Though she must have known that Ren was gawking at her, she was obviously making an effort to avoid his concerned expression. Her attention became completely focused on the targets. The next two things she aimed at, a picture of Mickey Mouse and a lamp, both flashed their red lights indicating she'd hit them.

"Watch out, Niisan," she warned, "You're falling behind already."

It wasn't a problem for Ren to hit 10 targets with a laser-tag rifle. In fact, he could've easily hit 10 real targets with real bullets – and from farther away than this.

To prove that he wasn't rattled, he calmly shot three bottles in quick succession. Red lights, all of them.

"What do we get for a perfect score?" he asked the attendant confidently.

"If ye hit ten o' them targets, you'll earn yerself a Donald Duck sheriff's badge!"

Shifting his eyes over to Setsuka, he muttered, "Guess we'll have a new sheriff in town tonight."

"Don't worry, Niisan," Setsu purred in response, "I'll be sure to make you my deputy."

The competitive atmosphere raised another notch. Still, Ren was not entirely concerned. He knew that he'd hit all of his targets. However, the game was obviously toned down to match a child's skill level, so he couldn't discount the possibility of a tie.

What would happen then? Did Mogami-san actually want to leave the park?

Lighting up the gallery with red lights, Setsu and Cain were shooting with a ferocity that didn't suit the amusement park atmosphere. The two leather-clad delinquents targeted a rubber duck on the edge of the counter simultaneously. The timing was so close, even Ren couldn't say who pulled the trigger first. The red light came on and Setsu hissed with pleasure. Cain snorted. There was no way to know if they'd both get credit for shooting the target in such quick succession. Regardless, he felt that he'd been quicker – and he wanted her to know that.

"Better luck next time, partner," Cain taunted in a comically executed Texan drawl.

Ignoring him, Setsu aimed at a picture frame. Cain copied her and, again, they both shot the same target.

Setsu shot a death-glare at her brother, who was clearly trying to ruin her concentration and sabotage her perfect score. Kyoko didn't know why it mattered so much to her, but she couldn't let Ren win.

Finally, they were down to their last bullet. They both waited for the other to make the first move. Setsu wanted to finish the game, but had started to worry that shooting the same target had been robbing her of her points. Not wanting Cain to mimic her, she refrained from aiming until he chose his target.

But he didn't move. In fact, he faked a yawn.

Then Kyoko had an idea. Setsu pointed her gun at a barrel of wine and started to squeeze down on the trigger. As expected, Cain followed her lead and shot the target. When the red light flashed, Setsu swiveled the barrel of her rifle to a bottle of tequila and finished pulling the trigger. But, the shot was rushed. In her effort to outsmart Cain, she'd shot before she was ready.

No red light glowed next to the tequila bottle.

She'd lost.

The machine that printed their receipts showed their scores: 10/10 for Cain and 9/10 for Setsuka. Apparently the targets could register two shooters at once. The bar-keep congratulated Cain and handed him a silver sheriff's badge.

As he accepted his spoils, Cain noticed Setsu walking away. Quickly thanking the attendant, Cain jogged over to catch up with his sister. It wasn't hard, considering that she was dragging her feet gloomily.

This date was not playing out like he'd expected. In his imagination, Mogami-san would be flitting about like a hummingbird trying to see everything. Her eyes would light up when she gazed upon the castle, and she'd start talking about fairies and princesses and other adorable nonsense. He'd looked forward to surprising her with a tiara that he'd bought when she wasn't looking.

He couldn't fathom why she was so against Disneyland all of a sudden.

"Setsu," he called to her, but she kept walking. "Hey, Setsu!"

He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"What's the matter?" he asked, his face openly showing the concern that he felt towards Mogami-san – an expression that was decidedly un-Cain-like.

When she looked up at him with a bored expression, he became even more frustrated.

"Weren't you excited to visit Disneyland? Didn't you say it was the 'Happiest place on Earth'?"

"I didn't say that," she responded cynically. "This place is for kids, why would a bunch of idiots dressed as mice make me happy?"

Ren frowned.

"What's gotten into you Mogami-san?"

Kyoko crossed her arms and turned her head, releasing a dissatisfied sigh.

It sounded familiar. He remembered that sigh. It was the same one that he'd given her a few times when they'd been acting together and she hadn't quite grasped her character. It was the "no good" sigh.

"I'm disappointed," she said. Her eyes took in his motorcycle boots, his dark clothing and shaggy black hair before flicking up aggressively to meet his. "Who are you trying to be right now?"

"…Mogami-san?" questioned Ren helplessly.

"You promised that you'd never break character with me again."

Those words…

"Until I finish this life of mine, I will live as "your me"."

A promise was mistakenly broken.

"But here you are, bringing Tsuruga Ren's feelings into Cain's character."

Expectations were unintentionally shattered.

"You're supposed to be Cain right now."

A heart was inadvertently crushed.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a date between the Heel siblings?"

Ren hung his head.

Because it wasn't on the set of Tragic Marker – more specifically, because it was only the two of them – he'd been careless. He'd figured that they'd moved beyond needing the buffer zone of the Heel personas. He'd hoped that, on their date, it wouldn't matter if he was acting or not. So he'd jumped back and forth between Tsuruga Ren and Cain Heel whenever it suited him. But he realized now how unfair that had been to her. The agreement was for a date between Setsuka and Cain, yet he'd manipulated the scenario without warning. To the woman who looked up to him as her senpai and role-model in acting, his performance would obviously have been disappointing.

Yet, it was only with her that he let his mask slip.

If it had been anyone else, any other woman, he would have stayed in whatever character he'd intended to use – no matter what circumstances arose.

Mogami-san was the exception. With her, he wanted to share his true self, unaltered and free. The fake siblings' routine was fine for a disguise, but deep down he knew that "their" closeness only made him feel as if he and Mogami-san were drifting further apart.

"You're right…" he sighed.

Kyoko nodded, but her crossed arms and far-away gaze told him she was waiting for an explanation.

"I'm sorry, Setsu. I forgot myself."

The music from the shooting gallery lilted towards them on the breeze. Children skipped by wearing mouse-ear hats. All around them people were smiling and having fun.

In the middle of this, Kyoko tried to keep herself together.

Quietly, but with an uncompromising tone, Kyoko demanded, "Who was giving the gift? Who was it for?"

The question meant more than the words she was saying. It was a request for transparency. She wanted Tsuruga-san to acknowledge his true intentions, without hiding behind a character.

However, in direct contradiction, her soft voice told him that she was afraid of what the answer would be. It imposed on him the need to protect her. The effort to not force his feelings on her had kept a barrier between them that he, as Tsuruga Ren, could never breach. When she gave him this look of vulnerability, he always caved and made up some stupid excuse. He was always hiding.

They did this to each other. It was a dance they'd never master, because with each step the song was getting faster and wilder.

He couldn't have someone special the way he was right now.

She wouldn't allow her feelings to grow.

In this stalemate of mutual romantic denial, neither of them would win. Still they kept pushing each other off-balance, in hopes that they wouldn't be the one to fall.

"The gift was for you, from me."

"But which me?" emphasized Kyoko, "And which you?"

"Does it matter?"

Does it matter? Kyoko asked herself. The answer seemed obvious that it did matter. But surely, Tsuruga-san hadn't actually asked her on a real date. It had to be out of obligation. She'd given him a Valentine's gift out of gratitude and, being the gentleman he was, he had responded on White Day with a "date" to Disneyland. It was nothing more than that. There was no point in pushing the issue any further.

"I guess not," she replied, twirling her hair absently.

And with that, Ren felt the strain of the situation disappear.

"Niisan, didn't you say you wanted to ride the go-carts next?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go."

Lounging on his couch, Sho stared at his phone. He'd been doing this since he'd finished work for the day. As soon as he'd get up the nerve to call, he'd think of a million reasons not to. Still, the urge wouldn't leave him.

It was all Kyoko's fault. Since she'd mentioned his parents, he'd felt… an obligation to speak with them. Being busy as he was, it had been over a year since the last time he'd called home.

It wasn't as if he didn't love his parents. Truthfully, he just wasn't interested in hearing a lecture about taking over the ryokan or getting married.

A quick call, he decided. I'll make it short and simple: give them a few details and then claim to have to get back to work. That way they won't have any time for pointless scolding.

Finally he dialed the number.

"Hi Mom, it's Shotaro…"

"Doesn't this thing go any faster?" Setsu complained from the driver's seat of their "race car".

They couldn't have been going more than 12 km/hr (about 7.5 mi/hr). Ren tried not to snicker.

During the walk to the go-carts, Setsu had demanded to drive. Cain had begrudgingly accepted. Now that they knew how underpowered the cars were, he didn't want to drive one. As an amateur racer and stunt driver, it was almost embarrassing.

So, even though he wanted to laugh at the situation, instead he tried to soothe the angry woman next to him.

"This will help you develop the basic skills needed for driving a real car," he lectured encouragingly.

"What skills?" Setsu whined. "This track doesn't provide any challenge at all!"

She had a point. The cars were all on tracks so that even if you didn't steer, there was no chance of a collision.

"Hey, Niisan," Setsu asked as they exited the ride. "I'm almost old enough to drive a real car, you know."

"I guess so, huh?" he replied absently.

He'd never thought about it before. She had a point, she was 17 after all. It would only be a year before Mogami-san was behind the wheel… but for some reason he couldn't picture it. However, when he pictured her as Setsu, he had no problem imagining her speeding down Tokyo's streets on a motorcycle or some high-powered drift machine.

"Do you think you could teach me sometime?" continued Setsuka.

"Hmm?"

Not knowing if it was a serious request, Ren didn't know how to respond.

"C'mon, Niisan!" pouted Setsu.

Whenever he didn't know what to say, he found that, as Cain, he could just remain silent.

"…Niisan, it's rude to ignore your adorable little sister!"

They wandered out of Tomorrowland without a destination in mind. It was getting late and they probably didn't have enough time for another ride.

Every night, right before closing, Disneyland has a fireworks display. As the night exploded with color, they realized that their date was over.

Stepping behind Setsu, Cain put his arms around her. She leaned back against him as they both watched the sky light up above them.

"If that's what you want, Setsu," Cain murmured into her ear, "I'd be more than happy to teach you how to drive."

Kyoko stiffened reflexively. As soon as he'd put his face so close to hers, her heart had started beating double-time. Her face and chest felt warm, and she fretted that he could feel it through her leather jacket.

Suddenly, her phone went off – Kyoko's phone - making her jump. She'd set it to vibrate. Pressed up against her as he was, even Tsuruga-san felt it.

"Hello, this is Mogami," Kyoko shouted over the noise. She moved away from Tsuruga-san and stuck a finger in her ear in an attempt to block out the ruckus.

The explosions were closer together as the display reached its climax. Ren kept his eyes on Mogami, in case the call was an emergency and she needed to leave the park immediately. However, as the last blast of shimmering gold exploded behind her, Kyoko's face slackened with recognition.

She gave a panicked glance toward Ren before responding.

"Fuwa-san?"