Title: THE FOURTH LOVE ME MEMBER
Disclaimer: I don't own SKIP BEAT!
Setting: After the filming for BJ's movie
Summary: The LoveMe Division welcomes a new member. But why is Kyoko so eager to help her new teammate to graduate? Will they both survive in the end, and possibly find love?
Note: This chapter is dedicated to RenxKyoko's ultimate Fanboy – Yashiro (since I actually forgot to include him in my thought processes as I visualized this story). May his dreams come true, may his fanboy potentials be fulfilled, and may I finally find the courage to post / publish his fanfic (where he will be the main character) which is brewing inside my flashdrive.
Chapter 1: Yashiro's Big Break
Yashiro woke up early, as always. He did his chores, as always, thinking – insisting within his little world – that everything is normal, that nothing is amiss in his organized and calendared life. When Ren picked him up, he greeted his charge like he always used to, settled into the passenger seat as they drove to LME. Up to that point when he and Ren stepped out of the car and entered the building, he was absolutely fine, except for a sort of anxious anticipation that manifested itself as a dull ache at the pit of his stomach. They proceeded to the topmost floor, where the main office of LME's president is located. He tried to engage his charge into small chitchat, more to appease his increasing worry, as the elevator rose. Then a loud 'ding' was heard and his heart almost stopped. The doors opened, the secretary smiled awkwardly and greeted: "Good morning Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san, please proceed into the main office, the President is expecting you", which barely registered to Yashiro. He only realized he'd been holding his breath the whole time until they finally faced the judgment stand – aka Lory Takarada's table.
"How are you this morning, gentlemen?" the eccentric President asked cheerfully.
"I'm fine Sir" Ren answered politely, without any hint of emotion.
"And you, Mr. Yashiro?" Lory asked, seeing that the manager is already turning blue.
Yashiro finally exhaled "Fi – fi – fine, Mr. President" he croaked.
"Great!" the man exclaimed as he stood up, so far removed from the god who was full of wrath and vengeance, who practically shooed them away less than 24 hours ago.
"Sit down! Sit down! This won't take long, but please relax" he insisted "Sebastian, please pour these gentlemen some drinks" he added "care for some smoke? Oh well, it's still a bit too early, but please indulge me" he offered as he puffed on his cigar. He looked like a fine English gentleman, complete with vest, bow tie and a dangling pocket watch. His mustache even looked good for the part.
"Well, gentlemen, as agreed yesterday, you shall receive your first instructions" he puffed. With a passing look, Sebastian handed him a piece of paper which he examined with growing interest. "Hmm… a meeting with the director of the new drama at 11am, a photo shoot at 2pm, a magazine interview at 5pm.. you keep a good timetable Mr. Yashiro" he commented, raising his eyebrows and looking at the manager.
"Well, uh – I try to do my best, Mr. President, Sir" was the only reply he can muster.
"Good. Cancel the meeting with Director – er—Fuji. Tell him I asked for it, he can't decline. Reset it sometime later. Looks like Thursday will be fine" the President commanded nonchalantly.
Yashiro opened his mouth to protest but then decided against it. Instead, he fumbled for his datebook to find the director's number. He contacted the Director and within 5 minutes another schedule has been set. All the while, their host puffed continuously on his cigar and Ren remained in his seat, without any sign of panic or apprehension. For the first time in his life, Yashiro wanted to shake the younger man into normality. Does he not know how deep we are into this shit, right now? His projected glare was interrupted by Sebastian entering the room. He never noticed the man leaving.
"Ah! It has arrived, finally" their host exclaimed as his right hand man placed a medium sized box on the table.
Both younger men looked at the box despite themselves.
"For this morning, you, Mr. Ren Tsuruga, shall be wearing this" patting the box beside him "as you go about your task here in the office". He did not add any further explanation and they were only left with their own imaginations.
(As we are now looking into poor Yashiro's point of view, let us enumerate his initial thoughts)
What does that freakin' box contain? A pair of t-shirts saying "Look here! I'm an idiot!". Wait, he only said that to Ren, right? He looked at his charge who also seemed lost into similar grim thoughts. Is it a cosplay costume? An animal costume, perhaps? That would be quite humiliating for Ren's image, but he'd still look quite adorable – that would hardly be a punishment. Maybe a chainsaw? A pair of ankle chains and whips? This is so frustrating…
(Well, what do you expect from a grown man who still reads manga in his free time and whose is hobby fanboying for his charge and a certain LoveMe girl? Back to reality… )
"You'll find out soon enough the details of THIS TASK once you open this box" the man continued with clear laughter in his voice. He seemed to take real pleasure in tormenting both of them. Even Ren had started to show some emotion, though still remained inscrutable.
"You may now leave this room, Ms. Tsuruga. Sebastian, please escort him outside" he instructed.
Ren stood up, barely glancing at his manager, who sat there with wide eyes. Then the two men walked away.
The sound of the shutting double oak doors seemed like a 'swoosh' of an undertaker's blade to Yashiro. But he can only shrink into his seat and imitate the woodwork as the President faced him, sitting at the edge of his desk.
"Now, Mr. Yashiro – hear me out carefully" Lory Takarada said without antagonism.
Yashiro gulped "I'm so sorry for Ren's behavior yesterday your highness, er—Mr. President, sir, but I do want to keep my job here at LME, I hope you will give both of us another chance" he blubbered.
The President looked at him incredulously. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, uh – aren't you going to fire me?"
"Fire you? I'd never do such a thing! You've proved to be a very efficient manager for Ren, and an invaluable source of information!"
For the first time since he entered the room, Yashiro began to feel his extremities. So this is how it feels to be alive.. again?
"I was not going to fire you, my dear man, but I may think towards that option if you don't cooperate…"
Or maybe not. He felt like a rabbit who escaped the fox only to be lured again into its powerful jaws.
"Ha Ha Ha.. " the President exclaimed, seeing his expression.
"I think you'll find some great benefits in cooperating with my plans, Mr. Yashiro. I'm quite sure of it. So, here's what I need you to do… "
Ren waited patiently at the visitors' lounge, under the watchful eye of President Takarada's shadow. The man never talked and so he didn't try to start a conversation. Besides, he is too worried to talk. He is worried about Yashiro, why the President is taking so long to talk to his manager. He wondered if the President has any right to replace his manager. Then he realized that Yashiro is not the one in trouble, he is. And Lory Takarada is not so petty as to blame his manager for his disappointment. Or maybe not. The whole 7 years he had been closely associated with the man, Ren has never witnessed the President exhibit such anger as what he'd shown the day before. Had he really gone too far this time? He did see through his lies. He was right about 'the story being too close to home'. And Ren can only wait anxiously until his manager leaves the room. This time, he will be the one to ask the questions. And despite himself, a fear had start knotting within him; a deep, almost primal fear.
Seeing his reaction, Sebastian smirked.
Inside the LoveMe Room, the 3 LoveMe members, all wearing their Pink uniforms, stacked papers diligently. Sawara-san had asked them all to come early. Their schedules have been rearranged so as to make sure that they are all together that morning. It seemed that he will have an important announcement for them.
Kotonami Kanae worked furiously. She was assigned the box containing the fanmail for the members of the Music department. They were to sort the fanmail by category: 'for consideration', 'trash', 'potentially dangerous', and 'for investigation'. Her stack contained a lot of weird but altogether generally harmless fanmails ranging from 'I love your music' to 'Please be my penpal' to 'I wanna birth your children'. So far she had only encountered one threatening fanmail – containing threats of bombing a certain pop star's condo if he sang his number one song in his concert one more time. She had immediately put that inside the box labeled 'potentially dangerous' – the sender of which will be traced and identified for further investigation. Despite the boring task before her, Kanae worked with quite anticipation. When she heard 'announcement' from Sawara-san, she had only thought of one thing: She will be finally getting rid of the hideous pink uniform and be free from the pink curse. And so she waited, suffered Kyoko's pink attack and sorting through mind-numbing fanmails, because she is hoping that the day will end brighter; that she will finally achieve freedom.
Chiori Amamiya was assigned the rest of the Acting Department's fanmail. Even though the number of names assigned to her was more than the one name assigned to Kyoko, her pile was only more than half of the other girl's pile. She did not bother herself with the announcement. She had initially hoped that the announcement would be about the three of them being assigned into just one project and the prospect excited her. Of course she had wanted to act with Kyoko, since Box-R is already nearing its conclusion, but as the time progressed, she had also wanted to act beside Kanae, who proved to be quite formidable herself. The raven-haired beauty is not as talented as Kyoko, who Chiori considered as her role model of sorts, but she is also talented and driven, much like her, and though unspoken, she had regarded the other girl as another rival. She kept her hopes up as she rummaged through her pile, but not as fiercely as Kanae does.
Mogami Kyoko is not worried about the announcement. To her, spending time with her Moko-san, especially now that they have been quite busy and were unable to see each other as often as before, was more important than any announcement. She was assigned the biggest pile under only one name: Tsuruga Ren. She noted that most of the fanmail were nice and respectful (in some sort of way or another – she's not very prejudiced given that her senpai is the most desirable man in Japan). But some were also quite disturbing. One fan wrote that she is the reincarnation of Ren's mole in his left hip. She tried hard to remember if there was such a mole in such a spot and she was pretty sure there was none. She's had, after all, some sort of close contact with many of his body parts during her secret Dangerous assignment as Setsu. One letter asked Tsuruga-san to impregnate her and when Kyoko read it, she almost threw away the piece of paper. Who in her right mind and complete self-respect ask a man to impregnate her? Well, she thought, anyone would gladly bear Tsuruga-san's children.. But then she shook her head. Her senpai is too much of a gentleman to grant any such wish, no matter how nicely written it was. Besides, he already has someone he likes. Somehow this thought made her chest tighten a little. She decided to glance at Moko-san, her beautiful Moko-san, scowling at a fanmail then throwing it into a growing pile beside her. She should just enjoy this morning, she thought to herself. Maybe later she can ask both her best friends to go to her favorite ice cream place with her. This thought made her smile happily.
LoveMe Number 1 was still smiling her cute smile when the door opened, and a tall silhouette entered. It was Amamiya who first reacted. Then Kanae followed suit. When Kyoko looked up, she can only say the same thing that the other two uttered: "HUUUUUHHH?"
(A FEW MINUTES EARLIER)
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is" the taller man stated, a slight lilt evident in his voice.
"There's no mistaking it. I'm only visually aware of only one same color" the shorter, bespectacled man answered.
They were peering into the box provided to them earlier. The shorter man was holding it in his arms as they rode the elevator down. They only opened the box after they left the office, as instructed.
"You've got to be kidding me" the taller man replied.
"Nope. I'm quite sure this is serious" the shorter man commented, hiding his glee.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. A middle-aged man with a well-tidied mustache stood there waiting.
"Are you gentlemen ready?" the man asked.
The shorter man nodded, but the taller man only sighed as they stepped out.
"HHHUUUUHHHHHH?"
"Ladies, I would like to introduce to you the new member of LoveMe division" Sawara announced, motioning his arm to the much taller man beside him.
"Good morning, ladies. I'll be in your charge for today. Please take care of me" the deep, melodious voice greeted.
"Hn" – a sound escaped from behind Kyoko, who sat nearest to the door. Everyone looked at the source and found Kotonami Kanae holding a hand to her mouth and another to her stomach.
"Hmff" another sound escaped her. She clearly is holding back tears or laughter or both. When she finally snorted, it proved to be the latter.
"WAH-HA-HA-HA!"
Clearly, no similar sound has been heard from her before because everyone else inside the room looked at the young lady with alarm.
"I'm - Ah – Hahaha – I'm sorry.. haha.. fun- funny – haha.. " she apologized incoherently.
Amamiya can only look at the scene unfolding. She decided to write a very detailed account of this event in her journal later.
Kyoko finally looked away from her best friend who is breaking down into a wordless pit of laughter. She looked at the tall man with much concern but can only utter:
"Tsu – Tsuruga-san? Why?"
Just outside the door, the spectacles of a certain LoveMe member's manager gleamed. The man grinned contentedly, like a mastermind - or the mastermind's assistant.
End of Chapter 2
No further notes for this one. I'm exhausted but happy. Sorry for the mistakes – I was barely able to edit due to excitement and the lateness of the hour. Enjoy?