Here is the next section for your enjoyment.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
On the day after New Year's Day the wayward actors and their managers turned back up at LME. Ren and Kyoko's hair had been returned to their normal color, but Catherine kept the red. Many heads turned and whispers ran the building as the tall actor made his way to the president's office. They were greeted by Lory in traditional Japanese dress. The hakama, kimono, and geta were the most normal thing that they had ever seen the man wear. It was the demon noh mask that he wore sideways on his head that let them know that the man had not lost his mind while they were gone.
"So what do you have to say for yourselves?" Lory looked over the four people standing inside his shut door. Catherine's letter had explained everything, but he was still going to give them a hard time for causing him so much trouble. He could just barely contain his excitement as he looked at where Kyoko's hand was intertwined with Ren's. He was going to have to arrange for her graduation from the LoveMe section as soon as possible. Lory was not surprised when Catherine dropped to the floor in a dogeze bow. He was surprised that she was the only one that did so. It had taken her a long time to convince the others that she needed to be the only one to shoulder the blame. It was her ideas that had caused the mayhem, so it was her job to deal with the consequences of the actions.
"Please forgive me for stealing your employees away." Catherine spoke into the floor. "I take full responsibility for everything that has happened and gladly accept any punishment you deem worthy." Ren squeezed Kyoko's hand to give her the strength to let the woman do what she needed to do. The other three bowed from the waist to show their apology too. Lory looked over the guilty persons and shook his head.
"You four have caused me no end of trouble these last two weeks." Lory rubbed his forehead as he thought of all the headaches that he had worked through. "I was able to appease the press for a little while by faking an illness for Ren, but I don't think the police bought it. They have been here every day looking for evidence that I staged his abduction." Lory looked at the group begging his forgiveness. "Come on and sit down so that we can talk. There is still a lot to cover before this is over." Catherine sat up while the others straightened up. Yashiro helped Catherine from the floor and the four friends arranged themselves on the couches under Lory's watchful eyes. Lory raised an eyebrow as Yashiro offered Catherine the throw pillow from the end of the chair. She waved it away, but he tucked in right next to him in case she changed her mind. "Now that we are more comfortable, we need to arrange a press conference to announce that Ren is back and in good health."
"What illness was I supposed to be down with?" Ren asked.
"Varicella Zoster." Lory announced. Confusion crossed all of their faces; they had never heard of this illness and wondered if it was something that he had made up. "The Chicken Pox." Lory gave the disease a more common name. Everyone snorted as they tried to hold back their laughter, except Ren. Lory had spent a lot of time looking up rare illnesses that would cause the actor to pass out due to fever and need to be carried from his home, something that would account for him not being able to be seen for at least 2 weeks, and nothing that would endanger his life. He had played with the idea of several other rare diseases, but most of them had long term symptoms that could cause some questions, but the common virus that caused Chicken Pox worked perfectly. It was easy to catch, a severe case could cause high fevers, the actor would definitely what to stay out of the public eye until all of the lesions went away, and if he ever did get it again they could claim that it was shingles and no one would even question the validity of the claim. Lory explained this to the actor and he reluctantly agreed to use this as his cover.
They next talked about what they were going to do about the police. They were going to need to talk to the detectives that were still working on the case. Lory expected them to show up soon to talk to the actor. There was no way the paparazzi had missed the tall actor's return, no matter how early he had come in. If they had bothered to check the news at that moment, they would have seen images of the party arriving with speculations on where the actor had been. It was agreed that Catherine and Ren would talk with the detective alone so that no blame was placed on Kyoko or Yashiro for the choices that were made. Neither Kyoko nor Yashiro liked this idea. They had argued about this for a long time, but Catherine was determined that the actress and manager were going to get out of this one unscathed. Lory noticed that Kyoko and Yashiro both backed down when Catherine started to get physically upset over the matter. He was amazed at how fast the hardheaded girl he had come to know backed down from her manager. Yashiro had taken Catherine's hand and was patting it gently as he tried to calm her down. Even Ren was watching her with concerned eyes. Lory did not know what was going on, but he had a strange feeling something was up.
Once matters were settled and stories were made, Lory arranged for a press conference so Ren could explain that he was ok. Ren blushed as he explained to the eager press that he had spent the time he was missing suffering from the childhood virus. He felt foolish, but it was better than telling the press that he had been abducted so that he could get married. He explained that he spiked a fever high enough to make him pass out and that Kyoko and her manager had carried him from his home to a doctor. One reporter asked him to explain why the girls had reportedly ransacked his home. Ren gave him his gentleman's smile and informed the woman that they had been looking for his medical card so they could take him to the doctor. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but the smile that he sent her did not leave a place for her to question him. When all the questions were asked and answered sufficiently, Ren excused himself and left with Catherine to go talk to the police about his abduction.
They spent a long time in the police station. Ren explained that Catherine had taken him to get help, but the detectives still placed the woman in an interrogation room so that she could explain her actions. Catherine sat at the table and smiled warmly at the two detectives trying to crack her. They were sure that she was hiding something, but they could not find out what. They had checked into the 'doctor' that Lory had presented for the press and found that he was really only a medical student that would sometime work as an actor for LME. There was no way that man could have been treating the missing actor. Ren told them that he did not want to press charges on anyone, but the police had spent a lot of time looking into this case and they wanted answers.
"Can I go now please?" Catherine asked at the end of the second hour of interrogation. They had asked the same questions over and over, but she still gave the same answers. Catherine was starting to not feel good. It had been a while since she had last eaten and her stomach was giving her fits again.
"You still have not told us what we what to know." One of detective looked over the folder on the table; his partner had gone out to see if she would talk to one of them more openly. "Where has Tsuruga Ren been for the last two weeks?" This was the only question that she had not given them a proper answer to.
"I told you." Catherine swallowed as she tried to calm the nausea that was rising in her. "He has been in bed sick with the chicken pox." Catherine breathed through her mouth.
"You said that, but where." The detective pressed the woman. He could see that she was uncomfortable and hoped that she was about to break and confess that she had held the actor captive for the last two weeks. He smiled as the color drained from her face. This was it, she was finally going to give it up!
"I really don't feel good." Catherine swallowed again. "Could I please go to the restroom?" She broke out into a cold sweat as she tried to make her body listen to her.
"You can go as soon as you tell me where he was." The detective heard the note of discomfort in the voice and pressed her again. This was the wrong thing to say to the sick woman.
"I'm going to be sick." She warned the detective. She closed her eyes as she tried to calm her stomach. He was sure that she was faking and refused her request again. Catherine stood up and looked around for a garbage can but could not find one. The detective told her to sit back down and she turned to look at him. She could not hold it back anymore and proceeded to vomit all over the table and the case file. The detective was not fast enough and the offensive liquid splashed across the table and right into his lap. He could hear the laughter of his colleges hidden by the one-way mirror behind him. He was good about getting answers from hard cases, but he had been warned that his ways with the suspects could bring him to a bad end someday. Catherine sat back down into her chair shaking. She had pushed it back away from the table and curled up to try and collect herself. The detective stood up and left madder than a wet hen. As he opened the door, the laughter could be heard clear into the other room. The woman had warned him that she did not feel well, so there was really nothing he could say to her. A few minutes later the other detective brought the stricken woman a towel and glass of water before escorted her from the room and back to the waiting actor. Since they could not prove anything and the actor was safe and sound, they had to let her go. The police decided to report this to the American Embassy.
Ren watched as they brought the pale woman out to him. Yashiro and Kyoko had stopped by near the end of the first hour that the police had Catherine in interrogation. They had argued for the woman's release and were glad to see that they were not going to try to charge her with anything. Yashiro could tell that his love was not feeling good and pulled a package of crackers from his pocket for her. She smiled weakly at him and took the offered food. They released Catherine into the care of her friends and they left. It had started to get late so Ren dropped the managers off at Yashiro's home before taking Kyoko home with him. Their things were still out at Lory's villa, but it was much too far to drive tonight.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone that put in their two cents on the tying up of loose ends. They helped a lot.