Broken Fragments

Chapter 24: Refusals and Agreements

"It's not like th—"

"Then why?" Yuuhi interrupted Hiroto, who tried to lie as an excuse, as she turned to look him in the eyes with hers.

Yuuhi's tears continued to flow from her honest, ocean-blue eyes. She wasn't afraid to show Hiroto how she felt through them. Hiroto, on the other hand, could feel his heart aching to see that once again, he had hurt Yuuhi. He was aware that he had done nothing, but cause her pain, ever since they met. Yuuhi was on her limit, and Hiroto knew that if he were to make another mistake, he was done for.

"I just…I don't think you're ready," Hiroto revealed, even though deep in his heart was a different reason, a reason he couldn't admit to Yuuhi, or even himself.

"We just dealt with the identity problems after your debut, and problems can rise again if you accept the movie offer."

Yuuhi leaned back once again, wiping her eyes. She kept her eyes close to calm herself as she breathed in and out.

"I want to do it," she announced.

"No matter what you, or anyone, will say…I'll do it."

She opened her eyes once more and looked at Hiroto, determined to convince him. Hiroto could see the same willpower Yuuhi had in her eyes when she was in the hospital two days before her debut. He was convinced that Yuuhi would still pursue it, no matter what he were to say or do to prevent her from starring in the movie.

"Alright," he sighed and leaned back, rubbing the top of the bridge of his nose with his right thumb and index finger.

"We'll talk to Chairman Muranishi and Kumoi-san about it tomorrow."

Hiroto continued driving while Yuuhi quietly looked at the passing scenery out the window. Her chin rested on the back of her fingers that were folded on her palm. Her eyes strolled along with the scenery that she looked at as she thought about what Hiroto said about her not being ready. Yuuhi knew that Hiroto wouldn't tell her the truth, and what he told her earlier proved her assumption right.

"Liar."

"No."

"But Kumoi-san, we—"

"A 'No' means a 'No' and that's final," Kumoi-san sternly answered as walked to the window behind her husband.

As soon as Yuuhi arrived, she and Hiroto hurried to the Chairman's office to ask their permission to let Yuuhi star in Takada Pinau's movie.

Hiroto looked at Chairman Muranishi, hoping he could counter Kumoi-san's decision. However, Chairman Muranishi awkwardly smiled at Yuuhi and Hiroto, meaning he could only try.

"How 'bout this? Why don't we contact Takada Pinau and ask him if he has an alternative actress in mind or what his backup movie is just in case nobody accepted the movie on Kirari-chan's life," Chairman Muranishi suggested while he got started typing Takada Pinau's name on his contact list on the computer.

"What do you mean by a backup movie?" Hiroto asked, never having heard of such thing.

"I saw the recent news about the movie festival for this year. Takada Pinau was nominated to have a movie prepared for the festival. Also," Chairman Muranishi answered while typing, handing over the flyer to Hiroto before he continued looking for Takada Pinau's contact information.

Hiroto glanced at it as Yuuhi walked towards the couch and rested. She wasn't interested on what was going on with Takada Pinau, so she didn't really care. Her only motive for going to Chairman Muranishi's office was to ask permission to be in the movie, anyways.

"The nominated directors for the festival are required to have a backup—oh! Here it is," Chairman Muranishi exclaimed.

He quickly dialed Takada Pinau's number, glancing back at the computer to check if he dialed the right number. As soon as he placed the phone by his ear, the room got quiet and the ringing sound could faintly be heard in the room. After a few seconds, a man with a strange voice picked up the phone and answered with a 'Hello.'

"Takada Pinau-san? It's me, Muranishi of MEC," replied the Chairman.

"Oh! Hello, hello! So, are you letting Yuuhi Tsubasa-chan play the Kirari-chan in my movie?" Takada Pinau straightforwardly asked.

"Actually, we need to talk about that," the Chairman awkwardly laughed with hopes that he didn't disappoint the well-known director.

Takada Pinau was really excited as he and the Chairman discussed what time they should have a private meeting about the movie's matter. After all, Hiroto turned him down so many times. Despite the rejections, Takada Pinau continued to email Yuuhi's manager about the movie offer because having an idol that looked so similar to the late Kirari, even being mistaken to be her, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially to Takada Pinau. The well-known director had always wanted to direct the movie about Kirari's life, especially since after her death, but never had the chance to because to him, no idol could match Kirari. To Takada Pinau, Kirari was still greater than the Yuuhi Tsubasa of today, but since they looked so much alike, he wanted to take advantage of it.

After a short few moments of conversing with the director, Chairman Muranishi ended with a reasonable time for their meeting.

"We'll meet you two back here at 5:30 in the afternoon today. For now, head to work. I'm certain that Yuuhi's hands are full for today," Chairman Muranishi calmly said.

Yuuhi and Hiroto bowed as they left the Chairman's office. They gently closed the door and headed for the elevator to start their day off. After they left, the Chairman's office was full of silence that they were able to hear Yuuhi and Hiroto's footsteps outside.

"How could he?" Kumoi-san exclaimed as soon as the sound of their footsteps faded to nothing.

Chairman Muranishi continued listening to his wife, knowing what she had in mind. He, too, was thinking the same thing.

"Why would he do that? Why would he let Yuuhi star in a movie about Kirari's life as Kirari?" Kumoi-san asked, still looking out the window.

"Why would she even want to be Kirari in the movie, anyways? Why? Was it that easy for Hiroto to let her? Was he really that easy to convince?" Kumoi-san started crying, clenching her fist as she lost her temper.

"Or is he already prepared to re—"

"Stop it!" Chairman Muranishi yelled, interrupting Kumoi-san's complaints.

The Chairman was breathing hard as he did his best to control his anger. He was well aware of what Kumoi-san was going to say. That was the reason why he interrupted her. However, he didn't want to believe what she wanted to say about Hiroto.

He didn't want to doubt Hiroto, the boy he practically raised. He didn't want to assume and make conclusions, especially if it was involving Kirari.

"I'm sure that's not what Hiroto meant," Chairman Muranishi silently said, trying to calm his wife down.

He walked over to her side and hugged her as she cried on his shoulder. He stroked her back and leaned his head on her shoulders to comfort the strict-but-soft-inside Kumoi-san.

"I'm sure," Chairman Muranishi whispered.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you again, Kira—I mean in person, Yuuhi Tsubasa-chan," Takada Pinau greeted as Yuuhi sat down with Hiroto.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Pinau-san," Yuuhi replied.

Time passed by quickly and the time of the meeting with Takada Pinau had arrived. Although exhausted, Yuuhi and Hiroto still decided to come, being a few minutes late after coming from the activities Yuuhi had to do. The rectangular table in the conference room they were in had Takada Pinau and Chairman Muranishi at both ends. Yuuhi and Hiroto say by each other, across them was Kumoi-san. Takada Pinau only brought his assistant along with him while the rest of the staff for the movie waited in their offices.

"So, are you ready to be in my movie, Yuuhi Tsubasa-chan?" Pinau hurriedly asked, getting down to business.

Chairman Muranishi awkwardly smiled with the thought that it would be difficult to reveal their decision to the hyper director. Kumoi-san fixed her eyeglasses, giving her husband a sharp, scary look.

"W-well, the truth is, Pinau-san," Chairman Muranishi began.

"W-we can't have a movie on Kirari Tsukishima, especially if you want Yuuhi Tsubasa to play Kirari."

The room was quiet as they all waited for Takada Pinau's reaction. Chairman Muranishi felt ashamed to decline his offer, but Kumoi-san felt satisfied. Yuuhi had a cold look on her face because the outcome didn't really matter to her. Hiroto just dazed off, hoping that the director would understand. Hiroto let Yuuhi pursue the movie, but he didn't really want to do it, either.

The silence was broken when Takada Pinau let out a sigh that seemed to escape with the wind. He opened his eyes after thinking and looked at the people in the room.

"I knew this was going to happen. After all, if I, myself, still can't accept that Kirari Tsukishima-chan is gone, how could you, the people closest to her?" Takada Pinau frowned.

"I understand your reason to refuse, Muranishi-san. However, I still want Yuuhi to star in my backup movie," the director smiled.

Chairman Muranishi, Kumoi-san, and Hiroto were startled of what the director announced. They didn't expect him to be really interested with Yuuhi's acting abilities, especially if she hadn't done any acting jobs in the entertainment business.

"But, Pinau-sa—"

"I'm interested in her talent, Muranishi-san. I want to see if she can surpass Kirari-chan," Takada Pinau said.

With what the director announced, Kumoi-san's temper started rising. She couldn't believe that Takada Pinau would even think that Yuuhi could have the possibility to beat Kirari. The frustrated Kumoi-san banged her hand on the table and stood up, preparing to blow.

"We ref—"

"We accept," Hiroto and Yuuhi replied together, interfering Kumoi-san.

She turned to Hiroto and Yuuhi with a look of disbelief. The two of them were determined, even going to the heights of upsetting Kumoi-san. As she watched Hiroto and Yuuhi shake Takada Pinau's hand in agreement, Kumoi-san clenched her fist and gritted her teeth in anger. Suddenly, the Chairman placed a hand on Kumoi-san's shoulder to calm her down. The Chairman shook his head in opposition of what she was thinking, causing Kumoi-san to get angrier and leave the room.

"Unbelievable," Kumoi-san muttered as she shut the door behind her.

All of them stopped talking and turned to the door when they heard its violent shutting.

"Now, why don't we discuss the plot of the movie," Chairman Muranishi suggested, hoping to not make things anymore worse.

Takada Pinau asked his assistant, who was standing next to him the whole time, to grab the papers in the suitcase he was carrying. The spy-looking assistant passed it around, returning to Pinau's side immediately after. Yuuhi, Hiroto, and Chairman Muranishi read the paper while Takada Pinau waited for their response. He didn't need to explain anything because everything was on the paper.

The story was about Ayuna Nishizaki and Makoto Hibi, two childhood friends, who have always had feelings for each other since they were little. However, Makoto moves to the city to go to school there. After gaining money, Ayuna follows him to the city, where she finds him with another girl. Heartbroken, Ayuna uses all the money she had to look better before she entered his high school as a transfer student. With the different look and beauty she attained, Makoto doesn't realize that it was Ayuna, especially since she also used the name Hayami. She also uses her looks to attract other boys as she plays around and date them, only to break their hearts in the end. One day, Makoto hears someone playing a song on the piano, revealing to be Hayami (Ayuna). Since then, Makoto have admired Hayami (Ayuna) for her piano skills because her playing reminded him of 'someone.' Makoto then reveals that he knew Hayami was heartbroken because of the way she was acting. Ayuna starts to grow cold towards Makoto once again, but he realizes he was starting to fall in love with her. He also reveals to her that the reason why he wanted to study in the city was because he felt as if he wasn't good enough for Ayuna, the person he remembered through Hayami's playing, who was talented at playing the piano. He also confesses that since he felt as if he would never reach her level, he gave up on his love for her by dating other girls, only to Ayuna's never leaving his mind or heart. She then plays a familiar song from his childhood for him, making him realize that Ayuna had been with him the whole time. They both ask for forgiveness from each other, ending the story with Makoto's confessing his love for Ayuna.

"Wow," Hiroto commented at the greatness of the story.

Of course, he needn't ask Pinau who wrote the story because the director, himself, writes his own. All the movies he wrote and directed had always gotten many awards, including the last movie Kirari starred in, 'Distant Hearts.' That movie, though, was only written by Pinau, not directed. The director was too busy with the movie he was working on in Hollywood during the filming of 'Distant Hearts.'

"As expected of Pinau-san, huh," Chairman Muranishi praised.

"Thank you, thank you," the director smiled.

"Now, what do you think, Yuuhi Tsubasa-chan? Can you do it? Or is it too much?"

Hiroto had just realized that Takada Pinau was doing something on purpose the whole time. The well-known director was trying to bring out Yuuhi's fierce personality, something she hasn't fully shown to others or in public, except for Hiroto, who always made her upset. Takada Pinau was also trying to get Yuuhi to react the way Kirari would react to the things he was saying, especially with the determination she showed him with her desire to do the movie.

"Of course not, Pinau-san. I can do this," Yuuhi calmly replied with a grin on her face.

"Well then," Pinau-san grinned back.

"Let's see what you've got."