Episode 6: How We Met Everyone Else
Titled based on the show How I Met Your Mother.
About three years ago, I stopped writing for this story, but I want to clarify it was never discontinued. I thought about returning to finish the stories I kind of left behind for quite a while. It would be a no-brainer to continue Secret Agent Kairi, Vol. 2, but this story is five years old and I left it incomplete.
If you're a returning reader (assuming you're still here after all this time), previous chapters have been revised with some featuring either small new scenes that weren't in the original release or extended of existing ones.
In other unrelated news, Secret Agent Kairi is in the midst of a revision due to the numerous writing errors it contained back when I was still learning how to write myself.
Genre: Romance/Humor
It had been about two weeks since Namine's episode. When it premiered, the series actually got a raise in ratings, and Namine got favorable reviews for her acting skills, saying some seemed to come off very natural, but got criticized for her facial expressions being too stiffed. Due to this, the press conference was cancelled to focus on filming the show. Normally, the show averaged at around fourteen million viewers during the current season and her debut landed to be the highest rated episode of the season. It proved that viewers were obviously interested on a new cast member, especially in some interviews where Namine stated she was a big fan since the beginning and wanted viewers and fans alike to see how she'll impact everyone.
Now, she was filming a scene for episode seventeen called, "Between a Want and a Need." It was about Roxas having a hard time with his feelings once again. He was happy with Kairi, yet Namine was intriguing him more than her ever since they met. However, she was spending time with Sora, which made the situation worse. He already lost him as a friend and he didn't want to make it worse. The whole Kairi thing cost him his friendship with him. Luckily, he was paired up with her in their chemistry project, so it gave him an excuse. The two were in Roxas' house (his actually house in real life) where the two were working on the project at night. "Can we take a break? It's been nonstop research since we got here," he complained, putting down his book.
"Hey, I offered to do all the work, but you were so happy to actually do it with me," she shot back.
"I never thought this would so hard!" he complained, but Namine rolled her eyes.
"I question on how you've been passing after all these years," she said.
"I'm an average C student," he answered. "I don't really like to study or do work at all. I prefer the fun stuff. You know, to live in the now." Namine face palmed herself at his answer. It was no wonder he was making the situation hard.
"Hard to believe you're dating straight A student Kairi," she muttered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He raised in eyebrow.
"Nothing, nothing," the blonde calmly replied. "Look, we'll call it a night and I'll just go home. It's getting late now." Namine started to put away her belongings into her backpack as Roxas did the same. "It was nice of you to offer your home," she kindly said, getting up with her stuff. "But it's time for me to go. My dad is waiting for me and he's probably getting worried right now. I am daddy's little girl after all." She softly laughed and headed for the door with Roxas leading her to it. She was about to head out, but stopped to say something. She took a second to think about it and finally turned to Roxas. "I know I shouldn't be asking this, but… why? Why did you and Kairi had to go behind Sora's back again?" Roxas was completely caught off guard by the question.
"Did Sora ask you to—?"
"No, he didn't," she interrupted. "I can tell he has confided in me about it all since his best friend Pence seems to be out of it right now and… I don't know." Roxas felt speechless of what she was saying. Here was a girl that he just met and she was already getting up to speed on him and his friends lives. "You guys really did hurt him and I don't know how a person can come back from all that. Especially what he's done for you and what he went through last year."
"Namine, you don't—!"
"He saved you from your abusive father! He was diagnosed with depression after losing his mom and attempted suicide. The least you could've done was be there for him."
"Hey, I was! You weren't there, so what gives you the right to have a say in the matter?"
"You and Kairi went behind his back. Sora is still recovering and you two pull something like that. What kind of friends are you?!" Namine took a breathe and sighed.
"I see he has told you the whole story already…" he trailed off.
"Maybe it's best you guys leave him alone. You may share the same friends, but nothing is going to go back to the same way. No matter how much you want it to." With that, she left and closed the door herself as the camera zoomed on Roxas to get his frustrated expression that was filled with regret.
"Cut!" the director shouted. "That's a wrap now! Get ready for the next episode tomorrow now! You guys are dismissed for the night!" The crew clapped and started to pack things away to go home and get some rest. Namine came back inside the house and tapped Roxas on the shoulder.
"Hey goofball, filming is done," she said.
"Yeah, but this is my house, so there's no need to leave," he smirked. "Goodbye." Next thing she knew, she was being shoved away by him as he was about to close the door.
"Hahaha… lucky you," she retorted, getting out of his hands. "Too bad you're going to take me out to eat," she demanded.
"I am?"
"Yes you are! We barely ate today!" she pouted. "Now our breaks are getting shorter and there's no time for me to rest anymore. I'm surprised I still have some energy left in me after all this work."
"Fine…" Roxas agreed. "I'll treat you to some food, but first, let's get the others before we do."
"Alrighty then. I'm in the mood for some sushi you know and there is one place I haven't eaten them yet."
"And what is that?"
"Genki Sushi," she sternly replied.
"Heh, one of my favorite places to eat," he happily said. "So what's keeping us here? Let's go now!" The two left the house and got into the car. Roxas got his phone and ordered Namine to dial the others for them to come along. He didn't have bluetooth wired in his car, so using the phone to talk was his only option to avoid getting a ticket from the cops. "Call Sora first, then Kairi, Hayner, Pence, and Olette."
"This is so cool! An actual hangout with the seven of us!" she cheered. "I guess I can cross that off my bucket list."
"I bet you have more that involve us huh?" Roxas smirked, knowing her answer.
"Why yes there is more! Ever since I came, I expanded my bucket list that involved you guys! It's gonna be so fun!" Roxas loved how she was full of energy. She was having a fan girl moment, but it wasn't annoying to him since he got to know her more than before. He was curious as to what things she wanted to do with the cast and he can guess it must be exciting stuff, so he asked. "So tell me one thing that's on that bucket list of yours?"
"No, I don't want to tell you."
"Fine," Roxas playfully complained, turning his focus on the road.
"Okay, you broke me," she quickly replied, which made him snort. "For your birthday this year, I want all of us to go to North Shore, have a great time at the beach, play some games, take pictures, and watch the sunset."
"Sounds like an awesome day already," he agreed. "Then it's a promise."
"Promise?" She held out her pinkie and Roxas used his free right hand pinkie. The two interlocked their pinkie fingers, making it official that the gang will go the beach on Roxas' birthday. After that, Namine browsed through Roxas' phone to find a page on the screen where it was purely speed dials of the main cast, manager, and family members. She pressed on Sora's picture and waited for him to answer.
"Hello?"
"Sora! Whatcha doing at the moment?" she curiously asked.
"At home laying around and reading next episode's script," he answered. "Why?" He felt skeptical of her question as he eyed his phone while still laying on his bed.
"Well, put that away and get ready because Roxas and I are picking you right now. We are all going out to eat out for some sushi."
"Sushi? Ohkay… I guess I do need the break and time. "Whose coming?"
"Um… me, Roxas, you, and maybe the rest of everybody. I don't know. I just want all of us to hang out tonight."
"You do realize we work in the early morning tomorrow right? As in like four in the morning."
"So?! After we eat, we can go back home and happily rest with our stomachs full."
"Ok fine." He finally caved in. "Where are you guys now?"
"Here," Roxas said, stopping the car in Sora's driveway.
"What the?" Namine rolled her window and saw Sora's house already. "That was fast. Were we talking that long that I nearly forgot to call him?" Roxas slowly nodded and she said, "Damn. Now we have to wait for him to get changed."
"Namine?" Sora called out to from the phone.
"Sorry, hurry up now," she quickly replied and hanged up.
~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~
"Tell me why I agreed to this?" Kairi complained with a dim expression in the back of the car with Sora and Pence. Hayner and Olette didn't answer their phones. It was probably because they were restless and went to bed early. Namine felt disappointed that the two weren't going to be at this random last minute outing. "We have work early in the morning tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep!"
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Sora said. "We're just going out for some sushi… right Namine?"
"I didn't think that far, but I was hungry, and Roxas was hungry, so… we wanted food," she admitted.
"If you're paying them I'm in!" Pence cheered. "That one place should be open still at this hour."
"It's so nice to have you Pence," Namine happily said. "Actually, it's great to have the Core Four!"
"Core Four?" Sora wondered. They were called the Core Four for a reason. Despite the cast changes over the past seasons, the only ones who have truly stayed since the beginning were Sora, Kairi, Pence, and Roxas. It may not seem like they were close, but they were. They have been with so many people, yet they managed to stay together since the first episode. They're also the only people to have appear in all of the episode that have aired.
"Yeah. You're one of the main reasons why people still tune in," Namine answered.
"That is true," Kairi happily agreed, putting a smile on her face. "Who wouldn't want to see me every week?" she continued, waving her hair. "I am the star of the show after all since I was the very first one to be cast."
"May I remind you that I'm show's main character and narrator?" Sora told her.
"Yeah, and look how that turned out that they had to bring Roxas here," Kairi fired back, putting Sora back in his place. "So many people have come and go the past five years. I'm surprised we manage to stay on the air this long. The viewers must be really invested in our characters to watch each week." In a way, Kairi was right. While some didn't know why the show was popular, fans have said that it was the characters that it was portraying were done in a realistic way for people to care and wonder about them, including its use of humor.
"Are we there yet?" Pence pouted.
"We'll get there when we get there!" Roxas complained.
"While we wait to get to our destination, let's get to know each other a bit more than usual," Namine suggested. "I'll go first. After all, I'm the girl who never saw acting as a career for herself. Born and raised in Twilight Town—."
"Heh, I forgot you and Sora were from the same place," Kairi interrupted. "It's so strange how you two never met each other. Not even as kids." Sora immediately cleared his throat to indicate Kairi to stop, knowing she was saying these things on purpose. "But of course he was discovered at a young age, so I doubt you even had the chance to."
"As I was saying, I love to draw ever since I was little. I have great supporting parents with two—well—one great sibling while the other is… how should I put it? She's a wild card and not in a good way."
"Now that's not nice to say about your older sister," Roxas teased. "Sora and Leon have some differences, but they get along."
"And what a fun brother dynamic that was when he was on the show for about two years. It felt real and raw when Sora fought about not really knowing his own brother when he was leaving for college, despite living together," Namine mentioned.
"Especially that awkward talk about sex with him," Sora remembered and cringed at the memory. "Both on and off screen because our parents didn't know to explain it to me."
"Why did he leave again?"
"My brother and the others had a contract to be on the show for two years only. In the end, they chose not to renew it because they were already involved with other projects."
"Leon…" Namine awed. "I would love to meet him." Sora awkwardly eyed her seeing how she seemed to be another fan of his own brother, including the fact on how she actually did have a small crush on his brother when she was a kid. "Isn't 'Leon' his stage name though?"
"His real name is Squall and he says he never liked it," Sora answered.
"Huh… but enough about him, what about you guys? I wanna hear how you guys met!"
"Then I'll go first since I love talking about myself," Kairi called out, which was no surprise. "Where do I begin? I know! I'll go with Sora since we got acquainted the first day we met! I remember like it was yesterday."
Early 2005
Kairi was sitting in a small room with blue painted walls and in front of her was a casting director and one of the executive producers, who also happened to be one of the creators, Jake. He was a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties with short black hair in a causal look as he wore stylish black rimmed glasses. He was rather tall and thin too. ABC officially greenlit a show from him and his close friend Marceline, who was the other creator, and it was called Destiny Islands. It was scheduled to air in the winter of 2005 when majority of its current shows were put on a winter break till the new year. For about two years, Kairi has been on television by doing small appearances of other shows or commercials related to kids her own age. This was the first time ever she managed to get herself a leading role as she was the first one to be cast. The characters in the script were unnamed as they were going to be named after the actor that played them. Now, they were looking a boy to play the central character and love interest for her. She kept looking at the clock as she getting rather impatient. "How long is this going to take?"
"Relax Kairi, it's not even the scheduled time yet. He'll be here soon," Jake answered.
"Tell me why I'm here again?" she asked.
"We need to see how well your chemistry will be with whoever plays the central character," the casting director explained. "This guy has been looking for a role on TV now and we think he'll be great with you."
"And he is—."
"I'm sorry, is this the casting room for the lead role in Destiny Islands?" a boy asked from the open door. Kairi's eye grew wide and she immediately recognized the youngster to be Sora Motou, the current famous young star of her generation. She immediately felt blessed to see him where her gut was telling her that he needs to be part of the show.
"You must be Kairi. The talented actor prodigy," Sora greeted.
Interruption - Present Day
"Hold up. I didn't say that to you," Sora interrupted.
"It's my story!" Kairi belted.
"I remember it being the other way around," he insisted.
"Fine," Kairi pouted as she continued with the story.
The Real Scene - Early 2005
"You must be Kairi. I'm guessing I get to do a scene with you," he assumed since she was the only actress inside the room.
"And you're Sora Motou, the talented actor prodigy. It's an honor to meet you!" Kairi greeted giving him a firm, strong hand shake in joy with both of her hands. "I can't believe I get to work with you!"
"It's only a casting call though," he replied.
"I don't care. I mean, you're Sora Motou for pete's sake! If you get to be a part of this show, then we will be the best of friends!" She was definitely starstruck to see someone who has already made a name for himself in the movie industry and now seemed to have plans to transition onto the small screen. Sora giggled at her response and smiled.
"Heh, maybe we'll be partners in crime," he suggested. "Let's get started on our first scene then."
Present Day
"Oh how I remember Kairi practically idolized me for a bit," Sora smirked. "I wanted to laugh harder on how she was reacting, but I did my best being a professional about it." He felt Kairi give him a shove. "I never did see her so happy though since that very day."
"Isn't that sweet of you to say?" Kairi responded.
"That scene you two were talking about…" Namine brought up. "Wasn't it literally the first scene of the series where Sora woke up to his alarm, heard rocks being thrown at his window to see Kairi trying to get him up? Oh yeah! It was! That was such a nice scene since you guys live next to each other, including your bedroom windows."
"Too bad they don't in real life," Pence pointed out.
"Yeah, what a pity," Roxas added. "By the way, we're here guys." He put the car in park and got out, including the others, as all of them headed toward the entrance of Genki Sushi to eat. To no surprise, the lady at the front immediately recognized and happily greeted them. "Table for five." The lady grabbed five menus and guided them to a table that can fit about eight people. Everyone gave a thanks to the woman and took a seat. Namine took a seat close to the sushi conveyor belt and Roxas was going to sit next to her until Kairi pushed him aside and took his place. "Kairi!"
"Whoops! Sorry! Just wanted to you know… get to chat with Namine more! I hope that doesn't bother you?" she replied as she tried to keep the two apart. This caused Roxas to raise his eyebrow since he knew she was lying, but faked it good enough for Namine not to notice. "But you still get to sit next to me," she continued, patting the empty seat. "Ok then." In front of the three were Sora and Pence who were already looking at the menu.
"What should I get here? I'm craving a lot of food," Pence eagerly said.
"Is it weird how I can picture how you guys met Pence?" Namine asked, looking at him.
"Not really," Sora answered.
"What? Did you guys meet him in the cafeteria?" she laughed, but slowly brought it down, when everyone started to act strangely by looking at random things in different directions. "Oh my god, did you really?"
"It's kind of funny though," Sora said. "Kairi and I were the first ones to meet him except we didn't know he was actually part of the show at first."
Early 2005
Sora and Kairi were off in the studio cafeteria throwing away their food as the two had been bonding since their TV counter parts were considered to be close. It was only fitting that the two become friends while the other roles were being filled in by now. "Let's see. Imagine we took this apple, smeared it with some poison ivy, and gave it to an adult as some sort gift. Wouldn't that be funny?" Kairi asked, smirking at herself. "We should try to accomplish this while we can Sora."
"I am not gonna get caught up in your crazy schemes again Kairi. Remember what happened to Selphie?" Sora told her.
"Think of it like some sort of initiation Sora. We got casted first, so we should see how others will fare out." Sora stared at her, knowing there was more to it. "What?" He kept on looking at her. "Okay, so I don't like the girl. She think she's all that. Now, I know what you're thinking. I am too, but at least I can tone it down unlike her." Soon enough, someone bumped into Kairi and it was a somewhat chubby guy who held two plates in both his hands and a donut in his mouth. "Hey! Watch where you're going! I could've fell!" Sora laughed of how dramatic she was acting since he found it amusing to watch.
"I'm sorry. I haven't ate breakfast today and it's the first time I've been here," the boy explained.
"What's your name?"
"Pence."
Kairi scoffed at the guy. "Well, Pence, you just bumped into a very important person."
"Oh my god! You're right!" Kairi slowly formed a smile since he seemed to buying it. She may not be well known yet, but planned to be household name with her time on Destiny Islands. "You're Sora Motou!" And that smile quickly dropped once Sora's name was mentioned. "It's such a great opportunity to meet you in person! I've seen most of your movies with The Sixth Sense being my prime favorite. I still can't believe that big twist."
"Thanks Pence! Yeah, I never saw that coming too when I got the script and I was only a little kid." Sora then noticed the boy slowly leaning on one side. "Do you need some help? You look like you're struggling in carrying all that food?" He looked worried and took one plate off Pence's right hand to help him. "Ok, do you feel better? You must be really hungry to grab most of the food in the cafeteria."
"It's no biggie. I love food."
"I can see that," Kairi responded, eyeing his body figure. "Well, Sora and I have to attend a little meeting on a pilot episode that we're gonna shot in about a month. See ya…" She already had forgotten his name, but wanted to try and be nice. Sora stared at her knowing she did and saved her.
"Pence. It was nice to meet you," he finished. With that, the three depart into the halls. "Shesh Kairi, at least try to remember the guy's name."
"He was not that important to me."
"It was only a five minute conversation."
"Which is why it wasn't important to me. Not like we'll see him again anyway. It's time you and I meet the guy who will be playing your longtime friend." The duo enter into a room with another executive producer, Marceline, who appeared to be waiting. She appeared to be the same age as Jake. She had brown shoulder length hair and was slightly shorter than him. "Sorry we're a bit late. We bumped into someone who was once again amazed by Sora's presence."
"Remember how you were like that too?" the producer smirked.
"Yeah, but that got old and we easily became friends," Kairi answered.
"So where is the other guy?" Sora asked. "Is he running late too?"
"No. He was here earlier, but he told me he hasn't ate anything this morning, so I sent him off to the cafeteria."
"Cafeteria?" The two said at the same time and looked behind them to see the door open, revealing the same guy they met earlier.
"Oh wow! You two are the leads of the show I'm gonna be part of?!"
"I so jinxed myself," Kairi muttered, feeling nervous.
Present Day
Namine couldn't help, but chuckle a bit since Sora's acting background seemed to take away Kairi's spotlight when they were younger, but the story itself was entertaining to hear. "Funny how Kairi thought she would never see you again. And you managed to secure the job with no acting background like me."
"Yeah… getting randomly scouted by the casting director when I was out eating with my family was strange," Pence replied. "Especially when he said how I fit the part he was thinking of based on the first episode. Heh, I guess me and you are similar huh Namine?"
"Then it was meant to be that we should be friends," she happily answered.
"He was the last one to be casted in the show," Sora pointed out. "Selphie shortly got casted in after me and Kairi, along with Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Tidus, Wakka, Yuffie, Seifer, Fuu, and Rai for the pilot." Sora gasped for air and continued, "Wow, we had a lot of people didn't we?"
"Do you guys still keep in touch with some of them?" Namine asked and most of them nodded.
"Axel and I still talk to each other from time to time," Roxas responded. "We clicked the time we met, so it was sad to see him go, but he has found great success though in voice acting."
"He doesn't like to be called Lea?" Namine asked.
"He prefers to be called by his other name: Axel. Lea 'Axel' Flynn."
"And I know Kairi and Selphie aren't on good terms since you girls fought on set."
"Fought is such a harsh word," Kairi sang, playing with her nails. "I would like to call it, you know… more of a brawl! But I'm on good terms with the other girls and they're doing fine."
"What made you guys fight anyway?"
"Her rotten attitude and spoiled personality despite how well she acted. That is the only positive critique I can say about her as a professional," the red head admitted. "It's amazing she got to work with us for three years. I was ecstatic to start season four without her."
"How are we friends again?" Namine asked.
"We're not," Kairi quickly answered.
"Oh yeah." The waitress came back to take their orders and each gave an answer one after another with all ordering water as a beverage. After, they all each passed down their menus to her and continued to chat. "As a curious fan, what was the real reason why some left after the second season? I mean, I watched interviews and pressed conferences, but I hope it was a real reason."
"Yes, what they said was real," Roxas told her. "They're stories were already written way ahead for that big season two finale even if we got cancelled. And to reflect on how friends come and go, and all that other friendship stuff."
"For all those involved, did they know about the big scenes and revelations?" Namine added.
"Yuna and Rikku being relatives was kept a secret from everyone except the writers and producers, followed by death of Yuna's dad, which was hidden from us too."
"Yeah, they literally black out certain scenes with a black marker whenever we do table reads," Sora added.
"And the full on script was always kept in a red folder and protected too," Kairi joined in. "They still do it when there's some sort of secret involved, meaning they got some big stuff happening. And of course they do their best to keep some things under wraps to make our reaction feel real and all."
"You know, I could've sworn I saw one of the writers holding that red folder you mentioned," Roxas thought about.
"Probably cuz of me," Pence said and thought of asking something.
"Here are your waters," the lady announced, passing down each cup of water, and everyone thanked her. "Your orders will be on your way." With that, she left to attend another table.
"Now one of the questions I've been meaning to ask despite what I hear. How did everyone meet Roxas?" Namine asked.
"Yes Roxas, how did we meet such a popular child TV star?" Kairi smirked. "Coming from a family sitcom to a drama must've been a nice change for you."
"I wanted to play a role I never done before," Roxas explained. "After All My Family ended, I was already looking at other projects to pursue because I love acting. I knew it since I was a kid that I wanted to pursue it as a career."
"That's nice. Now answer the actual question," Kairi responded.
"It's nothing special like some of you. I literally met everyone at the same time."
Early 2006
The cast and crew of Destiny Islands were all in a conference room. Everyone surrounded the entire table except one seat was left empty while the room was filled with noises of constant conversations between each person. The show had just premiered to so-so ratings, but reviews were favorable, namely on the ensemble cast. Now they were doing a table read to the sixth episode of the season. "Alright, now that our show has finally aired on TV, we need to kick things up in case viewership goes down," the creator announced. "So we are bringing in a potential new addition to the cast. Everyone meet Roxas Tsukino." Roxas entered inside the room and felt everyone's eyes on him. It didn't really bother him since he's been in the spotlight at a young age.
"Hey everyone," he greeted, heading to the only empty seat in the room as it was right between Kairi and Selphie.
"I'm sure most of you know him from All My Family as JR," the creator explained. "But here he is wanting to play the popular bad boy."
"I thought I was the bad boy?" Seifer asked.
"Yeah, but you're deemed unlikable Seifer," Selphie answered, looking at him, and right back to Roxas, already seemingly interested in him. "Now shut up and let this cute boy talk." Kairi immediately rolled her eyes and paid attention to the blond.
"We brought in Roxas to build up some momentum for the show that will lead up to our first big finale in May," the creator continued. "It's already written, but we can't say what it is just yet."
"Gonna black out some scenes and treat it like some covert operation?" Tidus joked.
"That's not a bad idea," one of the writers agreed. "I think we will just do that!"
Present Day
"I see it was Tidus idea to do that huh?" Namine suspected.
"Pretty much," Roxas replied. "But it was nice that he did because it makes work more fun for us whenever the writers try to hide some stuff."
"I remembered Selphie tried to get with Roxas when she met him," Pence pointed out. "Too bad he was too naive to notice."
"She was?" Sora, Kairi and Pence looked at each other and then at the blond. He noticed it and asked, "What?"
"She was trying to get with you the whole time she worked with us," Sora told him.
"Really?" Everyone couldn't believe he didn't know about it.
"Just get on with the story," Namine ordered. "I'm more interested on what made you and Sora hate each other at first."
"Oh that, you see…" Sora trailed off, feeling a bit ashamed to admit it, but everyone else knew except for Namine. "It was more of me than him."
Early 2006
Sora was in his trailer reading the script to the seventh episode when he heard a knock on his door. He got up from his seat and opened the door to see Kairi. "Why hi there," he said as she entered in herself. "And you're welcome for coming in. What is it now? Don't tell me it's Selphie because you're gonna have to deal with it. You girls play the part as best friends."
"I know and I rather be arrested for shoplifting like those other troubled young stars," she let out. "I swear, I should talk to the people who run the show on bringing another girl."
"But we have so much people already," Sora pointed out. "And the fact they just brought in this new guy makes it even harder to even maintain screen time for all of us."
"I'm sensing a hint of jealousy Sora. Scared Roxas will take the spotlight from you?" Kairi smirked, taunting him, but just for fun.
"N-no! Why would you say that?" he quickly claimed.
"Your tone is all I need to hear that you do care," his co-star claimed. "So you feel insecure about sharing the spotlight with others. I sometimes felt the same way about you earlier, but I too got over that. I mean, I get to act with you most of the time and enrage your fandom of girls."
"That's because I never been to part of a project that involved such a huge cast of people as the main leads. Every time I did a movie, it had a good amount of people where each person got to shine. Doing this show seems to be too much for me. I don't really want a child star to be taking the spotlight from us."
"Come on, only two episodes premiered and the viewership stayed about the same. And here we are filming the seventh episode out of the twelve episodes the network ordered."
"I'm amazed how much you know about the television industry at your age."
"When you want to be part of this business, you need to at least know how it works. You know how the movie industry works and I know how TV works. We go hand in hand. Now, you should try to be friends with Roxas."
"I'll try to warm up to him, but I'm not willing to be his friend… yet. I think. I don't know."
"Tell you what, we'll pull our usual pranks on him and see how it goes."
Present Day
"And from there, Kairi and I pulled some pranks on Roxas. I only hated him for a small amount of time because I was insecure about someone taking my spotlight."
"Wait, you were actually threaten by me?" Roxas asked. "I was more threaten by you since you had more experience than me. Those pranks made me fear and kind of hate you."
"Till you pranked me and I accepted you easily after that," Sora added.
"What he—!" Namine stopped talking as she remembered something. "Wait, that one blooper in the first season was by you Roxas?! My best friend and I could not stop laughing at my TV! The way you all surprised Sora with a water gun fight and Roxas pied him in the face at the end was hilarious!"
"Yeah, Sora and Kairi aren't the only evil masterminds," Roxas chimed, feeling proud of himself of that moment four years ago. "It's been a long time since we did any pranks."
"It sucks that you kind of did steal the spotlight," Namine said. "No wait, it did happen, but Sora got better stories eventually that didn't involve Kairi." She then looked at Sora. "You totally earned that Emmy on your performance for the fourth season. You portrayed depression and teen suicide in a very realistic way to me even though I never went through it myself. Those opening words you said… they were definitely touching."
"Thanks. I never thought I would, but the crew and parents put my name in without me knowing, so I was surprised I got nominated.
"You guys always get nominations for best drama series and ensemble cast every year at some award show."
"I love awards! All of my—?" Kairi stopped when it became dead silence with her co-stars giving her the death glare. "Our hard work pays off! It's an honor to even get nominated for best actress every year in a drama."
"You only won once," Roxas said.
"I was robbed!" she dramatically screamed and put her head down on the table.
Namine didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry since Kairi was being, well, Kairi since she first came to the islands. "Anyways, this is becoming a wonderful night on getting to know you all. I still wished Hayner and Olette came. I wanna hear how they met you all too."
"And your wish comes true, " Hayner called out. He let Olette take a seat next to Sora and followed suit. "Sorry we didn't reply earlier. I was trying to get this girl here to wake up from her slumber where I almost kiss—ow!" Olette immediately interrupted him by punching the side of his shoulder. "That hurts!"
"It was the other way around minus the kissing part," she ranted.
"Come on, you guys don't actually believe her?" Hayner asked and everyone shook their heads in synch. "I had to try. Now, I see you're all talking about how we met each other," Hayner reported. "Then I guess I should join on in the fun. This is how I met everyone else Namine."
2007
A black limo pulled onto the front of Destiny Islands High School and everyone started at it. The shine on the paint gleamed from the sunshine. The driver got out and went around to open the passenger door. It slowly revealed Hayner wearing black sunglasses. He stared at the school and started to walk toward the entrance despite the fact he didn't know the place. He kept on walking and all the girls were staring at him even if some had boyfriends. He looked at them and gave a bright a smile that made each girl swoon and drop dead on the ground. He even told one girl, "Don't worry. You'll see more of me on TV." She screamed in joy and dropped to the floor too. "I love this place already."
Interruption
"Really Hayner?" Pence interjected. "You didn't have girls swooning over you yet. You didn't even have a limo!"
"Pence, Pence, why do you got to ruin my story? It's mine to tell."
"I know right," Kairi agreed. "They did the same thing to me."
"Please tell me the real story," Namine asked.
"Alright, just for you Namine. I got onto show mainly because they were looking for new people for the third season. I went through the usual audition process, but it was over at the ABC studio, so I never met the others until I arrived in the islands."
The Real Story
Hayner was an airplane listening to his headphones. It was a long five hour flight, but he managed to kill time. He looked at his window to see he and his family were above Destiny Islands and wondered what his new job will entail him since he felt a bit nervous on joining on a recent successful show. He watched Destiny Islands a few times, but never thought he would be a part of it. He was brought on board to act a character that came from a military background to reflect on the military population of the islands. He felt the role felt a breath of fresh air compared to playing a child on a soap opera for about two years. Moments later, the plane landed and he got prepared to leave. His parents and younger brother were out before him and see the three of them looking out the beautiful sun setting."We finally made it!" he cheered.
"You know, I always dreamed of living here," his mom said, looking at the scene before her eyes.
"And we got our chance," his dad continued and kissed his wife.
"Ugh, can't you two do that when we move into our new house?" Hayner complained. "I'm sure Jonah doesn't like looking at his parents smooching."
"He's only five years old," the woman replied.
"Yeah, well, I'm old enough to not want to see it." Hayner continued to exit the terminal to get his remaining luggage. Once he and his family got their stuff, they exit on to the outside to see three teenagers around his age waiting in front of a van with Pence holding a giant card that had his family's last name, along with Sora and Olette. He recognized them as the teens of the show. "Let me guess, Pence?"
"Yep! It's great to meet you Hayner and your family. Welcome to Destiny Islands!" the boy sang.
Hayner then looked at the brunettes and said, "And you're Olette and Sora."
"We're here to escort you and your family to your house," she informed him. "You'll get to meet the others very soon along with the other new actors. We're throwing a big welcome party in honor of the huge additions to the cast."
"Oh yeah, I heard your brother came on board Sora. I heard nothing, but great things about him."
"Haha, well, my brother can be… how do I put it?" Sora said. "Let me just say he really takes his job seriously. Kind of like the male version of Kairi, but less evil, and more deadpan."
"So the rumors are true about Kairi?" Hayner suspected based on what he heard from the studio.
"In a good way unless you're talking about Selphie. That's a different story," Sora assured him. "Now, let's go and meet the others."
Present Day
"Is it some tradition to throw a welcome party to new cast members?" Namine asked, seeing how his story parallels with her when she first arrived too. The meeting at the airport and the immediate trip to a new house where a party was being held.
"They didn't do it for me when I first came," Olette pouted in a joking manner.
"But it was your idea to start such things," Roxas told her.
"Still should've thrown me some kind of party," she quipped and turn toward Namine. "Now we've saved the best for last. You're gonna love this Namine. I met Kairi first and it was similar how our show portrayed it. The only difference was the location. Anyways, from her, I met Sora and Pence. They were gonna introduce me to Roxas, but wanted to toy with him before I did."
2006
Olette was standing in front of Sora and Kairi as she agreed to do pull a prank. She quickly befriended the two since she barely knew the place or anybody at all. Destiny Islands was a whole new playground for her as she moved here for her job, including her family. That meant leaving many things behind, but her parents supported her as she was their only child. "Okay, Roxas knows about you, but hasn't officially met you. You're gonna pull this off just fine since you'll be in the shadows," Sora reminded her. "Remember the plan."
"You guys are such pranksters," Olette told the two.
"Why thank you. We're partners in crime," Kairi beamed. "I'm sending you his number and then you can start spooking him with your texts. If he ever attempts to call, immediately send it to voicemail. We'll take care of him if he tries to report it to the network or security."
"Now try take a picture of him from afar and just simply say I see you," Sora suggested. Olette nodded her head and the three break apart as they follow Roxas into the cafeteria. Olette entered in later with sunglasses to cover her face and tried to spot the guy. It wasn't too hard because of his hair and she took a picture of him grabbing food and added the caption Sora told her and sent it.
Roxas was happily grabbing food until he felt his phone vibrate. He looked at the text and immediately felt spooked as it was a picture of him and a creepy text saying, "I see you." He slowly looked around his surroundings wondering who sent it because it came from an unknown number. In a non-shocking manner, Sora and Kairi appeared. "You guys, I think I someone's stalking me. They even got my number!"
"Really?" Sora quaked. "What makes you think that?"
"I just got a text from a number I don't know. I should call back it before this gets out of hand."
"Now hold up Roxas," Kairi interrupted, putting his phone down. "You should be flattered that you have a stalker. That shows how popular you're getting that a fan is willing to try and admire you from afar. You should see how this plays out."
"I don't know about this guys."
"Trust me," she happily said. "You'll be fine."
"Ok then," the blonde agreed and turned back to his phone. Sora and Kairi smirked and looked at each other as their plan was now in motion. It happened nearly throughout the whole day. Each text kept on getting creepier after each one and it was all of Olette's doing thanks to the plans of the crime duo. It started with pictures of where he was going and during that time, he was with Sora and Kairi who kept on his tracks. It then became texts about things he thought only certain people knew about like his cast mates and used it as blackmail. However, she only got him to just deliver food for her at a certain location since his secrets weren't totally damaging to his image. Her very last text sent him over the edge because it was a picture of his trailer where it was viewed through his closet. Of course, Olette sent it after she left his trailer and hid in the back of it as it was going to be the last text anyway. She heard footsteps quickly approaching close and stayed quiet.
Roxas busted out his trailer door and searched for his closet. He slowly approached it as he held out his hand, trembling in fear of the stalker inside. He couldn't breathe and he was scared of what was behind the closet door. Sora, Kairi, and Pence soon came rushing in since he panicked and ran off when he got the text and saw the boy terrified. "My stalker… she's in here…"
"How do you know it's a girl?" Pence asked.
"Because majority of my fans are girls," the blonde concluded. "And the picture she sent me was taken in here!"
"What if it's a trap?" Kairi thought.
"I'm willing to take the risk!" Roxas pulled the door and a human figured appeared in front of him. He immediately screamed, backed up, and bumped into Sora, causing the two to fall. "Oh my god! It's after me! Sora! Save me!" All of a sudden, the head of the figure fell off. "AAAAHHHH!" Roxas' closed his eyes and it rolled next to his legs except it wasn't humane. "Get it away from me!" Sora wanted to burst out of laughing, but he needed to keep up with the act. He never expected any of this to happen.
"Roxas, it's a mannequin," Kairi said, picking up the head. "Wow, this was never part of the plan. Good job Olette," she whispered. "I officially love you." She pulled out her phone and called the girl to finally meet the boy she probably traumatized.
"Hi, I was told to come here to meet my co-workers," Olette announced innocently as she came in. Kairi gave her a thumbs up and the brunette simply smiled.
Present Day
"What the hell?! That was you!" Roxas shouted, looking at the brunette, including everyone else in the restaurant. "Sorry…" he whimpered.
"That's right, we never told him guys," Olette recalled. "But your reaction was priceless! From there, I knew I was gonna love it here," she admitted and wrapped her arm around Sora. "Thanks to this guy and Kairi."
"And you two helped her?!"
"Hey, don't be shocked. You had it coming," Sora cheered.
"Man Roxas, it sucks to be you," Namine laughed and looked at Olette "What you did Olette was genius. Especially with the mannequin. How did you get the head to fall off?"
"Yeah… that happened all on its own," Olette said. "With all this nostalgia, I noticed we're similar Namine. We both left everything behind in our hometown to pursue this job thanks to the support of our parents. I lived in my hometown too for most of my life."
"But you have more experience than me. You even won an Emmy Award at a young age! I mean, isn't that how you got this job? You played that cancer patient so well that you got to be a spokesperson for children with the disease."
"The perks of being famous. You get to be part of something big," Olette replied.
"Then we must get closer," Namine rejoiced. She was really enjoying herself in hearing everyone's stories where she came to find how she can easily relate to a few of them. They were like her when she first came on and couldn't be any more happy that she got closer to them. Granted, she didn't know what it must've felt like to be acting at a very young age like most of her co-stars, but to part of their circle now presented opportunities to who knows what. She didn't want to think about the future and wanted to let things flow as they should. It had been a long day for her and she was already hearing her stomach roared for food. "Where is our food?"
"Alright, your orders are finally here," the waitress said, bringing in numerous plates. She saw Hayner and Olette quickly grabbed the two cups of water and took their orders, but that didn't stop a hungry Namine from eating.
"Food!" Namine shouted, getting excited for her sushi. As she was about to dive in, Roxas interrupted her.
"I would like to make a toast," he said, holding up his cup of water.
"Damn it Roxas! I'm really hungry, so hurry up!" she screamed at him and everyone laughed at her.
"It's for you Nami," he responded, looking at her like everyone else. "To you for being here and bringing us together… even if we all have to work at four in the morning again." Namine giggled at that last part as the two looked at each other and flashed him a smile. She already felt grateful to be in their presence and was happy, but her stomach was still bothering her. "To Namine!"
"To Namine!" everyone shouted as they clash their cups together.
"To Namine," Kairi bluntly put it, off synch from the others. "Can't we just eat now?"
I never thought this chapter would be longer than the previous ones, but I guess that tends to happen whenever I write; something I barely get to do these days. Alright, the past few years, but at least I still have an interest to write.
Thanks for reading and leave a review or any thoughts if you can!