Kyoko walked into the market sharp at 7AM. She knew no one was checking if she was on time but she was on time because she had been super excited to play this game with Ren and had not really slept well - thinking and thinking of how she would dress and act. She had finally settled on being an old woman - because it was easy to do the make up herself and she would blend in most easily in a market. She could also check people out to see if they were Ren without appearing rude.
The market was actually a fish market and sold some tasty treats as well as many types of fish. Entering the narrow streets, Kyoko felt very domestic and soon got distracted thinking of buying something to cook for Ren later on.
"No No Kyoko" she said to herself when she remembered why she was there. "You are an old woman come to shop for your family. And you have to find Ren-san."
Kyoko was feeling reasonably confident in finding Ren. After all, she could use her superpower to match the biophysical data of everyone to Ren and find him that way. Right? But after half an hour of walking around she didn't seem to get any hits at all. Where was he? She backtracked her steps - there were all kinds of people at the market - old and young, men and women in traditional and western outfits and the occasional foreigner.
'This won't do Kyoko.' she thought 'At this rate I won't win and come tomorrow, people at the drama will ask who won and I'd lose face. It won't be a good start at all. Why can't I find him?' she stopped and looked around desperately. 'Wait a minute. Ren-san knows I can identify him from his vital stats - He probably remembers from when I recognized him even when he was Cain Heel. Then he must have dressed up to compensate for that.'
She looked around carefully. He cannot really make himself thinner than he was - or shorter. Maybe he hid his height at least which would definitely make him stand out. If I were a tall person wishing to hide my height - I would either crouch like an old man or... sit down.
She had already checked out the old men in the market. They were the first group she had checked thinking perhaps that Ren had had the same idea as her. So she ruled out old men. And the only people sitting in the market were... the vendors! Kyoko started looking at the different shops - fish of every size and description were being hawked by the vendors. She decided to take advantage of being an old woman and go slowly from shop to shop- checking out the merchandise. She stopped doing this after about five shops and walked out of the market. Quickly she typed in a message and hit send. As the same moment her phone pinged. Ren, too had found her out, at exactly the same moment as her.
"Ms. Old woman wearing a black dress with while floral collar and a colorful blue head scarf, next time wear a different shade of lipstick" the message said. She for her part had said simply -"Sea-bream vendor, third stall from the right."
Slightly disappointed that she had not been the first to recognize him, she replied, "How rude. I am not even wearing lipstick" and swiftly the response came - "Exactly." Puzzled Kyoko thought for a bit then quickly ran to a nearby restroom. Looking in the mirror she realized with dismay that when she had put on make up in the morning, she had skipped lipstick to appear like an old woman but walking around in the slightly cold air in the morning had made her lips flush and red. Old women don't have their lips turn red when they exert themselves.
"So that's how he found me out. He had a chance to observe me up close when I checked out his stall." she talked aloud to herself surprising some women who had just then walked in. They looked at the old woman standing tall and straight with some suspicion.
Kyoko ignored them and looked through her bag for some sober lipstick she could use to cover up her flushed red lips but all she could find was a very bright pink one reminiscent of her Love Me uniform. 'If I think about it that way... then maybe I could. Yes that would give me a reason." She liberally dashed on the pink lipstick and made a little more of make up touch up and walked out.
Ren was sweating profusely. He had thought about the best role for not standing out at a market and still have a pretense to look at people. His answer had been that of a vendor. So he had appeared just when the market opened at 5AM and paid for all the merchandise of one of the vendors who's stall also had a place to sit. He had been dressed in baggy dark clothes that obscured his figure to confound Kyoko's super observation skills. It was ok in the morning when the air was chill but as the day passed, the weather became rather warm and he was sweating. He was thankful he had decided against modifying his face structure with make up. That would not have survived until now. He was sure Kyoko would have figured him out anyway. She has some terrifying, almost supernatural skills.
He had felt at the back of his mind that something was off when the old woman in the black dress had walked twice by his stall. He hadn't been able to put a finger on who had triggered it. It did make him twice as alert . But it was not until she had come to his stall to check out the fish that he recognized her. Ahhh those lips. How familiar am I with them? He had almost broken character and sighed. But he stopped himself in time. He then understood her trepidation for the drama role. Yes it is a risk. Once the woman left, he had not been able to immediately message her - some other customers came to his stall and he couldn't risk not acting as a vendor in case she came back immediately. He was not sure she had spotted him. When he finally got a break to send her the text, her message came almost exactly at the same time. When she replied to his text, he smiled and texted her back. He then waited for her to come back readying himself for the challenge.
It had been fifteen minutes since she left. Where is she? Did she give up and go home? No. Not Kyoko. Kyoko wouldn't give up. He was about to text her again when he caught a flash of the black dress she wore. 'There she is.' he thought. But when she walked to his stall he was stunned. She was wearing much more make up now and that flashy pink lipstick. Just what is she up to?
"Ma'am, can I interest you in some really fresh sea-bream?" he asked.
"You know" said the old woman, "I am interested in something fresh. I don't know if it is sea-bream." She smiled coyly batting her eyelashes at him. The effect was so comical that he almost laughed. So that is the role she created - an old woman trying to find someone to flirt with at the market. It explains why she would come to my stall again wearing such outrageous make up. And it also gives her an excuse to stay and talk to me as long as she wants. How does she come up with this stuff on the spur of the moment? She is amazing. Now, I cannot really look like I want to talk to her. Why would a relatively young vendor want to talk to an old woman who obviously wants to flirt with him?... Wait a minute- she gave me an opening- I can pretend to flirt with her to try and get her to buy more fish.
About an hour later - both were exhausted. Ren was a bucket of water by this time. And Kyoko felt like her make-up was melting off. It is possible that the warmth they felt wasn't all about the temperature in the market. Kyoko had gotten more and more outrageous as she flirted and was rewarded with the sight of Ren blushing as any man would hearing the things she said. "Oh this fish is sooooo big." and "Do I have to really work this fish before cooking?" and then "How delicious does this look. I could almost marry it. Ho ho ho. "
What does it take? she wondered. She recalled a director she had worked with talking to her about creating a realistic drama - "The important thing Kyoko-san is stay away from the edges."
"The edges?"
"Yes. The borders of the story where it meets the real world. The world within which the drama exists is not limitless. When you cross from that world into the real world - that's where you risk running into problems."
She thought about the borders of Ren's story. Something occurred to her. She made a show of suddenly getting very tired. She could because she was an old woman. She said still in the same mock-alluring-tone she had been talking in all this while, "Just wait ok? I will be right back." She walked outside the market and looked left and right till she found him. The guy was standing smoking a cigarette- looking inside in Ren's direction every now and then. He also seemed to pat his pocket as though reassuring himself that the bulge was still there. She walked up to him still as an old woman and said, "YOU." with great anger.