The handsome man introduces himself as Petor as he hands the note to Kyoko. He watches surprised as Kyoko reads the not and then starts banging on the wall. She hangs her down and starts muttering to herself. The few snatches of phrases that Petor can hear, sound more like scolding.
"Why the hell." "Of all the people." "Stupid Kyoko." and then with unexpected vehemence "Ren, you idiot."
Somehow in Kyoko's convoluted logic, Ren is the person to blame for her mistaking Reino as the person that Shin sent. Instead of jumping to conclusions, she should have asked Reino. When she remembers what she almost did with Reino, her cheeks burn with shame.
"Ano..." starts Petor, "I can come back another time."
Kyoko straightens, "I am an actress." she says smoothly, "I get too in character sometimes, and this is my method to get out."
"I was in character and I am getting out of it. Not exactly a lie." she thinks to herself.
"Please sit down and make yourself comfortable while I change out of this dreadful outfit," she says.
This relieves Petor, "Oh so that was it. No problem. Take your time." he says walking to the couch.
Inside Kyoko washes her makeup and changes into a simple cream blouse and black skirt. "Ren used to love this blouse" she remembers fondly.
"Sa-te. What is my strategy this time? Whether I like it or not, I knew Reino and so could anticipate what he would like. I don't know anything about this guy. Perhaps then, I should think about a generic man. What would he like? What would make him kiss a woman?" and Kyoko spaces out at that. Kyoko still believes herself to have no feminine charms that could attract a man.
"It's impossible for me. I never was strong at this whole love business to start with. I missed all the cues with Fuwa having a one-sided relationship with him. And I was equally clueless with so many other men who asked me out. Why in the world would they ever ask someone as plain as me out, anyway? Even Ren, it took me a long long time to figure out that he meant me as his forbidden love -the high school girl. I am just not good at this. I should just give up."
A voice comes to her "Do you think the Kyoko from three years ago would sit there simply if I took away "acting" from her? The most important thing in her life?"
Kyoko sits up straight, "That's right. I am not the Kyoko-from-three-years-ago. I am an even-better-Kyoko who loved and was loved. And still is loved by many people around me. I cannot let them down. I cannot let Shin down. Alright, I will get this fellow to want to kiss me so much that he will forget the 100$ Shin promised him."
When Kyoko walks out finally, Petor has made himself comfortable.
He asks, trying to look behind Kyoko, "Where is that cute goth girl gone?"
"That was me," says Kyoko. "I told you I was an actress."
"Wait. I know you, you are Kyoko-san from TV dramas and so on."
"Oh ho. So you know me. Can you name one of my dramas?"
"Um.. er.. I don't watch TV that much" says Petor lamely.
Kyoko is super irritated. "He is not even making it easy to like him. Let alone make him kiss me."
She sits down across from him and decides to try to get to know him. She remembers Amamiya-san's words from long ago. "Men are so vain. Just ask a little question about them and they are so happy to go on and on and on about themselves."
Kyoko decides to try this tack. And with Kyoko's ability to completely immerse herself in the role, she is no longer Kyoko trying to find out about Petor, she becomes a Kyoko who truly wants to know Petor. Her mannerisms, body language, tone, and inflections all automatically reflect her desire.
About twenty minutes later, she knows all there is to know about Petor.
Petor is a stage name, he was born Pedro Inoue - son of a Japanese father and a Spanish mother which explains his curly black mop of hair and European features but Japanese complexion. He had been useless at school, and his father and mother had fought all the time. So when he turned 16 had left home to try and make a living as a model. He was still working towards that dream while in the meantime ahem.. he worked at a host club. Shin had worked at the same club as a waiter for a while before the owner had offered Shin a job as a host. Shin had left then saying he did not like deceiving people. But that is where Shin and Petor had met each other.
"It's not deceiving people you know Kyoko-chan."
"Why suddenly the familiarity?" Kyoko wonders. "I know him all of twenty minutes."
"I make their lives better you know. All those women come to me seeking something only I can provide."
"And what is that?" asks Kyoko taking the bait.
"Love," he says smugly.
Kyoko is reminded of the President. Perhaps Petor is also a big fan of the whole love business like the President.
"It's true," Kyoko replies, "People, at the end of the day, do want to love. They want to be truly seen and loved by someone. I am sorry that Shin sent you here so I could try and make you kiss me. I could just offer you 200$ to kiss me and that would be the end of it, no?"
Petor is taken aback by Kyoko's words. In just under half an hour, this woman has completely understood Petor's personality. He hadn't even realized that he had slipped into the whole host persona he used with women. One that he had carefully cultivated to give him the maximum chance of a long relationship with his clients. And Kyoko is not the least bit fooled by it.
"But," continues Kyoko, "why should I force you if you don't want to? Petor-san should only kiss the people he truly loves even if only for an instant. Petor-san, I wonder if ... no, I shouldn't ask."
"What is it?" asks Petor curious.
"You give all these women your true and unconditional love. Have you ever received true and unconditional love?"
The tone, the inflection, the kind and gentle expression of Kyoko as she asks this immediately transports Petor back .. back ..back in time to his home with his parents, when he was but a boy and his parents had not started fighting. A face.. his mother's... with that same kind and gentle expression. She is saying something. Not to Petor but his father.
"I love you."
Petor blinks back the sudden tears filling his eyes. They had been in love. Real love. Not what he has been peddling to his clients all this time. This is Kyoko's power. The ability to command the complete suspension of disbelief in her audience. They believe her every word, they want to believe her every word.
Kyoko on seeing Petor's tears is stunned by the familiar feeling. She has felt this many times on seeing her co-actors and the audience - their complete belief in the role created by Kyoko, which in turn used to strengthen Kyoko's bond to her role. But lately, she had become consumed by the guilt of the deception and would break character. But Kyoko wants to try and help this person whose eyes fill up with tears at the mention of true love. She doesn't want to get rid of this character she has created. She had thought she had to become a woman who could make any man kiss her. She was wrong. She had to be a woman who Petor, this person sitting in front of her would want to kiss. Can she do it?
"Sorry, Ren-san. I cannot stop now. I have to do this for me." she thinks and she instinctively knows what to do next.
Up till now, she had been sitting opposite Petor, now she moves over and sits beside him.
Petor wants desperately to believe Kyoko. He wants to believe that two people can be in love even if for just one second. He had forgotten his parents' loving relationship and over time had simply stopped believing anything as sentimental as love existed. He heard people say "I love you" and never believed it. He had cynically assumed those were just words spoken for a purpose. A means to an end, completely unrelated to any actual feelings. But this woman knew what it meant to love someone.
"Kyoko-chan," he says, his cheeks glistening. He wants her to say it was true. That true love existed.
Kyoko gently turned his face to hers and softly wiped his tears away. Petor's face is reflected in the glass case behind Kyoko and he could see he looked terrible. But still, this woman looked at him with love in her eyes.
Kyoko doesn't say anything, just holds his face. At that moment, Kyoko is not seeing Petor, she is seeing Ren. All she wants is for Ren to stop crying. Anything she could do to magic away his sadness. Her eyes fill up with tears too and in her mind, Ren is crying for their lost love. She blinks and remembers that he is Petor.
"It's not lost, Petor," she says, "It's still there."
And Petor understands that she is talking about love. The love he thought did not exist.
"Hai," he says believing her.
Kyoko gently kisses him and a warm and cozy feeling slowly spreads through him. A feeling of being home. And he kisses her back.
"Why did you kiss her? Did you not want the 100$?" Shin asked Petor later.
"Because she kissed me."
"It was the most natural thing in the world to kiss her back," he thinks inwardly.
Shin considers that. He says, "Even if you did, the easiest thing would have been to lie to me to get the 100$. You are that kind of a person, no?"
Petor doesn't reply. Shin stares at Petor for a beat and says, "She got you too huh?"
Petor smiles back, "Anytime you want help again Shin-kun, don't hesitate to ask. Goodbye."