"Mogami-san" President Takarada is in the car with Kyoko. They are driving back from the President's house.

"Don't thank me." Kyoko cuts him off. "I did it for her."

"Very well," he replies. "I will not thank you. But I will grant you a wish. Anything in my power to grant, ask and it will be done."

Lory thinks, 'Even if she asks to join back as an actress, I am prepared to accept it. She is ready.'

Kyoko's eyes widen at the offer. 'Should I ask to be taken back at LME? ' She thinks, 'No, I am not going to abuse the President's gratitude by asking for that while he still believes me not ready for it. Perhaps I could ask him for help with that boy.'

"Shachou, I do have a favor to ask. There is a boy who is staying with me. His name is Shin. I would like your help to get him admitted to a school."

Lory raises an eyebrow, "Kyoko, I am sure admission into a school is fairly straightforward. Why do you need my help?"

"I do not want him to enter into just any school President. He- I hope you will accept my assessment when I say that he is a very talented story writer. I did my research and Nada high school is the best school for authors. It is not easy to get admission into this school as you know. I was hoping a recommendation from you would go a long way to..." she trails off.

"You have grown so much Kyoko. A few months ago, you were a closed shell, going through the motions of life. You had closed off all your emotions behind an insurmountable wall. But now you are full of life, planning the future of this kid. I confess, when I sent you away from the agency, I was hoping you would confront and accept the reality of what happened to you. Allow yourself to feel the emotions that you had locked away deep within you. But I am amazed at the progress you have made in just a few months."

"Why do you say that President?"

"Back at the house with Maria, you were able to speak of what was up till now an unspeakable tragedy for you, so you could convince her. I did not expect you to have progressed so far."

Kyoko is struck by that. He is, of course, right. She had talked about how her desire to maintain her image had directly or indirectly resulted in her misfortunes.

"That proves to me that you can use even your extreme personal experiences, to make another person act the way you want them to. This is the gold standard as an actress."

Kyoko's eyes tear up. 'I did that, didn't I?'

"You might be thinking that that makes you incredibly manipulative. But you should be proud of yourself. Manipulation is acting. Every second you are on screen, you are trying to manipulate the feelings of the audience. If you cannot manipulate the actions of a single person, how can make entire scores of people feel what you want them to feel?"

Kyoko thinks, 'I am horrible. I just tricked Maria into doing what I thought was right. How arrogant of me. I even channeled Shotarou to get her to do that. I became the worst version of myself.'

Lory continues, "Do not be ashamed Kyoko. Those tears, the anguish you feel now is real. Feeling those things doesn't make you a bad person. On the contrary, it shows that you are a human being with a good heart.

Acting always comes from the truth. Use your acting to come to terms with your feelings. Own them. Accept them. Act them out and release them."

Kyoko takes a deep breath and simply nods.

"Now regarding your request. I cannot simply recommend anyone based on your word Kyoko. I would need to see samples of his writing."

Kyoko stiffens. 'That's not good. Shin's actual writing is terrible. How will I manage to explain his terrible spellings to the President after vouching for his skill? But I can't back down now.'

She nods dumbly.

"Good. Now that is settled. And we are almost at your house. if you don't mind Kyoko, I have a few phone calls to make."

Kyoko gets out of the limo and goes inside the house. On the center table is a sheaf of papers with a sticky note on top. It says - "I fixed the grammar, spellings, and Kanji. Took me three days and three nights. Please read it - Shin"

Meanwhile, in the limo, Lory is on the phone.

"Are you away from Julie?"

"Yes." comes the reply from Kuu, "Although, I have no idea why I even pick up calls from you. Every time I do, I always end up regretting it."

"That's harsh. What did I ever do that was not good for you and your family?"

"That is exactly what I am talking about. You do not stop interfering with me and my family. Julie still thinks of you as a kidnapper. And if she ever found out that I knew how to find Kuon didn't tell her all this while, I wouldn't be surprised if she handed me a divorce, after killing me of course."

"That's not fair, Kuu. You know that if she ever got to know she would rush off to find her son. And we both agreed that would not be a good thing."

"Your requests always seem so reasonable. But you never have to deal with the consequences. So, why did you call?"

"I called because it is time."

"You mean..that?"

"Yes. Time to move to the next phase. I know the first phase did not work quite as we both expected and we have had to make modifications on the way. Can I trust you to take care of things at your end?"

"Give me some credit. I am his father after all."