Many sought after Elena, attracted by her style, her beauty, her fame, or her fortune. Yet Rick alone loved all of her- both Elena and Yukiko, fame, fortune, and the little girl with the dream. When faced with such overwhelming acceptance of her entire person by Rick, her earlier annoyance evaporated and she couldn't help but fall in love with him as well.
At first, the reviews were positive for "I see all of you" (the final name of the drama). Kyoko and Rain were amazing actors after all. But slowly the naysayers started creeping out of the woodwork. Fans of Kyoko's acting continued to appreciate her performance and the chubby and good-hearted Rain also gathered some appreciation. But those fans of Kyoko who judged her on her housewifely abilities - comparing her to a "Yamato Nadeshiko"- type - mostly men and unkind tabloid journalists started stirring up trouble in online forums.
"Why is she going out with a foreigner?"
"Why does this ugly-looking fellow get to be with her?"
"What is this beauty and the beast nonsense?"
"Why can't Rick have blonde hair like other Americans? What is the director even thinking about, with this casting and this story? "
The negative comments snowballed. By the time episode 3 aired where Rick and Elena secretly get married, the audience had completely flipped. Steeped in years of conditioning by dramas and media stereotypes - the people refused to accept even a slight deviation. The hero cannot be a foreigner. Japanese men get the girls. Anyone with a hair color other than black can only be a foil for the main hero. Foreigners only have blonde hair. On and on the list of grievances grew. The absolute silence from the team - cast members, directors, and producers only added fuel to the fire. Viewership dropped as the audience fled in droves.
"Will they really come back after episode 4?"
The nervous tone belongs to Shin. Kyoko glances at him. Unlike Kyoko and even Ren, who had gone through many flops in their life, this was Shin's first effort in displaying his talent to the world. It is natural for him to be nervous.
"Relax." she responds, "You wrote a good story. The more negative the comments now, the stronger the response will be after episode 4."
"Kyoko-san, I don't know how you can be so calm," Shin says, frowning.
Kyoko smiles. This Shin is very different from the "I know how people work."-Shin she is used to. She is about to respond to him when the phone rings.
"Hello?" she answers. It is President Takarada.
"We may need some damage control before episode 4," he says without preamble.
Shin tries to edge closer to Kyoko to listen in. 'The poor kid,' thinks Kyoko.' It would not be good for him to listen to this conversation.'
"One minute.," she says on the phone. She walks to her room and slams the door with finality. Shin wouldn't dare enter now.
"Yes Shachou, please continue."
"Kyoko-san, we had anticipated a drop in viewership. But not to this level and not before episode 4."
Kyoko replies," I received a text from Director Hyuga, as well. It was very agitated, with lots of question marks and exclamations. He believes we could have timed the transformation better."
Director Hyuga had also cursed big media groups like LME in the text. This sentiment is by now very familiar to Kyoko and others and hence best ignored.
"Be that as it may.," Lory says, "We are where we are now."
"What are you thinking of for damage control?"
"We cannot do something that can be interpreted as apologizing or justifying. Even explaining is out of the question. The work should stand on its own merit. Instead..." the president pauses.
"Instead?" Kyoko asks.
"Instead, I was hoping to ask that bright young man by your side for his suggestions."
Kyoko is surprised for a bit and then walks to the room door.
"My suggestion box is currently listening at the door," she says and opens the door. Shin falls in.
Kyoko says nothing but her expression says it all.
"I was just..um... trying to help?" Shin says sheepishly. Kyoko signals that she will deal with that later.
"What do you think would be good damage control to get back viewers to at least watch episode 4 before deciding? We also cannot explain, justify or apologize for anything," she asks,
Immediately Shin changes. He straightens up and his eyes sharpen. Thinking he responds, "Let's do that then."
"What?"
"An online contest."
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god," says the woman sounding with each word, more and more girlish. Ren stands next to her alternately smiling at the camera and her.
"Congratulations.," he says.
The voice-over says, "There you have it, folks. The mystery silhouette that has been going around for a week as part of the "I see all of you" hot-hot drama's guess the hot-hot new appearance contest. It is none other than our very own, very old Tsuruga Ren-sama."
"You don't have to say very old," complains Ren although good-naturedly.
"And what do you feel like to be the one lucky winner to guess the person from the silhouette, Miss?"
The woman replies, "I have been a fan of Ren-sama like forever. All through his absence, I have been steadfast. Of course, when the silhouette was released, I was immediately like, "That's him." At the time I thought it was just wishful thinking. Tsuruga-san was obviously meditating in the mountains and learning three different languages, why would he come back now for this show of all things?"
On-screen, Ren doesn't show any emotion at being made part of this bizarre fantasy. But, backstage, Kyoko feels like taking a frying pan and hitting the girl over the head with it.
'Stop being such an insipid fan, making up stuff that has no bearing on reality.,' she thinks. Some of it is, of course, the Love Me member no. 1 speaking.
"Now before we go to the actual episode 4 screening, miss do you have any guess as to how Ren-san will appear on the show?"
"Of course, he is going to come and beat that good-for-nothing Rick out of the way. Ren-sama will be like, "I was your Rick all along." and fake Rick will be like, "Who cares I am married to her." and Elena-san will be like, "OMG you're so totally right. You are my Rick, Go away fake Rick." and the two will live happily ever after."
Kyoko rolls her eyes backstage. Ren's smiles grow even wider. It's like in Ren's avatar, he is going through all of Ren's defense mechanisms the primary of which is a dazzlingly bright smile when he gets angry.
"Speaking of Elena-san. We have a double surprise for you. Please come on to the camera Kyoko-san!"
Kyoko walks onto the stage with such a beautiful honest smile miles away from the eye-rolling Love-Me member Kyoko, transformed into the poised and elegant Elena that for a second Ren's heart stops. No one but Kyoko notices and Ren quickly recovers.
"OMG OMG OMG" the woman is yelling. "Kyoko-san. Super actress Kyoko is here."
'Don't make up nicknames for me by yourself,' Kyoko scolds inwardly.
"What do you think, Kyoko-san? Is the miss here right about the story?"
"Do deshou?" Kyoko responds with a shrug and a smile.
"Well then, let us find out. While the episode is being aired, we will record the miss here's reactions as she sits next to Kyoko-san and Ren-san and watches it live. We will replay choice moments of her reactions back to the audience once the episode finishes and also ask her opinion."