Chapter 89: Illegal Activity

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Skip Beat, for if I did, Ren/Kuon would reveal more memories of Rick.

Jiro sat hunched over the couch with his head bent facing the floor. His elbows were propped on his knees and his forehead rested on the backs of his interlaced hands. Sighing, he lifted his weary head, resting his chin on the back of his hands, and stared at his daughter. His chest tightened watching her sleep. Thick gauze covered the angelic face he had fallen in love with the moment she made her debut into this world. This was real life. He had to remind himself that what he witnessed in that meeting room with his family was not scripted for him to direct for an award-winning drama.

Jiro switched off the light with the remote and clicked on the first file. A slideshow of photographs popped up on the conference screens. The smaller flat panels mounted on each side wall repeated the content displayed on the large main screen. The setting was an outdoor balcony of a shopping plaza. Two women are shown as the photos scroll through their attempt to carry then push a blindfolded person over the railing. As the photos progressed the lenses zoomed in on the faces of the perpetrators and the victim. There was no denying the identity of his daughter and niece.

Once Jiro realized the photos were of Kimiko, he closed the file immediately. The outrage among his family was instantaneous. They demanded to know what they were watching. Jiro shook his head in denial. This had to be a lie and yet he knew in his gut that his daughter was capable of such horrific acts. His family insisted they see the rest of the files. The next file was a CCTV video of the same incident. This video captured the ladies emerging from the balcony doors, struggling to carry their bundle to the edge. He watched Kimi and Yuri's expressions turn to shock as they looked out across the balcony. Jiro caught the quick lighting changes on their bodies. It reminded him of premiere nights when numerous flashes from the media's cameras were going off simultaneously. Soon afterward, a man is seen coming through the doors. The girls drop the victim to the ground and address him.

A person in a wheelchair and another man carrying a laptop enter the scene. He heard his brother whisper, "Koenji."

"Is there any sound to this?" A cousin asked. The sound? Footage like this usually never had sound because it required additional wiring to do so depending on the tech. He went to the bottom corner of the screen and clicked to remove mute from the speakers. The voices were clear as if a recording device was right on them. Someone must have edited it to include the sound. It was much too clear for it to be part of the video. The truth was finally out. This was the reason why his daughter had quit acting.

He sighed again, trying to forget those videos. Jiro knew one thing for certain, he needed to speak to Cedric. Being in the film industry, many in the room could tell that the videos were not falsified. The last video showing Kimiko's madness with her failed attempt at harming the actors was the final nail in the coffin. This was incriminating evidence. It proved his daughter and niece were guilty. He was surprised that they gave Kimiko so many chances to walk away. Jiro had been too late in his intervention. Kento advised him that the best he could do with this kind of evidence was to counter with a plea deal. He promised Jiro he would have a plan forward by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, he wanted Jiro to try to talk to Kimiko.

Yuri was already booked and released on bond with an ankle monitor attached to her. Her sentence would be light since she was only considered an accessory to Kimiko's crimes. The one thing they had going for their case was the fact that none of Kimiko's acts were ever successful.

Kento had cornered Jouji after the meeting and asked him about the girl in the wheelchair. His brother looked pale as he recounted the story regarding Erika's casting as Momiji and then her accident resulting in a re-audition for the role. After hearing his brother's answer, Jiro knew that the girl was another one of his daughter's victims. Just how many more were there?

Jiro returned to the hospital expecting to find Kimiko lucid but the doctor had informed him that she had needed a sedative to calm her down lest she injured herself further. The doctor, with his permission, ordered a psych evaluation to be conducted on Kimiko first thing in the morning. He wanted to determine the extent the trauma had on her mind.

Tadashi shook hands and greeted a few businessmen as he weaved himself to the back of the club. He was becoming a regular here that as soon as he sat down a flask of his preferred brand of sake was set before him with a tiny porcelain cup. The hostess smiled provocatively at him and shimmied her hips as she left.

"I think she likes you," Sota smirked at his friend. Tadashi gave a derisive snort in response. There was no way he would get tangled up with any woman right now, especially one so young. The girl was half his age, probably only a few years older than his daughter.

"You can't keep living like a monk. Think of yourself a bit."

Tadashi chuckled and sipped his sake. "I'm happy. I've already lost a lot of time with my daughter. I prefer to spend it with her."

"So...did you guys manage to find out anything yet?" Tadashi asked, leveling his gaze with his friend's. The case with the Morizumis was practically a done deal, but Tadashi wanted to be thorough. He didn't like that they had completely missed the other woman's role in the whole mess. They had been monitoring Kimiko's social media, but not her phone. It was a total miscalculation on his part. Her phone was used as a source to send her reminders and track her by GPS. The only consolation for his blunder was the fact that Kyoko was safe.

"You're always all business, don't you ever have time to unwind and relax. Kyoko-chan is fine now."

"Fine, what do you have in mind?" Tadashi groaned, giving in to his friend. Sota snapped his fingers twice and in an instant, two girls (they were girls in Tadashi's eyes) slinked into the booth beside them. Tadashi glared at Sota for the move. He should have seen this coming.

"Ladies, please introduce yourself to my friend," Sota gestured toward Tadashi with a sarcastic smile.

"Hello, I'm Nina," the brunette woman sitting across from him greeted. He grimaced and nodded in response.

"Hi, I'm RiRi-chan," said the giggling blonde woman that slipped into Tadashi's side. He tried not to roll his eyes at the immature girl. The hostess that had brought his drink earlier tapped on RiRi's shoulder and told her to get lost. RiRi left pouting. Tadashi cocked his eyebrow at Sota who in turn shrugged. This woman was very bold.

"Tadashi, this is Hisa. Hisa, Tadashi," Sota introduced. Hisa reached for the bottle in front of Tadashi and refilled his cup. He raised it to her in thanks and took a sip. In return, He bought a drink of her choice. Hisa sat with him nursing her glass quietly. An odd contrast to the way she flirted when he first sat down. They didn't speak which Tadashi found strange but enjoyable.

When his sake bottle ran dry, Hisa moved to get up for another. "Don't worry about it, Hisa-san, the boss and I have important business. Thank you for the company," Tadashi told her, tipping generously. Sota and the other girl had left them alone earlier, but all they did was sit there and drink. No flirtation or witty banter was exchanged. She was just as content sitting there as well. So they sat, drinking, saying nothing for the last ten minutes until their cups were empty.

Tadashi made his way to the back of the club and entered Spectre's lair. The young man was once again engaged in some online party battle. Tadashi watched as the guy and his team tried to defend their territory. Sota eventually walked in a few minutes later and stood next to Tadashi.

Ignoring his employee's game, he turned to Tadashi, "The whole point of cutting loose is to have a good time. You know how hard it was watching you. It's not like you to be so rude and ignore a lady, what gives?"

Tadashi gave his friend a dry look, "I was thinking you would suggest a game of golf, maybe even some racquetball, not fraternizing with girls as old as my daughter."

"Good God man! Next thing you know you would be suggesting we sit in a sauna. Just how old do you think we are?"

"Hey, don't knock the magical powers of a sauna. A lot of big business deals are conducted there."

The two were bantering back and forth that they didn't notice Spectre watching them with an amused smile.

"If you two geezers are done," he said, turning around and pulling up the file he had stored. "I have all the information I could find on the manager." He clicked the print button so Tadashi could have a hard copy for his records and handed him a thumb drive with a soft copy of the same file. While the info was printed, Spectre gave them the highlights of the file. Yuri had always been close to Kimiko so it was a given that she would manage her career.

"She's clean as a whistle on paper, but I did manage to find something on her back when she was studying abroad in America, Los Angeles to be precise. It's an old police report of her car being stolen."

"Why is that even significant?" Sota asked. L.A. had its fair share of gang-related crime so a stolen car was not unheard of.

"Her family is rich, right? So of course, even overseas, she would live in an upscale apartment. What do all ritzy places like that have?" Spectre paused, waiting for one of them to answer his question. Both men shrugged.

"They have surveillance!" He yelled, exasperatedly. "You'll see..." he promised, clicking on a video file. "I pieced together footage from her building. This is her car entering the parking garage...look at the time stamp on the video and look at the front."

Sota and Tadashi looked carefully at the white BMW sedan as it drove into the garage. The silhouette appeared to be of a woman in the driver's seat, but the tint on the windows was too dark to identify the person behind the wheel. Spectre was right though, the front of the vehicle along with the windshield appeared to be damaged. Tadashi still wasn't following where the hacker was going with this.

"That car was later identified as the vehicle involved in a hit and run. The victim was killed." He pulled up a news article of the incident that was almost six years old. White male, late teens early twenties, died on impact after hit and run in downtown LA.

"Are you saying she's responsible for this accident? All it says here is eyewitness accounts stating that a white car hit the guy. How can you be sure?" Sota pointed out the obvious gaps in Spectre's story.

"I'm just hypothesizing here. It's in the police report when they recovered the stolen vehicle. One of the officer's made a connection to the accident based on the condition of the car. The word used was 'allegedly' but was never confirmed," Spectre explained with a shrug.

"The condition of the car?" Tadashi asked as he tried to speed read through the rest of the police report that Spectre had on another display.

"After the report was filed the next morning, police found the car at an abandoned warehouse, torched."

"Cars only get torched to hide evidence," Sota stated. "I'm surprised it didn't blow up."

"How in the world do you even find this stuff out?" Tadashi asked, staring at the young man with an expression of awe on his face.

"Everybody leaves a digital footprint nowadays. I just happen to know how to sneak into backdoors, even foreign ones," Spectre beamed with pride.

"Why the hell are you working for this Joe Schmoe?" Tadashi joked.

"Hey, I resent that. He is well compensated, mind you. What other Boss would let this guy play video games all day? He does some voodoo magic with the computer that he barely has to lift a finger."

"Just don't let me catch you doing anything illegal, illegal," Tadashi warned. Having Spectre hacking into servers wasn't exactly kosher, but Tadashi was prepared to bend laws for the protection of his daughter.

"Hey, I got out of that shady business a long time ago. I'm a legit club owner now that likes to stay in the know with his clientele. Your commission is the most illegal thing we've done in years. Do you know how many servers he had to hack to get your information…. No matter, it's fine. It gets old quailing scandals for those geezers out there. The most we do is dig up dirt on politicians, business opponents, but mainly, we investigate their wives. You wouldn't believe how many we've caught having affairs. These men have no problems having a little fun with the girls here, but God forbid if their wives do it. A bunch of hypocrites. What they do with the information we provide is none of our business."

"In that case, since it will be my fault, I know a good lawyer should you get caught," Tadashi added with a chuckle.

"You and the baby mama getting cozy again?" Sota teased, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Ugh no, that ship has sailed. She's married now, I think. I'm just saying she's an excellent lawyer."

"Do you want us to check? It would be child's play for Spectre."

"Check what?"

"If she's married."

"Let it go. Let's focus on the point here," Tadashi said, obviously irritated. He wanted to drop the subject. She was happy now and that's all that mattered to him.

Ren sat on the living room couch reading the final script for his firefighter role scheduled for tomorrow. He was contracted to do three episodes to help inflate the rating mid-season.

Buzzing from his phone resting on the coffee table alerted him to a new text. He reached for his phone to see who could be contacting him at this hour.

Dad.

Kuon was almost too afraid to open the message. Although they were aware of everything going on, his parents had to be upset that he had yet to contact them. He sighed and clicked open the message.

Hey son, just checking in to make sure you're both OK. I know you two can overcome this together, but please keep your parents' sanity in your thoughts and stay safe. XoXo, Dad.

Kuon tapped out a response of apology and told his Dad they were doing fine. He settled back down to review his script again. A few minutes later, Kyoko emerged from the bath distracting him. She looked adorable wearing the princess robe he had given her and hoped she had a relaxing time. Seeing her like this made him recall the talk he had with Yashiro after the interview. Tadashi had thought Kyoko could use some pampering and wanted to schedule a spa day for her and her friends on her next day off. Kuon was a little disappointed that he wouldn't get to have her all to himself, but he knew she would enjoy a day with the girls since he at least got to see her every day.

Kyoko flashed him a megawatt smile and settled on the floor in front of the couch, beginning the meticulous task of brushing out her long raven locks. If she didn't comb it thoroughly, she would wake up with her hair all knotty.

Kuon found his eyes gravitating towards her with every stroke. The ivory skin on the back of her neck was exposed as she pulled the brush through her hair. Thoughts of wanting to kiss that particular spot flooded his mind.

His lips quirked at the corners into a tiny smile as she cursed under her breath when the brush got caught in tangled strands. Since he was already distracted, he stood up from the couch and moved next to her. Kyoko stopped mid-stroke and stared up at him.

"Is something wrong, Kuon?" Kyoko asked, wondering why he just stood there.

Kuon held his hand out pointing towards the brush. Kyoko held it up to him, a question of this written on her face. He took the brush from her hand and motioned for her to scoot forward, settling in the spot behind her. Kuon parted her hair like he saw her do earlier and pulled the brush through the strands, working gently from the bottom up.

Kyoko couldn't stifle the satisfying moan that escaped her lips. There was something very intimate about having the man you love brushing your hair.

Kuon chuckled, kissing her softly behind the ear, making her burn with embarrassment. He loved that the little things he did to her, even the most innocent, inflamed her.

"How was your day, baby? Kuon asked, continuing to pull the brush through her hair.

"School was fine, I think? My father told me he has a meeting with the Principal tomorrow. I don't know what that's about. I hope I'm not in trouble."

Kuon laughed at her cuteness. She had to be the teacher's pet at school. He doubted the meeting had anything to do with her causing trouble, but perhaps the paparazzi may be causing problems.

"Have you ever gotten in trouble at school?" she asked curiously. She felt Kuon tense behind her. Kyoko, you're so stupid. You probably stepped on a land mine. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking asking you such a question."

Kuon sighed and put down the brush. He didn't know what to tell her. When was he not in trouble with school? He started skipping school when he was fourteen and when he did show up, he got into fights. If it wasn't for his ability to test well; and his parents' generous donations, he probably would have been expelled long before. Damn, I was such a shitty son.

"I just don't want to disappoint you. I've seen the inside of my Principal's office so many times I can even tell you how many degrees and achievement plaques he had on the wall behind his fancy oak desk."

"That bad, huh?" she commented, turning towards him with a sympathetic smile.

"I brought it upon myself. If I was just stronger emotionally, I could have made better choices…been a better son," he answered, hanging his head low. Kyoko reached up and lifted his chin so his emeralds clashed with her amber.

"If you were all that, then I would never have met you again," she said, casting her eyes to the side, no longer able to meet his gaze. Her lips trembled and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She felt wretched for saying something so selfish.

"Hey," he cooed, gently tucking a stray lock behind her ear. Even still, she refused to meet his gaze. "I would be lying if I said I would do it all over again if it meant being here with you. Somehow, though, I feel like fate would have eventually brought us together in some other way. Do you ever feel that way?" he prompted, skimming the back of his fingers along her jawline.

Kyoko caught his hand in hers and brought it to her lips. Of course, she did; she still believed in fairy tales and Princes after all. The lump in her throat slowly dissipated. Kuon pulled her onto his lap wrapping his arms around her. He was so large in comparison that she often felt like a small child in his arms.

"I don't have many fond memories of school. Things like friends or events, nothing like that. Rick was my only friend back then. He was older than me, so we never went to the same school."

"Um...can I ask...how did you two become friends?"

Kuon ran his fingertips up and down her spine— the movement therapeutic for him. It always calmed him down when he was feeling anxious.

"We didn't become friends right away. I was wary of him. You see, back then, people would approach me only to get on good terms with my parents. So I didn't trust them. One day, my mom dragged me along to one of her modeling shoots. I think she was just feeling guilty that she worked so much. Rick was there. His girlfriend was modeling the junior line. He sat a few seats down from me and just stared."

"Creepy," Kyoko shivered.

"Right! It made me uncomfortable. Then out of the blue, it was like a light bulb finally turned on in his mind and he said, 'you're that firestarter kid?'" Kuon remembered how he had clamped his hand over Rick's mouth so fast to keep his mother from hearing. He didn't want her to worry about him, especially while she was working.

"Why would he say that to you?" his girlfriend inquired.

Kuon sighed heavily. "Right before I met you in Kyoto, I felt defeated after a bad experience on set. I found an empty barrel and burned everything in my bag, scripts, audition forms, acting books. I guess I wasn't very covert as a kid. He somehow saw me and recognized me over two years later. I think he took pity on me because ever since then, he couldn't leave me alone. He was always trying to teach me something."

"Are you glad you met him?"

"Yes…and No," he replied, dejectedly.

He didn't need to elaborate, Kyoko understood his answer clearly. Yes, Rick filled the lonely void in Kuon, albeit negatively. And no, because Kuon still partially blamed himself for his untimely death. She was happy he had openly shared some of his past with her. It wasn't in great detail, but she hoped with time, he would be able to tell her more. She twisted on his lap, encircled her arms around his neck, and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Do you want to see my guitar?" Kyoko asked, running her hands through his silky hair. She thought it would be best to change the subject now.

Kuon gave her a small smile, grateful that they weren't focusing on him anymore.

"Is that code for…" His eyes raked down her body, unable to resist teasing her.

"Pervert!" She laughed and climbed off him, bounding over to the cases lying on the floor. She opened the electric guitar case first.

Her eyes sparkled as she cradled the guitar and walked back to him. "Isn't she beautiful? Kei-san said it's a Gibson Les Paul. I'm pretty sure that means it's very expensive."

Kuon took the guitar from her to inspect it closer. The neck was made of light maple, while the body was painted in pearl white with a large translucent blue butterfly over it. He smiled at the design and had to hand it to them. They knew exactly how to tug at her heartstrings.

After gushing over the guitar's beauty, Kuon handed it back to her. "So are you going to play something for me?"

"Eh? I only know one song…kind of," she told him, replacing the guitar carefully in its case.

"That's more than enough."

"Okay, but you have to promise not to make fun of me if I'm terrible," she pleaded, pulling out the acoustic guitar she had used earlier in the studio.

"I would never make fun of someone trying their best," Kuon promised.

Kyoko took a seat on the floor in front of him and crossed her legs. She adjusted the guitar on her lap and stared up into his expectant face. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star it is, then, she thought, as she began to strum out the melody.

Yashiro sighed as he stepped up to his apartment complex mailboxes. He had not had a chance to talk to Kanae all day. Somehow, he had managed to evade the few lingering paparazzi that were adamant about stalking his apartment. He put the key into his mailbox and looked inside to retrieve his mail. A small package sat in his box.

He stared at the box for quite some time. Yashiro had not ordered anything so he wondered what it could be. A bomb? He leaned closer to the package without touching it and tilted his ear towards it. All was quiet. Since there was no ticking, he searched the ground until he found what he was looking for. Holding his body back and stretching out his arm, he turned his head in the opposite direction and poked at the box with the stick in his hand. Still nothing. Poison? He tossed the stick back into the landscaping where he found it and reached for the package. Blinking twice, he wondered if the note attached to the top was accurate.

You owe me a real dinner, *heart* K.K.

K.K. It had to be from Kanae. Yashiro rushed to his apartment filled with anticipation. Would she be here again like last night? Yashiro's bubble deflated when he found no one waiting for him outside his apartment. He couldn't have expected her to wait without knowing his schedule. After entering his apartment, he found a knife to cut open the adhesive on the package. To his astonishment, it contained the latest smartphone.

She bought me a new phone!

Thrilled, Yashiro put on his gloves to open the box and turned on the power button to find it already charged with a picture of Kanae on the screen. Kawaii! He scrolled through the menus and found her number already listed in his contacts. Wasting no time, he excitedly dialed her number. Basically, she just gave him the okay to ask her out on a date. Yashiro planned to treat her to not just one but many fabulous dinners.

AN: Hi hi everyone! As always thanks for sticking with me. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get to LA, I just hope you're enjoying all the fillers.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoring, and following this story. I appreciate all of you.

Until next time, ja ne! ^_^