Happy KyokoRen week 2024! Day 1: Memory. I own nothing!

Kyoko breathed in deeply, reading for what must've been the 100th time the note she'd found in her locker two days ago.

My beloved child:

The time has come for your final test as a LoveMe Section member.

Come to room 207 at 3PM on Thursday.

Yours Magnificently,

Takarada Lory

She placed her hand on the doorknob to room 207, fingers trembling. A final test - had he found out she and Kuon were dating? Was he going to interrogate her? That wasn't really a test though. She shook her head. She needed to get this over with.

She pushed open the door to find a single spotlight fixed on a slight stage. Shaky steps led her into it.

There was an explosion of glitter. Lory appeared, spinning into view on a villainous-looking swivel chair.

Kyoko, way too used to this by now, just bowed. "Hello, president Takarada."

"Boo. Not even a gasp?" He pouted at her, then clicked a button on his swivel chair. A rumble filled the room as a small pedestal rose out of the ground in front of Kyoko. On it sat a metal dome. "Inside that, my dear, is your final test."

She approached it, half-expecting more glitter. A tentative hand lifted the dome off of the pedestal to reveal - a cell phone.

He chuckled. Her confusion was palpable.

Ring.

"Um…?"

Ring.

"It's for you, my dear. Go on."

She picked it up, setting the dome back down in its place, and answered, "Hello?"

"I was a fool," came a voice. It was familiar, but not enough to be someone she knew. "I went out with lots of different women, but they didn't work out. They said they couldn't stay with me, I'm too selfish."

She could feel Lory's eyes on her as she listened, trying to place this voice in her memory.

"And I finally realized how much you loved me."

It clicked.

"I loved only you from the beginning. I know I'm being selfish. I'm sorry, but… will you make a fresh start with me?"

This had been her test - her test during her original audition to LME. The one she'd failed. She'd thought about it often over the years - gods, how many years had it been? - and knew exactly what she wanted to say.

She sighed, a sad smile coming to her face. She didn't even need a character for this. "It's true that I loved you."

Lory gripped the armrest on his chair. What she said next could make or break this.

"And part of me… part of me probably always will." She let out a small huff of a laugh, one devoid of real humor. "But the way you treated me - no one deserves that. Not even you." She hugged herself with her free arm. "I think - I know the part of me that loves you will always be there, because it's part of who made me… well, me."

The voice (an actor in Moko's section, she realized) replied, "Is there someone else?"

For a moment, she almost said yes - his name was on her tip of her tongue, where it spent most of its time. For a moment, the most beatific smile crossed her face, stealing away Lory's breath. For a moment, she hesitated. Then she shook her head and said, "That's not what this is about."

"But -"

"I hope someday you can find it in yourself to be who I know you can be." She swallowed against the tears. Gods, this was harder than she'd thought it would be. And it wasn't even real. "Goodbye." She hung up.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Aaand there was the glitter again.

"MY CHILD, TO SEE HOW MUCH YOU'VE GROWN-"

Still emotionally raw, Kyoko lifted the dome long enough to put the phone back. As the metal clinked back down, she asked, "Do I pass?"

"OH, WITH FLYING COLORS!" He stopped long enough to dab at his eyes. "My dear, I'm so proud of you. The only way I could be happier was if you told me that you and Ren-kun were finally dating."

Oh, he's going to kill me for this. "Technically, it's Kuon. And we're engaged." Then she turned and walked out of the room, leaving a stunned Lory in her wake.

She was three paces down from the room when she heard, "WHAT?"

She burst into giggles as she started to sprint down the hallway. Oh, there'd be hell to pay for that, but Kuon would understand. The look on the president's face was so worth it after everything he'd put them through.

She rounded a corner and crashed into Kuon, still in his Ren disguise. "Where's the fire?"

"I graduated LoveMe -"

"Congratulations -"

"-and boss knows about us."

"-crud."

"Wanna get out of here?"

He grabbed her hand. "Absolutely."

Later, there would indeed be hell to pay from Lory, mainly because they'd kept their relationship from him for so long. A sparkling, glittering, LoveMe pink hell.

Eh, worth it.