Author's Note: This story picks up right after the manga chapter 203, as Kyoko heads to the set of Box R. I got very distracted by Natsu, but this story's focus really is Kyoko x Ren on White Day… so just be patient for those scenes!
Chapter 1: The curtain opens…
Kyoko was already in character as Natsu Kitazawa when she arrived on set. Due to her work as Setsuka Heel, the director had graciously altered the filming schedule so that all of her scenes could be shot on the same day. Knowing that she'd troubled the other actors for her own personal reasons, she figured the least she could do was arrive early and prepared to give her best performance right from the start.
The talk she'd had with the President this morning had reminded her of her true goal: to cultivate her craft in order to become an A-list actress. Though it had been one of the scariest moments of her life, after she'd left the President's office she'd felt invigorated and eager to reprise her role as Natsu.
The reason was that, while at first Natsu had felt like a well-rounded character, every time she returned to her from Setsu, she'd felt like there was something missing. Something about Natsu wasn't satisfying for Kyoko, and that only meant that the audience wouldn't be satisfied either. It was the President's words that inspired her, that nothing she did in her life could be over-looked and every experience was valuable to an actress. So now, she let a new Natsu take over her body, in hopes that the director would approve of the changes she'd made to her character.
Today's scene took place after Natsu had been suspended for being caught on school grounds after hours. The girl she'd tied up on the roof hadn't been found. At this point, the principal suspected that Natsu could be involved in bullying her classmates but, without any concrete evidence, she couldn't do more than suspend her for a few days.
Natsu left home at the usual time to hide her suspension from her parents. She heads straight for Chitose's – or Rumi-chan's character's – house. This is the first time they interact one-on-one.
"Action!"
When Chitose passes a corner on her way to school, Natsu –who was waiting just behind the corner – leans in to her, placing her face inches from the other girl's ear.
Though it was almost too quick to notice, she exhales slowly before her next line. Her breath bounces back to her off of Chitose's skin, and she could almost taste the first prickling of fear. The director notices this but lets the scene continue.
"Good morning, Chi-chan!" she shouts brightly. She smiles a predatory smile when Chitose jumps in surprise.
"Oh, 'morning Kitazawa-chan," Chitose replies automatically, recovering from the shock, but gives her a puzzled look. "You don't normally walk this way, do you?"
Natsu shakes her head playfully.
"I've been looking for a new route. My old one was starting to bore me," she muses, giving the girl a quick flash of her radiant eyes. Something about those eyes seems hungry as they fix on their target.
Looking into those eyes, the director feels his heart jump uncomfortably.
"Say, want to go on an adventure with me?"
Chitose blushes in response to her class-mate's bold words.
"I-it's not that I don't," she responds slowly, her voice conveying how uneasy she felt. "But I have a club meeting before class starts, so I can't be late."
"It'll be fu~un," she taunts, linking her arm around Chitose's.
"Kitazawa-chan, I can't!" Chitose warns worriedly, trying to pull her arm away.
Natsu smirks, clamping her hand even tighter around Chitose's wrist while her other hand snakes around to Chitose's book bag. As Chitose tugs on her arm to free herself, Natsu releases her but snatches her book bag at the same time. Chitose falls on her backside. Tears spring to the innocent girl's eyes as she rubs her bottom.
"That hurt," Chitose complains with a pouty face.
Leaning against the concrete of the sound barrier behind her, Natsu is rummaging nonchalantly through her bag.
"Hey, don't – give that back!" she shouts at Natsu, getting to her feet and reaching for the bag.
Natsu evades her easily with a side-step. "Oh, you'll get it back," she says with a teasing grin. "That is, if you can catch me first!"
Not waiting for the light to change, Natsu takes off across the street. The morning traffic was heavy and a few cars speed by – narrowly missing the high-schooler.
"Hey!" Chitose warns, the beginnings of anger sprinkling her usually perky demeanor. "Kitazawa-chan!"
"Call me Natsu!" the other girl shouts laughingly over her shoulder.
Chitose presses the walk button impatiently and dances on tiptoes while waiting for the light to change before she follows after Natsu and her stolen book bag.
"Cut! Good work, girls. I think we can use that one."
Both Kyoko and Rumi had to relocate from the set to downtown, where they'd be filming on location.
During the ride over, Director Kazutoyo considered the change in Natsu, however subtle, was due to Kyoko's hiatus from the role. Was it Mio leaking out? Or something else? He couldn't seem to put his finger on what made her different. But, as filming picked up, he was sure she would resolve the little discrepancies in her character before he'd even have to give her an NG ("no good", aka. a retake). He nodded to himself. Yes, he had confidence that she was the sort of actress that was harder on herself than any director could be.
The chase scene was filmed as a number of short takes that would be spliced together later into a montage.
In one take, Natsu slows her pace so that Chitose can follow, but stays far enough ahead that she can't catch up. Another take had Natsu sending a few glances over her shoulder, her face calculating – as if evaluating her target's emotional status and using that information to set her pace either faster or, if she figured Chitose was about to give up, slower. The farther away from the school they get, the more anxious Chitose becomes.
"Kita… I mean Natsu, c'mon already! Stop this… We're going to be late!" she whines, glancing behind her as if considering heading to school without her bag.
Still, Natsu continues jogging into the heart of the city. The buildings around them become taller. The girls get jostled by the crowds of business people (extras for the day) that fill the sidewalks. Chitose worries that she'll lose sight of her class-mate in press of bodies around her. She realizes that she has no idea where they are anymore.
"Natsu?" she squeaks awkwardly, too shy to shout in public.
People in suits surround her. They block her view of the street ahead and the buildings block out the sky. It feels like the city is trying to swallow her up.
"Natsu?" she says a little louder, fear taking precedence over embarrassment. Her steps slow in proportion to the increasing pace of her beating heart. "Natsu!"
A hand latches on to her wrist, and pulls her into the doorway of one of the buildings on her left. Before she could shriek in terror, another hand covers her mouth.
"Shhh, calm down Chi-chan," soothes Natsu in a velvety voice.
Again, with their faces inches apart, there was a moment of tension that the director hadn't expected. Even Natsu's body language was different, like she was holding Chitose protectively, rather than restraining her.
Kyoko, what are you doing? he wondered from the sidelines. It was as if she was adding a layer of complication to Natsu's interaction with Chitose. Are you trying to suggest that Natsu is… attracted to Chitose?
"Cut!"
The girls separate from each other with questioning eyes aimed at the director.
"Mogami-chan, I'd like to have a word with you. Everyone else, take five."
An instant thundercloud bloomed darkly over Kyoko's head.
"Don't worry, it's nothing too serious," Director Kazutoyo reassured her while leading her out of ear-shot from the others.
"I apologize for amending the character - without your permission!" the actress sputtered hastily.
Kyoko was worried that the small dashes of Cain Heel she'd used had been discovered.
The director stopped her with a hand on her shoulder before she could prostrate herself before him. He was already accustomed to her odd habit of over-apologizing.
"Please, don't take this the wrong way. After all, it's your job as an actress to bring the characters from the script to life, right? And it's my job as a director to let you know when the character strays from what is needed for the scene."
Head down, Kyoko was pushing her index fingers together as if she was a guilty child being scolded. The director chuckled, taking her off-guard.
"That said: I like your Natsu. She is much more dynamic for this story than a Mio copy-cat would have been, and you showed that to me time and again. I know your acting sense is good. What I don't understand is why you thought to make Natsu-chan a lesbian."
Kyoko's face turned brick red. "A... L-lesbian?"
"Yeah, from the way you were acting with Rumi-chan, I felt like something was slightly different from before. This last scene cemented it for me. Natsu was finding any reason at all to get close to Chitose, wasn't she? The expressions you used whenever the girls had physical contact made me think that Natsu was attracted to Chitose, suggesting that she is gay."
Kyoko shook her head so violently that the director was scared she'd dislodge something important.
In her mind's eye, Natsu's spirit, which had been floating in the air above her head, materialized an arm and smashed Kyoko angrily on the noggin with a hammer, causing the girl to fall to her knees.
That wasn't what she'd been going for at all! Apparently her acting skills had failed her. There was no way she'd be able to face the President without shame if she continued this mediocre display!
Then again, she knew that the changes she was trying to convey were pretty complicated. At first glance it probably did look like "attraction". But it was her job to convince the director otherwise. This was going to require confidence, something she felt she lacked as "Mogami Kyoko", so she allowed the mindset of her character to sink in, relying on Natsu's cool demeanor to handle the situation.
"Natsu isn't gay," Kyoko/Natsu stated, shaking her head as if disappointed in the director's short-sightedness. "She's… confused. Like any normal teenager."
"Confused about her sexuality?" the director asked, not sure how that was any different.
"No, not exactly…"
"What's the hold-up?" demanded Fuwa Sho to his driver. "Can't you go any faster?"
"I'm afraid not, Fuwa-sama," responded the driver looking back at him in his rear-view mirror. "Something is holding up traffic."
His manager, Shoko, peered out of her window. Sure enough, the cars were bumper-to-bumper for many lights ahead of them. If this was the case, there was no way they'd get to Queen Records in time for their meeting.
"Sho, I'm going to call ahead to the office and let them know our situation."
Letting himself fall into her lap, Sho crossed his arms and kicked the door as an added measure of childishness. Shoko sighed as she dialed the office. No matter how often she saw it, she always found his immature side adorable. It made her feel the need to protect the young man, despite his age and reputation as an untouchably cool pop idol.
"I don't want to be stuck in this car forever," Sho whined. "What could be so important to hold up traffic in the middle of the day?! If it's an accident, couldn't they move the wreckage to a side street and let everyone else go about their business?"
The driver adjusted his radio and called in to dispatch for information. In a few minutes he had the answer.
"It sounds like a TV drama is being filmed up ahead. Something called "Box R"."
Sho bolted upright in his seat. Since Shoko was always keeping tabs on Kyoko for him, it hadn't taken him long to squeeze the information that Kyoko was acting in that program out of his manager. Since he'd encountered Tsuruga Ren's wrath a few days ago, he'd been trying to find a convenient way to check up on the girl, without seeming to be concerned or too eager. But, in all honesty, he was bursting with anxiety.
If that girl was taking advantage of Tsuruga Ren's "kindness" – as she called it – and was found out by him, Sho worried that she'd face some serious trouble. The aura he'd felt surrounding that man was dangerous. One look from him, and Sho had been convinced that Tsuruga Ren was capable of real violence.
It's not that he cared what that girl did, he reminded himself. He just felt that – because he knew how ignorant she was about these sorts of things –it was his responsibility to warn her. She was always too trusting, and this mistake could get her in a lot more trouble than even he'd ever put her through.
So, without ambushing her at work (because Tsuruga-san could also be there), his only hope of warning Kyoko was either by phone or at school. However, Mimori told him that classes were suspended this week in preparation for exams. And every time he called her phone, he'd get the same message: "The number you have dialed is out of their range of service or shut off…" It had been beyond frustrating.
Finally, though, he had a chance to talk to her.
"Yes, we're just stuck in traffic right now," Shoko was saying into her cellphone. "Fuwa-kun is… Wait – hold on a second," Shoko covered the mouthpiece as Sho unbuckled his belt and opened the car door. "Sho, where do you think you're going?!"