'Skip Beat!' and its original characters are the property of the brilliant Nakamura Yoshiki

Spoiler alert: This fanfiction branches off after chapter 203 of the original work

(SPOILER! - It's right after she has the discussion with Lory Takarada about being in love with Ren Tsuruga and whether she wants to do anything about it - but nothing Guam related has happened)

Chapter 1: Scary Beyond All Reason

"What about this one?"

Director Mundy looked up from where he was scrutinizing a file and snorted, picking up a new pile of them to inspect from the box at his feet, dropping them with a heavy 'thump' on his desk. Four boxes down, six more to go… He glanced at the clock on his bookshelf, noting that the hour was getting very late. "I only requested that because one of the unlikely potentials for another part wanted to play opposite her."

"So you haven't looked at it?"

"I have not," he confirmed, inserting a promotional disk into the player to watch a segment of acting done by a young actress that looked promising. He soon ejected it, not liking what he saw. He tossed the file into one of his many 'reject' piles littering the room "I'm not even sure I want that boy—why should I humor him more than I already have?"

"Mm," His friend nodded, sitting down on the edge of Mundy's desk, nearly toppling one of said piles as he opened the neglected file and leafed through it. "I think she's interesting, though."

"That so?" Mundy grunted, zipping through another promo disk, not really listening as he mussed his pepper black hair in an effort to stimulate his brain from the outside. He often saw his wife doing that, and it made him curious to see if it actually worked (though he felt like it just left him with his hand in a prime position to tear it out in frustration).

"I've actually been keeping tabs on her career since a while back."

"That so?" he ejected the disk and inserted another. He wasn't impressed with these girls—they were too afraid to look ugly. It made their acting too superficial…but he also needed someone young for the part. All the actresses he really liked for the part so far were a tad too old to play it.

He had to be picky about this one, especially, since it was the author's favorite character…even more so, since the author also happened to be the aforementioned wife.

Shinkai Seishi chuckled, and Mundy scowled at him. He was still going on about the profile Mundy had been ignoring. "She really made an interesting first impression—she had a fresh fracture above the ankle, but she performed the tea ceremony while kneeling on it as if nothing were wrong, refusing to accept medical treatment until the scene was done. I actually had to order her acting partner off the stage before she would break character…"

He paused, wincing "…well, technically, she fainted, but you get the drift."

Mundy jerked the file from his hands and scowled at her picture, "She sounds like an insurance nightmare."

Shinkai shrugged. "She's a bit eccentric, but very polite and unassuming—if you don't offend her sense of professionalism. In fact, she didn't resent being replaced because, in her words, 'a person who loses consciousness during a battle has no qualifications for survivorship'." He chuckled again, remembering something as he eyed the open file in Mundy's hands "She was even angry at herself for being influenced by a very experienced co-star's acting, and she was a complete amateur then."

Mundy grunted and rifled through the file, stopping to scan a few notes written by directors that had worked with her. Every one of them seemed to mention something about being pleased by her work ethic. His hopes rose further on the notes about her 'powerful character portrayals'. "Any dance or martial arts history?"

"None that I know of, though it wouldn't surprise me if she did…she has a strange way of moving. It's hard to tell."

Mundy eyed his friend through narrowed eyes. Whatever it was he was remembering, it was apparently funny, and Mundy wondered wearily if his fellow director/friend was just pulling his leg. He put in the demo disk and sat back in his desk chair, stretching his shoulders stiffly as he watched the screen. He could use a break right about now, anyway.

She was playing the part of a daughter of a wealthy family, a black sheep. Her poise was good, he noted aloud, to which Shinkai agreed.

To say this young actress was 'powerful' in her character portrayals was a gross understatement—if Mundy had so sum up his impression of her in only a handful of words, it would be 'scary beyond all reason'.

That impression of her was taken to a new level upon his introduction to Box R's 'Natsu'. He noted the distinct difference in the bearing of both Dark Moon's 'Mio' and this charismatic high school girl…where the former had been a flawlessly prim and proper heiress, the later was fashionably relaxed, with an enviable cat-walk stride and bearing of a born model. The two were entirely different, in personality, appearance and situation… but that special glint and intensity of aura that no amount of special effects could fabricate convinced Mundy that he was indeed looking at the same girl in both images.

Either that, or young people these days are much scarier than they were in my time… This was no longer a break. He was leaning forward again.

He cleared his throat. "She might be able to pull off the transformation well…but what about Kaya's natural state? She needs to be able to portray a genuinely gentle nature."

Shinkai smiled and reached for the remote, zipping through a few more bullying scenes from the twisted high-school queen. He pushed play again. "I told you, I've kept an eye out for her work."

It was a PV. Mundy recognized the song, an early work of a young musician that was currently taking the music industry in Japan by storm…but that was all he recognized. The scene was of two angels frolicking in a field of flowers, played by a pair of decently attractive actresses. He noted that the taller, playful one did seem to know a bit of ballet, though it wasn't anything fancy—just some pretty near pirouettes around her companion. They did a decent of portraying friendship for one another, which surprised Mundy a little; he was used to PV's being more about looking fashionable and trendy…

He lifted a brow, incredulous as he sat up in his seat and eyed Shinkai, who had moved to sit in one of the chairs Mundy kept for visitors "One of these girls is…?"

"Just watch—you'll see."

Mundy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He could gather the basic plotline easily—forbidden love between the timid angel and a devil, played by the singer. It had certain parallels to the plotline for the character he was looking for…

Was the timid angel Kyoko? His brow wrinkled slightly. She was good in the scene with the other angel, and she did seem genuinely smitten by the demon portrayed by the musician…but, rather than truly timid, she seemed inexperienced, and was relying heavily on her looks. More a model than actress. He was really hoping that the one who showed some hints of a dancing background was their girl.

The screen was filled with the image of the first angel, the playful, dancing one, but her expressions were very different from earlier. Anguish, vivid enough to make him flinch, was in her eyes. She was gushing tears whilst haltingly approaching the devil that was her young friend's lover—trembling hands lifting to clasp about his neck.

The act of violence almost looked like it was hurting her much more than it was him, making Mundy briefly question what an angel, theoretically a pure and heavenly being, would feel upon killing another creature, even an evil one…

He was brought out of his thoughts by what happened next. The devil was dead, the angel was grieving her sin …but something strange was... Mundy felt goose-bumps creep up his arms as the angel slowly let her hands fall from her face.

Shinkai pressed pause, watching Mundy's contemplative expression. "You think she'll do?"

Mundy rubbed at the stubble on his chin, reclaiming the remote to take another look at several scenes. She didn't have a great deal of acting history, but what she did was undeniably powerful. It wasn't often that you met a young actress that was this intense…he had been distracted by her characters several times, momentarily forgetting that it was the actress he should be thinking about. That she had the same effect on him while playing the pre-demon angel was encouraging. And she might have some dancing history, to boot.

In answer to Shinkai's query, he tossed the file into the 'maybe' pile.

"That punk we've been considering might actually know what he's talking about… Now we just have to see if Mary likes her."

Mary wasn't entirely sure why the receptionists had given her a pair of sunglasses, but being the good sport she was, she wore them as instructed. She had recently been introduced to Lory Takarada, President of LME, and would not put it past the man to have such a thing as a policy that requires all visitors to wear sunglasses on specified days.

It wasn't long before she realized what they were really for when she made the mistake of lowering them to get a better view of the girl in the pink uniform approaching the desk. She didn't know what kind of radiation that particular shade of pink was emitting, but there was only one thing that had the right to be that color—the flames of hell.

She carefully put the sunglasses back in place, catching the pitying look the receptionist sent her way as she pulled the rim of her hat even lower.

"Amamiya, would you direct Edmunds-sensei here to the LoveME lounge? She has a task for Mogami."

The petite, black-haired girl gave a bow and flashed a cheerful smile at Mary, motioning for her to follow. "This way, Edmunds-sensei."

Mary fell in step with the atrocity-clad girl, lowering the sunglasses now and again to see if the effect wore off over time. All she got out of the self-inflicted torture was three bright silhouettes of the uniform in various stages of stride printed on her retinas.

"You play 'Yumika' in Box R, right?"

The girl looked at her appreciatively. "Bravo—Most people are so brainwashed by this uniform that they have a hard time telling us LoveME members apart, though the three of us don't look much alike."

Well…I've been looking at a lot of actors' profiles lately, and her performance alongside 'Natsu' was memorable, to say the least… Mary wondered how a girl who could play someone so vicious could smile so sweetly, even in such an abrasive outfit. The world is full of interesting people, I daresay…

She smiled and hazarded the question "What exactly is LoveME?"

"A section of LME that is devoted to those talents who are missing an emotion needed in order to thrive in the industry," the girl rehearsed before smiling somewhat wryly. "I'm actually from Soft HAT agency, but the President allowed it, so here I am."

"What do you do?" she adjusted the strap of her satchel, resisting the urge to try lowering her sunglasses again. She had the feeling that the color wasn't going to get less jarring so soon.

"Mostly complete tasks for various parties to earn points…" Amamiya trailed off as she swung open the door to a small break room that was just as gaudy and ghastly as her uniform. "But my theory is that we're actually a section formed to be a scapegoat for the rest of the agency."

"A scapegoat?"

"Yeah—we put up with the President's craziest schemes so everybody else doesn't have to."

"That sounds about right," a voice agreed from within. Mary took a hesitant step into the dangerous-looking room to see another black-haired girl sitting at a table inside, wearing the same hideous uniform. This one was tall, with straight, long hair and fine features, along with a scowl. "This department is basically one big running gag to keep him entertained. Who is this?"

Mary allowed Amamiya to introduce her while she stole a few glances to take in the room. There was a row of lockers, painted in that painful shade, and a long table with chairs that were also that color…does anyone actually sell fabric and paint of this kind of pink? And Why?

"Kotonami—Edmunds-sensei, who is here with a task for LoveMe #1," Amamiya gestured toward Mary and then toward the long-haired girl. "Edmunds-sensei—Kotonami. She's LoveME #2."

If Mary had the feeling that she'd been dropped into another world, that feeling was only intensified as yet another blur of the atrocious color flew past them with a wild cry of 'Moookooo-saaaan!' and tried to tackle the long-haired LoveME member.

Who promptly and calmly evaded the attack, soundly whacking the blur with what looked to be a rolled-up screenplay.

"Ehhh~" The blur turned out to be a spritely young thing with near-orange hair, bizarrely impeccable posture, and a very expressive (and pitiful) wounded pout "Just one hug wouldn't hurt, would it, Moko-san? I've had a hard day…"

"Yeah?" Despite the aloof attitude, the imperious Kotonami-san waited for the girl to explain while Mary wondered if 'hug' was some kind of code word for something violent in LoveME language; whatever the girl had been trying to do, it certainly didn't look like it wouldn't leave a mark.

"I had a meeting with the President first thing this morning," the girl reported in monotone as she deadpanned, startling Mary with the dark stormy gloom that was gathering around her.

Both Kotonami and Amamiya flinched, looking as though they'd just tasted something bitter. Then the long-haired girl stiffened.

"Oi—are your eyes swollen?"

The girl with the orange hair blinked, the gloom evaporating as she gave an innocent smile. "Are they?"

Either Kotonami wasn't a fan of smiles, or that smile was not so innocent as it seemed—as soon as it appeared, the long-haired LoveME member paled significantly, looking as though certain doom had just knocked on her door. Mary took an unconscious step back as the girl let out a massive sigh of resignation.

"My place, six o'clock. I know your schedule is open for the rest of the day, so no 'buts'. Prepare to spill—" the tall girl turned to Mary, who resisted the urge to hide. "—But right now, you have a visitor."

Mary blinked, looking down at the girl on the floor in surprise, wondering if she had misunderstood Kotonami. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the conversation as it was. "…You are Mogami?"

The girl blinked as she seemed to realize for the first time that someone she didn't know was privy to their mysterious exchange. Her smile turned somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, Ma'am. What can I do for you?"

Mary was not the only one that blinked at that answer.

"Wait a minute—you speak English?!" Both Kotonami and Amamiya were looking at the girl as if she'd suddenly revealed that she had the ability to fly.

Mogami stiffened, and then paled, holding both of her cheeks in horror as she gazed at Mary.

"Was I wrong? It's just, your accent, I thought—" the girl's eyes widened further, and Mary practically leapt out of her skin when the child threw herself face-first onto the floor in a perfectly executed dogeza. "Please forgive my arrogance!"

"Oi!" Kotonami lunged forward, dragging her eccentric LoveME senior off the floor "Nobody said you were wrong—would you stop looking for excuses to degrade yourself? You're embarrassing me!"

Mary decided that it was a good time to clear up any misunderstandings, and hopefully all the panicked rushing that was making it difficult for her to understand (since she actually was a native English speaker, and wasn't wonderfully fluent in Japanese) "You are right… though Mundy—my husband—says I should stick to working on my Japanese as often as I can…. Your English is very nice on the ears, by the way. Where did you learn?"

For a moment, it looked as though the question made the girl uncomfortable, but she shook the expression away and smiled. "I grew up working at an inn that English-speaking tourists frequented—it gave me the chance to put the English I learned in school to practical use."

Kotonami grumbled something along the lines of 'best friends should be the first to know this stuff…' and marched out the door in a huff, shouting behind her a reminder for their appointment, followed by Amamiya, who made her apologies and rushed off to answer her vibrating phone. Mary was left alone with LoveME #1, whose eyes seemed to be all aglitter over something as she stared off into space.

…she's a bit…odd. Then again, many brilliant artists are…Mary found herself smiling a little. She liked odd people—they were interesting (though she preferred talking to them in less overwhelming settings).

Mary cleared her throat, effectively bringing the dreaming girl back into the present. Mogami blinked a few times, and then seemed to remember that she was not alone. She bowed, slightly flushed with embarrassment.

"I am Kyoko Mogami, of the LoveME division—pleased to meet you."

Mary imitated the motion with a friendly smile of her own, though somewhat less immaculately. "I am Mary Edmunds—likewise."

They both straightened, and Mogami gave a very professional smile. "You have a task for me, Edmunds-san?"

Mary handed her a handwritten note Lory Takarada had given her, absently pondering on what kind of training the girl had to behave so professionally at such a young age. She found herself feeling a little envious.

'Mogami-kun,

'I have taken the liberty (in light of your recent progress revealed to me in this morning's discussion) of accepting the invitation to audition for 'The Divide' on your behalf—in hopes that it will help you progress further in the cultivation of this world's most glorious emotion.

'—Lory Takarada'

Now, Mary was not a snoop—so the contents of this note were a complete mystery to her…and seemed to grow more mysterious due to Mogami's reaction. The girl had paled considerably, to the point of almost turning blue, and her hands were beginning to tremble slightly.

"… 'The Divide'?"

"Oh!" Mary shook herself of speculations and fished through her bursting satchel as she sent a few worried glances at the trembling girl. I'm sure I put it here this morning…Ah! "Here, Mogami-san—the parts of the script that we'll go over in the audition in two weeks…"

The look on the girl's face was so apprehensive as she reached out to take the offered booklet that Mary wondered if she ought to be offended. As it was, she was too busy being curious to feel such a thing (though she was still a little worried). What had Lory written in that note? And why would it make the girl react this way?

Mary excused herself hesitantly, wondering if she should give the girl some space to reign in her emotions while she called Lory for an explanation.

"Mary! How did it go?"

"What did you write in that note? She's turning blue!"

"Really? That's peculiar…" Lory's deep voice sounded slightly baffled, as if he couldn't possibly imagine his note giving anyone the grief it was giving that child. Then his voice took on a tone of humored exasperation "Well…I suppose I can't expect her to change her convictions that quickly, after all… Just give her some time, Mary—she'll be as excited about it as we are soon enough!"

[I'm still rather new to this—but if I keep chickening out, I won't be able to get any better. I welcome any constructive criticism! Feel free to tell me if you think any of the original characters are behaving contrary to their nature, if any of my own characters are inconsistent, or if my writing style is in any way confusing or irritating. The same if I butcher any cultural details—I am by no means an expert and I don't want to offend anyone. Thank you for reading!]