Chapter 7. A Golden Ray Of Hope.

It was a very busy day. The atmosphere was very lively and exhilaration was in the air at LME. Since the auditions were held, the place was bustling with excitement.

Yet Lori Takarada was feeling perturbed. He should be looking forward to the casting arrangements and the training of the newer clients, but something was stuck in his mind.

He picked up a résumé from his table and studied the picture pasted on it. It belonged to a sixteen-year-old girl with ginger hair. Her name was Kyoko Mogami. She was one of the contestants who had failed during the second round of the open casting auditions. Her performance was absolutely brilliant but she lacked a very basic factor, which caused her to fail.

Takarada sighed and put the résumé back on the table. He was a very curious and perspective man. He always had an intuition, a gut feeling about every person he had ever met. What was impressive about him, was the fact that people always turned out to be what he had predicted.

Kyoko Mogami was an exception. The moment he laid eyes on her, he knew that she possessed something special. Which she did, her acting skills were pretty intense. With proper training, she could top the charts. Yet, she didn't have the most basic thing required to become a star. When he looked into her eyes, he saw energy, passion, dedication, skill but not a hint of love. Without it, she was an utter waste.

Love was not something that could be taught, so she had no place there. But if she somehow learned that one basic thing, she could become unstoppable.

He picked up her resume again and read aloud, "'People I respect: The man and woman who raised me without judgement, who gave me a place to sleep without ever counting the cost. Hobbies: Shopping for cosmetics.

Special skills: I can cut, chop, or peel anything.' I know she has potential. I am definitely curious to see how she will turn out if we groomed her for TV.

Woah... Her favourite word is vengeance?!" He recalled the vibe of intense hate she gave off during the auditions. "She may never change at all, even if we take her in. But still, why am I so intrigued?"

He studied her face again. Her picture looked like a mugshot. She was definitely different than those other girls.

.

.

.

Mr and Mrs Taisho were having breakfast when they heard footsteps from the stairs. Kyoko came down. Unlike yesterday, she looked bright and cheerful with a smile on her face. What they didn't know, was that she was just trying to cover her puffy, teary face from that smile so as to not worry them.

Last night, when she came back, the first thing she did was to rip off the poster of Sho from her wall, and tear it into tiny little pieces. She had put it there, not because she missed him but to remind herself of her revenge. There was going to be no revenge anymore, so there was no point in keeping his picture.

Right after that, she broke down. Mr Swara had told her that she was lacking 'love'. She realized that she was not lacking love just as an actor but as a human being. Sho did not only betray her, he left her hollow inside. He took away her base.

"Good morning." She greeted the Taishos.

"Kyoko dear, are you alright?" Mrs Taisho asked in a concerned tone.

"Yes, I am fine." She assured her with a smile.

"Last night, you looked pretty quiet and depressed and you didn't even eat dinner. We were so worried."

"I am sorry for worrying you, but I'm okay now.'

"What about the auditions?" Mr Taisho asked with his usual frowning face. Mrs Taisho had specifically asked him to not mention that. She rolled her eyes at him.

"I..." Kyoko looked down. "I guess I wasn't just cut out for it." She chuckled nervously to lighten the mood.

"Where are you going now?" Mrs Taisho asked, desperate to change the topic.

"I am going to look for a day job. I don't think it's right that I just sit around doing nothing."

"I wouldn't have bothered to give you my precious knife if I had known that you were going to give up." Mr Taisho gave her a hard look.

Kyoko just looked down, ashamed.

"If you fail, then you try again and again until you succeed."

Kyoko didn't know what to respond to him. She stood there for a while before turning to leave.

.

.

.

"Are you sure, sir?" Swara asked president Takarada, astonished.

The president walked towards the glass wall and looked outside. "I know I disqualified her but I'm having second thoughts. This never happens to me. I kind of like it."

"Really?" It seemed that the spark Swara had noticed in Kyoko Mogami was real after all. "I only brought it up because I was worried about her. I wasn't expecting this." Swara had known President Takarada for years. His decisions were always absolute. He never had second thoughts because he was always right. This was the first time he had seen him reconsidering. Not only that, but this was also the first time Takarada was willing to go so far for someone whom he had disregarded at first.

"What can I say? She is peculiar. It's interesting. If we take the time to train her from scratch, she just might turn out to be a huge star."

"Heck yeah!" Swara beamed. He was glad that his intuition about her was right. He might not be as good as the president, but he did have an eye for talent.

"However," Takarada turned. Swara stopped smiling. "It's quite obvious that she is missing some of the basic fundamentals."

"Yes, sir."

"That's why I expect her to come back to the agency on her own with twice the drive and ambition than she bought in the auditions. After that, my plan will be set in motion."

"Don't worry, sir. If she has proven anything, it's that she is determined." Swara knew for sure that she will come back. There's no doubt, the girl I know will never give up after one little setback, he thought. You have to get back to LME. Get your butt back here.

.

.

.

It has been two days since Kyoko blew up the LME auditions. Fortunately, she found a new job at the gas station right away. Sitting free at home was downright depressing. Facing Mr Taisho was even worse. She felt ashamed.

When she was at her job, she thought about what he had said to her about not giving up. But it was a lot more complicated than that. Even if she did go back to Mr Swara, there was nothing more he could do. He had made that pretty clear.

"Go home. Let someone else have a shot who deserves it."

Ren Tsuruga's words popped into her head out of nowhere.

Yeah right, what does he know, I held my own against those girls, she thought.

On the other hand, she also didn't make it past the second round.

A new Idea came to her. She didn't make it into LME because there was a lot of competition. What if she tried a smaller agency? Or she could start small from stage or shoebox theatres and eventually she might get a chance...

Eventually?!

No! That would take years. She had to get her revenge now. She had to sign up with the best agency to reach her goal as soon as possible. Only LME could take her closer to the dream.

She felt helpless and trapped. She gave away the luxury of a mansion, the caring people who were like her parents to come to Tokyo for Sho. While he was fooling around with his sexy manager, she was stuck with filling people's cars with gas. Unforgivable!

.

.

.

It was midday. There were not a lot of customers, so Kyoko and her coworker Maya, went out to a cafe which was just in front of the gas station, to grab a bite. While Kyoko was enjoying her delicious burger, she heard a familiar voice singing. She turned immediately to find that it came from the TV. It was Sho, he was singing in a cosmetic commercial.

That was too much for her to bear. She worked three part-time jobs, and still couldn't afford to buy a single cosmetic product or jewelry. Hell, she didn't even buy decent clothes and wore rags instead. And he was acting in a cosmetic commercial. Her body shook from exasperation. She hid her face so Maya couldn't see it and enquire about the cause of her sudden anger.

"Isn't he amazing, Kyoko?" Maya squeaked. She found her shaking and hiding her face. "So I guess you like Sho too? Aww, I didn't know you were so shy."

Kyoko didn't reply. She wanted to forget about him, and think about anything else or her heart might explode. She wished that a customer would show up so she could distract herself.

A customer did show up. They heard a horn and ran outside to help. A black car moved into the gas station. The door opened and a teenage boy with blond hair stepped out and stretched. Kyoko gasped from shock and lowered her cap to hide her face.

"Sho, we are just stopping for gas. Get back in the car." A female voice came from within.

"Come on, Shoko. I have been couped up in that thing for so long. I need some fresh air," he replied.

Kyoko picked up a wrench from a toolbox. Her first Instinct was to hurl it on Sho's face. It wouldn't kill him though. But he was standing so close and completely defenseless. She wanted to hurt him so badly, she hated letting this golden opportunity go, but she knew that it wasn't worth it.

Why did it have to be him? She wondered. It was always like that. The more she wanted to forget about him, the more she found him on every step.

Maya ran up to him to praise him and shake his hand. Kyoko filled the tank, she couldn't let him recognize her. After all that boasting about revenge, if he found her working in a place like this, he would just make fun of her. She asked the driver to pay up the cash while he was chatting with Maya. She stayed as far away from him as possible.

"... We were just watching your commercial."

"Yeah? Did you like it?" He asked politely.

"Of course... My friend here, she is also a huge fan. She loved it so much that she was about to faint."

"Really? What did you like most about it?" Sho turned towards her.

Thanks, Maya, Kyoko thought bitterly.

They were waiting for her to reply. She had to say something, so she altered her voice and said, "You looked gorgeous and the acting you did was amazing too. You are more talented than any other guy in the country. In all the dictionaries, the word amazing should have your picture next to it."

She faced the wall and gagged. She would rather feel sick to her stomach praising him than let him figure out her real identity and be totally humiliated in the process.

"Come on, Sho, we're late. It's time to leave." Shoko's voice came from inside the car.

"Bye Sho." Maya shook his hand again and grinned. The coast was almost clear for Kyoko.

"Hey, hurry over here and meet Sho, before he leaves," Maya called out to her.

I'd rather lick the bathroom floor.

"I don't want you to kick yourself later for being too shy"

Kyoko ignored her again. Why was she butting in anyway?

"Come on Kyo-" she was about to say her name. Kyoko ran to her, lightning-fast and covered her lips from her hands.

Fortunately, she stopped her from saying her name aloud. Unfortunately, the cap flew off, her face was now exposed.

She looked at Sho, he looked back at her. She picked up her cap and put it on again.

Though she knew that it was too late. He had seen her.

"We're not that late, I can say hi." Sho walked up to her, looked straight into her eyes and shook her hand.

"See, he doesn't bite." Maya giggled.

Kyoko couldn't understand what just happened. Was he pretending not to know her? It seemed as if he really didn't recognize her. But they made eye contact. Even if she had cut and dyed her hair, she still had the same face.

"Sho." She had to confirm, so she called out to him.

He was about to sit in his car. "Huh?" He turned.

"Don't you recognize me?" She took off her cap. "We've met before."

He looked at her for a moment, not a hint of recognition in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I meet a lot of fans everyday. I can't remember them all."

He got in and the car drove away.

Maya patted her shoulder, "don't take it personally."

It was hard not to. When Mrs Taisho didn't recognize her, there were a million reasons. She was wearing makeup on that day. She was dressed up differently and the light was dim as well. Besides, she had known her only for a year.

While Sho had been with her, her whole life. They were always together. Now, after using her, he completely forgot about her existence.

All that anger, she'd been bottling up inside, burst out like a volcano. Her body was shaking with pure rage. How dared he forget her?

Even if that anger didn't help her in anyway, it made one thing pretty clear, she was not going to give up on her revenge.

.

.

.

"Sho, that girl back there with the short hair, I think I do recognize her from somewhere," Shoko said scratching her chin, as the car left the gas station.

"You'd know better than I do. I meet fangirls every day. I don't pay attention." Sho replied in a bored voice, "even if I do, they all look the same, they sound the same."

He did not remember that girl from before but she was different. She knew exactly what to say to put him in a good mood. Until today, the only person he knew, who had a knack for doing that was Kyoko. He used to think that she was the only one who could do that. Turned out he was wrong.

.

.

.

"Yes, you heard right." Lory Takarada spoke into the telephone.

He was speaking to the receptionist on the matter concerning Kyoko Mogami.

"If a ginger-haired teenage spitfire comes waltzing through the door, you're to let her in." He was wearing a sly smile as he put down the receiver.

I've rolled the red carpet out for her, he thought. Now all that's left to do is to just sit back and wait.

If she did show up then things would become a lot more interested. He was really looking forward to implementing his new idea.

.

.

.

Kyoko reached her home. She lay in her bed. She was an emotional wreck.

Are you that full of yourself, Sho? It didn't even occur to you that, hey, she kinda looks like Kyoko. I don't exist for you anymore, is that it? She conjectured.

Desperation gnawed at her like a bug. She knew she had to break into LME if she wanted a shot at revenge, but there was no other way. Her mind was trapped in a maze. No matter which way she went to, it always turned out to be a dead end.

She pounded her fists on the walls in frustration. "It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair." She moaned.

"Why is it so damn hard to break into this business?"

Her brain was filled with an amalgamation of pessimistic and cynical thoughts, it had gone haywire.

"Okay, my brain has pretty much turned to mush." She mumbled pressing her temples with a pained expression. "I have to find a way to relax and figure out what to do, or my head might explode."

A knock thumped on her ajar, bedroom door. She turned to find Mr Taisho.

He came in. "Get your head back in the game. A chicken running around with its head cut off will never find any food. Getting upset won't fix it. Slow down. Focus on what's in front of you." His voice was surprisingly tender.

What's in front of me? "What's that?" Kyoko asked, confused.

"I can't give you the answer. You have to find it for yourself. But I think you already know what you need to do."

She was listening to him intently.

"If the door has been slammed on your face, try looking for an open window." His words reached her like a golden ray of hope.

He is right, there's gotta be another way to get into LME besides nailing the open auditions.

"Whenever you hit a wall, you have to find a way or make a way around it, or as in this case, break it down."

She finally understood what she had to do.

.

.

.

The next morning, Kyoko came down with a genuine smile on her face. Mr Taisho's words of wisdom gave her the push she needed to move on. Everything looked much more clear now.

"Good morning Kyoko." Mrs Taisho smiled, "you are up early?"

"Yep. I have decided to seize the day." She replied in her bubbly, cheerful voice.

"Don't come back crying or you'll be sleeping on the sidewalk." Mr Taisho said in his usual hard and serious tone.

"I won't," Kyoko assured him. She had realized that he wasn't actually what he seemed like. "Just watch, I'll be like a daruma doll.



[A daruma doll is a round, hollow, Japanese, traditional doll. Due to its round shape, it always gets back up on its own after falling.]

"Huh?" Mr Taisho raised his eyebrows.

"They can knock me down as many times as they want, but I'll keep getting up." She replied with optimistic contismile

"Atta girl." Mr Taisho smiled.