Chapter 9. Happy Scraping Mogami!

Later that day, Kyoko was called by President Takarada, to talk about the Love Me Division. Swara walked her to his elegant office which looked like a grand hall. One of the walls was entirely made up of glass, which gave a perfect view of the main road. The other walls were covered with beautiful patterned wallpapers. The room had a lot of decorative items, like an ivory statue of a girl in the corner, artificial plants, and framed sceneries hung on the wall. Kyoko's wonderstruck eyes drifted to every corner of the room, she felt like she was in a castle.

In the middle of the room, was a small wooden table and two chairs facing each other beside the glass wall. On one of those chairs, President Takarada was seated. He was dressed up in an even more weird costume than the last time. He was wearing a coat in this heat, but that didn't bother him since the room had air-conditioning. It even had a sword attached to his belt. Kyoko wondered if it was real.

"Welcome," the President smiled. "Ms Mogami."

Kyoko went in. He signaled her to sit, so she sat down on the chair facing him while Swara stood beside her.

A kettle and two cups were kept on the table. Takarada poured tea for both of them.

"As of today," he began. "You are the first member of our Love Me Division. Physically, mentally and emotionally, it's going to be difficult. However, if you don't grow your capacity to respect others and put their needs before your own, I warn you, this agency won't let you debut. So tell me, are you ready to shoulder the jobs of earning love from others?"

"Nope," Kyoko answered honestly, in a bored voice. "Not at all."

Wrong answer, Swara flinched. Why are you so brutally honest? You are supposed to just lie and say yes.

"But I- I was that kind of person until recently." She continued as she remembered how she had spent her life doing everything for Sho and the Fuwas, and not caring about herself at all. "You see, I had no self-esteem whatsoever, Basically I was just someone's doormat. I gave so much time and energy to make that person's life perfect that I totally lost who I was." She looked down. Her eyes had that same mature and sad expression which she had after the auditions.

"But still," she looked up, more determinedly now. "I know it's not too late and I know that I can recover from the damage."

She makes it sound like she was ill or injured, Swara thought.

"Please, I am begging you, I lost the most important thing in life and I have to get it back. All I want is a chance."

Takarada smiled. He took out a baby pink plastic box, the size of his first, and gave it to Kyoko. She opened that and found four tiny pink stamps.

"Oh, this is the same stamp that Tsuruga and Kamio were carrying." She took one out and examined it closely

"Right you are. I gave them each samples. In order to collect your stamps, you will need this adorable diary." He smirked as he took out a little heart-shaped diary with a neon pink cover and a circular logo on it which had the words 'Love Me' written on it.



Kyoko gulped. It was so pink and girly, and heart-shaped and so PINK... She hated it immediately. She wished that they wouldn't ask her to wear a similar badge or anything.

"Please don't make me wear that thing," she muttered under her breath in a low voice.

"For a while, you'll be working behind the scenes. But soon enough, you will likely get a chance to be on TV."

"Wait, are you kidding me?" She exclaimed. That made her forget about the logo.

"I can assure you I am not. Now go ahead. Dazzle me." Takarada smiled.

She got up and took the diary from him with a stupid grin, "you got it, I won't let you down." She could almost hear Sho beg for her mercy.

When Kyoko and Swara left, Takarada repeated her words aloud, "I lost the most important thing in life and I have to get it back." That hot-headed Pixie certainly has an intense way with words. That said, how did she manage to lose the most important thing in life in the first place. It vexes me, I admit.

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Kyoko stood at the threshold of a brown door that had a similar big round logo on it. The words Love Me were written on it. The 'L' was made using a hand sign, while the 'o' was heart-shaped.

Kyoko cringed at that awful sign and hesitated to go in. She knew that it was pointless, there was no way she could ever love, truly love someone with all her heart again.

But then again, what she was here for wasn't love, it was revenge. If she needed to pretend to love for that, then that's what she will do.

She shook her head briskly and said aloud, "you can't chicken out now, Kyoko." She took a deep breath and pushed open the door. She found her self in a large tidy, room, tiled and brightly lit. It had the smell of new paint and furniture. There were a few benches in the middle and a row of lockers leaning on the wall.

"It might turn out to be a good way to kill the time before I get popular enough to get my revenge," she lied to herself. "And I won't be mortified to be in this division as long as I don't have to say," she altered her voice into her old shrill one, "please, love me." She chuckled. "I got this."

She picked a locker and opened it, then gasped in a horrid expression.

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Swara was on his way to his office when he ran into Kyoko on the way. She was wearing the official Love Me uniform. The poor girl was almost in tears as she called out to him.

"Mr Swara. Do I have to? Do I really have to wear this horrible uniform?"

She was in a hot pink jumpsuit with the Love Me logo covering almost all of her upper back and a similar smaller logo on the front, on the corner of her chest. She looked like a clown.

"You have to wear it as a member of the Love Me Division." He tried not to flinch or frown.

"But I look like a janitor in a bubblegum factory." She cried out. She wrapped her arms around her and shivered.

"Oh, come on. Don't be so dramatic. I think that it looks great." He lied while trying to maintain a straight face. "Look how gorgeous the front is and the back is just amazing. You should be proud to wear the Love Me logo. It is a fantastic uniform."

"Nice try," Kyoko said pensively. "But the look on your face says otherwise."

The people passing through stopped to stare at her. She overheard two women laughing at her, behind her back.

She curled up in a ball on the floor and whispered, "this is so humiliating. Why is the President acting as if the Love Me Division is a toy for him to play with?"

"Um... New projects are very... Entertaining for him." Swara tried to console her.

"Is that all I am?" She looked up, her face on verge of tears. "His personal guinea pig?"

"Hey, Swara." Before Swara could answer a tall man in a ponytail approached them.

Kyoko recognized him. He was the head of the music division and also one of the judges during the auditions. She got up and stood properly.

"Nakizawa." Swara nodded at him.

Nakizawa looked at Kyoko, "I see the Love Me Division is in full swing."

"That's right," said Swara.

Kyoko humphed and look the other way, her face turning red.

"Hey, I hate to ask this but can I borrow you for a second?"

"Huh?" She turned back.

"It's your first assignment, good luck." Swara smiled at her.

They followed Nakizawa into the same waiting room, where Kyoko along with the other contestants were kept before the auditions.

They stopped just outside the door in the messy hallway. It was way cleaner when Kyoko first came here, but now there were more than a dozen chewing gums stuck here and there. She wondered why he bought her here.

And the next thing she knew, she was scraping the dirty, hard gum off the floor.

"Unfortunately, a band which blew an audition spit gum all over the place out of spite. But this girl is being a huge help." Nakizawa said.

"Indeed, no matter the task, the Love Me Division will undertake it with a smile." Swara boasted.

What are you flaunting about? You are not the one cleaning this mess here, Kyoko thought. She glared at him.

"Okay then. Happy scraping, Mogami!" Swara waved at her and left with Nakizawa.

Kyoko put more effort into her work to relieve some of her anger. When she said that she would do anything, she didn't think that they would literally take her word for it.

Working so hard to clean up someone else's mess for free reminded her so much of her past self that she couldn't help but be mad. She thought that those days were behind her now, but there she was, doing the same thing all over again.

The passers-by, who were leaving mocking and pitiful comments made her sick.

But nothing makes me sicker than Sho Fuwa, she thought. Her hatred and anger provided her with enough motivation to do her job and to not run away.

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It was going to be his first live talk-show interview. He rubbed his sweaty palms nervously. It's not like I am nervous, Sho lied to himself. It's just so hot.

He was at a different agency, he was here as a guest star for a talk show. His manager, Shoko had gone to park the car. He looked around the large reception area. The receptionist was giving him seductive smiles. Women passing through were checking him out with insatiable eyes but those things didn't bother him. In fact, they made him feel superior.

"Oh, wow. He's gorgeous!" He heard a girl behind her.

"No way, it's really is him. Oh my gosh!" Another girl replied.

Calm down, ladies. Calm down. He turned back to wave at them but was surprised to see that they weren't even looking at him.

He followed their gaze to the interview room and was absolutely shocked to see that jerkface, Ren Tsuruga coming out. What is he doing here? This is not his agency.

They also asked him for the interview? But that was not necessarily a bad thing. He finally got the chance to face him. He knew exactly what to say. He had been practicing it for years now.

Your time is up. From now on, I am number one. Deal with it, Tsuruga. After all, I am younger, much better looking, and way more talented than you.

But when he repeated those words in his mind, he felt childish and really nervous. He started sweating like crazy. Why am I being so nervous? Stop. I am more popular now. I'll be fine cause I rock!

Ren's footsteps got louder as he walked closer. When he was about to pass from just in front of Sho, without even noticing him, Sho crossed his legs and deliberately bumped his leg on the ashtray stand beside him, which fell down and spilled the ash all over the place.

Ren Tsuruga stopped and finally noticed Sho. Everyone passing through stopped as well and gathered around to watch the show.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I just have really long legs. I would have been a little more careful if I had even noticed you passing by," Sho said as he glared at Ren through his brows.

"Sho is picking a fight with Ren, this is so exciting!" Someone muttered from the crowd.

"No worries, man." Ren just smiled. "Happens to me all the time. I am always accidentally bumping into things and knocking them down because I am so tall." He used his leg to kick the ashtray stand back up. Sho caught it and shifted it back to where it was.

"But you did make a mess." Ren walked over the spilled ash. "Pick up the trash, would ya?" He said and left.

Sho blushed, embarrassed. No way, I set a perfect trap and he didn't take the bait. Damn him.

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"Sho Fuwa, he is the first one in the biz to try to pick a fight so directly with you," Yashiro said to Ren as they went to the garage to take out the car. "I am surprised you let him off so easily."

"Why not? After all, I'm a nice guy."

"If I am not mistaken, before you joined the agency, you were a bit of a tough guy yourself, weren't you?"

"Be that as it may, it's all behind me now." Ren's reply didn't surprise Yashiro. Both of them were pretty close to each other, but Ren always had a wall around him, especially when his past came up. Whenever his past was mentioned, he would always put up his guard.

"Fine, we'll table subject for now."

Ren wasn't listening as he was thinking about something else. That blonde guy, Sho Fuwa. Where have I heard that name?

What I want is revenge on Sho Fuwa.

Then he remembered. So she meant him, He wondered what he did to her.

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Kyoko sighed with relief. She was finally done. The floor was as good as new. Infact better than new, as it was sparkling. Using the wax was a good idea, it's so shiny that I can even see my reflection.

Whenever she remembered Sho, she would get so restless, but today, she used her hate to complete her first Love Me job. How ironic!

A woman was walking briskly with a bunch of files. The moment she stepped on the waxed floor, she slipped and fell down with a thud. Another man was passing through. He slipped down as well... And the list went on.

"Uh, oh!"

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Swara pressed a stamp on the heart-shaped diary. "10 points."

"What? No fair. Only 10 points for all that hard work?" Kyoko snapped.

"You kinda seem to be missing the point of the Love Me Division's entire philosophy." Swara frowned. "You are supposed to earn people's love, through helping them, but what you did, only did harm. Do you have any idea how many people got hurt? You should be grateful that I gave you 10 points instead of nothing."

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Kyoko sat on the stairs, sulking. She looked at her stamp diary. She was debating herself whether she should be mad for getting only 10 points or grateful for getting at least 10 points.

Her body was sore from exhaustion, but all she got was 10 measly points. She was definitely mad.

Besides, if those people were paying more attention and walking instead of running they wouldn't have fallen down. It was their fault, not hers.

The day was almost over and she had only 10 points. No, not even that, because Ms Kamio already took 10 points from her, which meant that she was still on zero.

Wait, it could be a new start. I don't have to be so negative, I am on zero which means that I get to start fresh again.

"Alright!" She exclaimed. I'm not going to give up, she thought optimistically.

Something hit her at the back of her head. She turned back to find out that it was a knee, which belonged to a very beautiful girl with straight brown hair and delicate skin.

"Oh, I am sorry, I didn't see you," she said to Kyoko, "but it's kind of your fault, people are normally moving on the staircase, not sitting."

Kyoko recognized her immediately, she had seen her on TV and a lot of magazines. "You are Ruriko Matsunai!"

"Well, at least we can confirm that you don't live under a rock." She gave a sly smile. "I am the last Japanese Idol that LME has given to the world." She introduced herself in a proud tone.

Calling yourself the last Japanese Idol is kinda sad, thought Kyoko. Reminds me of an animal about to go extinct. I bet the President came up with that one.

"The President sure loves catchy titles." Ruriko put Kyoko's thoughts into words. "For example, the Love Me Division. The Love Me Division is supposed to help people and impress them, right? Well, I could really use some help, how about it? You game?"