Chapter 14. The Miraculous Language Of Angels. Pt. 1.

Kyoko was humming cheerfully because it was such a good day. She was carrying some files with Kanae to another block of the building. As she walked ahead, she hummed and danced like a crazy person. Not only she had a talented partner now but she was not alone at Love Me anymore.

I will be spared almost half the ridicule now, she thought happily. "Best day ever!" She sang like an opera singer stressing the 'ever'. She also did a pirouette as she sang.

Kanae followed her with another bundle of files in a similar pink jumpsuit. They looked the same but their moods were the opposite as Kanae was having the worst day. She wore her hair in a bun with a bandana wrapped around her head. She also had sunglasses covering her eyes so that no one could see her face.

Both of the girls were already standing out because of the jumpsuits, on top of that Kyoko's dancing didn't help. Kanae heard two girls mocking them. She went over to them and said, "hey, get it straight. I am not a Love Me member. It's just a temporary thing-"

"Oh, don't be so modest," Kyoko interrupted flashing her teeth. She faced the other two girls and said cheerfully, "let me introduce my new partner in pink."

"If you're all going to wear pink, we should give you numbers," one of the girls said. They both chuckled and left.

"No! Wait," Kanae stood there helpless and totally humiliated.

"It's no use, Moko. The essence of who you used to be has now been completely and totally replaced by the Love Me logo." Kyoko said in mock sincerity as pointed at the logo on her chest. "Nothing could be heard over this pink jumpsuit."

Kanae looked like she was about to cry.

"Just try and breathe. Think of this as a moment of pure emotional turmoil that you can draw from for some future performance," Kyoko raised her first and continued encouragingly, "we can do this. We're special. Kay, Moko?"

"Moko?" Kanae frowned. "Please tell me you're aware that it's not my name. What's up with that?"

"You don't like it? I can find another nickname."

"Not cool. We are not going to be besties with nicknames because I am not staying." She started whispering to herself, "I just have to somehow join the acting classes, then I'll leave this mortifying-" But she was interrupted as someone approached them.

"Kyoko!" It was Swara. "I've been looking for you. I've got a job." He turned to Kanae, "Ms Kotonami, you should come too."

They went to the cafeteria and sat down on a table. Swara told them that the job was over at the Acting Academy

"What exactly do you need us to do?" Kyoko asked him.

"There is this young girl. She's been barging into classes everyday, interrupting rehearsals, and we can't have people doing that. Today, she went a little crazy and a few students got hurt. The President wanted to address this problem personally but there are a couple of complications. Most notably, we can't seem to find any trace of her."

"Um, Okay ," Kyoko replied. "What's the other complication?"

"She is the President's granddaughter." Swara took out a picture from his pocket and passed it to Kyoko.

It was a picture of an adorable, little girl with brown, curly hair and chubby cheeks. Both the girls looked at it and gave a little startled shriek. "It's her!" They said together.

"Do you know her?"

"No, we don't." Both of them shook their heads hurriedly.

"We just...um..." Kyoko tried to come up with an excuse.

"...saw her during the auditions." Moko finished her sentence.

"Yeah." Kyoko confirmed.

They both were thinking about how much trouble they would get if she complained about what they did to her, to the President.

Kanae's back chilled as she remembered how she had screamed at her and pushed her. While Kyoko gulped at the memory of how she had brutally clawed out her cheeks when she was crying, instead of consoling her.

They glanced at each other uneasily.

"It's the President," Swara continued. "He thinks you can help this girl. I am not so sure. Maria might look like an angel but she's a little devil. She is also very important to him, so you have to be really careful with her."

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Kyoko closed the script book of the play called, 'The Miraculous Language of Angels'. She was seated across President Takarada in his office in the Acting Academy building. Compared to his office in the main building, it was a lot smaller but just as lavish, with sky blue wallpapers on the wall and a sofa set in the middle.

This time the President was dressed up like an Arab in a kaftaan, a long white tunic covering his entire body below his neck. A white ghutra was covering his skull except for his face. It was stuck with the help of an agal, a black cord, secured around his forehead like a tiara. He looked Muslim in that getup.

Kyoko was not weirded out anymore. She was slowly getting used to this...habit of the President.

She put the script book back on the table and asked, "you think this is the reason she's been misbehaving? A play?" They were talking about Maria, the President's seven-year-old granddaughter. "I am not sure I understand how the two can be connected."

"Well, I can't think of anything else," he replied. "Ever since the accident, she hasn't been able to forgive herself. It all just keeps getting worse."

"The accident?"

"It happened two years ago. Maria's mother, she used to be a hollywood actress. My son was also trying to make it into hollywood because of which they spent a lot of time overseas while Mariya used to stay here.

On Maria's fifth birthday party, her mother cancelled her visit to home because of some emergency. But Maria didn't accept that. She threw a fit. She refused to talk to anyone and said that she wouldn't eat anything until her mother shows up. Because of that, her mother booked a last minute flight but...the plane crashed on its way"

Kyoko gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

The President continued, the sadness obvious on his face, "ever since then, Maria had been blaming herself for her mother's death. She also thinks that her father, my son, also blames her. So you get it? The play, I think it's hitting a little too close to home."

"That's hard. Someone who's been through that much trauma might be impossible to reach."

"I know but after what you did to Ruriko, I thought it might be worth a shot."

"What I did to Ruriko? I have no clue what you are talking about, sir." Kyoko asked with an oblivious look.

She didn't know anything about the whole setup with Ruriko. The President almost spilled the truth.

"It's not important." He closed the subject before Kyoko figured the-Ruriko-plan on her own and came back to the issue in hand. "Maria doesn't seem to trust adults in her life. She won't listen to anything we tell her. Not even Ren and he is the one she's been closest to since the accident. Moreso than her own grandfather. I was hoping that you might be able to help her."

"Me?"

"She likes you," the President went on. "It's been a long time since she has liked anything. She just wouldn't stop talking about you. She saw you at the auditions, since then, Swara said that Maria wanted to know anything and everything they could tell her about Ms Mogami. She hasn't acted this way since the first time she met Ren."

He thinks that I can do something that even Ren can't. She remember those icy cold eyes penetrating her own. It was that very moment when she realised just how far ahead Ren Tsuruga actually was. He wasn't at the top for nothing. To reach at his level, it was almost an unattainable goal. To surpass him was just a dream.

But when she heard the President say that she could do something that even Ren can't, it was like music to her ears. The fact that she could surpass him even if not at acting, left her thrilled. She knew that she had to atleast try.

Wait it's the perfect opportunity! Today is my lucky day.

"Mr President."

"Yes?"

"Well, if I am able to help with Maria, if I can figure out a way to help her let go of the hurt she's held on to, for so long, I have a small favor I'd like to ask you."

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Meanwhile, outside the office, Moko had been waiting for Kyoko when she heard a few students making fun of her and the Love Me Division. Since Kyoko wasn't there to interrupt, she decided to make it clear that it was just a temporary thing for her and that she was way too talented to be a part of this sucky division.

She challenged those girls that she could act out a scene better than them from the play they were practicing.

In the end, she surprised everyone as she played it a hundred times better than them. With the help of her photographic memory and her natural talent for acting, she outshined them all.

"Listen," she said to them. "I'm not in the Love Me Division. It's just awful. It's where they send people with no talent to rot..."

The office door opened, the President and Kyoko stepped out in the hall. "So, you want an installment plan for your tuition? Are you sure that's all?" He asked Kyoko.

"Yes," she replied.

On the other side of the hall, Moko was saying, "...but I am a different breed. And now that you've had the chance to witness my greatness..."

The President and Kyoko walked ahead, "But you know, you are already a part of the Love Me Division. I think if you are able to deal with Mariya, I could offer something more..."

"... I hereby declare..." Moko said.

The President was now close enough for Moko to hear him. "How about this? No tuition. You get a free ride." He smiled.

"...That I am a proud Love Me girl." Moko finished her sentence in a contradictory way and ran lightning fast to join Kyoko. She put her arms around her shoulders like they were best friends and replied to the President on her behalf, "yes sir. Not to worry. The Love Me Division will take care of everything with your granddaughter."

"You're Kotonami, right? I wasn't aware that you joined the Love Me Division." The President said.

"Moko, I thought you really hated being a part of our team," Kyoko whispered to her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, haha." Moko just squeezed Kyoko's shoulder and chuckled.

"Well, I guess it's about time we get started with Maria" Kyoko said aloud.

"If you can. We've been looking for her all day but we still haven't been able to find her. Nobody saw her leave so she should be still in the building."

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Kyoko sat down in the middle of hall with Moko. She took out a bunch of voodoo dolls and said, "so, which one looks good?"

"Are you seriously gonna play with dolls right now? We're supposed to be looking for Maria," Moko reminded her.

One of the dolls caught her eye. It was of a man in a long white coat. "This one kinda looks like Ren Tsuruga," she said.

Kyoko's face lit up. "That's right. How were you able to get that so quickly?"

"He wore this outfit to the opera once." Moko replied. "Everyone was talking about it. They were saying that he was the sexiest man alive and people were wearing long white coats for months afterwards." She examined the doll carefully and was stunned to see how perfect it was. The tie, the pocket watch and even the handkerchief on his breast pocket, it was all there.

"The President said she likes Ren a lot," Kyoko explained. "So I figured that maybe we could use these dolls I made to lure her out of hiding. So which one should we try?"

Moko didn't reply. She was thinking why Kyoko had made Ren Tsuruga dolls when she was a fan of Sho Fuwa. She checked the other dolls and found a blond one.

It was of Sho Fuwa. She even recognised the outfit. It was the same from that music video which came out of nowhere and soon the whole country was listening to it. It caused quite a stir.

I can't even imagine how many hours it took her to make all of these. Oh my god, she is crazy, Moko thought. She shifted away from Kyoko uncomfortably. She is a true fan and fan is short for fanatic and fanatic is awfully close to Crazy Town! What if this whole thing is a way for her to get close to them? What if she is a stalker?

"This one should work," Kyoko finally picked the doll with the white coat. Now all they had to think about was how to use it as bait.

Turned out they didn't need to. Because they saw a kid in a mascot suit approaching them. "You're Ren tsuruga fan too?" The kid said excitedly and took off her giant mask revealing her chubby cheeks and adorable face. Her curly, brown hair fell behind her back like a waterfall. It was Maria. She picked up a Ren doll and hugged it with a blushing smile.

And the next moment Kyoko and Maria were gossiping like they were best friends. They had a lot of common interests. Moko didn't understand a single thing from their nerdy jibber jabber.

Maria asked Kyoko a million questions like how she made those dolls and what kind of stories she liked. When she found out that Kyoko also loved fairy tales they forgot about everything else and started fangirling over them.

All the students from the Acting classes was surprised to see Maria smiling and laughing because she was always rude to them.

Because of that, they figured that Kyoko must have joined the agency using personal connections, unlike them, who are working hard every day to learn acting so that LME would sign them. That developed an instant disliking among them for Kyoko.

"You're nice." Maria said to Kyoko. "You are exactly how I thought you'd be. May I please have one of your dolls? She said with puppy dog eyes.

Before Kyoko could reply, the President's voice came out in an ominous tone, "Maria!"

They didn't even notice him until he called out. "You've been causing a lot of trouble. Did you say you're sorry?" He was trying really hard to sound angry but his tone kept getting soft.

"No," Maria looked straight into his eyes and said with a proud tone. "Confession is weakness of character."

"Maria, the whole reason you were hiding was because you knew what you did was wrong. It's okay to feel bad when you hurt people."

"Grandpa, stop it," She snapped back. "The play is awful." She hated it so much that she had been setting traps and snares in the hall so they couldn't rehearse it. That was when a couple of students got hurt accidently. "You can't be serious about wanting to put it on. It's beneath me! LME will never live it down."

"Maria-"

"You know I am right. In the play, the little sister's mother died because of her. She killed her own mother. There is no way anyone would still love her."

At that moment, anyone would have thought that Maria was talking about some fictional characters but what they couldn't have known, were the voices inside her head. She had been hearing them since the day of the accident.

They were the voices of the adults who lied to her face. They said that it wasn't her fault but she also heard them talk behind her back. Oh, she heard Every Single One of Them blame her. Even her own father. She could still hear those awful words hammering her brain.

'I always told her having children would be a mistake.'

'They will never be another like her. She was such a treasure.'

"Why would the older sister defend her when everything was her fault?"

'She never even would have been on that plane if it wasn't for the kid. I heard she begged her to fly home between jobs.'

"And the father, there is no way he would just change like that and forgive his daughter in the end."

'How could you blame your own daughter?'

'If it wasn't for her, my Rina would still be alive.'

"The whole idea, it's just ridiculous!"

The students stood there with grim expressions on their faces. They had been rehearsing this play for almost six months. To listen to someone insult it like that, it aggravated them.

The President wasn't thinking about the play. He knew that Maria was actually comparing her own story with the it. He was worried.

The only one who did understand Maria was Kyoko. When she read the play, she found out that the whole point, the play was trying to make was that parents could never truly hate their own children no matter the circumstances. But, in her experience, the play was actually deceiving. She remembered her mother looking at her coldly, slapping her for literally no reason, walking away, leaving her behind and never looking back. It was very much possible for parents to hate their own children. No one knew it better than Kyoko. The play was sugar coating the harsh reality of this world. Maria was right, she realised.

When Maria was done speaking, Kyoko started clapping, only to add to the bitterness of the students. All eyes turned to her.

"Really? You actually feel the same way I do?" Maria's voice filled with joy that someone finally understood her.

"I read the Miraculous Language of Angels and I wasn't moved either. The older sister part, so unrealistic. Her mother is dead and she is screaming at her father for like two pages and not one bad word against her little sister? There's no way she wouldn't be taking it out on everybody."

"Yes exactly," said Maria.

"Hold on a second," the girl who played the older sister spat. She had heard enough. She wasn't going to let them insult her character to her face. "Since you're so freaking smart, why don't you show us how you would play that?" She said resentfully to Kyoko. "The two of you are supposedly good enough to be in LME. So let's see you play Flora exactly how you described her, in which she hates her sister, but..." She gave an evil smile, "without changing the lines of the script. You can improvise a little but you cannot change the whole sentences."

There is no way anyone could do that, Kyoko thought.

Before she could refuse, "well, Ms Mogami," the President spoke up. "You do want to join the Acting Academy. Everybody has to audition. If you can pull this off then you get a full scholarship."

Damn, Kyoko thought. What do I do?