Chapter 15. The Miraculous Language Of Angels Pt. 2.

There was a lot of tension in the rehearsing hall of the Acting Academy even when the students were doing the regular routines just like any other day. The source of the tension was none other than the President, Lori Takarada. It was not every day the President was there to view their rehearsals.

Everyone was doing the best they could, even the acting coach provided the best of her capabilities. But the President was busy in chatting with his granddaughter on the side, or atleast trying to chat but Maria kept arguing with him. He was not paying any attention to anyone at all.

"Maria, sweetheart, please calm down. I know you probably think this is unfair but everyone has to audition to get into the academy. I just thought I'd kill two birds with one stone."

"But everyone else dosen't have to audition while flipping the script," she shouted in her high pitched voice. "Why are you making it so unfair for Kyoko? She wants to take classes so she could learn the basics, not be thrown into the fire. She is new to all this."

"You are right, of course," he replied while he carassed his chin using his index finger and thumb with a mischievous look on his face, the one he always had whenever he was trying out one of his new schemes. "But I'm really looking forward to knowing what she is capable of pulling off here." He chuckled.

"How can you just laugh like that?" She stood up.

"Now, be fair. Can you even tell me why you like Ms Mogami so much?"

"Because she tells the truth. Everybody else thinks that being nice and pretending everything is okay is how to treat kids but she isn't like the other grown-ups I've met. She's real even if you're little." Her eyes softened at the memory when she first met Kyoko. "The truth is, it surprised me so much to hear it spoken that my heart was on fire." She smiled. Her eyes sparkling.

"Ms Mogami is quite unique in the way she speaks to children but it seems to suit you."

"I love it. It's what I've been telling myself for all this time. I just never thought that anybody else would actually say it. There is no point in crying," her voice became sad. "No matter how hard I cry, my Daddy would never forgive what I've done to him."

"Maria, are you talking about that plane crash? You have to know that it wasn't your fault. It was an accident, nothing more. There is no way you could have done anything. You were just a little girl and you had to grow up so fast. You understood your parents had to travel all the time for work. They had been away for so long. You just wanted to spend a birthday together."

Maria didn't reply. She was sick of hearing those words. The truth was her father hated her but no one had the guts to say it to her face. All adults were filthy liars.

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Kyoko flipped the pages of the script book again and again but it was no use. Even if she somehow managed to bend the words in her favor, she was not sure she could act it out.

She had never acted before. The Choko part was just a fluke. The only reason she was able to play it was because of her experience in the japanese etiquettes. When she did need to act, Tsuruga saved her by drawing the reaction out from her. But this was a whole scene and there was no one to help her this time.

This is not how I wanted this day to go, she sighed. I want to get into the Academy, it's the only way to learn performance. But really, I'm afraid I'm going to end up looking ridiculous.

Besides, her driving force was different from everybody else. On the other hand, if she kept focusing on revenge, she will never be a real artist. Her mind was in a mess because of overthinking.

What motivates me maybe impure but it doesn't have to be this way, she thought. I can find the right reasons inside myself.

She opened the script book again. "I want to be a good actor...or give up." She closed it again and held her head in her hands.

Moko opened the door, she was there to check up on Kyoko, if she found a way.

She was utterly surprised to see that Kyoko wasn't even reading the script. Instead, she was sewing a new voodoo doll.

"Why the hell are you making more of those voodoo dolls instead of rehearsing?" She shouted.

"Well, as it turns out, Moko, I am not that great at improvising this sort of stuff. And the only way I could come up with anything good is by focusing on something I do know."

"Seriously? Then why did you open your dumb mouth about how bad it was in the first place?"

"Because of the big sister's character. As her back story, there is no way she wouldn't hate the younger sister."

"Look, every new artist thinks that they can reinvent the wheel, but this is the script. There is no changing it. You need to concentrate in staying true to the text. Our jobs as performers is to honour the words the playwright gives us."

"Is that really what it's about?" She picked up the script book and flipped the pages again and suddenly her bored expression changed into a surprised one.

"That's it. I got it!" If this works out, not only will I get into the academy but I'll also help Maria at the same time.

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Kyoko stepped out into the hall, followed by Moko. She said, "we are ready!"

The acting coach replied, "alright ." She turned to her students "we'll stop right here for today. Everyone who's in scene eighteen, get to your positions."

The students moved around accordingly. All of them were glaring at Kyoko. Their hate obvious.

"Please start the seen exactly as it is written in the script. As characters work their way through their different intentions, you may have to shift the scene construction a bit." The coach added.

"We are all well trained to improvise." One of the students said. "This will be easy."

"We've been training for years and we worked hard to get where we are today. Can't really say that about everyone, can we?" The girl who played the eldest sister said, narrowing her eyes at Kyoko.

"Okay. How about we all give it a shot?" The coach said.

Those two girls moved away and as they passed beside Kyoko, both of them whispered in her ear.

"Looks like your dreams came true. Must be easy if you have the money to buy them."

"You are so lucky to have parents that love you enough to buy your future."

As Kyoko heard them, she felt something rise up within her. It was anger and hate and mostly hurt. She hated it when people judged her without knowing anything about her. Since she joined this agency, that's all everyone did. First Tsuruga, then Ruriko and now them. But their words hurt her the most. They might have worked hard to get here but so did she. It was not her fault that she was lucky enough to do that in a month what took them years. Besides, unlike what they thought, she didn't even have parents. She never knew her father and her mother abandoned her. After that, she was used like a doormat all her life and now this. People were accusing her for buying her dreams. As if! It was so ridiculous that it was almost funny.

The President noticed the sudden change in Kyoko. She seems different somehow, he thought. It's been said that the greatest actors are able to alter their very presence to fit their characters. How is she doing it without any experience?

Little did he know that the hurt on Kyoko's face wasn't part of her performance, it was real. It came from sixteen years of real experience.

"And go," the coach clapped her hands and the scene began.

The twelve year old little sister, named Angel was talking to her elder sister.

"Angel, oh you poor girl. You've been blaming yourself for what happened to mom for far too long." The eldest sister said as she took her hand. "I know what you think but you'll always be our treasure, I swear it. Nobody could hate you."

"That's not true," Angel said. Her young face was clearly depicting all the hurt and sadness she felt. "You are wrong. Sure, people are always nice to my face but behind my back, the only thing they say is that I killed my mother. "

The voices In Maria's head started rising. She was just like Angel. This play was almost like it was based on her own story. But she hated it because, in the end, unlike her story, everything turned out to be okay. The play lied just like all the adults she knew. She also heard them all say the same thing behind her back. Her mother's best friend and manager, her fans, even her own father. That she killed her mother.

"Stop trying to tell me it's okay. It's not okay." Angel sobbed. "My mom is dead and it's all because of me. I know that daddy thinks it's all my fault. He won't even look at me."

"You don't know what you are saying," her sister replied in a consoling voice.

It's almost time for Flora's entrance, Moko thought. The stage directions say that she should be sniffling, trying to hide that she is crying as she comes on stage. So how are you gonna play this, Kyoko?

"There's no way a parent could hate their own child. I promise, everyone in the family truly loves you." The eldest sister said.

Kyoko finally entered the scene. She was covering her mouth from her hands and her shoulders were shaking like she was crying. A stifled scoff escaped from her lips as she snorted. Everyone was shocked to see that she was actually laughing.

"What is so funny at this moment, Flora?" The elder sister asked in confusion.

"All this. I just heard the same thing over and over again from so long now it's ridiculous," Kyoko's character, Flora said in a quiet, grudging and patronizing tone.

The line Kyoko used was from the script. Not a word was changed, but the way she delivered it, hate was oozing out from her eyes. The hurt she felt because of those taunts only refined her performance further.



"Please forgive me." She continued the line sarcastically.

I don't believe it, Moko thought. She is still going to read it as written?

"Such power!" Even the President felt her hate. When he looked into her eyes, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

"I knew it!" Maria exclaimed happily. "Even using the exact same lines, I knew she could make them sound totally different. She is the most perfect big sister I could have asked for. I've been waiting for someone like her my entire life."

President Takarada raised his eyebrows at the over enthusiastic Maria, "uh...last time I checked Maria, your entire life has only been about seven years," he stated the obvious in a teasing tone.

"I know you are a smart girl, Angel." Kyoko slowly stepped closer to her and Angel stepped back. Her voice dangerously quiet. "You have known the answer all along. There is nothing any of us could say to convince you it's not true. Nothing at all."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Angel's voice came out frantic as she took another step back instinctively.

"You must understand, it is very possible for a parent to truly hate their own child " Kyoko changed the word impossible to very possible.

"She changed the line." One of the students said aloud in case anyone missed it.

What the heck is she trying to pull? Moko thought.

In the next line, Angel was supposed to say, 'the truth is that father hates me.'

But before she got the chance to say it, Kyoko stole her line. "The truth is, that father hates you." She smiled cruelly.

When Maria heard that, her heart suddenly felt a lot heavier. She used to think that she was prepared to hear it. She already knew the truth then why did it hurt so much? Her vision became blurry and her cheeks wet with big drops of tears. She didn't even realise when she started crying.

"She can do anything. Even make me cry." Maria said to her grandfather through the tears when she saw him watching her with a concerned look.

"Well, hot damn."

"And it's not because of the stupid play or the stupid words, its only because Kyoko is such an amazing actress." She shouted.

"You don't have to make excuses if the play makes you sad." Takarada patted her shoulder. "It's alright to feel that way."

"It's not an excuse." She jerked his hand away as the tears came out non stop. "It's the truth!" It has to be, because I don't let people's words hurt me anymore. Not even when I know they're right.

Meanwhile, Angel stood still for a while. The lines she was supposed to say were just said by her sister Flora. She had no other choice but to use Flora's lines in return. 'Thats what you believe? Daddy hates you?'

"That's what you believe? Daddy hates me?" She said.

Kyoko went on with Angel's lines, "Angel, don't be blind, you can see that written on his face every time he looks at you."

"That's not true!" Angel shouted. Again, Flora's line.

"It's not? Why is that?"

"Because... I know he does. He always carries that picture of us with him everywhere."

"You don't think he got a picture of me and the others too? Fathers have to carry around pictures of their families."

"She switched the lines," the coach was amazed. "Impressive."

Everyone else stood there with dumb shocked looks. Kyoko proved her point and without changing the lines from the script. Nobody saw it coming.

"Even if that's true, he always comes to my piano recitals." Angel said. "Why would he come if he didn't love me?"

"He doesn't want to look bad in front of the other parents. If he didn't show up for obligations, they'd know something was wrong."

Maria shivered. Each word she heard from Kyoko's mouth, added to the weight of her heart and tightened her chest. She knew it was true. She'd always known that. Then why? Why did it hurt so badly when she heard it from someone else?

"He always knew exactly what to get me for my birthday." Angel's voice was filled with desperation.

"I am the one who buys your presents. He doesn't know the first thing about you. You may as well not even exist to him."

Maria could relate to every single thing. All of it had happened to her as well. Just like Angel, she was filled with desperation too. She did not want to hear those things. She wanted to hear that her father love her.

"He sent me letters every single week. What about that?"

"Letters?" Kyoko scoffed. "Don't you mean the same letter over and over again like he's got absolutely nothing to say to you?"

Maria remembered all those emails her father had sent her. They also had the same questions. Fresh tears flowed out of her eyes and her chest was so heavy that she found it difficult to breathe. "That's not true!" She couldn't take it anymore so she snapped at Kyoko before Angel got the chance to say her line.

Now all of them were looking at her. "He may start a lot of emails the same way...and ask the same thing...maybe the same every time...but I don't know... I just... I don't care!" She babbled with hysterical sobbing. "He writes to me every single morning and night and he hasn't missed one ever."

Bingo, Kyoko thought. Reverse psychology. It worked just like I wanted.

Kyoko knew that everyone said the same things to Maria, that her father loved her. It was no use to say it again. So she thought that it might be worth a shot to try reversed psychology. Perhaps, that might trigger Maria to realize that her father loved her. And it worked like a charm.

She turned to Maria, still in character like when she was talking to Angel.

She said, "Who cares? All he does is press send on an email twice a day. It takes almost no effort at all for him to pretend that he is being a good father."

Maria thought that if she would jump in, then they would stop the play and she wouldn't have to hear those awful things anymore. But Kyoko went on so she shouted angrily, "you can't talk about my daddy that way."

"Maria," the President stood up. "That's the way you talk about your father all the time."

She ignored her grandfather and kept shouting at Kyoko who in turn kept replying with those cold words.

"Do you know how late it gets when he sends me those emails? Like one in the morning. After working all day, he finds the energy to get up and write to me."

"How do you know it's even him sending them? He could have an assistant do them."

"To send an email from his account, they'd need his password and daddy wouldn't give that away."

"How can you be sure? Maybe he did."

"I know he didn't!"

"Oh yeah? Tell me how. How can you claim to know a single thing about our father? Kyoko was back on the script.

Maria didn't reply because she had no answer to that question.

"You couldn't possibly know because you never bother to talk to him."

The words cut through Maria like a knife. She thought she wanted to hear the truth. But the truth was way too bitter for her to handle. She didn't even know her father because she refused to talk to him. She kept on building a false image of him in her mind. He sent the same questions in every email because she never answered him. I know there was a wall between daddy and me, but I didn't know that I was the one who built it.