20. A Growing Conflict

Director: Good. Just like that, keep that expression....
*Snap snap*
(Ren's magazine shoot is going strong.)
Ren: ........
Director: Can't you smile for once?
Director: Sometimes you do an angry face or a frown....but it's hard to get a happy face from you.
Cameraman: Does it matter?
Cameraman: Lately, he's got a bad boy image anyway.
Cameraman: If he smiles, it'll be weird.
Director: Well....that's why we called him for this shoot anyway.
Manager: .........
(I know Ren's image isn't any good right now, but hearing them say it out loud is a little....)
(Moments later....)
(Finally the shoot finished and Ren changed his clothes and came to the lobby.)
Manager: Nice work today.
Arisugawa Michiru: ...........
Manager: Huh?
(On the other side of the lobby was Arusugawa Michiru.)
Arisugawa Michiru: Hello.
(Arisugawa Michiru was smiling as he walked towards us.)
Ren: ..........
(Ren ignored him and just walked past him.)
Arisugawa Michiru: .....hasn't changed a bit....
Ren: Then, what were you expecting?
(All of a sudden Ren turned and asked.)
Arisugawa Michiru: ..........
Ren: After being cornered for a while, now that it looks like I'm the one who's cornered, you're happy aren't you?
Ren: You think my plans backfired on me, don't you ?
Ren: So you came to see me suffer?
Manager: Ren........
Arisugawa Michiru: ..........
Ren: Happy?
Ren: Enjoy this as much as you can.
Ren: Everything you think you snatched will go right back to you soon.
Arisugawa Michiru: Ren.....
Ren: You think you can have it all?
Ren: You are totally misunderstanding something.
Arisugawa Michiru: Misunderstanding....?
Ren: I'm talking about those things you want so much that you'd do anything for.
Ren: Those things, they were all rightfully mine since I was born.
Arisugawa Michiru: How about me.....!!!
Ren: You and I were different since birth.
Arisugawa Michiru: .............
Manager: Ren!!!
Manager: No matter how angry you are, you shouldn't......!!
Manager: Michiru didn't wish to be born like that!
Arisugawa Michiru: That's okay Manager. I'm used to hearing all this.
Arisugawa Michiru: I'm totally used to this....so it's okay.
Manager: Michiru.......
Arisugawa Michiru: Ren....it's just....that....
Ren: ..........
Arisugawa Michiru: I just wished you'd find someone special.
Arisugawa Michiru: I think that's Manager. I am a little scared though....
Arisugawa Michiru: If she's precious to you, I can give her up.
Ren: Give her up? You're acting so generous.
Arisugawa Michiru: ..............
Ren: So what are you going to do if there is someone I think is precious?
Ren: Why do you want me to have someone precious so badly?
Ren: So you can steal it away? Then ruin it?
Arisugawa Michiru: ..............
Ren: Like my mother.....like that?
Arisugawa Michiru: ..............
Ren: Manager means nothing to me.
Ren: She just looks like your mother, so I just used her to ruin you.
Ren: What you want to happen is not going to happen, so you don't have to go around hiding and watching us like a sneaky little rat.
Arisugawa Michiru: ........you really have no feelings for Manager?
Arisugawa Michiru: Then...you won't care at all if I like Manager?
(Ren just walked out and left without even listening to Arisugawa Michiru's questions.)
Arisugawa Michiru: Oh man... I gues...I'll just forever be hated by Ren.
Manager: It's just that....
Arisugawa Michiru: But I feel a little more comforted when I see you....
Arisugawa Michiru: Since Ren doesn't have anyone to comfort him.... I should just let him say those things to me.
Manager: ......
Arisugawa Michiru: I'm so glad that Ren has no feelings for you.
Arisugawa Michiru: Since Ren said so, I can trust what he said right? I can believe him right?
Manager: ..........
Arisugawa Michiru: If ever he says that you are someone precious....Then...I'm really going to....
(Arisugawa Michiru wasn't able to talk for a while, he only looked sadly in the direction where Ren walked away).
Arisugawa Michiru: I'll get going now.
Arisugawa Michiru: Take care.
(Arisugawa Michiru left too.)
Manager: ......
Manager: I don't know if I want to go home....
Manager: Maybe I'll visit Sarah.
(Moments later....)
(I see a familiar sight, Sarah's place.)
Milika: What brought you here today?
Manager: Uh...I just suddenly thought of you.
Manager: I have a keepsake....
(I started to tell Sarah about Ren and Arisugawa Michiru.)
Milika: Hmmm.....
(After hearing the whole story, Sarah started to think deeply.)
Milika: A necklace that Ren's mother clasped in her hands when she died.
Milika: But in the pendant is a picture of Arisugawa Michiru and his mother...
Manager: Does it....mean something?
Milika: It's got to mean something.
Milika: I just thought of this...
Manager: Yes?
Milika: The mothers may not have had a relationship like Ren and Arisugawa Michiru.
Manager: Excuse me?
Milika: The picture of Arisugawa Michiru and his mother, that she had in her hands when she died.
Milika: Clasped tightly....Remember that they are your family too, you are not alone, and so on and so forth.....
Milika: Doesn't it seem like it carries a message like that?
Manager: .....a happily ever after fairy tale is more believable than that.
Milika: That's credibility for ya.
Milika: The crook is Arisugawa Michiru! Or his mother!!!
Manager: ..........
Milika: How did you know? Are you a mind reader?
Milika: Do you want to be my fortune telling business partner?
Manager: Nope.
Manager: I just wander....how you stay in business.
Milika: I do better than most think.
Manager: ........
(I got up and left for home.)
Manager: Uh.....
(On my way home, I thought of something that made me stop in my tracks.)
Manager: Could it be true?
(Sarah's words spun in my mind.)
Manager: It could be that Ren's mother was worried about Ren's relationship with Arisugawa Michiru....
Manager: ......yes. I'll give the necklace back to him.
Manager: .......returning the necklace to Ren will make things right.