When the remaining four worked their way down to the breakfast table the next morning after seeing their two friends and Tama safely off, they were surprised to find that Julie was already sitting there waiting for them.
"Good morning ladies." her smile was warm and welcoming as they all bowed and greeted the woman called the most beautiful in the world. The normally oversize table had now been swapped for a small intimate table. Kyoko allowed Maemi and Sachi to take the seats next to Julie as she sat down next to Seina, who offered her a tentative smile and greeting of her own. Kyoko sat and began eating while the others ate and chatted. She kept glancing around every few minutes.
"What's wrong Kyoko-chan?" Julie asked. She had been talking with the other girls all the time she had wanted to smile at her adoptive 'sons' behaviour. She was the one who noticed...She would always notice Julie realised as Kyoko turned her attention back to Julie.
"Kuon normally eats with us in the mornings unless he is out on a date. I was just wondering if he was well as he hasn't come down yet." Julie tried to hide the smile that came to her lips, but she couldn't help it as the other women suddenly realised the main man was missing too. They had been so wrapped up in the beautiful woman before them they had hardly realised that Kuon wasn't present. Maemi clenched her fists below the table in agitation. Yet again Kyoko had shown just how much she thought about Kuon in her simple words.
"And why does that bother you so much? Am I not good enough company?" Julie pasted on her fake pout as she raised her cup to her lips, faking hurt as Kyoko literally jumped up from the table bowing and muttering.
"No! No! Of course not Julie-sama... It's just.." Kyoko looked away embarrassed as all eyes turned to the now blushing actress. "He doesn't eat very well when left to his own devices, normally just snack food onigiri so I just thought..." But Kyoko never told them what she thought as she sat down again blushing profusely.
"Kuon is a grown man Kyoko-chan. I'm sure he can look after himself." Maemi added not looking at anyone as she continued to eat. Julie never showed it but her feelings towards the girl beside her shifted slightly as she looked between Kyoko and the girl who had just made her adoptive 'son' squirm.
"If it makes you feel better Kyoko-chan, Kuon has gone out for breakfast with the boss and his farther. For male bonding time." Julie added air quotes to the last few words as the twins chuckled.
"I bet Kuon will be enjoying that." Sachi added as Seina tried not to spit out the mouthful of juice she had just taken.
Julie smiled a wicked smile. "Well what other choice did I have when I will be the one naming the challenge this week. And one of the main points of this challenge is that Kuon must not know."
All eyes turned to Julie as she smiled. "So who can tell me why this week is special?" she asked looking around at each girl.
Kyoko looked right at Julie as she swallowed dryly, looking between the other girls who looked perplexed. "It's Kuon's birthday on Sunday." Kyoko stated barely louder than a whisper as all eyes now snapped from Julie to her.
"Precisely." the 3 other women at the table appeared shocked.
"It had completely slipped my mind!" Sachi was the first to speak honestly, as Julie nodded understandingly.
"Now ladies your task this week will be a difficult one. In your lines of work you have to work not only with the public, but also with each other. Even when the person you may be asked to work with is your greatest rival, you must always work professionally to reach a joined goal. You have just these two days to plan and execute a birthday party for my son. I will be there every step of the way. You will be working as a team, and the dates this week will be planned by you as your birthday gift to my son. Any questions?"
All the women still shocked by the short time they had to plan the party shook there heads as Julie smiled again. Offering them a black silk bag each the girls reached in and picked out a lottery ball. Kyoko got number 11 while Sachi got 12, Seina 13 and Maemi 14. "Well good luck ladies those are the date of your "dates" so plan wisely." with that she smiled as the girls broke into frantic talks about how best to plan a party for someone such as Kuon.
"So please tell me again why I am here and not entertaining the ladies as I should be doing?" Kuon asked as Kuu piled away plate after plate of food at the restaurant Lory had specially booked for the morning. Lory smiled as the cameraman chuckled slightly recording them eating breakfast.
"Well my boy you see the viewers have been wondering your thoughts on the wonderful women that are remaining now that we are getting toward the end of the show." Kuon just scowled at Lory who smiled brighter. "Shall we go one by one and start with Sachi?" Kuon sighed knowing he had no choice but to answer as he thought about the twin.
"She's a wonderful, attractive woman. She has a goal and a dream for her life which I find very noteworthy and know one day she will make a wonderful designer if that's what she chooses to do. She can also cook very well." Kuon added the last as an afterthought hoping he had covered all areas so he could move on to the next woman, but of course Lory wasn't about to let that happen.
"So have you figured out how to tell Sachi-chan and Seina-chan apart?" the smile on Lory's face was beaming as Kuon sighed heavily inside.
"I try my hardest, but as they are completely identical even I cannot tell them apart sometimes." Lory chuckled and Kuon felt angry as he put on his best gentlemanly smile towards Lory.
"How would you feel if I told you one of the fellow contestants can tell them apart and has yet to make a mistake on whom she is speaking to? There is even a poll on the times people have called the twins incorrectly and she has yet to receive a mark for wrong naming." Kuon couldn't help it he smiled.
"Let me guess. Kyoko-chan?" Kuon said as he smiled a natural smile at Lory, who simply nodded, his smile soft at the sweetness Kuon's look now displayed. To the public and people who didn't know Kuon well the smile was one that looked very similar to his gentlemanly smile, though it did have a bigger effect on some women. But for those who knew Kuon that smile said it all.
"Kyoko is not like anyone I have ever met, it does not surprise me she can tell Sachi and Seina apart. I doubt she even looks at the person to be honest with you." Lory scowled wondering if he was complimenting Kyoko or disparaging her.
"What do you mean?" Kuu asked sharply finally stopping with his eating once he heard the possible insult to his adoptive daughter.
"She doesn't look at the person or should I say..she doesn't look at what's on the outside. Yes she will be the first to compliment someone and call them beautiful, but I think Kyoko looks deeper than that. She looks at who a person truly is and she works from there." Lory could understand him now and Kuu was nodding, a happy smile on his face in understanding.
Hell and here I thought he was trying to insult her and he was giving her one of the greatest compliments a person could receive Lory thought as he watched the young man before him. I better get the subject turned away before they believe the shows rigged.
"No!" Julie was unstoppable as she turned away every design and every idea the women had. Kyoko watched as the others got more irate with Julie as she wondered how to sort out the problems they were having.
"How about we split the tasks into areas we excel at?" Kyoko asked remembering how well it had worked with herself and Maria planning the Happy Grateful party. Sachi looked at her interested "How?"
"Well I've been cooking since I was younger and for large amounts of people. So how about I handle the catering. Sachi you are wonderful at looking at something and thinking of ways to make it better, isn't that why you want to be a designer so bad? You can see ways of making something shine to the best of its potential, so you would be perfect for handling the decorating. Seina you're a very people oriented person, you find it easy to talk to people and people feel happy to talk with you. So why don't you sort out the invitations and contact people we would like to invite including some entertainment. Maemi you're very clever and very organised. We are going to need someone to budget and to make sure everything is coming together as it should be. You could handle the money and contacts for things that we need." Julie sat listening as Kyoko played each girl to their strengths. None of them denied her views of them. If anything they were all happy by how accurate she was.
"OK Kyoko say we go with your plan. What do we do?" Seina asked looking at her solemnly. Kyoko turned to Maemi.
"That would be up to our organiser to decide."
Maemi thought for a moment and then smiled. Grabbing a sheet of paper from the table she turned it over from one of the joint ideas they had thrown together and started writing out a list.
"OK girls so this is what we shall do!" Julie smiled as the girls prepared for another 30 minutes before running off for their own tasks. She had not had to disagree with anything they had put forwards as of yet. But if they thought it was going to be easy pleasing this mother...they had another think coming.
"So what do you think of Seina then?" Lory asked hoping to take the focus away from the loving eyes Kuon was making just thinking about the girl he was in love with. Kuon was happier after thinking about Kyoko answered easily.
"I find her very fun to be around and she too is very beautiful. I don't think I have ever met anyone who is as happy as she is to be in her own skin. She dislikes nothing about herself giving her an amazing confidence which she then radiates to others around her which makes her feel approachable. She makes people feel at ease including me." Lory nodded and smiled.
"Has she told you anything like Sachi about her future hopes and dreams?" Lory asked hoping to give the audience a show of how much Kuon really did listen to each of the women and didn't entirely focus on Kyoko.
"I think Seina is completely happy with her current line of work. She talks about all the new fashions and styles people have brought forwards or improved on and how she cannot wait for a certain style of fashion to come back or for one to go back into the closet as she called it. I honestly think Seina is one of these very lucky people much like myself who has found their perfect role in life and will happily see it thought to the end." Lory nodded happily at Kuon's answer before looking enquiringly at the now chuckling man.
"Care to share what amuses you?" Lory asked Kuon, who chuckled a little more before replying.
"I think I better warn Mom. In a few years she's going to have some pretty big competition from those young ladies. Can you imagine what an amazing team they will make together?" Lory smiled and nodded wondering if maybe he had space in LME for a new project...
"OK so you're going to need …." Kyoko listened as Maemi rattled off the list to her and Kyoko nodded when she had everything perfect.
"Yes and if you could by chance get a known sous chef that would be wonderful." Maemi looked at Kyoko a little confused.
"I thought you would want to run the kitchen? She asked as she watched Kyoko experimenting with the dishes they would be serving at the party, and scribbling down ideas.
Looking up at Maemi she shook her head. "Even though I know I can cook Maemi-san, I would not for a moment believe that I could run the entire kitchen by myself especially as there will be much older and wiser chefs to control. You would not ask a mule to race a thoroughbred, now would you?" Maemi nodded to Kyoko's strange logic though she supposed it did make sense. She had watched this girl and understood her tiniest details as she planned and executed ideas, but still Kyoko surprised her like no one ever had before.
"OK a sous chef, it's on the list. Anything else before I go and start making the confirmation phone calls?" she asked watching as Kyoko pulled an amazing looking dessert from the oven.
Looking about herself Kyoko shook her head, "No I think that's it." Maemi nodded and walked away, passing Julie who was sitting at the table still with Seina as they planned out the guest list and called up the invited individuals.
"All OK here?" Maemi asked as she noted down a few more ideas to pass to Sachi from Kyoko's work. Julie smiled and nodded
"All ship shape captain." Maemi nodded. She had to admit she kind of liked being in charge."
"So on to Maemi. Kuon what do you think of our little starlet?" Kuon looked off past Lory as he thought about the other actress in the remaining women. Lory watched Kuon for a moment wondering if Kuon had seen as much as he had in the young actress.
"Well Maemi is certainly a very talented young woman. Her desire for knowledge is a wonder and her memory could possibly even rival Kotonami Kanae's. She is very good at taking control and leading a situation when needed, very diplomatic and knows how to talk to people to get everyone's opinion out there." Lory smiled. So he had noticed how Maemi worked the people around her. Lory just wondered if he saw how she was trying to work him?
"Is she someone you would like to work with in the future maybe?" Lory asked wondering how this boy would cope with such a little wild fire? At least with Kyoko you knew you were dealing with fire.
"I would never say no to working with Maemi. She seems to have very good work ethics but I suppose we would have to see if we worked together on screen." Kuon smiled and Lory knew his thoughts were not thinking about Maemi when he was thinking of who he would really like to work with on screen.
Boy you are royally whipped Kuu and Lory shared a smile as they continued questioning Kuon about the first 3 women.
"OK then ladies, these are the tasks we still have left to do for tomorrow. I've split them up between the four of us.." At this point Julie coughed delicately. "Sorry Julie of course, I've split them between the five of us." Julie smiled at Maemi who bowed slightly to the older woman.
"So these are the only things we have left to sort?" Sachi asked as she wrote down her points to be completed as Maemi nodded.
"We also have a large amount of the budget left, so I was thinking maybe a present from all of us for Kuon?" Maemi asked looking at everyone in the room.
"I think that's a good idea!" Seina said with a smile "But what would we get him?"
"Clothes?" Sachi suggested but it was a very half-hearted suggestion.
"He's a model and has more money than we could dream of. I don't think clothes would work." came Seina's reply as the girls all looked thoughtful.
"Do you have any suggestions Julie-sama?" Maemi asked looking at Julie for ideas.
Pleased that she had been included in the discussion Julie jumped into the conversation with vigour. "Well he was always a nature lover as a child. He used to spend hours outside playing." the girls all nodded as suddenly Makoto was there with them. They knew dinner was going to be served soon but it didn't explain why she was out of breath.
"Kuon is home!"
"So Kuon what do you think about our lovely little Kyoko-chan?" Lory asked knowing the answer and hoping Kuon could at least control himself enough to remember he was on a TV show.
"Well I suppose you just described her well in one word. She's lovely through and through. Very kind and caring even when things aren't going her way or even when life is going wrong. You can always count on Kyoko to bring a smile to your face. She is the perfect professional." Lory was amazed at how reserved Kuon was in his description of Kyoko but his eyes spoke a different story.
"So would you like to work with Kyoko again?" Lory asked and Kuon's head snapped up to meet his.
"I can't wait til the day I get to act across from Kyoko again. She is an amazing actress who truly has an amazing career ahead of her." Lory nodded and smiled.
Well maybe he's not that reserved, Lory fought back the chuckle masking it with a cough.
The next day again Kuon was swept from the house early in the morning by his father and Lory saying they needed to go and prepare for something or another that Kuon wasn't too sure about. But when Kyoko bowed to him at the front door as he was swept off he couldn't keep the smile of his face. And her smile...her smile would keep him going all day.
Everything was set. As the women looked around they sighed contentedly. It had taken all day. There had been a few problems, but Julie had been amazed at how all the woman had stayed strong, pulling together to reach the conclusion they saw before them now.
"We never did get time to get him a present from all of us." Maemi sighed as she crossed off the last item on her list that just happened to be Kuon's joint present from the girls. Julie looked at their down faces as she chuckled.
"Now ladies, look around you! Look at what you all have pulled together in 2 days! This is more than a present! If you ask me it's a miracle! I'm simply amazed with all of you." the women all smiled as they shook each other's hand and gave each other high fives. Julie smiled. They may be rivals, but as Kyoko and Kanae had taught her so beautifully it didn't mean they couldn't all be friends.
So as Kyoko slipped into bed that night in her empty room, she couldn't help but smile as she wondered how Kuon would like his party tomorrow. Or maybe... looking across at her clock on the bedside table she grinned. She had been in Sachi's and Seina's room with the other women finishing off the planning. She hadn't realised just how late it was. Hopping out of bed Kyoko grabbed her coverall and silently slipped out of her room and across the mansion to what Kuon had told her was part of the guest suites. Knocking on the door she waited silently as she heard the feet dragging behind the door.
"Hello?" asked a very sleepy looking Kuon. Kyoko hadn't thought about the fact Kuon may have been asleep. She felt rather cruel now as he stood there looking like a child woken from a nap.
"I'm sorry Kuon! I never even thought...I'll just go...I'm sorry." Kuon chuckled slightly as he grabbed Kyoko to stop her bowing repeatedly.
"It's not a problem Kyoko. What is it you needed?" Kuon asked leaning against the doorframe and looking at her with those glazed eyes that failed to cover the Emperor of the Night. Kyoko found herself shivering slightly with what she could only think of as delight.
"Well it was just...just." Kuon waited for Kyoko who stood before him wringing her hands.
"Just what Kyoko?" Kuon asked loving the blush that had risen to her cheeks.
Kyoko stepped forwards swiftly standing on her toes, her hands pressed against his chest as she gently kissed his lips.
"Happy Birthday Kuon." Kyoko said stepping back swiftly before turning and disappearing down the corridor at top speed.
It happened so fast Kuon wondered if he was still asleep. He stood there completely stunned as he stared at the spot where Kyoko had been only moments before with only one thought running through his mind.
Best Birthday EVER!