Loveless (Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 34.

DARK MOON.

Pacing the floor, Shouko checked her wrist-watch for the third time and groaned aloud. Sho was late again. She had been waiting for him for over fifteen minutes at the reception of their agency. She sank down on a chair as her eyes swept up to the big TV screen on which they were announcing the debut of some TV series in which Ren Tsuruga was starring. She gazed at that screen without any particular interest as the cast team was being interviewed by the press. Her uninterested eyes bulged out from her sockets the moment she spotted a familiar ginger-headed girl sitting beside Ren Tsuruga as a cast member.

She immediately jumped up from her seat. Scurrying closer to the screen to make sure she was not mistaken, she focused on the words of the TV host.

"...We turn now to one of the most highly anticipated television events of the upcoming season, the premiere of Dark Moon. A bold, stylish re-imagining of the twenty-years-old classic Tsukigomori. Dark Moon is being directed by Ogata Hiroaki, and if the name rings a bell, it's not your imagination. Ogata is the son of the Director of the original Tsukigomori, the legendary Date Hiroaki..."

She really is Kyoko, Shouko confirmed once she read her name in bold letters on the screen. This could be a problem. If Sho finds out that she is working with Ren Tsuruga...

"Hey, Shouko."

She almost jumped at the sound of Sho's voice.

"Hey, where are we heading to?" He asked with a yawn.

"Not sure, but we need to hurry!" She dragged him outside before he could even glance at the screen.

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The bell rang and the students rushed to their classes from the assembly hall. Mizuki—a 16-year-old girl with straight blonde hair falling softly behind her back, a beautiful face with big, round eyes and pink thin lips, and graceful, delicate features–heard some of her classmates chatting as she followed them to her class.

"You heard the rumour? That new teacher is supposed to be starting today."

"Oh yeah, I heard. The one who got in an accident because of his girlfriend."

"I heard he was hurt protecting her or something."

Mizuki wondered who they were talking about and why didn't she hear anything about it. As she walked up the stairs and turned towards the corridor, a huge gust of wind from the window threw her long blonde hair in her face momentarily blinding her.

When she opened her eyes again, they turned wide with recognition at the sight of a young man standing in front of her. He was the older version of the boy who had saved her life years ago. After all the time she still recognised him because it was not easy to forget those eyes of his. Those deep, dark pools-of-sorrows swept over her body sending shivers down her back, and then ended up fixating on her face as they penetrated her gaze while mirroring the surprise in them and the recognition as well.

Mizuki never saw it coming, to meet him again after all these years in her school as her new teacher. And judging from his reaction, neither did Katsuki.

"Cut! Absolutely perfect!" Ogata beamed. "And that's a wrap for the big reunion scene. Excellent job Ren, Itsumi." He gave a thumbs-up to Ren Tsuruga and Itsumi Momose, the actors who were starring as the main leads in Dark Moon.

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On the other side of the school building which was being used as a shooting site for Dark Moon, Kyoko stepped out from the dressing room and rushed out the corridor to greet the rest of the crew. Wearing a casual school uniform, light makeup on her face, and a wig of straight, dark hair with bangs covering her forehead, she might passed for a completely normal high-schooler if not for the hideous scar stretching down from her pale temple to her left ear. The makeup team had really proven themselves by making Kyoko look almost as beautiful as the lead actress before completely ruining it by adding that terrifyingly realistic and ugly scar.