Unlovable

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Get a stretcher! Take him to the infirmary immediately!"

Kagami watched and tried oh so very, very hard not to laugh as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her. Hikaru and Kaoru were both wearing basketball uniforms and Kaoru was on a stretcher, pretending to be injured. Hikaru was kneeling next to him and had tears forming in his eyes. They were saying something about sharing pain and hurting and it was completely laughable. Their acting was dramatic and over-the-top. The lines that had been scripted were cheesy and completely cliche. It was like watching one of the soap operas her mother had starred in. And Kagami was thankful beyond words that she had only been subjected to watching one of those. The way they always went completely overboard made her laugh, but watching her mother act in anything was torture.

She couldn't help but wonder how Renge had gone from changing the host club's characters to shooting a movie. The girl had even flown in a filming company from Hollywood! The dramatic scenes unfolding in front of her were no longer amusing as Kagami remembered that her own scene would be coming up soon. If she had known Renge was planning on filming she never would have allowed herself to be coerced into doing this! Kagami remembered how happy Hotaru had been when she had been handed Honey's album. She remembered the way the smaller girl had leaped up, almost hugged her, and then settled for thanking her profusely throughout their entire lunch break. Even that reaction wasn't worth going through the torture of Renge's movie. But the small smile that lit Kagami's face at the memory betrayed the truth.

"I'm so sorry Haru-chan! I can't do this anymore!"

Turning to look in the direction the cry had come from, Kagami saw Honey hugging Haruhi and crying. He was most likely upset over the fact that he had to be mean to her.

"Cut!" Renge shouted angrily. "Cut! Cut! Cut! What's wrong with you! You've got to stick to the script!"

"But I can't!" Honey said, a distressed tone in his voice.

"Fine!" Renge snapped. "I'll give you a minute to get your act together while we film Haruhi and Kagami's scene instead. But you had better be ready when we're done! I won't accept any mistakes a second time!"

Honey nodded and ran over to Mori while Haruhi stood up and brushed off the jacket of her uniform. Kagami stayed where she was, wishing that she could suddenly gain the ability to become invisible. She had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to act out the ridiculous scene Renge had scripted for her, but she was still very reluctant to actually do it.

"Kagami!" Renge called out, waving at her. "Get over here! It's time for you to cry like you've never cried before!"

Sighing, Kagami started to walk over to where Renge and Haruhi were waiting for her, but the twins blocked her path.

"Good luck." Hikaru said with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah." Kaoru pipped in. "It would be terrible if you froze up in front of the cameras."

Kagami remembered having a conversation very similar to this one with the twins before. Of course, they hadn't known it was her they were talking to.

"I don't need luck." She retorted. "I have something else much more useful. It's called talent. But the two of you probably haven't heard of that before."

Kagami knew she was playing a dangerous game, saying almost the exact same thing that "Mitsuki" had, but she couldn't help it. Part of her wanted to see if Hikaru and Kaoru remembered that conversation from so long ago. And the thought of getting away with it was kind of exciting. Keeping her face completely neutral, Kagami waited to see what their reaction would be.