Red Velvet - chapter 5
Ren was left staring after the car as it sped away.
There was something on his chest, crushing his lungs. He couldn't breathe. Black spots started to appear in his vision even as the car disappeared from sight.
Blindly he groped at his chest with his right hand but he couldn't feel anything wrapped around it.
That couldn't be right, could it?
Surely there must be something…
He jolted at a hand on his arm and spun around to face Yashiro who was wearing a look of compassion.
"I'm so sorry, Ren-san."
Ren opened his mouth to speak but found he was unable to get anything past the lump that had formed in his throat.
Yashiro looked at him hesitantly; "Ren?" he asked quietly, "Are you okay?"
Ren looked away from the pity in his gaze to find that there was quite a crowd staring at him. Not only did he have the people from inside the reception area but he also had quite a collection that had grouped around him whilst he had been standing, staring after the car.
It would probably only be a matter of time until he was mobbed by the shocked fans.
He guessed that was what he would get for using the front door of all things.
"Ren."
Yashiro's voice snapped his attention back to him.
"I-I can't…I don't…" he said helplessly.
Yashiro nodded and gently gripped his elbow, leading him back into the building before anyone could gather their wits enough to mob him outside.
"I know it was very sudden…" Yashiro trailed off as he pushed open the door and guided Ren through.
"There must be something though! Some reason…some way…"
Ren watched as Yashiro sighed and ran his hand through his hair, shrugging helplessly. "I honestly don't know. I don't even know what happened."
Ren stared at him, watching as he shifted and shrugged again. "Maybe the President knows more about it?"
"That's it!" Ren practically shouted, grabbing Yashiro's arms and shaking him lightly. "The President will know what to do! He always does! He can fix anything!"
With that Ren pushed past the lightly stunned Yashiro and ran to the stairway that would take him to President Takarada's office.
Lory was sitting at his desk looking over Kyoko's paperwork mournfully. He sighed. If there was anything he could do he would be doing it but there was nothing.
His fingertips lightly traced the unsigned parent/guardian section.
He should have pushed Kyoko into getting this signed. When he had first approached her about it he could see the horror in her eyes, the thinly veiled hurt. He had let it go, even though he knew that the decision would come back to haunt him.
And come back it had.
"President!"
The doors to his office burst open, slamming into the walls and denting them with the force of the blow.
Lory jerked in surprise, his eyes wide.
They widened even more at the sight of a dishevelled Ren standing panting in the doorway.
"Ren?" He asked hesitantly.
"President," Ren moved forward, towards him, his eyes begging, "please, do something about this!"
Alarm spread through Lory. "Do something about what?"
"Kyoko!"
With that one word the fight drained out of him and he sank back into his seat. "Oh, you know."
"She just left! With her mother! Wait…" Ren paused and looked at him suspiciously, "what do you mean 'you know'?"
Lory sighed and motioned to the seat on the opposite side of his desk.
Ren crossed the room but instead of sitting down he stood behind the chair, his hands planted on the back.
"President Takarada." He said slowly.
Lory sighed again. "I had hoped that this wouldn't happen."
Ren jerked, "What do you mean?"
Lory motioned to the papers on his desk. "Kyoko-chan never finished filling in her forms."
"But you can fix this right?" Ren asked, a muscle in his jaw ticking. "You can bring her back."
"Ren…" Lory shook his head mournfully, "Kuon. I can't. There's nothing I can do."
"But!" Ren protested.
"Legally, LME doesn't have a leg to stand on. Kyoko-chan's mother was completely within her rights to pull Kyoko-chan out."
Ren gritted his teeth and sat down, his head turned away.
Lory just watched him with sad eyes.
Suddenly Ren stood up and faced him and Lory could see fire burning in his gaze.
"So all we need to do is to convince Kyoko-chan's mother to sign the forms. Then she can come back?"
"Ren," Lory interrupted, "it's not going to be as easy as-"
"We just need her to sign the forms." Ren interrupted him forcefully. "Then she can come back."
"Theoretically." Lory hedged, not really wanting to know where Ren was heading with this.
"So I'll get her to sign the forms." Something dark passed through Ren's eyes and Lory winced inwardly.
"It has to be done legally, Ren." He reminded the young man. "Otherwise she could contest it in court. And we don't want that sort of publicity."
"Legally. Right." Ren agreed and strode out the rooms.
Lory watched him go, a fond smile creeping across his face. Kuon had grown up so much over the years. He did still make mistakes, but that was expected.
Lory could only hope that this was not going to be a mistake.
Tapping his fingers on the desk he made his decision. Leaning forward he pressed the intercom button. "Mine-san, could you please find the address that Mogami-san is staying at? And would you pass this on to Tsuruga-san as quickly as possible.
"Oh, could you also tell Yashiro-san to cancel all of Ren's appointments for the next…" He trailed off thinking about Kyoko's mother, "for the foreseeable future. Thank you."
Leaning back in his chair he spun around until he could see the view through his window.
Maybe this would get better after all?
He could only hope.