Chapter 5:

Hayami-san?

(new 2020 revised edition)

Was the wind stronger or the room quieter ? All of the sudden it was as if the shaking shutters were the only sound that commented the ludicrous sentence her best friend had whispered, and it seemed a cold gush of air had filtered through the old windows and into her futon. Maya shivered violently. “ Hayami - san? ” she repeated. 

“Yes.” Rei confirmed calmly. 

Maya sat up and looked at her friend ,  though the room was too dark to see her expression. “How can you think that?” she wanted to scream, but didn’t want to wake Sayaka up “What makes you think that someone like Hayami-san could be the Purple Rose. It doesn’t make any sense!” The very image of Hayami Masumi, the cold hearted Vice President of Daito, sending her gifts and roses, was laughable at best. She heard Rei let out a sigh and sit up as well to face her “I disagree Maya, I think it does make some sense. I know you think he’s an arrogant and heartless tycoon but the way I see it, Hayami-san has taken an unusual interest in you for years and keeps taking care of you even when it’s not in his interest ” 

“What ?” She exclaimed, and her mouth was covered by Rei’s hand immediately, another hand covering her own lips with her fingers, and the two girls turned their head briefly in Sayaka’s direction, to check if she was still snoring. Maya shot a piercing glare at her friend and freed her mouth to whisper vehemently “Corridor” Rei nodded and they tip-toed out of the room.

“What do you mean ‘he keeps taking care of me’ ?” Maya said the minute they closed the door behind them. In another room, another tenant was snoring loudly. Rei ruffled the back of her hair and leaned on the banister, facing her. 

“Ok look : he doesn’t go about it in the most delicate fashion, but everything he does or says to you seems to be for your benefit. Let me explain” she added as Maya was about to make a snappy come-back “When you entered the theater world, he taught you to be polite and respectful even to people you don’t like, and he was right to do so. If you kept being rude to professionals for being sharks and hypocrites, no one in the industry would work with you and your career would already be over. And remember when he made you come and see Ayumi’s performance as juliet?” Maya nodded. The memory was still burning in her mind, the fear, the humiliation. “It made you face reality and realize that you still had a long way to go if you wanted to compete with her agility and technique. Normally he should be rooting for Ayumi to snatch the Crimson Goddess away from you, yet times and times again he helps you get stronger. He even used his own image as a boost for your career. ” 

“What do you mean?” Rei now had her full attention. She was right, normally Hayami-san should be supporting Ayumi... But he is supporting Ayumi, isn’t he? He’s her producer after all. Rei went on and explained, counting on her fingers “After you won the Best Supporting Actress Award, he asked you to dance with him. One. He personally hired you to promote you as an actress under contract with Daito, that’s two. After you were blacklisted, he asked you to invite him to see your Aldis, and have you flowers after the show in front of everyone. That's three times he used his influence to shine a light on you.” 

“Hold on, Rei. You forget all the horrible things he did !” She was revolted to hear her friend paint such a pretty picture, omitting all the pain and struggle he caused. “All the sabotage his company did to make Tsukikage Sensei struggle, all the times he was harsh with me, and how he used my mother ! She’s dead because of him!” She noticed her entire body was shaking, her limbs running with electricity. Hayami-san is not to be trusted, you never know what he’ll do next, how he’ll betray you. 

Rei could see the emotion on her face, and softened her eyes a little “Maya... I know you still suffer from what happened to your mother. It’s true that Vice President Hayami should never have hid her location from you. But I don’t think he knew how bad her health was either. And I’m sorry but you mother shouldn’t have left the hospital at night, in the rain, alone and sick. It was too dangerous and I think that’s why she died.” 

“How can you say that!” Maya felt a rush of heat burn her face, tears were running uncontrollably and Rei stepped forward to hold her shoulders “I’m sorry Maya, I don’t mean to be indelicate. And I understand that you’re angry at him, I do, I also would be in your position.” Maya kept listening, the warmth of Rei’s hand on her shoulder helping her to breathe more evenly. “All I’m saying is that even at that moment, Hayami-san thought of your career. It was a mistake to use your mother for publicity, I agree,” she added as Maya’s anger started to resurface “and I’m not telling you to forgive him, you’re the only one who can decide that. Just think of everything he did after your mom died. You were depressed, you couldn’t act, and we couldn’t help you.” There was a hint of regret in her voice and she let go of her shoulders to lean back on the banister, arms crossed on her chest.

“That same Hayami Masumi, instead of tossing you aside like he would any other actress, you told me that he took you in, let you stay at his own place, had a doctor take a look at you, looked for you when you ran away and helped you get back on stage. You told me that, didn’t you.”

Maya couldn’t deny all of that “But Rei, you weren’t there. You didn’t see how awful it was, how mean and cold he was.” 

“Yeah...” she scoffed, ruffling her hair again “I don’t have all the answers Maya. I don’t know why he acts like a jerk around you when he obviously cares for you. Anyway that’s all I’m saying: he cares for you, and he always tried to help you however he can. I don’t especially like him, but I have to admit he’s not all that bad.”

Maya clenched her hand on her chest. She couldn't really wrap her head around everything Rei had sayed, but she could see there was a ring of truth in it. Rei took her silence for stubborness and added with a sigh.

“Anyway, that’s why I thought he might be Mr Purple Rose, helping you from the shadow without having to explain himself, but I guess I was wrong.” She shook her head, still doubtful about this Kirino Takumi. She let out a tired sigh and patted her head, smiling down at her “Don’t worry yourself about it, okay Maya? I’m going back to bed.” And she slid her door shut behind her.

Maya didn’t follow her immediately. She was feeling too restless to sleep. She sat on the stairs and held her head with a confused moan. Could it be that Hayami Masumi had really been helping her all along? Why would he do that?  Actresses are nothing but products to him. Now that she wasn’t even under contract with Daito, she was nothing to him, that he made sure of telling her multiple times.

Yet she still didn’t know why he invited her to that play.

“Hayami-san…”