Recap / Skip Beat Volume 26

The Love-Me Section curse claims another victim!

Chiori and Moko have been assigned to go on a variety show and audition for the part of a love-lorn girl in a period piece, respectively. Kyoko's job is to greet and escort to LME an acquaintance of Lory's: a dangerous man with a hair-trigger temper! Kyoko summons all the courage she has to approach the terrifying man, but it turns out he's... Ren Tsuruga?

Cover blown, Ren takes Kyoko into his confidence: he's disguised as the mysterious actor Cain Heel in order to conceal the fact that he's acting in a supernatural horror film. Lory takes this opportunity to add an addendum to Kyoko's assignment. She's to play the role of Cain's sister Setsuka, a girl with a serious brother complex. But that means living with Ren! Can she put her whole heart into this assignment, or will Ren dismiss her due to poor performance?

This volume contains the chapters:

• Act 151. "The Strongest Emblem" ^note President Lory asks the Love-Me Members about their Valentine's Day. All 3 fail to give him a satisfactory answer. Lory feels they have become complacent in their Love-Me duties and decides to "help" them with new Love-Me assignments. For Kanae: something lowbrow. For Chiori: Something fun. For Kyoko: something dangerous.
• Act 152. "Violence Mission, Phase 1" ^note The Love-Me members discover their 'jobs' from the President are all something that will challenge them personally. Chiori has to do a silly variety show; Kanae is playing a love-lorn stalker; and Kyoko picking up Cain Heel, a mysterious guest of Lory's. He's supposed to be a scary, violent foreigner, but despite his evil glare she immediately recognizes him as Ren.
• Act 153. "Violence Mission, Phase 1.5" ^note Kyoko is temporarily fooled into believing Cain Heel is not Ren, because the evil aura from his gaze was very unlike the actor she knows. Ren can't handle having frightened her so badly, so he reveals the truth, a discussion that continues in Lory's office. Lory announces that there's a second part to Kyoko's assignment - if she accepts, she's to play the role of Cain Heel's sister.
• Act 154. "Violence Mission, Phase 2" ^note In a flashback, Kyoko worries that her birthday gift for Ren isn't good enough. In the present, Kyoko meets with Lory's stylist Jelly Woods (aka Ten-san, aka the Muse) to begin her transformation. Meanwhile Ren as Cain sits with Lory and talks about Kyoko being sent to meet him. Jelly presents Kyoko as Setsu, Cain's sister (and keeper).
• Act 155. "Violence Mission, Phase 3" ^note Ren struggles with the challenge of living with Kyoko in a hotel room - namely with his attraction to her.
• Act 156. "Violence Mission, Phase 3.5" ^note "Cain" takes "Setsuka" to a clothes store to get her something a little more modest to wear. Ren keeps sighing, and Kyoko worries she is somehow getting the part wrong.
• Extra: "Valentine's Mystery: Kyoko Mogami Edition" ^note How does Sho keep finding out Kyoko's phone number? By snooping through Haruki's phone.

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Chapters in this volume provide examples of:

• Big Brother Attraction: Setsuka Heel's defining characteristic, according to Lory, is her enormous big-brother complex.
• Clark Kenting: Ren's transformation into Cain Heel involves him mussing up his hair, wearing edgy clothing, and smoking a lot of cigarettes, but it's implied he uses The Power of Acting to completely change the way people perceive him.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Post-makeover, Ren is totally unable to focus with Kyoko wearing so little. He insists that they go shopping so he can buy her some more modest clothes.
• Dress-Up Episode: Kyoko and Ren have to stay in character as Setsuka and Cain Heel for an extended period of time - and so begins the opportunity for Nakamura to draw the two in hip Gothic/ Punk Rock/ street-style clothing, featuring copious amounts of leather, chains, and all-black ensembles. Even their in-universe stylist Jelly Woods is happy to get the chance to dress them up!
• Flower Motifs: It's a shoujo managa after all:
  • The cover has Kyoko, Moko, and newest Love-Me Section member Chiori standing against a backdrop of bright orange flowers.
  • Most chapters have a few instances of panel backgrounds filling with unexplained flowers.
• Goth: Cain Heel and Setsuka Heel both dress in incredibly trendy street-style punk/ gothic clothes, but they also look like they've raided a Hot Topic. They even make a shopping trip at a trendy (in-universe) punk/ gothic clothing store.
• Good Luck Charm: The reason Lory created "Setsuka" was so that Kyoko would have an excuse to hang around Ren while he was in character as Cain Heel. Lory even refers to her as Ren's good luck charm.
• Imagine Spot: Kyoko is worried that "Cain Heel" might beat her up if she's late to their meeting, but she cheers herself up with the thought that Moko will come visit her in the hospital.
• Lost in Character: Ren isn't just an actor playing a role: he's Kuon Hizuri buried under the persona of Ren Tsuruga disguised as Cain Heel playing Killer BJ. Lory is worried that Ren will get a too in-character as "Cain Heel" (i.e. let out too much of Kuon's personality) and do something drastic - hence the creation of Setsuka Heel to keep him steady.
• The Makeover: What Jelly Woods does to Kyoko to turn her into Setsuka Heel.
• Morality Chain: Kyoko's role as Setsuka Heel. Her job is to keep "Cain Heel" from getting out of control... which by extent is keeping Ren from letting Kuon get out of control.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password on Haruki's phone is her birthday.
• Real-Place Background: After "Cain Heel" fails to make an appearance at the Tokyo Station, Lory tells Kyoko to meet him at the Hachikō statue in Shibuya. Lory's well aware of the statue's reputation as a meeting place for lovers (because of its symbolic representation of commitment and loyalty) - he's trying to get Ren and Kyoko together.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: Lory wants Kyoko to play the role of Cain Heel's sister, Setsuka Heel, so that she'll have a plausible reason to hang around Ren.
• Sherlock Scan: Kyoko recognizes Ren almost immediately because she's studied his proportions so closely while making her curse dolls. He can change his hair and dress like a Yakuza who raided a Hot Topic, but he can't change the distance between his pupils or the length from his shoulder to his fingertip. Lory even comments that it's the visual equivalent of perfect pitch.
• Show Within a Show: Box "R" and Tragic Marker are type 1 examples, with "characters involved in the production of the show."
• Smoking Is Cool: Ren Tsuruga in his role as Cain Heel. "Cain Heel" chain-smokes like a chimney as part of his dark and mysterious persona.
  Ren as Cain Heel: Booze is my meal and cigarettes are my snack!
• There Is Only One Bed: The first hotel room the "Heel Siblings" get put in has only one bed. Kyoko struggles with the directive to remain in character as Setsuka- who wouldn't blink at the idea of having to sleep with Cain- while also dreading the idea of sharing a bed with Ren. Ren savors the possibility that "Cain" and "Setsuka" might share the bed, but offers to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag because he knows Kyoko is far too shy about intimacy to go through with it. The hotel staff show up shortly thereafter and apologize for putting the Heels in the wrong room. Much to Ren's disappointment, the pair get moved to a room with two beds.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Gets ratcheted up by the fact that Ren and Kyoko have to share a hotel room while in character as the "lovey-dovey" Heel siblings. "Setsuka" Heel has a massive brother complex, while "Cain" is wildly possessive of his little sister. Meanwhile Ren is struggling to represses his feelings for Kyoko because he doesn't want to scare her away, and Kyoko is trying to deny her attraction to Ren due to a combination of her own Oblivious to Love and refusal to believe that Ren might be interested in her.
• Would Hit a Girl: Lory tells Kyoko that "Cain Heel" is a rude and temperamental man who wouldn't be above hitting a girl if she were late to an appointment with him - all the while Kyoko is rushing to get to their appointed meeting place on time.

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