Due to very popular demand, I give you a separate adaptation to the one-shot 'Crimson Threads' from my 'Transient Daydream's one-shot and short story collection. I have no idea where this is going. I have no idea when updates will be. This is my side project of a side project when I'm not working on my main project.

Beta: Im0ut0

Now enjoy your ridiculous love story.

To help combat Japan's plummeting birth rates, the government has made marriage mandatory by age 25. Those who do not comply with the new mandate will suffer a crippling tax hike. If you're having trouble finding the perfect partner, the government pays for new hopefuls to attend a dating retreat where they spend a month with other suitors.

The Japanese government had really outdone themselves with this idiocy. Mandatory marriage? Ha! What a joke. What were they hoping to accomplish? If they wanted to increase the birth rates they should just make birth control and condoms illegal, there would be babies galore! But no, they had to make Kyoko's life miserable and chose to make marriage mandatory. Of all things!

Kyoko grumbled this and many threats of violence as she walked up the steps to her temporary new home. The Grand Suites Hotel, one of the hundreds of hotels the government would sponsor you to attend if you were having trouble finding love. You would spend up to a month here with a bunch of strangers before being forced to partner up with one of them at the end.

Basically, it was where rejects went to find a spouse. At least that was the stigma. The socially awkward, mentally unstable, or people with more baggage than anyone wanted to deal with flooded these places. Of course, the latter perfectly described Kyoko, and so here she found herself.

Kyoko reached the top of the landing and wiped her sticky brow with a sigh of relief. Why did this place have so many stairs? And why was it so fancy? The place was enormous! Tucked away towards the outskirts of Tokyo, several green and well gardened acres separated the hotel from its neighbors. It was a nice place, and under different circumstances, she might have enjoyed herself.

"The government must have a lot of money to waste if they can afford to send a nobody like me here," she grumbled. Seriously, she hated wasteful spending. This was completely ridiculous.

Kyoko reached the entrance, a set of automatic sliding doors with a covered entrance. A man in a fancy red attendant uniform spotted her. He walked up to her, self-importance puffed in his chest.

"Excuse me," he said in a clipped tone. "This property is off limits for those not involved in the retreat. I must ask you to leave."

"But I am here for the retreat," said Kyoko. "Here, I got my letter and everything."

Kyoko fished inside her purse, pulling out her official invitation.

The man took the paper, reading over it carefully. His skepticism increased.

"You are Kyoko Mogami?" he said, pointing at the paper. "You don't look anything like her."

"What do you mean I don't look anything like her?" said Kyoko, now really annoyed. "Look, here's my passport."

The man took the passport as well, holding both out at arms-length. He frowned, putting a finger to his ear.

"Kuri-san, can you get security down here?" he said. "We have someone here claiming to be Kyoko Mogami. She has an invitation and passport."

Kyoko's mouth dropped. Seriously? They had walkie-talkies hooked up to the bell boys? What other kinds of frivolous things were the government spending money on? Hot springs? Or maybe a yacht parked in the backyard?

The man removed the finger from his ear, still holding her passport and letter.

"If you'll come with me miss," he said. "We'd like to have a word with you."

Kyoko glared but followed him into the hotel.

At the threshold, she couldn't help but stop. The place looked beautiful! A welcome desk sat on her left, the entrance lobby on her right housing plush couches and what looked like a bucket of chilled wine. The place was empty of anyone save the employees, which stuck Kyoko as odd seeing as dozens of other people should be here as well.

Her admiration was cut short as someone behind her gave her back an impatient nudge. It was a security guard. The man wore a black suit and sunglasses as if he were in a stereotypical spy movie. How did wearing sunglasses indoors help you out at all?

Resisting the urge to stick out her tongue, Kyoko followed the rude bellhop into a small adjoining room, the place as wonderful as the rest. Inside held several desks and other security guards, a door at the end leading to another room. A peak past the door showed a room covered in monitors. Huh. Looked like this swanky hotel paid a lot on its surveillance system.

"Please sit," said the security guard.

Kyoko did, back straight and legs together. At least they had taken her bag and brought it for her. The bellhop was finally doing his job.

Two seconds later, a man from the other room came in. His had sunglasses on as well, but his were located on the top of his head. Several days worth of stubble decorated his chin, though it looked intentional based on the flamboyant fashion sense of the rest of this attire. Open button-down shirt, casual gray suit and bold cufflinks identified him as being fashion conscious. He looked like a talk show host.

The second this man spotted Kyoko, his face dropped.

"You idiots," he said, gesturing to Kyoko. "I told you she doesn't look anything like her roles. This is Kyoko-chan! Kyoko-chan!"

"What?" said the bellhop, looking flabbergasted. "But, I thought she'd-"

"Just get out," said the flamboyant man, shooing them with his hands. "Out, I'll salvage this situation myself. I said out! Geeze."

The bellhop and security guard left immediately, leaving Kyoko with the strange man and two other people at their desks. The man let out a large sigh, as if the world were on his shoulders before grabbing the back of a chair. He dragged the furniture all the way to the other side of the desk, placing it in front of her and sitting in it backward, legs spread on either side of the backrest.

"I'm so sorry about that," he said. "Those boys are just – I told them you didn't look like your picture. You should have taken the limousine we sent you."

"You sent me a limousine?" said Kyoko, nonplussed. Come to think of it, there had been one standing outside of the Darumaya that morning. "Is that why it was outside my house?"

The man dropped his head, muttering something about 'not recognizing her either.'

"Excuse me," said Kyoko, now getting impatient. "But can you tell me what this is all about? And can I have my passport back?"

The man grimaced. "Well, if it's all ruined anyway, might as well go along with it." He held out a hand. "The name's Ryou, and I'm guessing by the fact that you don't know who I am that you don't watch Crimson Threads very much."

"Not really," said Kyoko, shaking his hand. "Isn't that the reality TV show where they film a group of people going to one of the government retreats?"

"That's the one," said Ryou happily. "I'm glad you've at least heard of it."

"But what does that have to do with me?" said Kyoko. Unless…

Kyoko's eyes widened. No, it couldn't be. They couldn't have. The participants were supposed to be randomly selected people from applicants. She couldn't possibly have been chosen.

Her suspicions were confirmed by Ryou's excited face.

Cold panic wiggled through her stomach and into her arms until she was as stiff as a board. She couldn't be on that reality TV show! Not for this. Not when it was a show created to watch people fall in love. Her public opinion would plummet. Lory had already been getting onto her about not being so anti-love in her private life. How many more ridiculous Love-Me tasks would that monster give her if he saw her soiling his favorite show with her personal philosophies on love?

She thought of someone else. Another person who would witness her pathetic attempts to find someone willing to take her. And that, more than anything made her want to wither and die from embarrassment.

The man let out an exasperated sigh. "See, these are the sort of reactions I enjoy filming," he said. "I must say, miss, you're the first person to look so terrified at being told you're a participant."

Kyoko sat in a lone chair in front of a simple backdrop. A camera and cameraman stood at the other end of the room, the man adjusting the height and lighting. The setting was familiar to her. TV sets and cameras placed at different ends. She was no longer shocked and back to being annoyed.

Stupid President. This had to be his doing. There was no way she could have possibly been randomly selected to participate in this TV show. The love idiot probably couldn't resist sending Love-Me number 1 to this humiliating spectacle.

The host of the show, Ryou-san sat in a chair before Kyoko, fishing through some papers. They were about to have her first interview for the show now that her paperwork was done. This was apparently the room where people came to have private interviews and spill their most private feelings for the entire world to view.

Oh goody. Kyoko couldn't wait.

"Everything is in order," said Ryou, waving a hand. "Start rolling, we'll now begin."

The cameraman nodded, flipping a switch. The light turned red as they started recording.

"So, what should I say?" said Kyoko. The man hadn't really given her any directions. He'd just sat her down and told her to talk.

"Just introduce yourself, give your age, profession, and anything interesting about you," said Ryou. "We want to distinguish each person so that they're easier for the audience to identify. We'll prompt you by asking questions and then we'll splice up the material."

"… makes sense. It seems similar to a talk show." In that case, she could do this quite well. She'd done a few for Natsu-san and while it was different doing it for herself instead of promoting her drama, the core principles would be the same.

"Have you ever seen the Bachelor or shows where they switch between the interviews and the events of the show?" said Ryou.

"Can't say that I have," said Kyoko.

"It's fine. Most people here haven't. Just be yourself and let us do the rest."

"Alright. Then I'll go ahead and start."

"Please do."

Kyoko smiled at the camera. She melted into her character. Her own version of Kyoko who was genuine, yet also confident. It felt amazing how easily it came. Years of hard work had paid off.

"Hello, I'm Mogami Kyoko," said Kyoko happily. "I'm nineteen years old and am currently a novice actress at LME and part-time waitress. As for anything distinct about me?" she put a finger to her lips. "I don't have a lot of hobbies, though I do enjoy sewing. Most of my free time is spent either acting or working at the restaurant."

"And what made you come to a Courting Retreat?" prompted Ryou.

Kyoko hesitated.

"… Do I have to answer that question?"

"Yes," said Ryou.

"Do I have to give an honest answer?"

The man blinked as if he hadn't expected the question.

"…it would be preferable," he said. "Your dates and daily lives are going to be filmed and later shown to the world. If you want them to know you for you are, it would be better to be true to yourself."

"I guess…. fine." If that was the case, the best option was to be honest rather than try to make up a lie. Lory was going to kill her! She felt her neck heating up, infinitely glad there wasn't a camera there as well. It wouldn't catch her mortification.

Here I go. Making a complete fool of myself, thought Kyoko. Gosh, I hope he never sees this.

But she had to do it. Not for the show, but for herself. If she didn't face this, she couldn't begin the healing process.

"Well..." said Kyoko slowly. "I'm here because I've given up on love. I was hurt a while ago, and while I've somewhat gotten past it, I still don't like the idea of putting my heart in someone else's hands." The memory still felt so raw to her though it had been more than a month. And then there had been the week after that…

Kyoko halted her thinking, returning her attention to the camera. Her smile was more fake than real as she continued. "I'd rather find a partner I can have a mutual respect for without requiring love to be in the mix," she said.

"Couldn't you have found that anywhere?" said Ryou. "Why come here?"

Kyoko let out a humorless snort. "Ha… do you think it's that easy to find someone who is willing to marry into a loveless marriage? No, since I have to marry, I figured I might as well get it over with."

Ryou smirked, leaning forward with a glimmer in his eyes. Oh no, Kyoko recognized that look. The crazy gleam hosts got when they started mercilessly digging into a celebrity's lives.

"Then since your first love, you've never been in love before?" said Ryou.

Kyoko didn't answer. The man was assuming a few things in that question, things Kyoko didn't want to bother correcting.

"Mogami-san?" said Ryou.

"Sorry I just… I'd rather not answer that question," she said.

Ryou gave a nod, leaning back in his chair. "Fair enough. You can let it out in a later interview if you'd like."

"Or never mention it again…" she muttered. She could tell Ryou wasn't going to let that little bit of drama go. Gosh, she hated reality TV shows for this reason. Lots of dirty laundry unrelated people had no business knowing. Why were people so obsessed with these sorts of things?

"What was that?" said Ryou.

"Nothing!" said Kyoko, her smile brightening to hide her angry thoughts. "So, what else should I talk about?"

"Well, I think we've got enough for a start," said Ryou, scratching his head with the end of his pen. "There are about twelve new candidates this round and we're not going to be able to spend a lot of time on each individual. Unless there's something else you'd like to say I'd say we're good."

"No, I think I'm done," said Kyoko, standing up. She needed to make a quick call to the president and chew his ear out. Maybe she could still get out of this. "Can I go to my room now?"

"Oh sure," said Ryou, already distracted by something else. He looked at his watch. "You'll find the assistant director just outside. She can show you where to go and give you all the details."

"Well then, if you'll excuse me," said Kyoko, giving a bow before leaving. It wasn't right to forget her manners, even if the man was a denizen from hell. Reino must have been his roommate.

"Stupid president," grumbled Kyoko, stepping out into the hall. She already had her phone out, punching in his number. "When I get a hold of him I'm gonna burn his entire manga collection and make him watch."

Kyoko came to a stop. The phone hung forgotten in her hand as she stared at the person waiting patiently in the foyer. They had a small video camera in their lap, swinging short legs as they happily watched whatever footage was on their tape.

Their head suddenly snapped up, a large grin spreading across their face.

"Onee-sama!" Maria called out, hopping down from the couch. She wasn't wearing any of her usual frills or lace. They'd been traded in for a feminine business suit, hair braided carefully behind her back with a trademark bow was clipped at the top. All this plus the camera propped on her hand pieced together a horrifying conclusion.

"Maria-chan," said Kyoko, eye twitching. "Don't tell me you're…"

Maria's stuck out her tongue with a playful wink. "That's right," she said. "I'm your assistant director for Crimson Threads, Maria Takarada. I look forward to working with you, Onee-sama."

Thanks for reading!

I plan to do this entire thing just from Kyoko's perspective. Check out the original first chapter if you want a sneak peek at what else is to come. It has a few more twists that this chapter doesn't get into.

Kay, love you all!

-Blushweaver