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Banquet of Shivering

Kyoko, now living at the Darumaya (a restaurant she works in), starts looking for an entrance into show business. She chooses L.M.E., Sho's agency's main competitor. Sawara, who manages talent at the company, kicks her out after hearing that she had no interest whatsoever in show business. Kyoko pesters him for several days and nights until he finally gives in. Kyoko is then allowed to participate in an audition to get into the company. Soon after, she bumps into the famous actor Ren Tsuruga, L.M.E's most popular actor. After Tsuraga he hears that Kyoko's main motive is revenge, he tells her it's useless to join L.M.E. Kyoko does not take this well. Ren momentarily shows a part of his real self in his anger, but immediately turns back to his smiling face. Kyoko angrily decides that Ren is the 2nd person she hates after Shou. At the audition a notable character is entry number 46, who shocked all of the judges by memorizing a book in a short amount of time during the first stage of the audition. For her talent, Kyoko surprises everyone by coming on to the stage with a daikon (white radish) and a knife.

An Emotion She Lacks

Kyoko's performance was to cut the daikon (radish) into a rose, using a knife lent by her boss at Darumya. Her performance amazes the judges including the president, Lory, since the skill is famous and difficult to master. Though the daikon turns out to be a peony rather than a rose, Kyoko easily passes. As she continues to the next audition, entry number 46 approaches her. She taunts her, warning Kyoko that the test they were about to take was the true beginning of the audition. The test required participants to react to a phone call and participants started to act out happiness. Entry number 46 actually even manages to shed tears. When it came to Kyoko, however, she reacted with what the judges describe 'strong murderous aura', as the voice of the phone reminded her of how Sho dumped her. The phone is thrown angrily onto the ground, and the president seems about to cry at the sight. Later, Sawara reveals that she didn't pass that level because she was missing the important emotion of love. Kyoko returns to Daruma, thinking about the path she was going to take, and her childhood. She decides to give up on competing with Sho, but her boss at Daruma expresses strong dissent at this. The president of L.M.E. also mentions Kyoko to Sawara, and the plans he could have for her if she were the next talent.

The Labyrinth of Reunion

Kyoko is working at a gas station, thinking about what Ren and her boss said to her. During her break, an advertisement of Sho appears on the television screen, causing her to have a violent breakdown, misinterpreted by her co-worker as a strong fan reaction. When Sho comes to pump gas at the station, her co-worker points her out when Kyoko had intended to escape. Their eyes meet, but Sho does not recognize her, which upsets Kyoko greatly. On the way back, Sho thinks that the unknown girl resembles Kyoko's ability to flatter him, but dismisses her as another fan with short dyed hair. Kyoko goes home that day thinking about her constant dead-ends to show business, but her boss at Darumya encourages her, and Kyoko tries to get herself into L.M.E. again. She accidentally bumps into Kamio (a famous actress), resulting in Kyoko carrying her luggage. Later, while carrying Kamio's bags, Ren offers his help and starts explaining about the new section that would be created in L.M.E., the 'Love-Me' section. This section is a group of people who have star potential but lack the X-factor. In the end, when Ren announces that Kyoko would be the first trainee, Kyoko is dumbfounded and drops Kamio's bags. Kamio gets angry with her, especially after seeing that Ren was helping her with the bags. In the end, Kyoko gets a penalty stamp, and Kyoko is absolutely furious with Ren for tricking her, stating that "He must hate me".

Danger Zone

Kyoko speaks with the President who asks if she believes she can love others. She says no, but insists that even though she can't feel love now, she wants to be able to gain back that important "human trait" that she lost. He agrees to let her in and gives her stamps and a notebook, saying if she does a good job she will get points, which will get her closer to her debut. Kyoko leaves the president pondering why she lost the ability to love, and finds a pink jumpsuit with the 'Love-Me' logo on the front and back, which was her new working attire. The manager of the singing section comes and tells Sawara and Kyoko that he had heard about the 'Love-Me' section and has her first job. All the contestants eliminated in the recent audition vented their anger by spitting out their chewing gum on the ground, so Kyoko must clean it. Due to her anger, she cleans up the gum and waxes the entire area. She just finishes when L.M.E. workers come and slip on the floor because it is too waxy. Sawara gives her 10 points saying she needs to try harder. She sits on the stairs sulking when someone knees her in the head. It turns out to be Ruriko, a L.M.E. idol who decides she has a job for Kyoko. Ruriko hires Kyoko to protect her while they are driving in the car up to an acting job. The car breaks down and Kyoko and Ruriko must walk. After five minutes Ruriko states that she can't walk anymore so Kyoko starts to carry her up the mountain. Kyoko then falls and sprains her ankle and Ruriko walks the last few feet on her own. She gets to the shooting location, but forgets to get someone to help Kyoko. Kyoko is left lying there in the middle of the road, not being able to move when Ren, finds her. He presses on Kyoko's sprained ankle and finds that it was badly injured. He scoops her up and walks to the set.

An Invitation to the Ball

After the shock of being picked up, Kyoko tries to struggle but then has no choice due to her injured ankle. Ren places her on the house because she kept on complaining, and his manager helped bandage Kyoko's ankle and asked if Ren always treated her this way. While answering, she felt an evil presence, which turns out to be Ruriko who had just witnessed Ren carrying Kyoko "like a princess" and was extremely jealous. Ruriko throws tantrums and after being infuriated by the coolness of Ren towards her and the lack of approval by the director for her portrayal of a "lady", she declares that she quits, saying that if he wanted a hard working amateur, he might as well pick Kyoko, who would do anything for points. Instead of being pleaded to stay like by all her previous directors, this one took up her 'suggestion' after Kyoko, enraged by Ruriko's attitude, agrees to the idea. Kyoko quickly proves herself a perfect lady after her training in Sho's family business, and impresses everyone on set. However the next scene requires her to kneel for the tea ceremony, which will inflict more pain on her injured ankle.