Mamoru Mononobe was sitting at his desk typing his article. He was already in his thirties, so the first gray hair sprouted on his head. His cell phone started to ring. He glanced at it.
Anzu.
In the last few days his niece got on his nerves. He knew she was going to West High School, the same school Yuna Masuda attended, so he had asked her briefly about the girl, but she didn't know her personally. She was a clever child and wanted to become a reporter like her uncle. Maybe she even had what it took, he wasn't sure. Anyway, she'd told something about a musician who was supposedly the boyfriend of the Masuda girl, but he wasn't interested in such stuff.
Mamoru wondered much more about why all of the Takagi's fortune should come to two inconspicuous girls who had no connection with the Takagi family. He sensed a scandal, and his nose was first-rate. He had already made one or the other cases public in the past.
He ignored the call and kept working until his office phone rang. Surely the chief editor wanted to put some pressure on him because he had not yet submitted his article.
Mamoru pressed the handsfree button and snapped, "Yes?"
"Hey, uncle."
He clapped his hand to his forehead and snorted. "Anzu-chan. How many times did I tell you not to call me in the office?"
"You didn't get your phone."
"Probably for the reason that I'm busy, and I don't have time to talk to you."
The high-school girl was silent for a moment. "I have something to tell you, uncle."
"If it's because of the musician again..."
"No. The school principal has forbidden me to publish my article in the school newspaper blog."
Serenely the uncle laughed. The world of a teenager could get out of balance so fast because of every little trifle. "So?"
"That's not right! The freedom of the press!"
"Relax, Anzu-chan." Mamoru leaned back in his chair. "The school can be held liable for damages caused by publications."
"But..."
"No but, Anzu-chan. If he forbids it, then you have to stick to it."
The girl growled in frustration. "Can't you bring that in your newspaper?"
"This isn't a tabloid, Anzu-chan."
"But you also write about her!"
"I'm writing about a possible conspiracy and not about schoolyard romances," the reporter explained.
"Fine. I'll find a solution." Angrily, she broke the connection.
With a smile, Mamoru deactivated the speakerphone and kept typing on his story.
"Children can be a plague."
Startled, the man in the chair winced and turned in the direction the familiar voice had come from. "Damn, you just scared me."
The other man came over and sat on the edge of the table. He wore a dark suit with sunglasses and had some small scars on his face and on the knuckles of his hands. The little finger of his left hand was shortened by two limbs. He deliberately placed his hand so that Mamoru could see it.
"Haven't seen you in a long time, Kimura-san," the reporter greeted his guest.
"You haven't done anything stupid in a long time, Mononobe-san."
The man in the chair frowned. "I haven't done anything like that."
Kimura-san pulled down his sunglasses, allowing a glimpse of his eyes from which his left was tarnished. "How about you offer me a cup of tea, Mononobe-san?"
"Are you serious?"
His visitor, who clearly was several years older, laughed calmly. "Naturally. I like to drink a cup of tea when I have an interesting conversation. Don't you?"
Rolling his eyes, the reporter pushed himself up from the desk, went through his office to a chest of drawers whereupon a water cooker was located and switched it on. "Do you have any other wish, Kimura-san?"
"I take what's there. With a teaspoon of sugar, please."
Mamoru busily handled the drink while his guest watched from his desk. He prepared the cup, poured the boiling water through the tea strainer and added a teaspoon of sugar. Then he brought the cup over.
"Here you go." He handed it to Kimura-san.
"Thank you very much." Polite, the man with his missing phalanx bowed and sipped at the cup. "Wonderful. Thank you."
"So... what should I have done?" the reporter asked as he dropped onto his chair.
"Let's put it this way: You haven't done anything - yet. That's why our mutual friend sent me to you to spare you any inconvenience."
Mamoru leaned in and scanned his notes and the various dossiers. He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not writing any Yakuza story, Kimura-san."
Serene, the professional criminal leaned forward and tapped his hand against the screen. "It's right here."
The reporter scanned the text. "No. This is my Takagi story."
"Bingo, Mononobe-san." The Yakuza lifted the cup and took a sip of tea.
Irritated, Mamoru turned to his visitor. "No! Impossible! There are no connections to the Yakuza. I did a thorough research."
"Maybe you missed something. Our mutual friend wishes you to make the story disappear."
"The Takagis were a honorable family who certainly had nothing to do with the Yakuza!" the reporter enthused. "They were heroes!"
Kimura-san sat back upright and snorted. "Nobody says otherwise."
Wondering, Mamoru licked his lips and asked, "Why does your boss want to make the story disappear?"
"I'm only the messenger, Mononobe-san. I'm not asking questions, and you shouldn't either."
"I beg you. This story is a hit. Don't do that to me, I implore you." The reporter even bowed in his chair.
"I won't do you any harm. But if you keep working on the story, that will change."
For a moment they stared at each other silently. Mononobe-san breathed a little faster and fine sweat glistened on his forehead. Kimura-san, on the other hand, seemed relaxed and calm. It was everyday work for him. He put the cup to his lips and sipped the hot drink noisily.
Frustrated, the reporter wiped across the table and flung his documents to the floor. "Fine. Here!" He reached for his mouse and started clicking around on his computer. "There! Everything gone. Are you happy now?!"
The Yakuza had watched him and was nodding. "Yes. Our mutual friend will be satisfied." He rubbed the mutilated phalanx on his left hand. "Now you have to take care of your niece."
Mamoru blinked in confusion. "What does Anzu have to do with it?"
"Her article is not to be published. Under no circumstances," Kimura-san said.
"What?! It's only about some school stuff. That really doesn't interest anyone." He stared at his visitor. "What is this really about?"
"That's not relevant to you, Mononobe-san."
"Come on. I did what you asked me to. Give me something so I can understand."
The professional criminal finished his last sip of tea, deposited the cup on the desk, folded his arms across his chest, and sighed. "The Masuda girls are taboo for you. Got that?"
"What have the Masuda girls to do with the Yakuza?" the reporter wondered. "Do they want their money as soon as they have it, or what?"
Kimura-san laughed. "You are really damn curious."
"I'm a reporter, damn it. Of course I'm curious!" Mamoru ruffled his hair in agony. "You have to give me a reason."
Rubbing his finger again, the visitor began with his story, "You know the story of the Masuda girls?"
"Yes. I've been on the story for two weeks. Their parents died in a gas explosion in their house. A broken gas pipe. Rarely, but happens. The houses in the area are partly quite old and if a gas leak is not noticed for a long time... well."
The Yakuza smiled. "Good. But what if the explosion was not an accident?"
"You mean it was an attack? How so? He was just a security guard and she was an uninteresting housewife. Apart from his name on the homepage of his employer and the entries in the register of inhabitants there is nothing to read about Kensuke and Kaori Masuda."
"Officially."
Thoughtfully, the reporter rolled his eyes. "He was a Yakuza?"
"Tell me."
"You just started it!" Mamoru throw up his hands.
"I just want to say that accidents happen when someone has messed up. Big time."
The man in the chair groaned. "Then he really must have pissed somebody off to make such a punishment necessary."
"As I said, accidents happen." Kimura-san got up from the desk and headed for the door. "Take care of your niece, or I'll have to do it." He looked over his shoulder and stared at the reporter. "And that wouldn't end well for the girl."
"Alright. I'll talk to her," Mamoru agreed.
"It was a pleasure to see you again, Mononobe-san." Grinning, the Yakuza put on his sunglasses and left the office.
"The joy was all yours!"
Kimura-san marched through the corridors, ignoring the sometimes curious looks of other newspaper employees. He went to the stairwell and climbed the stairs. He stepped out onto the roof and looked up into the night sky.
A wonderful night to fly.
He pushed off the roof and flew up into the sky before vanishing.