. .

. . . . .

Later that morning, Takaba reported for work. His editor, Shinotake, was looking over some pictures with Mitarai. "I guess we could try to do some creative cropping with these two, but the rest are unusable."

"The other photographers kept jumping in my way!" Mitarai insisted.

"Editor?" Takaba approached them and pulled out his phone and handed it to Shinotake. "Do you think you can use any of these?"

Shinotake slowly scrolled through the pictures. "These... are FANTASTIC! Yes, yes! I want them!"

Mitarai was looking over the editor's shoulder in disbelief. He turned to Takaba. "You got photos of the celebrities INSIDE the museum! How did you manage to get in!?"

Takaba put his arm around Mitarai's shoulder. "Well, it could be because I have such good connections."

Mitarai shrugged him off and frowned. "Bullshit."

Takaba grinned at him.

"Takaba, send those photos to my computer. Mitarai, why don't you get on that story about that guy, Oshima."

"Yeah, right... I get to do a story about some drunken idiot who drowned in a drainage ditch." Mitarai brightened, "Can I interview you about it, Editor?"

"NO!" Shinotake growled.

Takaba looked at Mitarai, puzzled.

"That guy who drowned... it happened in the canal right behind Shinotake's apartment," Mitarai explained.

Takaba paled. He was heading straight for my boss! Takaba glanced at Shinotake and saw his boss looking back at him with a wary expression.

A courier came by and dropped some envelopes on Shinotake's desk. Shinotake looked down at the pile and began opening his mail.

"Oh, here something for you, Takaba-kun." The courier handed Takaba a padded envelope. Takaba took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a music CD. The back of the case had been signed with a marker: "For my good friend, Akihito Takaba". It was signed with a flourish: "Leo".

Mitarai's eyes nearly popped out. "That...that's the lead singer from the band Disquietous! You know him?!" Takaba saw a piece of paper inside the envelope. He pulled it out, unfolded it and read:

Akihito,

Sorry we didn't get a chance to say goodbye. I hope all your pictures came out all right. Can you send me copies of the ones you took of me? I would particularly like the one of the two of us together. I collect selfies taken with people I've met round the world.

Write me as well! Let me know when you're coming to the UK. I'd love to show you round London!

Regards,
Leo

email: beethoven8cm13...

Mitarai was staring at the CD case. "Hey, if you're interested in selling this..."

Takaba smiled slightly, "No."

"Did the lead singer write that note? Can I read it?"

"No!" Takaba held the note protectively to his chest, "It's personal!" he said, pretending to be outrageously offended.

Takaba laughed as Mitarai groaned in frustration.

Mitarai looked at the editor who was looking at a card and frowning. "What do you have there, Editor?"

"It's a complimentary pass to a private gentleman's club. The note says the owner will cover my bar tab for the first 60 days."

Mitarai snatched the card from the editor. "Wow! This is for Club Sion! That's a really ritzy place. He must be a big fan of our newspaper, huh?"

Shinotake scratched his head, puzzled. "I guess..."

"Man... you guys have all the luck," Mitarai pouted. He handed the card to Takaba before stalking away.

Takaba looked at the card and read the short note. It was signed Asami R.

"Editor, do you know this person... Asami?"

Shinotake shrugged. "It's seems I've heard the name somewhere before..."

"How about that person whose body was found behind your apartment... Oshima."

Shinotake flinched. "What makes you think I knew him?!" he snapped at him.

Takaba was caught by surprise at the editor's outburst. Shinotake sighed, "Yes, I knew him. He caused my family's magazine to go bankrupt by putting pressure on our advertisers to pull out... all because we published a flattering story about one of his competitors. He was a real piece of shit. He had a lot of enemies so I don't think anyone will be mourning his death."

Shinotake stared at Takaba for a long time before leaning in and whispering. "Between you and me? I'd say he finally got what was coming to him." He winked. "Now get back to work."

Takaba looked down at the Club Sion card. Asami's words came back to him.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you I had nothing to do with his death? You should feel disappointed by that."

No, it couldn't be...!

Takaba looked back at his boss. Shinotake was staring off into space... with a scary smile on his face.

. . . . .

. .

~Epilogue~

Takaba had placed Asami in a difficult position. Asami didn't want to go against Takaba's wishes, but his instincts were strongly telling him he needed to remove a threat. Watching Takaba suffer from the anxiety of being outed as being in a gay relationship was not what made Asami decide to eliminate Oshima. It was the realization that once Oshima discovered how much distress he could cause Asami by hurting Takaba, it was very likely he would continue targeting Takaba.

Asami's men tailed Oshima but were ordered to not take action. Asami wanted to deal with Oshima himself since this was a personal matter. Asami was dropped off at Oshima's last known location and he proceeded to track Oshima on foot, waiting for the opportunity to take him out. He followed Oshima to an apartment. Asami recognized it was Takaba's boss that answered the door. Shinotake tried to close the door on him but Oshima began raising his voice. Shinotake feared this would disturb the neighbors so he exited his apartment and the two of them walked around the building to the back.

Asami followed but stayed hidden in the shadows. Their voices became louder as they continued to argue. Oshima kept insisting that he had information about his "immoral" employee, Takaba, that would require the editor to fire him, but Shinotake was determined instead to confront Oshima about his role in causing the Shinotake family's business to go bankrupt.

The argument escalated when Oshima got up in Shinotake's face and yelled he would also take down The Weekly Headline if Shinotake didn't listen to him. In anger, Shinotake roughly pushed him back, which caused Oshima to lose his balance and fall. He hit his head in the fall, was knocked unconscious, and then rolled down a short slope into a canal. Shinotake watched Oshima go under the water but did not move to save him. Instead, he looked around to make sure there were no witnesses and then retreated quickly back to his apartment.

Asami waited around long enough to confirm that Oshima was not going to resurface and then left the scene. He made several phone calls on his way back on Shinotake's behalf; to assist in covering up any possible connection between Shinotake and Oshima, and to erase any evidence of foul play.

Asami was delighted that Shinotake solved his problem for him without him needing to take action himself. He felt he owed Shinotake a debt of gratitude, hence the complimentary gift of the Club Sion membership along with two month's worth of free drinks.

Asami continued to chuckle for the rest of the day about someone else taking out Oshima before he had the chance... and that "someone" happened to be Takaba's boss.

Shinotake made good use of those free drinks, as he had a very anxious and stressful month until Oshima's death was officially ruled as an "accidental drowning".

. . . . .

Leo, the lead singer from the rock band Disquietous, was indeed very disappointed that Takaba had left suddenly. He had been planning all evening to entice Takaba into coming back to his hotel room for a little "rumpy pumpy".

David, contrary to what Anaïs told Takaba, was not Leo's boyfriend but rather a very enthusiastic fan brought along at Leo's whim. Leo is in the habit of "sampling" his fans.

Leo loves having a pen pal from Japan and Takaba gets a kick out of being email buddies with the wild rock star. Takaba and Leo do email each other occasionally...

...much to Asami's annoyance.

. . . . .

. .

Notes: Asami recognized Shinotake because they had met before... though they were never introduced to each other. [See: Yamane Ayano's extra "Takaba's Wonderful Day", alternately known as "An Elegant Day in the Life of Hardworking Photographer Akihito Takaba", Finder 4- Prisoner in the Viewfinder]