The Shogun

Chapter 13 : Rock Bottom

Now

A moment of silence falls upon the entire room. Reina takes in a deep breath and she couldn't help but massage her eyes out of exhaustion. Her team had just brought a new batch of tea and snacks to munch on but she was not in the mood to look at them, let alone eat them. Her eyes then fell upon the person of her interest who was sitting right in front of her. Seiran was sipping her tea while Naoki was standing next to her, asking if she needed anything. The crew were also taking a break to replace the batteries and maintenance of their equipment.

"Any updates on what we are going to do about that statue?" Reina asks Akira as he comes by near the table.

"Shido and Kurumi are leaving tomorrow afternoon for Nabu", the owner of the news station replies back.

"Shido and Kurumi!? I can understand why you are sending Shido but Kurumi!? Didn't she just come back from Korea?" the chief editor asks.

"She was pestering me for a new assignment. So I thought that sending her with Shido might be good. Also they could spend some... you know... quality time", Akira replies with a grin. Reina couldn't help but sigh. Her boss was at it again. She has no idea why he was obsessed with workplace romance and she was afraid to ask about it. There was a rumor his father met his mother in the same way. While Akira-san met his wife when he was in college, the man was like a gossiping woman. He went out of his way to learn the rumors going around the office. Shido having a crush on Kurumi was not a secret at the studio except for Kurumi herself and Kurumi's crush on Shido was well known as well except for Shido. It was like watching a rom-com except for the fact that Reina was a background character in that rom-com. The days Kurumi was not present at the studio, Shido would be at his most grumpiest and the same could be said about her top notch reporter.

"You're at it again, Akira-san", Reina says as she goes through her notes to which her boss couldn't help but laugh and say, "Come on, don't tell me you are not interested!"

"I'm not going to lie. I'm definitely intrigued. But are you sure that sending them on this assignment is good for them? They both tend to focus a lot on their job, so it might have an opposite effect".

"Be a little bit optimistic Reina-chan", Akira chides a bit to which Reina retorts, "Did you forget I'm Kuchisake-onna".

"At least you are not going around asking people whether you are pretty or not", says Akira.

"I'm also not walking around with a huge pair of scissors or a knife, nor I get distracted by money or hard candles", Reina snaps back.

"Your words are sharp enough", was the reply Akira gave. The chief editor wanted to retort back, but she didn't want to sound rude. At the same time, he was telling the truth. She made a name for herself by being a sharp tongued, no nonsense journalist. She didn't care if people were hurt by her words. It was her job. 'A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity' . That was the motto this studio was built upon. Juzo news vowed themselves to never be controlled by an outer force. That is why people always tuned in to their channel. So if you want transparency, you have to learn to be harsh.

But this harshness of hers caused a lot of problems. She lost her first boyfriend to her harshness. Her being harsh caused her to have less friends. Her only friend right now was her rival and her colleague, Chizuru Ueda. While Reina was the face of the channel, Akira-san was the brains and Shido was the feet, Chizuru was the backbone. She covered for the chief editor when she was not available. She had Shido too, but he was more of a younger brother. Kurumi on the other hand... she was a handful. It was also a fact that the divorce of her parents kinda messed with her a bit. Her father cheated on her mother, so she had some trust issues as well.