YNoMH? (BL)

24

Chapter 24: Center of the World (11)

On Monday, when Kei went into work with souvenirs from a famous sweets shop in Nagano—ordered online—nearly everyone from the announcer department was gathered around the TV in the department reception space.

"...Did something big happen?"

"Jipangu," Asou answered, the only one sitting at his desk. "A private citizen is accusing Newsment of defamation of character, and she's giving an interview right now."

Kei hurried over to the crowd to squeeze in to take a look at the screen, and there was a shot of a woman from the top of her neck to her decolletage. A hand holding a white handkerchief moved restlessly up and down.

"They have upended my life with their one-sided report, making it sound like I'm the culprit."

The lawyer stated that she would file a complaint to the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization1 on the grounds of emotional distress and violation of civil liberties. Kei headed back to Asou's desk and asked, "Is this related to the Yokohama insurance payout murder?"

"That's right."

A suspicious death had befallen a man who was covered by an exorbitantly large insurance payout, and his wife had appeared on numerous special TV interviews about it—her comments were aired with her face censored to protect her privacy.

"One of the commentators had said on the set, 'It seems like a lot of cases like this have been happening frequently recently.' Even if her arrest is inevitable, she is still only a person of interest in the case, and insinuating that she is a suspect in the murder is a step too far."

It might be okay to say, It's been happening a lot lately, while making small talk with people, but it was absolutely prohibited on TV.

"Yes, the story certainly sounds fishy, but that's why they should have exercised even more discretion than usual, whether it be for an interview or a discussion on air. To begin with, the police wouldn't be happy with them jumping the gun this early in the investigation. They still haven't ruled out the possibility of suicide at this point."

"What do you think will happen to Newsment?"

"There were already rumors about internal discord within the staff, I suppose they'd be blaming each other right now. They might cut loose the director they have as a subcontractor. I can't say for sure if this one incident might cause the network to cancel the show, but they might have ropes hanging around their necks moving forward, and they won't be doing things the same way that they did before. And if that happens, then the show loses all its flavor. If I was an executive from their Programming Department, I'd either rename the show and replace all the faces or let it end with the next season of shows."

"Did you know that this would happen, Asou-san?"

"Of course not, I don't have any special powers. It's just not worth being surprised over. This is what happens when people make a TV show without understanding how terrifying TV can be."

He's right. TV is terrifying. It can destroy careers of people with tremendous talent all too easily. It can traumatize people with just a single mistake. It's mentally draining for just a few minutes of a live broadcast.

Kei had learned a little of how terrifying it was. That was why he couldn't be happy about this error that their rival had made. It was a pit that he could fall into himself one day.

Dammit, it would have been funny if they'd actually said something raunchy on air.

Asou chuckled and added, "Speaking of terrifying, that live report of yours scared the bejeezus out of me. Well, we were airing against the soccer match, so it wasn't a big deal, but you really had your hands full."