Onihunter Yuna 2

50 Relatio Interruptus (Present)

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."