RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Twenty-Eight: We All Lie

Working for the government required a lot of time and patience... And sometimes, a little clever work on the side. Kyouhei Kurosaki, perhaps, was one in the smallest percent of people working in the political office who could not resist not following his own conscience when it comes to his job. And that was what stressed him the most.

When he had first entered the Diet (the bicameral institution of the national government) he never really expected how contrasting its nature was when he used to be just a mere viewer from the press to being the one who was now actually working behind the scenes. It was a little bit confusing for him, in regards to the matters of ethics and morality, and it had been a really rough beginning when he had started. However, when things began to go bad, he learned that trying to keep his eyes shut (not literally) from all of it would already suffice. But guess, he was not right.

As this week started, the competition for the upcoming deliberation for the highest position held no bounds in putting tension between the likely candidates who were hoping to be chosen and voted. For Kurosaki, going to work had him feeling paranoid. It started that one morning of Monday when he walked into his office and found an anonymous letter on the floor behind the front door. He was wary at first, and he did not feel good about it right away, even before he could open the letter. And when he did...

Things started to get a bit more serious.

The moment he read the letter, his first instinct was to let Yuko Amazawa know about it. She just had to. But as the minutes went on, while pacing back and forth in his office, Kyouhei decided to try and settle this matter on his own first. Maybe it was just a prank. Or even if someone was out there to get to him, it was just something to make him feel threatened and back down. But that was serious. And he knew how serious it felt like, the entire letter screamed seriousness.

So... would he really dare? Will he tell Yuko? A big part of him did not want to. He knew that she got a lot on her plate now and this was something that he should try to fix by himself. It was kind of personal for him too, and to drag Yuko would be shameless of him. Was he that much of a coward?

He wanted to at least try and be reliable for himself. This might not be the first and last time he would ever get something like this again. And if he really wanted to settle this problem, he should act on it as early as possible. But he can't just call Yuko right ahead and tell her everything. Perhaps, this was now the time for him to step up and do something for a change. And for the very first time, in so many years, Kyouhei decided to ignore the warning in his head and went with his instinct.

He can't tell Yuko... not this one. He tried to reason out his actions, and as he picked up his phone, dialed the first person that came to his mind, he knew he was taking a really risky step after everything that had happened.

"Kyouhei-kun."

It sounded as if the person had anticipated his call that morning, and Kyouhei started to feel nervous. He was not really sure if he had to do this, but the deed was already done and now he had to be responsible for his decision. He held the phone against his ear tightly as he took a deep breath.

"I need your help," he then said, "And I don't want anyone else to know for now."

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It was a bit strange coming back to work, be in her office that Tuesday, and looking at everything around her in a different light.

Yuko Amazawa could not really understand what that short vacation back in her hometown had done to her to feel this way now. And as she stared blankly into space, sitting behind her desk with her elbows resting on her table, doing nothing, she had this immediate thought flashing inside her head.

Things were not the same anymore.

That was true, for the most part. And she thought about it quite too deeply for no reason as she stayed seated right there in her office. It was not even an hour since her schedule began when her assistant told her that a call from Osamu Sato just came in. Thinking it was going to be an update about the arrangements they had agreed, she quickly pushed the call to come through.

"What's the agenda?" she immediately asked, and only then did Yuko realized that she still had her coffee untouched on her desk and picked it up. It was already cold and she had no other choice but to still take a sip as she waited for Osamu to respond. She winced... the coffee tasted bad.

"I heard you went on a short vacation," Osamu remarked, his voice lower than usual. "I tried to get in touch with you last weekend, but my calls went straight to voicemail."

That was right, she had turned all means of communication when she had gone back to her hometown last time. And that was because she wanted to get rid of all that stress for a while. In fact, she still let all of the unheard voice messages piled up in her voicemail, knowing that they would all just contain the same thing: Work. 

"Sorry about going off-the-grid," Yuko simply apologized, but not a sincere one apparently, "I had previous plans that's why. So, what's up? What's the reason for your call today?"

Osamu let out a sigh from the other end of the line and took his time to answer that question. And when he did, it was not something that Yuko had expected.

"I found something interesting," Osamu began, his tone getting a little edgy as he spoke, "And you probably should prepare for the worst, Amazawa-san."

"How worse?"  Yuko asked, not realizing that she was now sitting on the edge of her seat, barely breathing.

"Dirtiest politics that you will ever see," Osamu said, clicking his tongue then went on lowering his voice even much more, "Some bastards just went out and dared to raise hell. It's better to keep your blinds shut, for now, Amazawa-san. We might get busted if we're not careful."

How convenient.

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She had been calling him for the nth time now.

The afternoon came in a rush, and Yuko Amazawa tapped her pen on her desk, still ringing up Kyouhei Kurosaki through her phone but failed to get him in the line. What the hell was he doing? She was already aware of his usual schedule and she knew that Tuesdays were not much of a busy time for him. Meetings at the Diet only happen on Thursdays. So either he was having a discussion with his staff or he was occupied in brief meetings with the rest of the Socio-Liberal party co-members because there was no way that he would not check his phone and see that Yuko had been calling him several times since half an hour ago.

Why wasn't he picking up? Not even a text message.

Numerous scenarios ran inside Yuko's head as she gritted her teeth and wondered why she was suddenly being neglected... Or maybe, worse, she was actually being avoided. For some reason? Well, did she just have him feeling weird because of the last conversation they had? Hell, no. She would totally give him hell if that was even the cause of this unusual avoidance. He must pick up the phone no matter what, even if it meant she would keep calling him until evening comes.

She glanced at the pile of papers placed on the side of her desk, near her computer, and exhaled out loud. She leaned her back on her office chair and let the ringing of the dial tone ease her mind off from whatever task she needed to finish before this week ended. She had to get a grip.

Voicemail came in again and Yuko groaned in response, pulling the phone away from her ear and re-dialing again. There was no way she was ever going to stop until he answers.

The ringing began again, and this time, Yuko was already at the peak of her annoyance. This was insane and she had never been in this kind of desperate situation before just to reach Kyouhei and had him caught in the middle of whatever he was doing this time. He should totally have a good enough reason why he was not answering her calls. That bastard.

And finally--not expecting that she would get him this time--in the middle of her impatient thoughts, the line on the other end suddenly got connected and Yuko abruptly sat up straight, recognizing that he eventually answered her.

"Where the hell are you, Kurosaki?!" she immediately demanded, obviously no longer in the right mood for some decent greeting. She then waited and listened to some shuffling sounds in the background, until Kyouhei's voice came and shakily replied back.

"I'm sorry, Yuko-san," he said, sounding like he was in a rush and a little nervous, "I-I... I will call you later."

"Kyouhei-kun--"

Then the call ended just like that, without much warning and Yuko sat there, frozen and dumbfounded with what just happened. He just dropped the call on her... He just definitely dropped the call on her and did not even bother to listen to what she had to say. But that was not really what left a truly lasting impression on Yuko as she stared blankly, still trying to absorb what just happened. It was the fact that she heard another voice from his end. A female's voice. And she did not have to confirm anything to realize whose voice that was... There was no way she can't even know who that was.

It was AMI KOMATSU... He was with her. And what was going on? This entire situation seemed to have become much more complicated than Yuko had thought.

She had to know what he was doing with her... No matter what.

----------------------------------------------------------------------new chapter: Chapter Twenty-Nine