Love and Business DON'T Mix
Japanese Culture Weekly - Main office - Wednesday - 1 P.M.
Takato Matsuki was thinking about the last assignment. It was horrible, and he was fuming. He had thought of quitting the magazine, and jumping ship to the next one. Henry Wong, who was sitting in the next cubicle, asked, "Man Takato, you're not having a pretty good run when it comes to assignments, huh?" Takato replied back, "Lay off, Henry." He then sighed and asked, "Why do I even bother getting a lousy job like this?" Henry replied, "I knew you since high school, and I know how much you're into visual arts." Takato, defeated, replied back, "Yeah, and?" Henry finished for his friend, "You took a photo class, and you signed up for this after we graduated."
Takato said, "You always finish my thoughts, man. Here's yours: You major in writing, and a few months after I got the photo job, you come on as an article writer." Henry replied, "Close, man. But not quite." Takato said, "I thought I had it." Henry said, "Yeah, but you forgot I got the job after I graduated from the school of Journalism." Takato replied, "Ok, I was off. Meet me at the bar when we're done at work?" Henry replied, "Gladly." Kazu replied, "So, guys? You going to get the GLAY concert assignment?" Takato said, "I've got another assignment that the editor-in-chief will tell me about tomorrow. She might give me the GLAY concert assignment after this one." Kazu replied back, "Oh."
Work for the four (Takato, Henry, Kazu and Kenta) passed by slowly, and they met at the bar. It was sooner or later they were into their beers and looking at the TV, watching the scores for the J-League. I replied back from the bar, "You guys shouldn't be hanging out here anymore. You know too much alcohol isn't too good for your bodies." Takato said, "Yeah. Good point. Anyway, if I'm done with both assignments, I may get moved to doing movie premiers instead of models and music." Kazu replied, "What's the matter, 'Kato? Don't like models?" Henry nudged Kazu, and said, "Man, that is LOW. You know Takato doesn't like to reminded of that!"
After a few hours of drinking and looking at the J-League scores and highlights, the four went to the apartment building they all lived in. Kazu and Kenta shared an apartment while Henry and Takato shared one as well. During that night, Takato and Henry talked, and Henry bought it up. "So Takato, why don't you like to talk about what happened during our graduation year?" Takato said, "I just don't like people bringing it up. I'll get dinner." Takato did so, and Takato and Henry got to talking again. Not about what happened during that year, but about their pending assignment. Henry asked, "You know what it could be?" Takato answered, "No." The two talked well into the night, and finally slept at midnight.
The next day, Takato was in the dark room developing some of his work, and after he was done, he inserted a fresh roll of film into his camera, and after putting it on, walked into the editor-in-chief's office. He said, "Takato. This is a surprise." Takato replied back, "Jeri, I was wondering what my job is that you kept from me until today." Jeri replied, "Well, I wanted to keep the job from you because you'd go berserk if you found out." Takato said, "I won't jump to that low. So what's that job?" Jeri took a deep breath, and said, "Well, we talked to Ryo Akiyama, who's Rika Nonaka's agent and fiancé…" Takato said, "You mean our old model friend?" Jeri said, "Yeah. You're going to be the camera boy behind it while Henry's doing the interview." Takato asked, "You mean I'm going to take the pictures?" Jeri answered, "Yeah. Are you going to take the job?" Takato fired back, "Of course. I'll handle it." He walked out, more than shocked. He was WAY angry.
Henry saw it, and Henry asked, "Man, what's wrong?" Takato answered, "Jeri just gave us our jobs for the next issue of the magazine." Henry said, "Well, what's our jobs?" Takato said, "You really want to know?" Henry said, "Of course, man! Just give me what it is!" Takato replied, "Rika, our old friend, she's going to be allowing our magazine to do a photo shoot, and she granted an interview." Henry said, "Ok." Takato said, "That ain't all, man. I'm the photographer for that shoot, and you're Mr. interview." Henry replied, "So that complicates things." Kazu came up, and said, "Well, we heard. So, you going to get your fear over with?" Takato said, "Don't talk to me about it."
The workday passed slowly, and the boys decided to skip going to the bar, and the guys walked back to the apartment building. After everything, Takato and Henry hit the bedroom, and while the boys lied down in their respective beds, Takato thought about what happened back then. Seems that Rika said that Takato wasn't her type, and she walked away with Ryo leaving Takato heartbroken. He never got over it. Then, Takato thought about the photo shoot, and thought, "Ok, I'm just going to treat this like any other assignment." He then went to sleep. The shoot was scheduled for tomorrow.
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Coming up: Photo shoot & Tragedy
R&R!