"Kaoruko-san, please have a seat. I'll try to make this brief, no beating around the bush. I respect you too much for that. You've been in this game a long time. You know how it is. You know we've been having financial difficulty. This is a business, and sometimes in corporate dealings, an asset changes hands."
Uh huh. So if he isn't going to beat around the bush, then why all this prevarication?
"I'll just cut to the chase. As you know, PopBeat has been losing money for quite some time. Our investors have voted to liquidate it and divide up the dividends among the shareholders. You understand. When a buyer suddenly stepped forward, we were in no position to negotiate."
Oh, fuck...so I'm out of a job?
"Now, that's the bad news. The good news is the new owner has assured us he won't be firing anyone. On the contrary, there's a small bump in pay for all employees, and some additional perks for those with tenure, like yourself. He said he was looking forward to working with you, and that might translate into additional benefits—profit sharing, retirement and the like. I'm not saying it will, but it might."
Sure, sure.
"So, there you have it. Let me just say you've been one of our finest employees, and a good friend. It's a shame we won't be working together anymore, but the corporation simply couldn't afford the money sink PopBeat has become. Back in the day, the magazine was a great institution, but the internet's kind of killed that. No one reads paper anymore, so what can we do?"
Oh, I don't know. Maybe invest a little to bring the mag into the digital age like the new owner is probably going to do?
"By the way, that was a fantastic story you did on Taki Aizawa. Simply brilliant. Boosted sales tremendously, I hear."
And yet PopBeat is going under. Why did she suddenly hear an old ASK song running through her head? "Erm, thank you, sir. May I ask who the new owner is?"
Burning, always burning,
your love, it took its toll
"Certainly. It's Tohma Seguchi of NG Music."
When you play with matches
The devil gets your soul.