Title: Silent Consonant
By: Dr. Kim-chan
Author's Note: Um…please don't kill me? Pretty please?
I really don't have a good excuse for being gone so long, but I do have this: a pathetic, pathetic apology in the form of a triple-chapter update.
And shows how long I've been gone; I didn't know the site had made so many changes in the past couple of months. But I have to say, I love this new FF.N. Longer synopses limits, less glitches, interrobang support? (I tend to use a lot of interrobangs, so I was forever frustrated by "?!" turning into one or the other.) Most of all, I'm crazy about the fact that stories can now have image covers. I'm dying to give Silent Consonant one of its own, but I don't know what exactly to use. If any readers want to make any suggestions, you're welcome to do so.
"Yotsuba Corporation, Finance Department. Assistant Satoru Komori speaking…yes, sir, I'm finishing up the reports as we speak. Do you want hard and electronic copies…? Yes…I should have them done by Wednesday."
Effortlessly, Loud used the palm of one hand to hang up the phone, letting himself take no more than a three-second break from his frantic typing. However, writing up profit-and-loss reports and running to and fro from the printer was far from his primary concern.
That didn't mean he wasn't doing some work. He had a couple of spreadsheets displayed on the monitor—but partially tucked under the keyboard were printouts of data he and Wedy worked to excavate from the network's more restricted sectors, as well as a few things cribbed from the CDs Namikawa gave them.
If he'd learned nothing else from this investigation so far, anything they currently got from Yotsuba's database was likely not telling the whole story, the facts already glossed over by whoever was draining money from Yotsuba, Tamai, and Shoriyado. So far the only method Loud found useful was making tedious, line-by-line comparisons between Yotsuba's current database and the information Twelve had gathered. He'd already been here for about three days and seen nothing, and on top of that, there was no guarantee that the data in the CDs hadn't also been tainted, but crunching numbers was tiddlywinks compared to some of his prior workload at the CIA.
Somewhat motivated by the phone call, Loud turned his attention back to one of the lists he requested from one of his higher-ups, enumerating the Material Planning and Homes Division's sales and expenses. The department's lengthy label accurately reflected its purpose, as it handled a lot more than homes.
Loud began scrolling through the list of projects.
A multistory building, complete with an extensive surveillance system, to replace Sekimaru Company's older Saitama office complex.
A couple of new mid-rise apartment buildings in Tokyo's Shinbashi Ward.
Five private homes for individual (and prominent) clients.
A research facility for a burgeoning medical business.
Extensive renovations for a few more individual clients.
And this was just last fiscal period…
Loud stopped.
His eyes skimmed back over the dates, and then in-between the numbers.
Although a relatively recent addition to the company, Material Planning and Homes was Yotsuba's most financially stable area, headed by Yotsuba's second-most senior VP, Eiichi Takahashi. It was also evident that the key to Takahashi's success was the exact opposite of the aggressive sales tactics Higuchi used. Instead he ensured profits by keeping costs low and minimizing risks.
They'd already collected such strong evidence against Higuchi and Hatori, and with Shoriyado, Tamai, and Kaneboshi now in the mix, it hadn't seemed necessary to look anywhere else.
Of course, L had warned his colleagues against merely looking at the surface of things.
Apparently he'd been right.
Minimizing all other browser windows, Loud took out a CD, opened an e-mail program, and fired off a series of quick e-mails…
"…Welcome to Yotsuba Bank! May I help you?"
Sitting in an improvised green room, Misa (and on a more subconscious level, everyone sitting at the judges' table nearby) cringed as the high-pitched echo reached her ears, and she mentally subtracted a couple of points from the imaginary scoreboard in her head.
Way too much energy. And it's "Welcome to Yotsuba Bank"—short pause—"May we help you?". She missed that twice in a row…
The end had come to another long day of auditions; Misa had her turn around eleven o'clock, so her nerves were already spent. So far, each of the competitors displayed individual strengths, but it had quickly become obvious that some of them weren't used to so much pressure in front of a camera.
And she couldn't blame them.
It looked as if Yotsuba had well prepared in advance for this. The finalists' tryouts were taking place in a much larger studio in the northeast outskirts of Tokyo, large enough to make two mock-up sets: one of a Yotsuba bank's lobby, and another of a young woman's paradisiacal apartment, all complete with a small-scale camera/sound team and director. In a series of screen tests, each girl had to play the parts of a bank teller, a college graduate opening their first checking account, and a carefree young woman enjoying a variety of Yotsuba-made electronics. Misa herself hadn't felt too confident during the bank teller bit, as it called for a certain degree of 'sophistication', but that morning she'd marched in with a few sparks of inspiration.
I didn't know where I was, who I was dealing with…but I knew I had to stay calm. If I panicked, I would've only made things worse…
In the end all we can do is try, and that's what I plan on doing when I graduate from the academy…
…But it has to be the same with you, right? Why did you become a model?
Granted he was a couple years younger, but Light Yagami was definitely wise beyond his years. Unlike some of the pretty-boy parasites that liked to hang around models or the Kansai tough-guys she ran across back home, he was safe, sure of himself and his future.
If she played her cards right, she'd get something much more valuable than a contract with Yotsuba.
A chance at love.
"Okay, that was the last take! Thank you, Miss Ojima."
The perky brunette bowed nervously to the director and stepped off the set. A few feet away, a sharply-dressed man with platinum blonde hair cleared his throat and called for everyone to line up in front of the table holding the sizeable group of judges. Whereas the first tryouts were only in front of three executives, today it was all eight, plus two scouts and a couple more heavy-hitters from Yotsuba's marketing department.
"Well, first we'd like to thank everyone for arriving promptly, and for being patient while we ran through all the candidates," Hatori said. "As you may already know, taking on the role of the face of our company will entail a lot more than what you did today, but your screen tests here more or less encapsulate what we're looking for in our spokesmodel: one who will appeal internationally as well as locally, one who's aware of the needs and wants of our target demographic—still young, fun, and current, but emerging in the workforce. Above all else, we want someone able and willing to commit and take Yotsuba Corporation to the next level."
"Between now and tomorrow, not only will we be taking today's screen tests into consideration, but also the interviews you gave us in the first round, as well as all your previous work experience. Whomever we choose, we'll contact them or their agent in person, and we'll make the public announcement Monday evening at a special party, with our new spokesmodel and one guest of her choosing as our VIPs."
That last sentence in particular elicited a wave of hushed whispers and giggles.
"Then I suppose all that's left is thank you again and good luck, and to congratulate all of you for getting this far. Obviously you wouldn't have done so if you didn't have the talent and the beauty to do so."
After a semi-formal bow from both sides, the girls were finally dismissed, and everyone at the table also stood up to leave. The evaluation period in question would actually be divided into two parts: one tonight to discard the ones they were sure they didn't want, and another, much more intense meeting the next day to sort among the surer bets.
And in between, they still had to hurry to get their taxes squared away with.
That was probably why Takahashi's phone had been vibrating like crazy for the past several minutes.
Sighing and stretching his stocky legs, he flipped his phone open.
"Takahashi," he growled. "We just finished up with the tryouts over here, so if it can wait until I get back to the office…"
"Actually, sir, it's about some accounts-receivable documents we received from your division…"
"Henh henh henh…"
The guard closest to the door of Beyond's makeshift holding cell twitched slightly. He'd already had a couple of days to get used to it, but their captive had one unsettling habit neither he nor his colleagues hadn't quite gotten used.
Whenever he was left alone with the guards (or whenever his lawyer was pleading with him for the umpteenth time to plead guilty), he sat in stolid silence, staring intently at the opposite wall as if he expected it to move.
Then—maybe at eleven at night, or ten in the morning, it was never an exact hour—he'd suddenly break into quiet laughter, or count a random sequence of numbers. Each day (or night) that the latter happened, each sequence would be much higher than the last, as if he conveniently skipped some numbers in-between.
Watari had already been told about this behavior, as they were worried the counting was some indirect reference to yet another scheme he had up his sleeve, but both Tokyo and Los Angeles were on high-alert, with all the supposed perpetrators under tight security and Beyond's court date in less than forty-eight hours.
What else could he possibly be up to?
"Nine million, three hundred and thirty one thousand, one hundred and ninety five…nine million, three hundred and thirty one thousand, one hundred and ninety six…nine million, three hundred and thirty one thousand, one hundred and ninety seven…giiive or take a couple of seconds…"
Brief silence.
"Hello…? Excuse meee…"
"What?" the guard grumbled, hoping to shut Beyond up. He tried not to engage too much with the captive, as per Watari's strict orders.
"What day is it?"
"April fourth."
"Japan Time, I'm assuming?"
"…Yes."
"Which makes it April third in Los Angeles by a few hours."
Pause.
"I was coordinating with local time, but once again, all timing proves divine. If the harvest virgin let curiosity get the better of him…if the archer's poised to release his arrow…and if the second water-bearer's ready to fill his vessel…"
Another pause—and this time the guard could have sworn he heard Beyond grin.
"You can't ignore your shadow forever—you or that damn bull."
"So do his attorneys have any plan for a defense?"
"As far as I understand it, since Mr. Birthday refuses to take a plea deal or give us any more information pertaining to the hostages he supposedly has, they're planning to take this from a purely psychological angle. Personally, I believe their only chance at this point is to simply save him from execution, and even that may prove a challenge given the sheer scope of his crimes—"
The impromptu conference between Watari and the prosecuting attorneys was interrupted by a beep on Watari's computer monitor.
"Excuse me…yes, what is it, Mr. Mogi?"
"I have Mr. Mason from the SIS-L Los Angeles Branch standing by. He says it's urgent."
"Put him through."
Beep.
"Watari here. What's wrong?"
"When Interpol let you guys handle Beyond Birthday's trial, I presume it was under the assumption that you and the rest of the Japan Branch would keep him under lock and key—and away from any computers?!"
"Beyond Birthday is guarded, Mr. Mason…please, could you calmly explain what's happening?"
"About ten minutes ago, every computer in our building detected something in its SIS-L database, and then this, this…program popped up on all the screens! Some kind of timer or something…"
Watari cocked an eyebrow. "Timer?"
"When it started, it was set at exactly thirteen days. Right now it's at twelve days, twenty-three hours, forty-nine minutes and…what? Yeah, thirty-seven seconds and counting down. I already had a couple of our guys try to trace and analyze this. So far it doesn't seem like a malicious virus or anything like that, though there's a chunk of disk space our computers can't account for. All I'm hoping is that this isn't a countdown to some plot that maniac cooked up while he was out running free. I was also considering having the building checked for bombs; maybe you should, too."
The two prosecuting attorneys exchanged worried glances, but Watari looked oddly unperturbed.
On the other hand, maybe his response wasn't so strange. After all, Beyond had cried wolf too many times already.
"If you mean the mafia, we may have already nipped it in the bud with the warehouse raid. Of course I agree it's better to be safe than sorry, but after all these years of dealing with Beyond, I can tell you that explosives or anything of that ilk don't particularly fit his MO," Watari murmured. "Even if he's backed up against the wall, he typically prefers subversion over outright chaos."
"And that mess at MacArthur Park wasn't outright chaos?!"
"With all due respect, Mr. Mason, the trials have yet to begin, so we cannot assume all the details about that incident have come to light yet. Just in case, though, have the entire L.A. Branch on the lookout, and I'll mobilize anyone I can spare here."
"For all our sakes, I hope you're right."
(End Chapter 53)
Silent Extra: More chapter title talk, 11 through 15:
-Chapter 11: Not much decision in this one; pretty much went with "My Past, Your Future" from the start. "My Past" meaning L's and "Your Future" meaning Wedy's and Aiber's.
-Chapters 12 and 13: Because the numbers 12 and 13 had so much significance (and still do), I instantly knew what the titles of these two chapters would be: a paraphrase of Beyond's quote in Chapter 5, the words that started it all. I was also glad I was able to pace the story so that its first major climax would occur during those two particular chapters.
-Chapter 14: Strangely, the only chapter title in the form of a question, but given that there's a lot of uncertainty at this point concerning L's whereabouts, it fit. And of course, "our justice" refers to L, but it was also alluding to what was happening behind the scenes, namely how Watari could organize the SIS-L for such heinous ulterior motives.
-Chapter 15: I was considering something like "Missing" or simply "O" (for Mitsuko Ona), but there was a lot of little cause-and-effect events going on, then I had the idea to label each section with timestamps, thus "Four Hours" (four separate hours, of course).
