Tokyo Tower

Sera's cell phone informed the girl about a new e-mail message.

"Hmm..."


Sera sent the message and entered the hotel's lobby. Jodie was still sitting there.

Rena finished typing up a draft of a script when she recieved the e-mail. She typed back,

I believe he is a member trying to gauge your reaction to his face. He has done so with some of Uncle Sam's friends already. She hit the "send" button.

((Uncle Sam = United States))

"That means he is trying to find me again..." Sera mumbled and pocketed her cellphone.
"Masumi-san? Is that you?" She suddenly heard behind her. Jodie.

Crap... I was almost at the elevator. Why sould I say it aloud???

"And what's with those clothes? That doesn't seem like you at all." The woman continued asking.
"Well, I just thought to take a walk and try if anyone notice me when I'm wearing more girly clothes." Sera explained quickly as they entered to the elevator.
"I see. But who you were talking about? Who is trying to find you? Don't tell me you have gotten more problems with the organization."
"..." Sera waited until the elevator was in their floor and the doors had opened.

"I was just talking about annoying scar face who thinks he can find out soemthing useful by walking around the city. The real one would never do anything like that if he'd be in a situation like that..."

"Annoying Scar Face? What do you mean?" the FBI agent quizzed.

"I mean the man walking around with what looks like a burn scar on his face." Sera walked toward her room.

Jodie looked stunned. "You mean that's not the real Shuu?" she asked in a low voice.

What was the FBI woman's relationship with her brother? "Of course not. The real one would never act like that," Sera replied. She unlocked her room and turned to the FBI agent. "May I ask you something? What was your relationship to the man you call Shuu?"

"I..." Jodie bit her lip and glanced at the girl. Sera's face didn't show any emotions but the woman knew that the girl was more than curious to know. "We used to go out... before he infilrated to the organization..."
"...And why did he broke up then? Because he didn't want to endanger you or his mission?"
"Both..." Jodie wanted to leave the detail about Miyano Akemi unknown.
"I see..."

Rena turned in her script to the editors to get checked and then her cellphone beeped. Excusing herself, she checked the number and sighed. Gin.

Walking outside to a private place, she answered the call. "Yes?"

"Who were you talking to in the restaurant, Kir?" Gin's deep voice asked.

"A high school student. I'm researching for a feature on sexual harrassment of girls on buses and trains," Rena lied.

"Why the bug jammer?"

"She's been stalked before and she felt better if I brought something to disguise our conversation. Otherwise she wouldn't talk to me." Rena folded her arms across her chest as she stared at a potted plant.

"Rena-chan! Do you want to watch me tape my cooking show?" Yoko-chan's voice asked happily from behind.

"Listen, I need to go. I'll call you back later." Rena smiled and hung up.

Sera closed the door of her room and sighed. Telling lies to everyone was tiring. But even more tiring was to be left without the truth.

"But I'm not giving up before I know everything." The girl mumbled as she collapsed on her bed.
"Geez, I'm so tired. And it's only..." She glanced at her alarm clock. "Three pm..."

It didn't take long until she had fallen asleep.

After watching Yoko-chan film her cooking show, Rena found herself involved in one meeting or another until around 11 pm. As she drove back to her apartment, she dialed Gin's number.

"Why didn't you call back earlier?" Gin growled.

"I had to attend a lot of meetings to get me back on track," she explained, entering her apartment's parking lot. "We're working on the sexual harrassment feature."

She heard him breathing heavily for a moment, then he said, "I better see this feature sometime in the future, or you'll find yourself full of extra airholes. Understand?"

"I understand perfectly," Rena said coolly. Thankfully, she'd proposed the idea to her producer, and he had liked it. "Anything else?"

"No." He hung up without bothering to say good-bye.

Sera yawned. She had just woken up but felt still tired. Carefully she rose up from her bed and walked to the window. The sun was still shining but long shadows had covered the streets. People out there walked around, past the hotel or into it. But one figure was standing still.

"That..." Sera clenched her fist. "He followed me after all..."

Rena became acutely aware that three B.O. members were following her when she went to work the next day; they hovered like ravens just out of sight, but she could sense their presence. She sat down at her computer in her office and typed out a message to Masumi-kun:

Would it be possible to meet again at 1 pm in the same place? I would like to interview you for a feature concerning high school girls.

Hmm, must be something to do with organization...They are suspicious about her. Well, let's play along then. Sera thought as reading the message. She typed the answer: "Sure. No problem..."

"I bet they are watching her every move. But the only problem at this point is..." Sera glanced at the wall. "That FBI agent..."

Rena sighed in relief when she saw that Masumi-san had accepted the invitation. She started researching the issue of harrassment and preparing questions for the interview.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jodie frowned; that girl was up to something; her eyes had gleamed last night when they had talked. But what?

((Gah, lack of inspiration is lacking. DX ))

On the next day Sera didn't even notice how the lessons ran past. She just remembered waking up and the being back to the hotel after school. She changed into "Samure Misa's clothes" and headed to the family restaurant where Mizunashi was waiting for her. Whe she was walking through the hotel's lobby she noticed Jodie sitting there again.

"She is suspicious about something..." Sera thought but walked past the FBI agent without paying any attention on her.

Rena looked up and saw Masumi-san sitting down in front of her. "Thank you for coming," she said in a low voice as she adjusted her notebook pad.

"You're welcome. What is this about?" Masumi-san asked, crossing her legs.

"As stated in my earlier e-mail, I'm doing a feature on high school girls and dealing with sexual harrassment in public places such as buses and trains." Rena felt herself slip into her reporter's role. "I was wondering if I could interview you to describe some experiences that maybe you or maybe your peers have gone through."

Masumi-san paused. "Wait, are you going to interview me in the studio?"

"No, not you in this case; I'll record the interview on tape, but I won't be using real names or ask you to sit in front of a camera." That would be suicidal.

"I see. Pretty good excuse for meeting me earlier. Sexual harassment, huh? Well, I'm a teen after all." Sera smiled in her mind and played decided to along. The interview went pretty well. She had seen a lot during her years in America and knew something about the situation in Japan, too. But during that interview she had an uneasy feeling that someone was watching them. Maybe it was just the organization keeping an eye on Mizunashi but she still couldn't fully relax.

Rena felt the eyes of Black Organization members watching them; she'd managed to count three agents so far, and she didn't have any doubt that there were more where she couldn't see them.

Masumi-san answered the last question and looked over at Rena questioningly. Oh yes, I'm interviewing her. Rena held her pen over her pad. "Is there anything else that I haven't gone over that you'd like to add?"

Masumi-san nodded and leaned forward to whisper. "How many people are watching us?"

"At least three." Rena wrote down some notes. "Do you know of anyone who would be willing to be interviewed on ? We would protect their identity by changing their names and keeping their faces shadowed, or pixelated."

"Hmm... I don't recall any... If something like this has happened to my friends, they probably wouldn't tell anyone..." Sera answered. "Was this everything? I guess I should go home now."
"Sure, thank you for your time." Mizunashi smiled.
"You are welcome, Mizunashi-san." Sera rose to leave. Someone else right next to the restaurant's window rose up too. That man went to pay his coffee and followed her outside the restaurant.

Sera walked a few blocks from the restaurant. The man followed her about a few meters away. She stopped suddenly. The man continued his way past her.
"Wait."
The man stopped.
"You were listening the interview at the restaurant, right?" Sera asked and walked closer.
"What if I were?"
"I hate people how eavesdrop and after that start following."
The man turned slowly around, frowning deeply.
"But I left one thing untold in that interview." Sera was relieved her hat hid her face, especially her eyes.
"I can take care of myself..." She aimed a punch on the man's stomach. "...really well."

Rena put away her notebook and other items and walked out of the restaurant, ignoring the Black Org members following her. No doubt there's a sniper with his rifle trained on me somewhere.

Masumi-san and Rena would have to be a lot more careful from now on.

Who else can I contact for this interview? Maybe that Mouri girl from the detective agency?

Sera's punch hit the man right on his stomach.

"Why did you follow me?" The girl asked angrily. She tried to make the situation look like she had mistaken the man into some stalker, not a member of the organization.
"I just..." The man couldn't find any good explanation.
"Stay away from me or I call the police." Sera said and walked away.

He was definitely from the organization. But probably not very high-ranked one... Sera adjusted her hat better on her eyes. She decided to take a detour to the hotel.

Rena went back to the T.V. station where a crew member handed her a stack of papers. "Mizunashi-sama, these are the scripts for the taping tonight. The director wants you to look these over."

"All right." She accepted the papers and sat down at her desk. Flipping to the first one, she started to read.

Sera walked through sidestreets and parks. She even went to a mall's topfloor only to go to the bottom floor immediately. After all those detours she returned to the hotel.

Someone followed me to here... I'm sure about that... Sera thought, glancing over her shoulder. She didn't see anyone but felt a stare at her back.

Vermouth smiled. The girl was good. She could see why Gin and the others were interested in her. Disguised as a hotel maid, Vermouth pushed a cleaning cart down the hall. Her orders had been to merely watch, not kill, so she passed by the girl without glancing at her. Turning a corner, she used a stolen hotel master key to enter an empty bedroom, and acted like she was cleaning it.

Sera opened the door of her room and closed it quickly behind. She leaned against it and sighed deeply. It was so tiring to be aware about everything. And the feeling when was followed. Not by a stalker(they should be let Sera be alone or they'd find themselves... well, in a bad shape), but by the organization.

"And when you don't know are they going to kill you or just keep an eye on you..." Sera shook her head.

Vermouth passed by the girl's room after she closed the door and memorized the number and location. Continuing down the hall, she took an elevator down two floors, discarded the cart, and quickly changed out of the uniform into a business suit.

The girl was no Silver Bullet, but it would be interesting to see what she would do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rena wondered how Masumi-san was holding up under the B.O.'s pressure. It couldn't be easy, especially since she didn't have the experience of a seasoned agent. Mumbling her lines, Rena familiarized herself with the scripts well enough not to stumble when she had to speak in front of the camera and teleprompter later.

Sera's hands shook. She couldn't help it. She was scared. They were watching her every move she'd do outside the hotel. And maybe even inside it, too.

They know my location. If they find out who I am it's the end for me, Mizunashi, brother, everyone. She thought. Isn't there any way out from this situation?