The intercom buzzed on his desk, somewhere at the edge of his consciousness. He was still lying on the floor of his office. He should go and pick it up, but what for? Did it matter? What would people think if they found him like that?

  He didn’t really care, but he moved out of habit and made his way back to his feet. The intercom buzzed again. How long had he been laying on the floor? He looked outside the glass windows. The sun had gone down markedly and was now almost level with the top of Tokyo Tower. Several hours, easily.

  As he made his way to the desk the buzzing stopped and he heard a knock on the door. He turned around in time to see the door opening. He wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt and looked at the intruder. Immediately, his heart melted. Before him stood Oroshi. His eyes were red and his face puffy. He’d been crying, obviously, but he was doing his best to put up a strong front. The poor kid had probably just learned the news.

  I should have been the one to let him know, he chided himself. He straightened his posture as Oroshi walked up to him and knelt.

  “Mashiro-sama. I’m truly sorry. This happened because of my inadequacies. I failed to protect Kaori.” Oroshi bowed all the way, his head touching the floor. He remained there.

  Daisuke bent on one knee and embraced Oroshi like a son. With Kaori gone, Oroshi was now all he had left. His eyes watered, but this time he contained himself. He had to be strong.

  Oroshi returned his embrace, his face over Daisuke’s shoulder. There were no camera and no witnesses. He allowed himself a grin. This was just perfect. He cradled the old fool who was fighting back the tears as one would a child.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  It was true that a man’s later years were much the same as his first, he thought as he felt Daisuke’s tension ease into his arms.

  He broke the contact and helped him up. There were still things to be done, but he had to maneuver very carefully. Grieving people tended to be erratic and he could ruin everything with a single word.

  “Please allow me to be of assistance. I humbly ask that you allow me the honor of serving. However modest my abilities may be, I pledge them fully to the service of the Mashiro family.” Oroshi declared in a broken voice. He seemed on the verge of tears, but somehow maintained control of himself.

  Daisuke embraced him again.

  “You are the son I never had, Oroshi. Do not blame yourself for the actions of madmen.”

  And THAT is how it’s done, Oroshi laughed mentally. Kaori was never half the actor he was.

  He still had to convince the man to proceed with the merger and turn things over to him—temporarily of course—but it shouldn’t be much of a challenge. With every financial news outlet peddling the line that Daisuke was too bereaved to properly care about the interests of the shareholders, day traders were shorting the stock like mad, hoping to profit from the downturn.

  Soon, the board of directors would start dropping little hints that something had to be done and when that happened…

  It’s amazing how much you can do when you control the media. Some coked-up reporter hunching over a computer was effectively handing him Daisuke’s company on a platter with just a few lines.