[Characters present at this meeting: Asami, Takaba, Kuroda, Sudoh, Sakazaki, Fei Long, Tao, Mikhail, Kirishima, Suoh, and Yoh]

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Kirishima enters the room. "Please forgive me for the delay. Is everyone present? Good." He reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out a stack of papers. "I have the latest Viewfinder manuscript." He and Suoh begin passing them out. "It's a short one. There's only 11 pages this time."

Asami lights a cigarette. "Let's get on with it then. I have to be at another meeting in 20 minutes."

Frowning, Kirishima sits down at the table and pulls a planner out of his bag. "I don't recall you having another meeting after this."

Asami glances at Kirishima.

Kirishima clears his throat and places the planner back in the bag. "Ah. THAT meeting."

"Another meeting?!" Takaba replies, exasperated. "You told me after this... OWWW!" Kirishima kicks Takaba under the table.

Takaba looks at Kirishima and turns red. "OH! Oh yes... we should hurry up and finish. I have someplace I need to be, too." He pulls out a small paper bag, takes out a single foil-wrapped square and offers it to Asami. Takaba grins wickedly, "Chocolate?"

Asami frowns and shakes his head slightly. "Not now," he mutters quietly.

Tao puts his hand out. "I'll take one."

Takaba drops the candy back into the bag, quickly rolls it up and crams it into his pocket. "Why are you even here? You're becoming a useless distraction."

Tao glares at him.

Sudoh suddenly gasps, "Wait! Speaking of useless distractions... where is Aoki?" He looks frantically around the room. "Why isn't Aoki here?" He quickly thumbs through his script. "She's not in here either... " He keeps reading his script and slowly begins grinning like a madman. "HA! I'm beginning to like this...!"

"Do you want us to stop so you can go look for Aoki?" Kuroda asks.

Sudoh looks up briefly, "Sorry... who?"

Everyone else picks up their scripts and begins reading them. It takes less than a minute before they finish and put their papers down. There is silence around the table.

"I TOLD you!" Takaba yells. "Here I am, trying to get it through everybody's head that my life is IN PERIL... and does anyone listen? NO! You guys IGNORE ME, and instead bet on a catfight between Sudoh and Fei Long!"

"But I did win," Fei Long says, with a smug look on his face.

Everybody looks at Fei Long.

Fei Long crosses his arms. "Well, I did! You should all take note of that." Fei Long smirks at Asami, "And apparently, YOU still consider me a threat."

Asami pulls out his lighter and fires it up. He holds his script over it until it catches fire. "I wouldn't put much stock in anything Sudoh says." Kirishima produces a small metal trash bin and Asami drops the burning paper into it.

"Where do you find such amazing employees?" Sakazaki asks, looking at Kirishima with admiration.

Takaba turns to Sudoh and taps his script. "YOU! Wanting to kill me JUST to get Asami's attention?! You have to be the worst 'M'... EVER!

Tao tugs on Fei Long's sleeve. "What's an 'M' "?

"'M' is short for 'masochist'," Mikhail answers, reaching across the table to ruffle Tao's hair. Fei Long growls and slaps Mikhail's hand away.

Tao tugs on Fei Long's sleeve again. "What's a 'masochist'?"

Fei Long sighs. He pulls a book from one of his large sleeves and hands it to Tao. "Here's a dictionary. Look it up."

Tao whips through the pages. "Found it! It says: 'See Yoh'."

Everybody looks at Yoh.

Yoh puts his head down on the table. "A 'masochist' is someone who works for Asami-sama and Master Fei Long... at the same time."

Sudoh reads through his script again, giggling like a lunatic. "This is fantastic! I'm actually going to get rid of that pest!"

"You're actually going to do something stupid just for a chance of catching a glimpse of Asami's well-hidden emotions." Takaba looks at Sudoh with disgust. "You're really pathetic."

Sudoh glares at Takaba. "In the end, you'll be just as pathetic! You'll see. You're no different than me."

"Except he's cuter," Fei Long replies.

"And smarter," Kirishima adds.

"And he's mentally stable," Mikhail suggests.

"And his ass is rounder," Sakazaki grins.

"And he's feisty," Suoh nods. "Very feisty!"

"And... " Kuroda pauses for dramatic effect, "... Asami actually LIKES him."

Sudoh growls menacingly at Kuroda. "You just wait. You'll be the next to die!"

"Whoa... " Suoh places his hand on his head. "I was just hit by this strange feeling of foreshadowing!"

Kirishima looks at Suoh, stunned. "You, too?"

Everybody turns to stare at Kuroda.

"What?" Kuroda says, looking confused. "Why are all of you looking at me?"

Sakazaki studies Kuroda, thoughtfully. "Yesss... since The Writer-Goddess obviously is not going to kill one of her star characters, killing THIS minor character... who has a mysterious and close past relationship with Asami... means we'd ALL get to glimpse Asami's rare emotional face!" He rubs his hands together in glee. "HA! That's brilliant!"

"Who are YOU calling a minor character?" Kuroda says, glaring at Sakazaki.

"Yeah!" Takaba exclaims. "The fangirls are already loving on him. And besides, you're a bad guy, too... so you're gonna die! Remember what happened to Yuri?"

"Are you certain Yuri is dead?" Mikhail says, in an ominous voice.

Takaba nods. "Asami shot him."

"But are you SURE he's dead?" Mikhail smiles evilly.

"Well, Asami TOLD me he shot him... "

"But did he say that he KILLED him? Did you actually see Yuri's dead body with your own eyes?"

Takaba turns to Asami, "A-Asami?!"

Asami looks at his watch. "Look at the time... this meeting is already running late."

"Ha! I thought not," Mikhail smirks. "That's something for you to think about."

"H-he's not dead?" Takaba stammers. He curls up in a ball, sticks his thumb in his mouth and whimpers.

Asami sighs. "It's time for me to perform another one of my miraculous sex-cures." He pulls the rolled-up bag out of Takaba's pocket, fishes out a square, and unwraps it. "Here... eat one of these, Akihito." He pulls Takaba's thumb from his mouth and shoves in a piece of chocolate.

Sakazaki pulls out his wallet. "I'll wager ¥10,000 on Kuroda being the next character to die!"

Kuroda looks at Sakazaki, annoyed. "If ANYONE is going to die, it will be you. Nobody likes you, so it won't cause anyone any grief to see you die. In fact... it's SO predictable, that it will be boring... " He stops suddenly and covers his face with his hands. "Oh shit! I am going to die. I'm not even going to get a turn at molesting Akihito."

"There's still a chance you might survive," Fei Long replies gently to Kuroda. "I was also supposed to die, but then I became really popular with the fans. So, here I am... though, woefully underused."

Kuroda looks up at Fei Long, hopefully. "You think there's a chance I might be allowed to live?"

"No," Fei Long smiles viciously. "I just wanted to get your hopes up so I could watch your expression as I crush them again." Fei Long twirls a lock of hair. "Unless... "

Kuroda eyes Fei Long warily, "Go on... "

"You do look an awful lot like Asami. You and I getting together might appease my diehard fans. Of course, I'll be the seme... "

"NO!" Mikhail and Yoh yell at the same time.

Mikhail looks at Yoh, bemusedly, and then puts his elbow on table, with his hand out toward Yoh. "How about we arm wrestle, and the winner gets Fei Long?"

Yoh pulls out a gun. "How about I just shoot you?"

"You know what would be nice?" Suoh says. "If someone said... 'Hey, that Suoh seems like a nice guy! Let's put Suoh in the story. Wouldn't it be interesting if Suoh and Kuroda got together?' "

Kuroda looks at Suoh, horrified. "Yoh, let me borrow your gun for a second... "

Kirishima shakes his head. "I wouldn't do that. If you shoot him, you'll just make him angry."

Takaba begins to look flushed. "I feel so... dizzy. Is it just me or is it getting really hot in here... "

Asami quickly stands up, grabs Takaba and throws him over his shoulder. "The meeting is now adjourned!"

The bag falls out of Takaba's pocket. Sakazaki picks it up. "You dropped your candy."

"Wait, Asami... I paid ¥2000 per piece for those!" Asami ignores Takaba and heads toward the door.

Takaba gives Sakazaki a goofy smile as he's carried out the door. "Ohhh... what the hell! You guys can have it. Just don't give any to the brat."

"That's it! I'm going to go slash somebody's tires!" Tao storms out of the room.

Sakazaki looks in the bag. "Hmm... looks like expensive chocolate. I'd say there's just enough for each of us to have one... "

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Acknowledgements: Ay 、どうもありがとうございました !