Chapter Eight: Two Tribes:

November 2, 2011.

Anna and Tsuzuki stood in front of Ju-Oh-Cho. He held her hand.

“You ready to do this?” Tsuzuki asked.

“Yes,” Anna said with a nod.

“Okay,” he said. The couple walked inside. Tsuzuki led Anna to Konoe’s office. He knocked on the door.

“Enter,” Konoe said.

“We’re coming in,” Tsuzuki said. He opened the door and walked inside. Konoe sat at his desk. Tatsumi stood by his side. Tsuzuki stepped forward.

“I am here for a request,” he said.

“Why?” Konoe asked. Tsuzuki looked taken-aback.

“We can’t allow it,” Tatsumi said. “And you know why.”

“You can’t hold that against me!” Anna complained. Tsuzuki pulled her back.

“How will you be sure that it won’t happen again?” Konoe asked.

“We’ll be more careful,” Anna said.

“How?” he asked again.

“Asato can supervise me,” she said. Her husband looked confused. Huh? What just happened?

“No,” Konoe said.

“Can’t someone else watch her?” Tsuzuki asked.

“No,” his manager said.

“Come on!” Anna yelled. This was going nowhere.

“She didn’t know that Ono-sensei was trying to kill herself,” Tsuzuki said. “You can’t hold that against her.” Everyone eyed him. Why did he say that? Konoe gave the shinigami a cold look.

“It’s too dangerous,” he said. Anna was about to speak but Tsuzuki held her back. She whipped her head around. Tatsumi pushed up his glasses.

“You won’t back down from this, will you?” he asked.

“No,” Anna said. “I need this.” By now, Tsuzuki gave up calming her down.

“I have nothing to fill the peace anymore,” she went on. “I love my family but I don’t want to lose my mind. Just give me something to do.” Tsuzuki rubbed his forehead.

“Oh boy…” he mumbled. Tatsumi leaned down to Konoe’s ear. The boss rose to his feet.

“Excuse us,” he said. Tatsumi and Konoe walked over to the back room. They vanished into thin air.

“What just happened?” Anna asked. Tsuzuki shook his head.

“Don’t know,” he said.

“What happens now?” she asked. The shinigami squeezed her hand.

“I don’t know,” he said. “All we can do is wait.”

“Oh…” his wife mumbled.

“Yeah,” Tsuzuki said. Already, he wasn’t too confident about the outcome.