The Journalist

Part 79: A Locked Heart

After my return from London, I returned to Tokyo and focused on being a legal and political journalist. Learning from the Syrian conflict and the Middle East countries, I am interested in being a legal and political journalist in order to always criticize government policies that harm the people. Of course, a journalist must remain neutral without bringing anyone's interests.

For the past few years, I've been used to bristling in loneliness. No woman has interested me. Blind dating apps and the nightlife world that pamper men I never touch. I really dedicate my time just to work.

Speech programs that I guided are increasingly popular and well received by the community. Because, the event always raises issues and phenomena that are warm by doing in-depth research first. There have been many important figures, politicians to state officials who are present exclusively to be the speakers of my show. Even the class of prime minister once sat opposite me in the presence of the entire community watching. With questions that are firm, critical, piercing, sharp, full of satire, and a little provocative, it is not uncommon to make the political figures and officials I interviewed silent so unintentionally dismantle their own guise in front of all the spectators who saw it.

The program even won national awards. I was also included in the list of influential young people in Asia. Thanks to my success in bringing the program, my Twitter and Instagram followers are getting more and more so that the nickname influencer is embedded in me. Behind my success, there are risks that I must face when choosing to be the mouthpiece of the people. Threats, terror, banishment to silent attacks often experienced. But all that did not break my guts to keep exposing rotten politicians and officials.

In recent months, top magazines and tabloids have been reviewing my personal profile. This exposed my family background. Now people know I'm the only child of professor Ayano Kaneshiro. My mom and dad are proud of my career. Even so, the demand for immediate family arose as I would soon be thirty-two years old.

Mom started to worry because I didn't have a boyfriend yet. Some officials did not hesitate to introduce their daughters to me. Some even openly went to see my father just to arrange an arranged marriage. Unfortunately, my heart is still locked away from everyone. I am still reluctant to try out other love and taste the desperate taste.

***

Right now, I'm doing research for the issues I'm about to raise in my show program. A month ago, I got a mysterious message sent on my Instagram account. The message was about a big bribery case that was in one of the ministries led by Mr. Sakurai. From the results of the information gathering that I obtained for a while, there was the great involvement of Mr. Sakurai in this case.

"You want to interview Mr Sakurai?" ask the current chairman.

"Yes ...."

The editor-in-chief stroked his chin while exhaling a rough breath. "I don't think it's gonna be easy for you. Mr. Sakurai is notoriously stingy speaking before the media."

"I will try my best" I said.

After exiting the editor-in-chief room, So and I prepared to meet Mr. Sakurai in his office. It has been a year So became my companion in tracing the facts on the ground.

"Hey, Ayano, isn't Lord Sakurai the father of your former lover? I still remember exactly when Aoba told me about you and him. Your relationship was fine after that, right? Otherwise, he would definitely make things difficult for us today!" So looks riled up.

I just fell silent. I last met Mr. Sakurai in Syria about seven years ago when Yuna was critical. Last year, he was sworn in as one of the ministers in the current government cabinet. And now, we will be reunited with a different status.

Once there, So and I showed our identity cards.

"I Ayano Kei from J-news TV wanted to interview Mr. Sakurai. He had agreed to it three days ago."

"Wait a minute, I'll ask Mr. Sakurai first." The man walked into the leader's room, then five minutes later he came back to see us. "Sorry, but Mr. Sakurai is currently being reluctant to be interviewed because he is busy. Please make an appointment!"

So the one who did not accept then said, "But we have ...."

So's words didn't continue as I raised my hand to ask him to shut up.

Smiling, I said to the man, "Oh, then, please tell him ..." I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and gave it to the man, "this is a piece of the article that will be released tomorrow morning in our newspaper and website. Please confirm to us if the article we wrote is not appropriate before it was published." After saying, I turned around.

So the seemingly confused person chased after me and asked, "Are we going to come here again tomorrow?"

"No need."

"Eh?

"In a matter of ten seconds, He will call us," I said confidently as I continued to move on.

I also started counting in my heart. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Delta .....

"Wait!"

The man's voice came back as we stopped right in front of the elevator door. I smiled sideways, then turned my body slowly.

"Sakurai Master invites you to come in and interview him now!"

"Sakurai-san, there is a rumor that says you received a bribe in exchange for help for some construction company. How do you respond to these rumors?"

"There's a misunderstanding here. The one who took the bribe was my secretary. Now he has been relieved of duty to come face to face with the law, "sakurai replied dismissing the charges.

"Are you sure it wasn't done on your orders?"

"Sure! I don't know what he's been doing all this time."

For a moment, he replied so calmly.

"When do you think you know your secretary's involvement?"

"Recently."

"Rightly recently?"

"Yes, right. When the prosecutor gave the arrest warrant to the person, there I just found out."

"Sorry, your answer is a little different from the information we have collected. This issue started blowing about three weeks ago and one of our reporter representatives asked you about it. Did you really just find out what your own secretary did?"

"Yes, three weeks ago it was new to me." His expression was still calm and there was no doubt of his tone.

"But you just said that you knew about your secretary's involvement in the arrest made by the prosecution. Wasn't that just five days ago?"

"Yes ... that .. because at first I thought where might he do that." The man's tone began to slow down and his sitting position changed slightly.

"Don't you have to be indirectly responsible as a minister?"

The questions continued and heated up. I deliberately asked provocative questions to provoke him. However, he could still control his emotions.

"Mr Sakurai, you said earlier that all staff are under investigation. May I assume you will announce the results of your investigation to the audience. I want to see honest information released transparently," my challenge as a closing question.

"Of course!" answer with certainty.

We ended the interview session. So had turned off the camera, while I was cleaning my luggage. Before saying goodbye, we thank Mr. Sakurai for giving his time to do the interview. Just as So and I were about to leave the room, Sakurai master suddenly made a sound.

"I heard last year you were studying law in London. If you only work in a media company, you should not have to study abroad."

This spell is clearly pointing at me.

"Unfortunately, the son of a respected professor can only be a journalist. Suppose you are still a member of the Japanese martial army, surely now your rank is equivalent to Yoshizawa or even higher than him," he said again with a slightly mocking tone.

I turned around, with my eyes twitching softly and my lips flattening with a faint smile, I looked at him.

"First, you must have a lot of free time until you can find out the ins and outs of the journalist who will interview you. Second, the profession of journalist is a profession of pride. I don't think big officials like you would want to be interviewed exclusively by ordinary people, would they?" reply me with the corner of the lips raised to the side.

We exchanged glances with sharp glances, as if we were throwing bullets at each other. After so many years passed, he must have realized I was no longer the Kei Ayano I used to be.

The plot has almost entered the Kei era in NN huh. Thank you to readers who have been kind enough to support this work, vote and gift, watch advertisements and make positive comments. Not really able to develop this story until chapter 79, when it was back and forth to release the story of Kei here.

I am Aotian Yu, love you all & I am a ''Guarda