I understood Mr. Yazawa's behavior a little more, regarding the ghost story.
The person who had died was after all not only the former owner, but also someone he knew and was friends with.
So it was rather normal of him not to want to believe it, in order to respect the memory of his friend.
" Anyway, it's not for me to talk about that... " Said quickly Miss Iwakiri. "If you need anything else, I'll be in the kitchen to prepare tonight's meal."
She then left for the large living room, leaving Mr. Nakatsuki and myself in the hallway.
"She really doesn't look friendly..." he observed.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Mister Nakatsuki looked at me with a dazed look, as if he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"You... Did you really participate in the conversation earlier, or were you absent?" He asked sarcastically. "That girl is really touchy, and she's not afraid to show it."
"Because she was pissed off at us?" I asked sincerely.
I didn't really get that, so I was a little curious.
"Didn't you see how she snubbed me at one point? Or her attitude when she was talking about the state of the boarding house's finances?" Mister Nakatsuki asked me, dumbfounded. "I have the impression that she hates me, and that I am not the only one...
"She doesn't like people very much?"
"No, what I mean is that she seems to have a grudge against people who don't think like her, or who turn out to be a nuisance in her eyes," he explained. "But more seriously, haven't you noticed that she's unhappy about having to take care of us?"
"Not really," I replied sincerely.
He sighed heavily, while running his hand through his hair again to comb his hair.
"Chiba-san warned me, but this sucks," he said. "You... You really don't pay attention to others, do you?"
I shrugged without answering anything. If that's how he felt, I wasn't going to argue with him. I really tried to understand others, but I couldn't detect all their emotions or the nuances in their behavior either.
"Well, as long as you don't mess up, I guess you'll be okay," he sighed again. "But if you want to become a full-fledged editor like me, you have to take an interest in the authors you're responsible for. It's not enough to just do the paperwork, you have to be personally involved, to support the author as best you can."
Investing myself in others, huh? Until now, I hadn't really thought about it. I had always kept a certain distance from others.
Then, when I met the detective, something had awakened in me.
I found it exciting to spend time with someone else.
So I wondered if that was the case with everyone else, and if I had missed out on that in all those years of excluding others from my life.
Mr. Nakatsuki may have been casual and rather lax in some ways, but he was still professional. So spending time with him, even in the context of work, had proved to be rather interesting; and I wondered if I shouldn't get to know my other colleagues a little more, for whom my knowledge was rudimentary and limited to the strictly necessary.
I felt two sharp pats on my back, and Mr. Nakatsuki smiled at me with a mischievous look.
"Well, how about we take these lamps to Sakai-san? I'd hate for him to give us a hard time for not walking fast enough."
On this point, we shared the same opinion. Avoiding pissing off the temperamental producer was the best thing to do.
As we walked up the stairs to the second floor, we had no idea what the atmosphere was like in the room where the shooting was taking place. We were surprised to find Mr. Sakai and Mr. Yazawa arguing violently when we arrived at the open door of the room, which shocked us.
Both the technical staff and the guest remained silent, preferring not to take part in the heated discussion that was taking place a few meters away from them.
"I didn't give you permission to film there," Mr. Yazawa said firmly.
"I need enough material to make a good show!" Mr. Sakai replied vehemently. "You've already flatly refused to testify, so what can I do, huh?"
"I want you to erase what you filmed," replied the owner with a wrathful face.
Even an emotionally disturbed person like me didn't need any clues to know that the two men were angry with each other, and just as stubborn. Worse, the argument seemed to be getting bogged down, each retaliating with even more violence.
"I don't take orders from anyone else about my production techniques!" Said Mr. Sakai with a sneer twisting his lips.
"But I can very well expel you from my property." Replied Mr. Yazawa, adamant.
"You signed a contract, so it's impossible!" Scoffed Mr. Sakai.
"Contract or not, if you don't erase what you have filmed, I will have to make you all leave," said Mr. Yazawa.
The discussion seemed to be at a standstill, until the singer burst into the room, brushing past Mr. Nakatsuki and me.
"Come on, Sakai-san," he said, interjecting. "The owner has reason to be upset, given your methods."
"Can't you mind your own business?" Sakai-san complained.
It seemed that the mood had suddenly changed with the arrival of the singer, some of the tension having vanished into thin air.
"And the producer is also right in saying that he needs different shooting plans for his show, Yazawa-san," he argued, turning to the owner.
Strangely enough, Mr. Yazawa seemed to be confused and a bit unsettled by the turn the discussion was taking. It also seemed to me that the young singer was making him even more anxious, while the two men stared at each other in silence.
I couldn't say why, but I had the impression that the singer was trying to put pressure on Mr. Yazawa.
However, things became even stranger afterwards, because the singer turned to Mr. Sakai again, and said:
" Besides, even if you don't have any images of the place you are interested in, you still have a valuable testimony, right, Sakai-san?" He smiled.
"That's right..." Groaned the producer. "I wanted some illustrative footage, but with the witness we found, it's more than incidental."
He seemed to think for a moment, and having calmed down, addressed the owner.
"Fine, I'll delete the footage that was shot in your room," he conceded. "But I don't want any more interference with my work."
Mr. Yazawa seemed to give the singer a nervous look, before excusing himself and walking out of the room.
"Talk about an atmosphere..." Mister Nakatsuki whispered to me. "I thought those two were going to jump down each other's throats."
The cameraman came over to us and retrieved the four lamps we had brought back, when the young singer gave us a surprised look.
"Oh, are you Osagawa sensei's agents?" He wondered. "It's a pity he's not here yet, I would have liked to meet him..."
He walked towards us and held out a hand in our direction while smiling.
"I am Ishibashi Tatsuki," he introduced himself.
I looked at the hand extended towards us wondering if I should be the first one to greet him or not, and facing this expectation, Mr. Nakatsuki devoted himself to shake his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Nakatsuki Isao, and Nijima Iwao," he introduced us in turn. "I know it's a bit abrupt to ask this directly, but what just happened here?"
I reluctantly took Mr. Ishibashi's hand in mine to shake it, and he replied at the same time in an unruffled tone.
"Let's just say that the producer touched on a rather sensitive subject."