Dressed in a black suit, Yuto was checking once more his recording set-up. He had cleared all of his anime figurines and the meme posters. His merchandise had been taken down and stored in a box out of sight and his studio looked solemn and barren, except for a framed painting of Kaori. More angel than woman, her face radiated warmth and love, compassion and an hint of sadness and longing.

  It was a marvelous piece of art one of her fans had produced a few years earlier under a pseudonym. Speculations on the true identity of the artist had been rife—it was clearly a masterpiece, and had been attributed to a number of famous painters. The KFC cared not for the name or for the competition. As soon as the piece went to auction, they moved in and secured the painting with a single bid, one worthy of a Rembrandt.

  They had waited for a special occasion to share it with other fans, but never imagined it would be under such tragic circumstances.

  Yuto admired the painting once more through the screen of the control monitor, his eyes wet with emotion. Kaori seemed to look back at him

  “Sound check.” he said.

  The sound technician began playing a softly ethereal melody and Yuto nodded. He sat on a wooden stool instead of his usual gamer chair and rehearsed his introduction. Tears poured down his cheeks.

  “Go wash your face, and take five minutes to reset” Hotaru said softly. “You have to be perfect.”

  Yuto nodded and complied. He wondered how Hotaru managed to keep it together, but understood the need. They had to give this one last service and he would do it right.

  He sat back down at the microphone and faced the camera. Audience metrics indicated 537,000 viewers were waiting for the show to start. This number would soon explode, but it brought him no joy.

  He played the intro, Kaori’s portrait facing directly the camera, the music softly filling the background. It was time for the show in 3, 2, 1… he was live.

  Yuto bowed deeply to the camera, and began the arduous task of explaining the situation. The chat on the side of the screen was going crazy. Shock, anger, indignation, sadness, distress… an entire range of emotions echoing his own, deep within his soul. He soldiered on, explaining the situation as clearly as he could, but stopped mid-sentence as inexplicably, his chat filled with a single line. At first, a few times, then more and more and now hundreds:

  “Official announcement on Kaori now on NHK!”

  He stared at the line, puzzled. This wasn’t one viewer asking for it, there were hundreds. No, thousands. Names he recognized all the way back from the early days of his show.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  He turned to his video technician, and confirmed:

  “Pull it up on the screen. Let’s watch together, we will resume the podcast later.”

  The NHK anchor was sitting besides Fujiki Tomohisa, who was dressed in a black suit, much like the one Yuto wore.

  “Please welcome Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, Fujiki Tomohisa-san.” the anchor said, bowing to the commissioner.

  “Thank you, Tatsumaki-san.” he said, bowing deeply to the audience.

  “It is with extreme sadness that we announce the passing of Mashiro Kaori Wednesday night in a fire on Sado Island. Her presumed kidnapper, a Nigerian national by the name of Chuka Obinna Okonkwo, started a fire inside a fishing co-op warehouse used to store fuel for fishing boats and other flammable substances. The building caught ablaze resulting in an explosion. Two corpses were retrieved from the charred remains of the warehouse, and we have been able to confirm that Mashiro Kaori was one of the victims.

  “We are still unable to accept her passing and are trying to come to terms with this tragedy. She is survived by her father, Mashiro Daisuke, her fiancé, Matsuko Oroshi, and her extended family. We kindly ask the media and the public to respect their privacy and to refrain from interviewing relatives of the victim or posting speculative articles. Details regarding her funeral service will be communicated at a later date.”

  Tomohisa bowed deeply toward the camera. The anchor looked pale. He stood up and bowed at Tomohisa’s side. The program ended.

  Yuto sat there in shock. He looked at the other KFC members in the audience. They were just as stunned. After a long silence, Hotaru locked eyes with him and nodded.

  Yuto returned to the podcast screen. The chat was a storm of arguments. Two sides were emerging, one accusing Yuto of sensationalism and shameless attention grabbing. The other calling out a conspiracy of national proportions. Tempers flared like never before.

  “Mina-sama. This is very troubling indeed, but it is my current belief that the information is incorrect. As I mentioned earlier, her car was parked near Enoshima harbor on the night of the presumed kidnapping, and her friend’s ship was taken out to sea in the early hours of the morning. It encountered a typhoon off the coast of Shikoku and was reported lost in the storm. While it is extremely likely Kaori-sama has left us…”

  His voice broke, long held tears rolled down and fell on his shirt. He steeled himself and continued:

  “We ask for your help to search the sea and the entire coast of Japan just in case she survived the storm. If there is a chance, however slight, that she might still be alive and desperately in need of our help, let it not be said that we abandoned her in her darkest hour. Thank you.”

  He bowed again. The chat stilled for an instant. Then an avalanche of support and offers of help stormed in, fishermen volunteering their ships, hikers swearing to inspect every inch of the coast…

  Their hearts had been set ablaze by the most powerful fantasy a fan can conjure, that of rescuing the object of their love and devotion.