The Juuohcho employees frantically threw themselves out of the way as a blond
shinigami in lab coat stormed down the corridor, muttering a litany of "funds"
and "cut down," with intermittent "Tatsumi," and numerous
repetitions of "kill." The look on the man’s face was enough to
send even Terazuma scurrying for cover.

Watari Yutaka was not a happy man today.

Konoe jumped when the door slammed open and Watari stomped inside. "Where
is Tatsumi?" Watari demanded, and Konoe gulped when Watari’s smoldering gaze
focused on him.

"He left a few minutes ago," Konoe managed to squeak out and Watari
narrowed his eyes; there was only one reason why the workaholic would not be at
his desk during the office hours: a Tsuzuki-related accident. Watari stalked to
Tsuzuki’s desk and examined the mess for clues, until a memo on top of the file
caught his eyes. The slight frown of concentration changed to a look of understanding,
then that of fierce determination, and the next moment, he was gone from the office.
Konoe breathed a sigh of relief. They really weren’t paying him enough for this
job.

Once in Tokyo, it was easy enough to find Tsuzuki — all one had to do was follow
the explosions, really — and by the same route, Tatsumi, currently talking to
Tsuzuki. Watari stopped to compose himself. It would not do to lose his momentum
now. He had a mission to accomplish here! Taking a deep breath, Watari opened
his mouth to call out, and stopped.

"I’m just warding these mortals from any careless demonic or angelic influences,
so the book keeping doesn’t get messed up," Tsuzuki was saying. Watari closed
his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

"On your own time?" Tatsumi asked, and Watari hid a snicker. His thoughts
exactly.

"It seemed like a good thing to do. Preemptive action, and all that,"
Tsuzuki explained, and Watari frowned, wondering why he hadn’t heard anything
about this before (though admittedly he had been rather distracted lately, what
with the breakthrough in his potions research…). Watari pursed his lips, the
gears turning in his head. Now, he was sure there was some way he could use this
situation, once he found out more about what was actually going on.

Very quietly, Watari backed up and teleported to the Juuohcho library, grabbing
both Gushoshin on his way and locking the door. Some time later, Watari emerged
from the library with an unholy gleam in his eyes, and strode down the corridor
back to his lab. For the second time in the same day, the Juuohcho employees frantically
scrambled out of Watari’s way, fearing for their afterlife.

Three days later…

"Watari-san, are you sure this isn’t against the rules?" Wakaba asked,
nervously looking around to make sure no one was watching.

Watari gestured her closer, smiling widely. "Of course! Now, Wakaba-chan,
I have a special today for my favorite girl."

Against her better judgment, Wakaba drew closer, and peered. Half an hour later,
Wakaba carefully snuck out of the lab, flushed and smiling. She couldn’t wait
to talk to Hajime-chan about this!

Back in the lab, Watari, in his intense concentration, did not notice a presence
looming behind him until his shadow began to tremble.

"Watari-san."

Watari, recognizing the voice, promptly whirled around to face him. "Tatsumi.
Hi."

"Good afternoon. Might I ask what you are doing here?" Tatsumi’s voice
was pleasantly icy, and Watari swallowed. Ah well, the cat was out of the bag
and all. Watari gave him a sunny smile.

"Writing down all the bets. Do you want to place one?"

Tatsumi was silent for a while. "That," Tatsumi said finally, "is
definitely against the office protocol."

"But not against the rules," Watari said winningly. "I checked."

"Watari-san."

"I’ll give you a sure winner," Watari said brightly. Seeing Tatsumi’s
cool glare, Watari tried again. "Okay, wanna split the profit 70-30?"

"50-50," Tatsumi said coolly, pushing up his glasses.

"60-40," Watari countered, not giving an inch.

"Deal." Tatsumi shook Watari’s hand once, firmly. "Now that’s been
settled, we have a meeting in five minutes."

"Sure, just give me a minute," Watari said distractedly as he put away
the white board.

"Could I ask why?" Tatsumi asked curiously as they walked out of the
lab. Watari shrugged, locking the door.

"I need more funds for my research."

Note: "Better" is the accepted alternate spelling for "bettor."