A Standing Ovation With Izaya Orihara

Fudou was impatient.

Currently the Natsugawara Serpent"s game occurring at the stadium was being closely watched by the world. But even if it was a game that not many were paying much attention to, if something were to happen in this day and age the news would spread throughout the entire world in short time with the internet.

And if that happens and that is discovered, everything will be at an end.

Even after confirming that the body had been taken care of, the head of the baseball team"s management would completely change. However, Ryuusei Takioka has settled these incidents many times before.

In the past many extortionists and free-writers who tried to threaten Ryuusei would suddenly disappear. He was unaware how many have been erased directly right in front of Ryuusei, but the lingering malice around him probably means the number could not be counted on the fingers of both hands.

However, if that is discovered it would completely change everything.

Unlike the instances of the murders or abandonment of bodies laid to rest at Takioka"s arrest, there was the fear of the baseball team dying off. If done poorly, there was the possibility of the Natsugawara group to decline itself.

The Natsugawara Group may cut ties with the Takioka faction and act as the victim that was corrupted from the inside to manipulate the public and social media to not allow that to happen. That power belonged to the Natsugawara Group alone.

At any rate, he was not a worthless human waiting for his own destruction. After just making a successful career path through Takioka, he had already taken a bite out of the center of that as well. In which case, there was also the possibility Takioka would put the blame on him and silence him.

– This is serious.

– Even though I just managed to line my pockets.

He recalled Amagi"s dead face as he shook.

Amagi was one of Ryuusei"s secretaries strapped to his side and had been a teller for that externally on multiple occasions. And because of it he was targeted by the culprit and was put down after questioning.

That was what he thought, but now he did not think that the culprit was the terrifying one. It was not the dead face that appeared in Fudou"s mind of the moment when he discovered it, but the overwritten image of the face destroyed by Ryuusei"s kicks.

He evened his breathing quietly, turned on his hand-held radio and gave orders to his fellow subordinate guards indirectly.

"It"s Fudou. Inform all the guard personnel. A birthday cake has arrived from the department for all of us in the stadium. I think there is some mistake in all probability, but the executive has accepted it modestly. That is the case, so be more vigilant on your job more than usual."

Initially it sounded like a joke to motivate his subordinates, but it was all a secret language prepared for radio interception. The guards took it as their next order.

"There has been a notice that a bomb has been planted in the baseball stadium. I think it is a prank, but the executive has given the order to not make this public. Just to be sure, reinforce security."

The guards comprehended its real meaning and moved around in hast, their expressions tense.

– Seriously, how easygoing.

The general guards under Fudou did not know of that and naturally did not know of the incident with the dead body. Therefore, it was necessary to strengthen security with just barely a range of non-suspicion. Fudou remained in fear alone, jealous of his blissfully unaware subordinates working diligently. Unless they could find the culprit before a second murder happens, his future will be nothing more than a path of destruction.

However, his wish was in vain, The situation had already begun its course in deterioration. He still has not realized the worst person partic.i.p.ating in the case was within this theater Ryuusei controls; not as a stage performer but as an audience member.

But then, at just the point of realizing it he could not do anything about it.

In the Audience

"So? Was there any interesting information about the baseball team company, Nec-chan?"

Izaya asked Nec during the top of the second inning.

"It"s fairly well. Hee hee."

"I think there is information I know already, but anyway, go on."

"Will this be included as work?"

"I can"t increase your pay, but how about I give you a personal bonus? I"ll buy you a new tablet or PC. Whatever you like to trace with your fingers."

He told Nec, who previously stated that she "doesn"t like tablets," but perhaps she has gotten used to him as she replied back without facing towards him.

"Thank you. I"ll use it as a shuriken and throw it at you~."

She belonged to an inquiry company called "Candiru," and she was a pro reigning as the top of the information dealing there.

Nonetheless, it was a company that tread on the line of or more than half of illegal functionality. Even so she had too much freedom to claim as the top of the field, and she had not yet settled down at one place since she was not working full time somewhere.

Starting from Candiru"s temporary president Isozaka and the actual top of the company Izaya, only a few people were capable of contacting her with Nec being one of her aliases pa.s.sed throughout the company.

Even so her skills in information gathering on the net was certain. Depending on the a.s.signment she had gone as far as collecting data in the images folder related to the person"s fetishes on their personal computer without discretion.

She began to talk to Izaya about the information he asked her to look into between the third switch between the offense and defense teams.

"The Natsugawara Group was originally a toy shop that has continued for generations. It"s a conglomerate made by this old man with an amazing name as Byakuyamaru Natsugawara. Even though it"s a group that has become enormous at this point, it"s pretty rare for a toy company to be its main business. Depending on the period of time, they may have been called the Natsugawara zaibatsu."

"Huh. Continue."

"It seems before they had a ton of spies from overseas enterprises, but for some reason they were all rounded up by the Ikebukuro police in Saitama and were annihilated. There"s talk that it was the president Byakuyamaru Natsugawara"s plan behind the scenes, so it may be quite fitting. This Natsugawara Baseball Stadium is one of the a.s.sociated groups, but…this place is a little unique. It seems there isn"t even one person from either the Natsugawara"s relatives or directors who have supported the Natsugawara Group over the years involved in the administration here."

Nec proceeded to list off the information with an emotionless and indifferent manner like reading software on her computer. Although, she was reading out the letters appearing on an imaginary monitor inside her brain instead from her laptop screen.

"Ryuusei Takioka. It seems he"s called a rebel instead of a young hope. He made expansions with his influence while also creating his own faction within the Natsugawara group before finally obtaining the administrative position of both the stadium and the baseball team. To top it off, there is a rumor that he is trying to gain the Natsugawara Group"s true power, but the fact that they can"t eliminate him may mean he knows various weaknesses of the group."

She put all the muddled information she has gathered just previously and sorted them out into one piece of data in her head as though she worked out mental arithmetic of abacus. Her own voice had less intonation feelings that could not be read too much into, but her eyes were ablaze, as though she immersed in the pleasure of collecting and exposing the hidden information of a big corporation.

"It seems this Ryuusei Takioka is just some elite"s kid. Looks like he"s independently connected to underground organizations too. His main business partners are the Kadokawa group and Asuki group. You did business with them too, right~? Do you know something?"

"I wonder about that. The last part of my time in Ikebukuro was mainly business with the Awakusu group. Besides, the Asuki group are not stupid enough to reveal their conversations with their business partners to an informant like myself."

"Still, there"s an abundant amount of connections in the Asuki group"s network. I"m entering their computer that"s connected to the internet with their guns exchange after all. Hee hee."

Nec continued to provide further information after letting out an irregular laugh with a token of emotion.

Hearing that chuckle, Izaya thought to himself.

It seemed there was information tumbling out around Ryuusei enough for Nec to let out a laugh. Izaya listened to Nec"s continuation on the topic and considered how this was connected to the "incident" that happened in the underground warehouse and chose to wait for the situation to roll out excitingly with eyes like an elementary schooler on summer break.

To be precise, he prepared his heart to welcome with genuine delight the "humans" faces" that will change as the situation unfolds.

While aware of how twisted it was, he did not feel like fixing it.

At the same time, Ryuusei"s office

"If this is the case, should we have had a better trade of guns with the Asuki group?"

Recalling that this room was one of the "places planned for a murder," Ryuusei whispered that to himself.

"My, nii-san. Do you feel like having a shoot-out in the stadium? Besides, how many do you already have?"

Ryuusei responded to his sister"s rebuke with a self-possessed att.i.tude.

"It means we should have better guns. It"s not just the efficiency. Something as a suitable self-arm weapon for myself since I like pretentious articles."

"If that"s the case, the Asuki group isn"t the one. Their goods are being sold in quant.i.ty more than quality."

"Tamae, don"t say that. There is a person from that old nest here."

He gave a fleeting glance to the subordinate. He bowed his head slightly in response. From his physique and manner, he could be thought of someone employed as a bodyguard rather than an office a.s.sistant.

"Oh right, my apologies. I didn"t mean to say anything bad of the Asuki group."

"It is alright. It is the truth."

The man bowed his head in answer with an indifferent att.i.tude.

Just as Tamae was working to identify the suspicious character, there was a knock at the office"s door.

Tension coursed through the guards. As this room was designated as a place for a planned murder, there was the possibility of the culprit barging in fully armed. Although, they thought it a comfort if he was such an imprudent criminal.

"…Come in."

After Ryuusei granted them permission to enter, the door opened to reveal three figures. They were a man around his fifties with hawk-like sharp eyes and hair with strands of white, a large man following behind him, and a bespectacled, secretary-like women.

"Well now, it is Hiura-sama. I thought of greeting you personally, but I apologize having you to take the trouble of coming all the way here to do so in my place."

Ryuusei bowed his head in a courteous manner, but his words clearly indicated they were not out of respect but were instead the stance of phrasing for an "equal business partner."

Whether the man called Hiura was aware of this, he ignored the greeting. He smiled and spat out.

"It seems there is some sort of trouble going on."

"So it seems. For a third consecutive home run connecting from the evening game to occur. If there is a fourth consecutive home run it will be a major record lining up with the king players, so if I had to give a comment as the baseball team"s manager…"

"Don"t kid with me. Besides Sadaharu Oh"s record is four consecutive home runs without a walk in one game. If it was four hits for the game, the number of people would increase. Although there would be no doubt it would be an impressive record."

"As I would expect of you, Hiura-sama. You are quite informed on baseball."

"Just because you"re the baseball team manager doesn"t mean you"re interested in the sport."

After cracking his neck, Hiura went back to the main subject at hand.

"The guards have really gotten active."

"There are audience members who get excited with the home run."

"I believe I said "don"t kid with me." The guards received something through their radios, right? Something about a cake delivered to all us members from the department."

"Well now, putting aside the fact our radios were intercepted…. Did they have some? The cake. My apologizes. All of it was already consumed."

"That was a secret language for a warning of an explosion, wasn"t it? Tell me what is going on. It has to do with our safety as well."

And then after releasing a breathe, Hiura asked with sharp, narrowed eyes.

"…Does it have anything delaying that?"

"I see, you certainly are an interested party. It may be better to not know. When you hear the details, you will be in the same boat as us. Since you want to leave the stage, I give you fair warning."

"And that is what I"m talking about right now."

Hiura snorted at him. But Ryuusei merely spread his hands out in a playful manner.

"Alright then, let us talk. All of you could become victims or even suspects."

"Suspects…what?"

"Since we already decided not to get any police involved I wondered if I should use this term, but, oh well, it is a case that happened in my theater. If you think of it as a crime-suspense act, as you can easily understand, you should be designated as "one of the suspects"."

At Ryuusei"s provocation, Hiura shook his head in disappointment like a parent who had several years difference in age from his child in a roundabout way.

"As always you"re a crazed man. So while being an executive of the Natsugawara group, you behave like that."

"Is that just ceasing to think when you call an existence that has pa.s.sed your limit of understanding as "crazed"? That is a word that indicates no respect for the person who has managed to pa.s.s your scope of common knowledge. Are you a beast? Prefecture vice governor Ranzou Hiura."

"Leave it, youngster."

The the vice governor, Ranzou Hiura, pa.s.sed by the arrogant man and deeply sunk himself into the leather sofa for visitors.

"So let"s talk about it. What kind of suspect I am."

In the Audience

"I see. So he is friends with the vice governor, Hiura."

"I just saw the footage of the VIP room, but he brought in only confidants to see him. About his stadium"s VIP room. Look, you can see it from here right? It"s an indoor seat behind the gla.s.s barrier, but it seems it"s 200,000 for one game. It can"t be that he came at the public"s expense, right? Hee hee."

As Nec mentioned the VIP room with a cheerful laugh, the children in the free seats next to them ran up to Izaya just as the second inning was ending.

"Izaya-san! Izaya-san! Do you think Munakata will hit a home run next time too?"

"You"re too energetic."

The boy waved his limbs about in excitement, while the girl spoke to him in a chiding voice.

"Say, Haruto-kun and Himari-chan. Would you like to watch the game from the VIP seat over there?"

Izaya asked casually, pointing to the VIP room Nec just told him about. After the children – Haruto and Himari – looked at each other, they answered.

"Eh~, no way. After all, that"s too far from the players!"

"I don"t want to go to a seat behind my disposition. If it was midday in summer, I would probably want to go because it"d be hot."

"You two are quite honest. How about I give you some spending money as your rewards. Get a hotdog or a snow cone. Buy anything you would like."

Izaya pulled out his pocket and gives a thousand yen bill to each.

"Whoa! Thank you, Izaya-san! I"m going to go get Sandie-san"s Ice Cream!"

"…Thank you."

While Haruto jumped and flailed around, Himari glanced at Izaya with a suspicious eye rather than a shy manner, and both stated their own words for thanks.

After watching the children run off to the shop corner, Izaya continued the restless conversation with the same smile he gave the children.

"So? What type of connection does he have with the vice governor Hiura?"

"Hmmm, that is a face of a little child in front of ice cream."

"Indeed, information is similar to ice cream. Ice cream satisfies one"s appet.i.te, and the sugar activates their brain. And additionally it gets them excited. It"s the same as interesting information. It satisfies one"s desire and clears their mind, and it then stirs them up."

Hearing Sozoro"s miffed voice from behind his back, Izaya requested Nec for the baseball team manager"s secret information.

"Well, it"s not just Hiura. It seems there are a lot of financiers and underground companies he has connections with. It looks he"s got some sort of connection with a president of a corporation that"s a cover up for an overseas mafia. "

"You"re really something. I don"t know how many people could find so much from the network under these circ.u.mstances. From the people I know, you are about the top level in Honshu."

"I want to be called the number one best in j.a.pan, but I"m not that conceited. Kee hee hee. There is Ikebukuro"s Tsuk.u.moya, Niigata"s Yatsufusa and Hakata"s Jersey 24 after all. Oh. Vice governor Hiura"s tax evasion information just came out, but I guess that"s irrelevant now. Kee hee."

She provided numerous amounts of information that should never be made public. Even the seemingly unnatural relationship Ryuusei Takioka and vice governor Hiura have was information generally not well known in the first place.

Though just by collecting information one after the other, even the proof of the tax evasion, from just the laptop in her possession indicated towards Nec"s abilities as abnormal, but as long as there were information to be found on the surface layer, she continued to type on the keyboard with nimble fingers cheerfully.

"In all honesty, it"s because the Natsugawara group is a big company bringing attention to even inside Candiru. I didn"t want to meaninglessly be hostile to them so I didn"t look into it much, but I"ve set up a foundation for times like this."

"Really, you"ll be careful, right? Although, rest a.s.sured they"ll come to the realization that you did this all by yourself."

"That"s great. I"ll become a celebrity who spread the big corporation"s dark secrets. They"ll say, "die idi~ot. I-di~ot"."

Nec hit on the keys with a cackling laugh.

In the stadium which was currently changing offense and defense teams, she was the most excited audience member out of anyone. Although, it was a result with nothing to do with baseball but due to the "game" only she was taking part in.

Ryuusei"s Office

"I see. So that has been exposed outside from here?"

Ryuusei smiled happily, while Hiura made a sour expression.

"It still hasn"t gotten out. If it is something happening within this stadium, it is still an internal matter."

"…How can you be so full of confidence?"

"This Summer Tile Stadium has been under my control since it was rebuilt three years ago. I completely managed to play off or fool the Natsugawara Group"s meddling. It is solely my stadium working perfectly in every function by me, for me. If the match is held in this stadium, the victories and loses of even the star players who bring in the popularity of the citizens are in the palm of my hand."

Hiura felt an eerie, unsettling fear towards Ryuusei who talked as though this was a suitable precedent reasoning, but he was not so much as an accessory to this man to show that on his face.

"…If that is possible, wouldn"t it be certain for the Serpents to be the champions if they win every home game?"

"Yes, it is because I am not so insistent on victories. Besides, the production of a play that makes it feel like an apparent fixed game will hurt my pride."

"….The ones who would get hurt from a fixed game would be the players" pride……Well, more than that, will the exchange of that be carried out?"

"Of course. In the case the culprit was part of an armed force, we would receive a blow from that, but…there"s no way he can see through our trick."

Hiura took in a silent breath.

"Are you following the culprit"s objective?"

"We"ll follow shortly. We won"t allow any improper movements."

Ryuusei provided that as an answer and picked up the remote left on his office desk. Pressing on the b.u.t.tons, he showed footage of the "front" and "back" of the security system on the room"s projector from the computer monitor.

"We"re a.n.a.lyzing the full operations from the audience seats to the hallways and from the exits to the shops outside the stadium and the parking lots."

With more to add, his sister Tamae continued her explanation.

"We improved the system so that if any of the temporary monitors" footage was changed it would immediately detect it. If he uses the same technique he did the first time, we will be able to determine where the culprit will move next."

With that out of the way, she changed the topic from the place put under warning. It was an action to show Hiura that there was nothing wrong, but that again drew in the strange fate.

"Izaya…Orihara…?"

"Eh?"

Hearing the sudden proper noun-like name, Tamae stopped from changing the screen.

"Who spoke just now?"

Ryuusei asked everyone in the room politely in front of Hiura. Yet the man nervously raising his hand was the one who spoke to Tamae earlier; the bodyguard who was formerly part of the crime organization, the Asuki group.

"My apologies, executive. There was a face I recognized in the wheelchair seat."

"…Is it a personal acquaintance?"

If that was the case it would be nothing particularly to be concerned about and could be just thought of as a strange coincidence. But Ryuusei considered his origins and decided to indulge in the matter.

"No, he is a person related to my last place of work."

"Will you let us hear the details?"

The Medei group"s Asuki group was currently going through with an exchange.

If this person had been connected with the Asuki group at one period of time and was currently in the stadium outside of Ryuusei"s knowledge, then he would be a prominent "influential suspect."

The former gang member decided to answer after wavering on it for a few moments.

"With this, my previous employers…"

"It"s alright. All of this will be kept here and no where else. No one will tell that you leaked information from your previous work place, and even if that"s the case I wouldn"t earn a penny from it."

"Thank you, sir…Well, he is not a member of the organization…I heard that he supposedly died, so I was surprised to see he is alive."

Ryuusei stared to pressure the guard for his halfhearted behavior.

"You can tell your personal thoughts later. First, what is his name?  Orihara…was it?"

"He is Izaya Orihara. "Izaya" is written as the "rin" in "seaside school" and "nari" as in "affirmation." It is a normally unreadable, unique reading. He is a man who worked as an informant around Ikebukuro and Shinjuku."

"An informant?"

Ryuusei"s brows creased. He also was at least aware of the existence of informants. However, they were men who work for detective agencies or were hosts for cabaret clubs. Or in some instances they were people selling and buying information as protégés for reporters or policemen to make a living off of.

"Is he a host or something? He certainly seems to have that air about him…"

"No, as the word suggests, he is an informant. Would it be easier to understand if you think of the informants you administer? He specializes in gathering information from around the city and selling it for a high price to others."

"I see. So it is the age where brokers are born from city gossip? The fact that the Asuki group used him should mean he is a suitable resource then?"

Looking at the man in the wheelchair use s.p.a.ce, he recalled that he was the man Tamae took notice of previously.

"I see, he certainly is a man with a strange atmosphere around him, but…for even a man who makes a living by exchanging information to have a butler and a high quality wheelchair. He must be quite prosperous."

"That is correct. Since he has exchanged inside information I thought perhaps he himself may have made a considerable amount of money from the stock. However, before he disappeared, he also did exchanges with a group we were on bad terms with, the Awakusu group, for a while. I heard rumors that he caused a dispute between the local gangs or foreigners or something and was punched or stabbed to death."

"Hmm. Considering that he"s in a wheelchair, perhaps his cervical spine or somewhere else got injured from that dispute then…However, the Awakusu group, huh. The Awakusu group…Alright, I see now! So he was connected then!"

Ryuusei clasped his hands together and said with dazzling eyes.

"It wouldn"t be strange for him to grasp the information on that if he was affiliated with the Medei group or in the higher ranks of the Awakusu group. Even more so if they had a rival relationship with the Asuki group. Using the protégé informant they would first issue a threat, and if it all works out they would steal all the concessions. But even if that wouldn"t work they may have the intention to say, "if you don"t want that exposed add it to the concessions.""

"Eh."

"If that"s the case, then this is easy. It is not entirely necessary for a murder to take place at any of the notified areas for them to succeed. If the informant in that wheelchair s.p.a.ce yelled he was "stabbed" in the stomach it would cause the audience to go in a panic, and that would be enough for the Awakusu group to use that as a threat against me. For the contents of the disposal of Amagi"s body to be solicited, then it would be possible if it was someone with the power the Awakusu has."

"Ah, no, um……we are unsure if that is the case."

The former Asuki member guard threw water down on Ryuusei"s conjecture in haste. The Asuki group and the Awakusu group could have never been said to be on good terms, even now when the Medei group had been reorganized into a larger organization than the Kadokawa a.s.sociation. On the day rumors indicating that the Awakusu group tried to steal the Asuki"s concessions spread around, a conflict could arise from it.

Unable to bear the thought that his careless words could have started a dispute, the guard had a cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"Indeed. You can relax. I don"t have that short of a temper. Everything at this point is an a.s.sumption. Although, if the Awakusu group really is using that informant and thinks they can have some way with me……Haha, well, if they are putting me down that much…."

Ryuusei nodded numerous times while keeping a smile on his face and-

The next moment, he smashed the gla.s.s ash tray on his desk with his fist.

"I"ll have them pay for the crime of laying waste to my theater."

Ryuusei addressed each person in the room with an eloquent smile, his hand sluggishly bleeding. Everyone took shuddering breaths at the sight.

"First, let"s make it so that informant can"t leave the stadium……Permanently."

In the middle of the tense atmosphere filled by unrest killing intent made by Ryuusei"s statement, Hiura slowly rose and gave a sigh.

"Well, that"s fine. Since we don"t want to become "victims." We"ll be moving independently as well."

"Well now, what do you plan to do, lieutenant governor Hiura?"

Giving Ryuusei an annoyed glare for adding on his occupation t.i.tle courteously, Hiura answered as an insinuation.

"I will only be moving independently to solve the case. By making contact with that informant."

In front of a shop stand

Iroha Mayuzumi was a member of the third investigation team. She usually worked at the stadium as a beer salesgirl. She had short hair, with a portion of a long bang covering one of her eyes, which resulted in her receiving high praised remarks from the regulars to the baseball stadium as someone "rather mysterious" for it.

However, behind that face, she carried out the baseball company"s dirty work under Ryuusei"s direction. As such when trouble arises within the baseball stadium she was someone to settle the matter with unclean methods.

Presently, she was working in collaboration with security to watch for suspicious characters. Unlike each of the security personnel, people like her were told the important information through a unique code.

While she was patrolling the stadium under the orders given from the top of security, Fudou, she had received a new order to carry out by name.

"The man in black who brought the old man with him in the wheelchair s.p.a.ce. Keep your full attention on that man, Izaya Orihara."

The designated wheelchair s.p.a.ce was not far from where she currently was selling beer at. Iroha briefly glanced over there, and just as the information provided to her said the man dressed in complete black was there sitting in a wheelchair in front of a butler-like elderly man.

In that moment, fear ran through her whole body.

Iroha had done plenty of illegal work up until this point, and she even had taken people"s lives on occasion and faced professionals like those hitmen from movies and theatrical plays many times over. But the moment she saw the two men a warning bell rang in her head from past experiences.

Those two are bad news.

She felt something repulsive from the young man"s gaze as he observed his surroundings, but the elderly man was much more of an irregularity.

It was not as if he was emitting killing intent or intimidation. Rather, she felt tranquility mixed in with the air around him. But from his demeanor she could not say that was a good attribute.

It almost seemed like the dangerous aura seeping from his open back was saying, "feel free to come at me." Iroha gulped slightly.

– This sucks.

– Even if they were to say to kidnap the two, I wouldn"t be able to.

– That old man is probably insanely strong.

– If the third investigation division took up arms….

– ……

– Huh? No way. We"d lose even then?

She imagined a simulation in her head, but it only led to the worst outcome.

No, her intuition is dull. It"s because that old man may not actually be that strong.

She told herself quietly took a step forward.

She would approach them as a salesgirl to make certain if she was right with her own eyes.

However-

Perhaps this was because she was watching the old man too closely. Her path closed off, not realizing the boy running her way from the shop.

They ran into each other with great force. Turning around, there was a young boy staring at the fallen ice cream with wide eyes.

"Ah….ah…."

"It was because you were running around carelessly, you klutz."

Looking at the boy with teary eyes, Iroha gave a professional smile and bent over.

Haruto had ran without looking ahead of him, and now he looked down at the ice cream he just bought that had fell onto the ground from the impact.

After standing there dumbfounded and realizing what transpired, his eyes welled up with tears, but he said to the "lady selling alcohol in the stadium."

"I"m alright!"

Haruto looked up at her and managed to stop his tears from falling.

"I"m sorry, onee-chan. It"s because I wasn"t watching everything around me…"

"It"s alright, come here!"

Haruto was led by the hand, his expression blank. After she brought him over to the ice cream shop, she told the shop attendant.

"Excuse me, I carelessly ran into him….can you give this child the same product?"

"Alright. It"s pretty rare for Mayuzumi-chan to run into someone."

The older woman in the shop remarked before preparing the same ice cream Haruto previously just bought.

"Alright, so this time we both will be careful, right!"

"Um, but the money….."

"It"s fine. This is a service from the manager of the baseball stadium, so take it!"

Haruto was nervous to accept something from a stranger, but the moment the girl that came with him, Himari, told him "….take it," his eyes shone brightly and bowed with an innocent smile.

"Whaa! Onee-chan! Thank you!"

The "it"s a service from the manager" line she recited was not a phrase she conjured up in the moment; it was from the manual the executive Ryuusei Takioka thought up for the staff to adhere by. She did not know if he wanted to plant the image of him being a "generous executive" to the audience members, but in actuality the executive did not spare money as service for them. But all the staff understood that it was mere bait in order to manipulate the audience.

The only ones who knew the difference of the executive Ryuusei"s outward appearance and his true nature were each of his confidants and a small fraction of the third investigation division, but even the general employees working at the stadium presumed the stagnate air around him. The Summer Tile Stadium was not built as a paradise for the audience but as a heaven managed by the dictator Ryuusei Takioka.

She was still alright carrying out the dirty work for that dictator"s job, but while she considered it was troublesome to do that for a publicity stunt Iroha saw the boy off with a smile and went to go clean the discarded ice cream on the floor.

However, the words the boy said in his conversation with the girl next to him pull at Iroha"s heart.

"Seriously, you really are a child. Getting so excited over ice cream."

"But! It"s my first time having a three-scoop ice cream, so I thought I have to show Izaya-san before it melts."

– …….

– …..Izaya?

The proper noun she was told of earlier on their own communication network was the name the boy coincidentally mentioned just now. Iroha turned around to see boy"s back as he ran off in a beeline, leaving the girl that was walking beside him. And to the terrific, frightful man in the wheelchair and the old man just previously.

Iroha Mayuzumi had still not realized.

That the fact she encountered the boy here would decide the fate of several individuals just a little while later. And that her own fate would also make a full 180 degree turn.

Confused, she looked between the man in the wheelchair and the smiling boy who returned to his side and unconsciously whispered.

"Izaya Orihara…..what kind of person is he?"

Although at about the same time the third inning began, leaving her whisper erased by the enthusiasm of the crowd so that no one could hear it.

Ryuusei"s office

"…..Kids?"

Watching the footage of the wheelchair s.p.a.ce on the screen, Ryuusei frowned slightly. There was a boy around elementary school age who ran up to the man in the wheelchair and started to talk about something cheerfully. And then a girl he a.s.sumed to be around the same age as the boy appeared a little bit thereafter and seemed to start a conversation with the old man on something.

"…..You think this is some kind of camouflage?"

"No, he may be using the kids to contact his friends. Continue observing."

"Understood, nii-san."

Tamae provided as an answer before turning her attention to one person shown on the monitor. It was the woman wearing gothic-punk clothes and gla.s.ses. She was facing her laptop and was doing something on it.

"…..Could that also be one of his friends?"

She just kept diligently working on her laptop without really paying attention to the baseball game. She thought she could be talking with Izaya Orihara, but since she hardly turned to face in his direction she could not tell for certain.

Though the fact she was using a laptop, could the "bug" currently infiltrating the network be her?

– If that is the case….

Tamae grinned her teeth a little. She was supposed to have the skill as a human being to govern information. However, if the hacker who sneaked in the temporary current hidden camera network was indeed her, then her skill far surpa.s.sed her own.

Did Izaya Orihara train her, or did he hire a human who has superior skills from the start?

She was not sure which, but Tamae made a daring smile, reminding herself that she was not an opponent to never underestimate at the very least.

– Well, whatever.

– I don"t know why you guys would pick a fight with us, but….

– I will teach you that the ones who will win in the end are the ones who outmatch in power.

As Tamae thought that to herself, there was movement on the monitor in the wheelchair seat. Ryuusei noticed it as well, furrowed his brows and muttered.

"Does he really plan on contacting him?"

The figures appearing on the screen with Izaya Orihara"s group was Hiura"s bodyguard and secretary who were in his office until just before the first inning.

"Well, let"s go watch their abilities."

Watching them match in pace and approach the young man in the wheelchair, Ryuusei regarded Hiura"s actions as cautious and began to think of his own. Depending on the situation, they would probably would have to make their moves as well.

Without realizing that Izaya Orihara was a foreign matter that just happened to be in this stadium on coincidence and without any relation to the incident.

The ball deciding their fate proceeded to slowly roll along the fair line.

On a certain national highway, in a taxi

"And then! I said this! "Good heavens!""

There was the cheerful voice of a woman in a personal taxi.

"Yeah, but this is just a second-hand telling. I heard it from an American couple who came to j.a.pan for site seeing and made an imitation of them!"

"Ha, haa……"

The taxi driver made a pathetic laugh as an agreeable response to the pretty girl sitting in the pa.s.senger"s seat. However, he did not understand any of the content since he ignored his pa.s.senger"s story. His gaze and focus were towards his rearview mirror where he could see the man sitting in the backseat.

The large man sat in the back seat bent over to accommodate his giant body. From the scars and glaring eyes that peak out under his bandages on his face she felt like it would have been better to let a ghost on-board.

However what was more strange to the driver was the girl in the pa.s.senger seat talking to the monster-like man lightheartedly. He tilted his head wondering if she was just not frightened or she got used to outdoing everything, but he did not imagine that "the giant in the backseat was actually a kind man who merely frightened others by his appearance." Even if he tried to imagine that, that would still be a huge misunderstanding.

The bandaged man – Usubara –  was a destroyer who had demolished most things including humans with his monstrous strength and durability, appropriately like a Frankenstein monster would. He did not know any means of communication other than destruction in general, and aside from the fact he did not know any other way to help someone, those traits were appealing to his employer. He had never lost a fight or a death match and was reigned as the "invincible man" among residents in the mining town Bunokura. However, since the town itself was destroyed, he came to know defeat for the first time.

Densuke Sozoro and Izaya Orihara.

Usubara had been toyed by their hands, and in order to regain his ident.i.ty and with a strong rage burning inside him he decided to crush Izaya and Sozoro.

He decided that, but –

"Alright, Ayumi-chan! There"s a lot of people who have brought their kids and family to the baseball stadium! You can"t get into a fight and cause trouble to those around you!"

He currently remembered another kind of sense of defeat.

When a certain bomb incident happened in Bunokura, Usubara was given credit for taking away the detonation switch from the female culprit. Although the credit was deserved, the immediate troubles that occurred were the only matters that came to his mind at the time, so Usubara himself could not remember the before and after events.

However, since he broke the arm of the woman when the detonation switch was taken, he received a stern lecture from Yuuki when she heard the circ.u.mstances of the story.

– "Since she had an explosive it was a super emergency situation, I won"t give complaints on the fact you hurt a girl. But, what"s with getting into a fight without thinking of the problems the people around you were having and throwing the injured girl!? That Orihara-kun kid is in the wrong, but you also have to reflect on that!"

Usubara did not have memory of this, but no matter the reason, and even though he was not particularly disciplined, he was shameful of the fact he broke some weak girl"s arm and knocked her down.

He was usually told by his employer Adamura, "just don"t do something like hitting a normal person who has never fought or some kid carrying a backpack. I may do it, but you must not. Beating down weak guys who pa.s.s by and don"t even put up a resistance will eventually lead to distorted pleasure. That would dull the sharpness of your violence." He planned to keep to that.

To him, the only people who treated him as a normal human were his recently deceased father and his employer Adamura. And then his step-mother riding with him in the taxi right now. With that fact in Usubara"s thin reasoning she was an existence he could not shake off. However –

"Still, that old man who caught the foul ball on TV just a bit ago is about as strong as you, right?"

After Usubara thought over his mother"s question momentarily, he accepted the comment as "about the same as" rather than "more than him" and nodded. She nodded back with a triumphant smile and answered innocently like a child.

"If so, then wouldn"t it be okay to go all out? Well, when I complain to the two of them, then what is left is to stretch out the fight in some s.p.a.cious place and….."

Usubara started to notice in the middle of his exchange with his step-mother in the taxi. The fact that his step-mother Yuuki, while she did not have a screw in her head, was rather disconnected from most things.

"And then, the last bit is to fight and make up! Then let"s have everyone go for hot pot!"

What"s wrong, Isozaka-san? For you to start a conversation with me is pretty rare, but I hope it"s not like you have a Lolita complex, right?

…It"s a joke. Don"t give me that look.

Anyway, what do you need?

…What do I think of Izaya Orihara?

That sort of thing, you should know I loathe him. He had to go and instigate my father…

No, this talk doesn"t even matter anymore. It"s already over.

Haruto cares for him. It probably would be better to say that he is brainwashed by him.

Izaya Orihara is not someone you can simply call a bad guy or good guy. He"s just trouble. A walking trouble, a talking trouble, a living trouble. I think he is nothing more than an existence that cannot be helped, making the people around him meet a terrible fate. You say he occasionally does good things, but that"s just someone else"s misfortune that becomes someone else"s happiness. So just like a typhoon, like a tornado, or like an earthquake. There is no way to avoid it, so you just quietly wait for it to pa.s.s.

…That"s what I thought.

But I heard. From these two people called Mikage-san and Kine-san. That Izaya Orihara lost in the past. And that"s why he ran away from Ikebukuro. I heard that was also when he got put in a wheelchair from serious wounds from that time.

At first, I didn"t believe it. That some human was able to do that to Izaya Orihara. So I decided not to give up. I will learn how to be like him as I"m by his side. I will become Izaya Orihara. I will become Izaya Orihara, more than Izaya Orihara can. If I can do that, I can get away. Away from him, I can bring Haruto back to what he was before. Surely, our family, surely, again, with mother and with…father……

I"m sorry. Even though he"s not here. Even though he"s not here anymore.

I hate Izaya Orihara. I don"t hate you, Isozaka-san, or Nec-san or any of you; although I would like you normally, I hate the two of you when you work with Izaya Orihara. I really hate how I ended up being taken in by him. But I cannot hate Haruto, I can"t.

I"m, going to go now, alright?

Isozaka-san, you"re not the dangerous type of person to enjoy seeing a girl cry, are you?

Ill.u.s.trations provided by Soutenkyuu on Tumblr.