A Standing Ovation With Izaya Orihara

Ryuusei"s Office

"He did it, huh."

Ryuusei"s voice was rather calm when he heard the report. However, in those eyes a flame of deep hatred was lit.

"But, how? Does this look like according to the report? In actuality it should be said it was in the hallway in front of the VIP room, not in the VIP room?"

"Didn"t you not believe the meaning of the warning in the first place?"

Ryuusei covered his mouth with his right hand, and after thinking for a bit he let out a large sigh.

"The h.e.l.l. Does this mean they would break their own rules they set up…..? Well, there"s no way I can let them do as they please after making light of the people on stage."

"But is it really them who did it? I don"t think the man in the wheelchair and that old man would be able to do anything to that bodyguard though."

"….I thought perhaps the wheelchair kid could be bluffing and actually could walk, but with that physique…..At least if he had the physique of any of our security personnel he could be adequate."

"I cannot think Izaya Orihara could kill Amagi-san, so another like a performance group slipped in. Like our third investigation division."

Tamae said and glared towards the ten others lined up in the office room. With this being an emergency situation, in the office the core staff Fudou started and a large half of the guards and third division members were a.s.sembled. And there was also Ranzou Hiura in the room as well.

"Even though my guard was killed, you"re playing the investigation game rather carefree."

"Now for this, my apologies. However please do not forget that you are still a suspect. After all, there is no footage to prove your alibi."

Naturally the remote hidden cameras worked on batteries, but having it relayed, the equipment for recording was down temporarily due to the power outage. The regular wired surveillance cameras could also not record any footage during the blackout.

From the beginning that blackout itself was quite unique. Normally even in the case of lightning or an earthquake causing a power outage, the minimum system should have been maintained by the self-generating emergency power supply. But a trap was installed into the emergency power system itself.

But when exactly this was done, the technical staff found the equipment installed to cause a shortage on both electrical distribution systems – the remote controlled main power source and the emergency system – when they headed to the control room. When the repairs were finished and the power went back on was when the body of Hiura"s guard was discovered. The body was currently isolated in the same underground warehouse Amagi fell in.

In any case, in front of the reality that a second murder occurred during the period of time when power outage was staged Ryuusei spoke in reconsideration as he adjusted his tie.

"We should have set up the UPS to the surveillance cameras and related equipment systems. Let"s learn from this failure for the future. It"ll cost a bit, but it"ll be a better, perfect system."

Hiura hearing that interjected, his brows knitted.

"You got impatient, haven"t you? Do you still think you can continue acting like the emperor of this stadium?"

"Yes, a formal apology for the power outage is necessary, but there is no way I would be dismissed with only this much."

"My subordinate is dead."

Ryuusei said in an aloof tone back.

"My subordinate is dead too. My dear, dear right-hand man Amagi."

In actuality Amagi was on the bottom even among Ryuusei"s secretaries, but anyone who knew that did not point that out. No one felt like disagreeing with Hiura by mentioning the truth, but more than anything everyone was afraid to incur Ryuusei"s displeasure.

"It is an unfortunate result in an emergency, but shouldn"t we try to do something at the fact your bodyguard also went missing?"

In other words, there was nothing more to do than to erase the body like with Amagi.

"Are you saying I took part in the crime?"

"You"re already a suspect, are you not? You"re at the point of dealing that. If the case goes public and that is discovered, I think it would be hopeless to return to the political world even if you escaped from prison, right"

Whether he got more invested in front of the silenced Hiura, Ryuusei spoke on with words filled in exalted tones.

"We are already sharing the same fate. At the same time do not forget that you are one of the suspects like I previously stated before. If there is any doubt it is endless. For example the conversation you had previously in the VIP room and everything according to the script arranged prior to would have the possibility that you were an accomplice from the beginning!"

"That would be the same for you though? Being partners with that man would bring up the possibility that you ended the life of a follower of yours in the way. So you make me an accomplice in hiding the body to shut me up."

"Of course that"s how it is from your perspective. But I know I am not the culprit. And I am the human standing at the top of this theater. As well as being the stage director I am also the producer coloring the cast"s lives. I believe I can behave as a king capable of judging people fairly at the least, and no one could give any complaints on my ruling."

Listing off extremely arrogant reasons, Ryuusei kept up with that att.i.tude and mentioned Hiura"s guard.

"It was Nishikino-san? You are a human bearing guilt over him. But now with him gone missing, no one is suspicious. In that case then if you pretend to have extracted the data thoroughly and say "we ran off with secret information" then your persuasive power would increase."

"Although I do feel sympathetic for you since you raised that bodyguard from the beginning. Someone who even though knew your true nature did not take any mind to it."

Ryuusei having said that mentioned a compromised plan.

"If the process of his disappearing is a problem, wouldn"t it be fine to say he fell from the stairs? We found the bodyguard who did not return since the blackout at the bottom of the stairs. He probably was shocked by the power outage and slipped……I think this would suffice."

"That"d have been quite a convenient fall for having only his neck broken so neatly."

Hiura said in dissatisfaction but no deep remorse or anger could have been felt. Ryuusei saw his att.i.tude towards it and reached the conclusion that perhaps this male bodyguard was not that much of an important person to Hiura.

– If he was actually a secret child, that would have been an awfully interesting development though.

While thinking such imprudent thoughts in his mind, Ryuusei decided to move on to the conversation involving the current situation.

"The problem would be Izaya Orihara and the organization at his back. If he clearly picked a fight with us so far, then I have no time to choose a correspondence. Although, since Hiura-san is also a suspect, shouldn"t you take up the partnership about now?"

"But is Orihara really involved? Certainly for the circ.u.mstances he is the most suspicious, but that kid left on an agreement. He said the rest would depend on your mood. No matter what organization is backing him, where is the need to kill my guard?"

"Then it could mean he doesn"t feel like going through with a half-hearted negotiation? Anyway what we have to do is to make sure that cheeky man calling himself an informant cannot leave this baseball stadium. Thinking of his contacts, then that old man and the kids…..we still haven"t confirmed if they are friends or not, but we should ensure that woman with the laptop is for certain."

At that, Fudou who had heard the conversation between Ryuusei and Hiura spoke up fearfully.

"All together, would that mean five people? ……It will be a big job, but it won"t get crazy, will it?"

"Since we can do that, we are able to pa.s.s for producers of the stage, Fudou-kun. It"s alright. Believe in my theater. For times like these, we have several areas and devices not posted on the official blueprints."

"Y-yes."

Ryuusei turned his gaze from Fudou and looked at his younger sister Tamae.

"So? How are the kids?"

"They are held up in parlor sixth. I left it all to Mayuzumi-chan who came back from the VIP room before the power outage, and I left two others of the third investigation division outside the door just in case."

"Is that right. Actually while buying her was great, she still hasn"t done her true job, hasn"t she?"

Iroha Mayuzumi usually handled behind the scenes cleanups or selling beer as an outside job, but Ryuusei stated those were not her true jobs and continued.

"How about we have at least one person killed to threaten Izaya with. …Well, she seemed to have been excellent in her childhood, but there"s the possibility her skills have dulled. The kids will work fine as rehabilitation for her."

"Physically and mentally."

In the Audience, the Wheelchair s.p.a.ce

"Well now, the lookout is suddenly quite explicit about it, isn"t it, Sozoro-san?"

Izaya, having returned to the wheelchair s.p.a.ce, addressed Sozoro cheerfully.

Indeed, there were janitors and security staff masked they could see in the area, yet sometimes everyone would look over as though it was a normal thing to see. Mostly it was a behavior for Izaya who has continuously watched humans to an abnormal extent and for Sozoro who has tread on that path to easily tell that they were being watched.

"I"m sure it"s your fault. After all, you did such a terrible thing to that subordinate of Hiura-san who said he would become a mediator for me."

"……It could not have been helped. It was legitimate self-defense. It was nothing more than protecting ourselves from any personal threat."

Izaya smiled at Sozoro"s declaration as he fixed his tie and shook his head.

"Self-defense, huh. You being bare-handed is similar to holding a sub-machine gun. I think you"re someone you shouldn"t cross like a boxer or a Karate pract.i.tioner."

"More than that, do you have anything you are more curious about?"

"Nec-chan doesn"t seem to be here. Haruto-kun and Himari-chan too."

Only the pipe chair was left; Nec and her belongings gone.

Izaya was looking around the area when his smart phone started up. It was a unique application not distributed from an official on-line software, and on the display of the application unique symbols and characters were listed.

"Huh, it"s Nec-chan."

This was a special communication app she created as a contact communication for Candiru, and it was a product that could  directly connect calls on the same equipment with Bluetooth or Wi-fi if circ.u.mstances call for it. Although since it was mostly too picky no one could use it without having the same device illegally modified.

Knowing this was a contact he knew, Izaya hit the accept b.u.t.ton and pressed the smart phone to his ear.

"Where are you right now?"

[I saw that sister Takioka-chan coming over here on the surveillance footage, so I"m sitting in the middle of the unreserved seats to hide. When I thought it was alright I looked back and saw you, so I contacted you as I"m hiding like this. Hee hee.]

"And? Where are the other two?"

[Huh? What"s up with them?]

"…..You"re surprisingly not helpful in cases like this. Although since you have those advantages and shortcomings it"s a good aspect as a human being."

Apparently ignoring Izaya ridiculing her, there was a tut and an unpleasant voice from his phone.

[Well this sucks. I thought their target was me, so I hid. I can"t believe they took them.]

"And you couldn"t confirm that on the surveillance cameras you hacked into?"

[That woman seemed to get strangely wary and just shut down the surveillance camera recording there. It"s probably because it would have been bad if I saw the recorded footage of the moment she took the kids from elsewhere. I tried to restart it, but it"s completely black.]

Izaya moved his gaze to one of the places the hidden cameras were and could see the holes in the railing coated in some kind of nail polish or lipstick.

"So it"s physically closed off. It seems they are quite cautious of you. Although I thought it would have been great to at least have the moment the kids were taken."

[Aaah, other cameras in different areas are also broken in turn. Well, thanks to that I know the general area in the stadium they were taken to.]

"It doesn"t matter if we know. No matter where they were taken it"s clear they"re in Takioka"s hands now."

After he stated that in a carefree tone, there was a solemn voice from behind Izaya"s back

"Hmm…..More importantly, I am concerned for Haruto-dono and miss Himari."

Sozoro made a rare frown. Izaya kept his fearless smile and answered him.

"It"s alright. If they took them as a tool for the negotiation, then they won"t be reckless. If the number of bodies increase it"ll just give us a grasp on their weakness."

"It was a mistake I accompanied you. No matter if there was the basis the kids would remain safe being here, for myself to place even a bit of faith in you was an extreme failure on my part."

"Really now, that sure is quite a mighty failure. That"s a failure alright, Sozoro-san. For you to have seen me as a man to behave in concern for the kids in front of an exciting situation as this."

Sozoro"s gaze locked on Izaya. It was a glare heavy with a pressure in which that alone would make their whole body involuntarily shake if it was a normal person, but Izaya remained calm and looked back at those eyes. After a span of a few seconds in silence, Sozoro released a sigh as though giving up and after grumbling to himself he whispered, "Even if it breaks the contract, should I break his neck right here……" And he asked his employer Izaya.

"So, what do you plan to do? Normally I think it would be to notify the police though."

"Even if we report to the police, I don"t think they would be able to easily investigate the stadium. In the time an investigator would do a house arrest the two would disappear from the world. And besides, although I became their care taker, I would be questioned in turn since the situation involves the two of them going missing."

"If so then how do you plan to go about it?"

"It seems they think we are the culprits that caused the incident with the body in the underground warehouse. And it appears the true culprit made some kind of threat, but I don"t know what the specifics are. From Hiura-san"s manner of speaking, it"s probably something illegal and related to huge interests."

After thinking for a few moments, Izaya smiled and whispered in a quiet voice.

"Well, I can guess most of it, and even if I"m wrong it"ll be fine."

Izaya then crossed his legs on the wheelchair, and he bore with the pain that ran up his spine and managed to keep his composure whilst hiding the cold sweat forming on his skin.

"If they"re going to mistake the culprit anyway, how about we have them mistake him even more so. Yeah, that"s right. Let"s let them think we have a ma.s.sive corporation like Nebula or an influential mafia like the American Runarata Family backing us."

"……For what reason?"

"Of course it"s to save Haruto-kun and Himari-chan."

Sozoro skillfully frowned with one brow raised.

"Really now, don"t make that face, Sozoro-san. Even I"m worried about those two, you know?"

Izaya pressed his ear against the smartphone and stated his honest feelings as though to let himself hear it as well as Nec.

"Even though these interesting humans were brought up so well, not being able to see what"s coming next….and contrarily not being able to see with these eyes of the last moment would be a very big lose for me."

And while smiling he started to talk of the guideline of their following actions.

"And so to save those two how about we seriously put out some money and connections."

[…..Meaning we"ll seriously make outside commissions too? And why would that be? Hee hee.]

Aside from long human acquaintances with Izaya, the moment she heard it she phrased it similarly to mean "are you alright in the head?"

"What, it"s really simple. Let"s become the real culprit."

"And we"ll give a modest standing ovation. …To say to the former true culprit "thank you for your hard work.""

The Sixth Parlor Room

In the Summer Tile Stadium there were hidden parlor rooms. There were five parlor rooms written on the official blue prints submitted to the fire stations. However, underground there were plenty of hallways that should not exist formerly, and one of the rooms established there was the sixth parlor room.

It was a room to hold meetings with guests who should not be in the stadium or to keep troublesome people in confinement temporarily – Currently it was being used as the latter.

"Hey, where"s Izaya-san? Is he still talking to the big guy?"

"I suppose, I think he"ll come by soon."

Iroha answered with just the form of a smile. And then seeing the boy completely deceived by her fake smile and withdrawing with a single "alright," her heart throbbed slightly.

And if there was more to mention, in contrast to the boy the girl"s gaze, which showed an open hostility towards her since the beginning, continued to gouge out at Iroha"s heart.

"Want something to drink?"

She asked the girl make a hard expression at her, but she shook her head.

"You may put poison in it, so no."

"I wouldn"t put poison in it."

"The only person who would honestly say to the other "I"ll put in poison" is just about Izaya Orihara."

"I-I see. This Izaya-san is quite impressive."

Having sensed that this Izaya was completely hated on by her, she was convinced that these two may have been mistaken for being connected to him. And as though he had heard the contents of their conversation, the boy named Haruto nodded his head deeply.

"That"s right! Izaya-san is amazing!"

Haruto explained to Iroha of how great Izaya Orihara was even though she was not listening.

At first it was nothing more than the child perspective of "He has a lot of computers!" or "He treats us out for sukiyaki often!", but at last an interesting topic reached Iroha"s ears.

"Ummm, also, he"s friends with some great police guy!"

"…..Police?"

"Yeah! He said he may become a boss character in the police someday! That"s right, isn"t it! Himari-chan!"

"A boss character…"

Does that mean the police chief?

Thinking there was no way he would know someone like that, she glanced over towards the girl. The girl, Himari, gave her a hostile glare, but with the same expression she provided her an answer albeit annoyed.

"What Haruto says is true. He"s an elite in the career bureau, and they said he"s now a police chief. I don"t know his name though."

In contrast to Haruto who was younger than his outward appearance, Himari had the att.i.tude of a grown-up. There was enough persuasion in the girl"s words for it to mean "yes" or "no," so just to affirm it Iroha decided to inform that to the manager of the Third Investigation Division, Tamae Takioka.

While in many ways holding a much too naive expectation as someone raised as a killer that no harm would come to the kids if they know Izaya Orihara was connected with the police.

Ryuusei"s Office

"A subordinate of the police….?"

Hearing Tamae"s report, Ryuusei frowned expectantly. Hiura was also making a hard expression.

"Well, since it"s only what Mayuzumi-chan heard from the kids, we don"t know if it"s true or not."

"It"s easy to dismiss nonsense of children, but…..His composure is thanks to that? I don"t think the police itself would be Izaya Orihara"s client though……."

Ryuusei strongly shook his head towards the slightly daunted looking Hiura.

"If the police have a grasp on the information of that, then we can"t use any of these roundabout methods. This stadium would suddenly become the target of enforced investigation, and if they plan to use it without destroying it then it would be faster to directly pressure me or you."

"If that"s the case, that means the organization behind this guy currently is irrelevant. But if we carelessly kill him there is the chance our information would leak to the police bureaucracy…..Really, killing him would be the opposite of what we want."

"It would especially be problematic for you, right, Hiura-san. The record of your tax evasion in 1996 would be let out after all."

"Even so, I think I"m better off than you who is involved with the lighting and extras."

"I won"t leave any evidence. No matter who tells the police. I have had all the evidence underneath the stadium cleaned up, so given time it won"t be an issue."

"Anyway, we should call Izaya Orihara in here. Threaten him or negotiate with him; we cannot start without the person himself present."

Hiura seemed to want Izaya Orihara to stand in this place, but Ryuusei could not approve that easily. Ryuusei considered negotiating to mean for the other to stand at the same height as him.

He was a man who would declare mere one sided threats between negotiations of countries with different national power, and he believed that naturally his country the Summer Tile Stadium as the same as that. There was no way the likes of an ordinary informant should be able to stand along side him as king governing this "theater."

Ryuusei thought that quietly to himself. He steadied his breath and started to ponder on how far he would go.

– Let"s a.s.sume the one backing him is the Awakusu group.

– If they are, then they have already killed two of our own.

– Then if we had to make revenge we would be made light of by the Awakusu group.

– For them continuing murder in the middle of negotiations would be for us to notice their threat…..

– Then could threatening me who is connected to the Asuki group be to own the power only a superior above me would have? Or have they stepped forward in eagerness to establish superiority with the interests of that…….?

– Either way, we kill Izaya Orihara and we will have to take the price.

– Or we threaten Izaya Orihara and make him a p.a.w.n….?

Bewildered by the opposing organization"s intentions, Ryuusei kept his emotions at bay so that impatience of "the executive does not get confused" was shown on the outside.

Hiura also put up a poker face the same way to avoid suspicion of his own bewilderment.

However, the one who was most bewildered in this baseball stadium was not them. In the ma.s.sive theater, Summer Tile Stadium, the one who was most confused was not Ryuusei or Hiura-

– Why.

– Why is Izaya Orihara acting like this?

It was the one who could not read the mysterious man Izaya"s intentions; the true culprit of the murder case themselves.

And it would become even more digressed, but-

Currently the next thing the true culprit was confused by were the security guards unaware of the hidden information, who monitored the regular surveillance cameras.

"Hey….."

The security guards watching the monitor frowned at what they saw.

"Isn"t that guest…..kinda big?"

If it was just that it would be left with "he"s just tall, maybe he"s a basketball or volleyball player?" But that man had dyed blue hair and an abnormal appearance with half of his face wrapped hidden in bandages. What was even more strange of that man squirming in the high resolution of the wired camera was that of the continuous turning of his head as though searching for something, but without even turning an eye towards the baseball game nearing its end.

Inside the Stadium    On the Side of the Entrance Gate

That giant – Ayumi Usubara – finally found something relating to his goal after looking around for a few moments. It was the pamphlet for the seating guide left on the baseball stadium shop. Since he completely forgot to receive one at the ticket counter he thought there would be the same ones in the baseball stadium and walked around searching for it.

"Welco-…..!?"

A sudden aggressive looking giant appeared in front of them, and the staff member at the hotdog stand shook in shock. The man apologized with one hand in the shape of cutting the air lightly and picked up only one pamphlet. His ma.s.sive hands skillfully open up the pamphlet, and he started to look for the characters on the seating position drawing "wheelchair s.p.a.ce."

"How is it? Ayumi-chan. Did you find that Orihara-kun kid?"

Hi step-mother poked her head out from the side of the pamphlet, but he shook his head as his eyes pa.s.sed over the front seats and confirmed he was currently standing on the opposite side behind the unreserved seats.

"Even so thanks to the blackout the admission restriction was surprising! I wonder if lightning came down. Even though it"s such good weather."

Usubara moved his focus towards the night equipment briefly, while his step-mother made optimistic comments. Usubara also thought the power outage was strange, and the thought that perhaps it had something to do with Izaya Orihara was stuck in the corner of his mind.

While keeping that in mind, he slowly moved his gaze towards the other side of the stand. It seemed Usubara"s eyesight was pretty good as he caught the sight of one person in a wheelchair lined up along one section.

The next moment-

He found the man clad in black clothes and the old man with white hair standing beside him. At the same time, he pasted a villainous smile on his face. A smile as though one found a sunken ship after long years of searching or clad with tremendous killing intent when faced with revenge for one"s parents.

The audience around them looked over towards him noticing that "there seems to be a really tall person here," and then the hairs on their body stood up. Just like the customers at the ramen shop or the taxi driver, they felt their lives were in danger. The next moment, they felt they would be killed by this terrifying man.

However within the area only the step-mother Yuuki stood with a calm expression. Seeing the audience around them terrified by Usubara she gave a warning to her son.

"Ayumi-chan, I said this before but you can"t go on a rampage here, alright?"

In the Audience

The game was about to enter its eighth inning. The audience was consumed in an unusual craze. It was Kanshirou Munakata"s record that was stopped at his three turns at the bat continuing from the previous game, but on his third turn to bat for this game he hit a home run followed by another home run on his fourth turn at the bat.

With this today"s score was three home runs with three strikes in one inning. If after this he managed another turn at bat he would be lined up with a major record comparable to the king players as four consecutive home runs in a game.

"Well this sucks, the game is also getting so interesting."

In front of the craze of the spectators the stadium was wrapped up in Izaya was captured with the desire to observe the fate of the enthusiasm until its very end.

"I consider it is a bad hobby of yours, but if you are really interested you can ask miss Nec to save the recording of the audience and enjoy it later."

"My, for you to make such a proposal without thinking of the civilians" privacy. I"m stunned."

"While I am reluctant on the matter, right now it is more concerning for us to prioritize the safety of the children."

Receiving a glance from Sozoro, Izaya continued to type on his smart phone as he shrugged his shoulders back.

"Whoa, this isn"t good either….Tsuk.u.moya who I asked a favor on won"t do it."

While giving a bitter smile he looked over the reply from the hacker-like man named Tsuk.u.moya.

"Hmmmm. "I don"t feel like partic.i.p.ating in that sort of crime. You can have Sozoro-san go in on the executive, beat him up, and make him a hostage." He says. …..That"s odd. I haven"t thoroughly explained all the details here….."

Izaya while thinking of the hacker called number one even in the Kanto region  searched for other options. "As always he"s an unsettling guy." And then Sozoro behind him lightly tightened his fists and said.

"I do not mind doing that. Actually, I am wishing for that if it means we can save them expeditiously."

"Now don"t say that. If you"re just going to go on a rampage, shouldn"t you do it with more style? Besides, it"s not like I"m just standing by idle either."

As he said this, Izaya made a call with Nec who was continuing work sitted a little ways off in the center of the unreserved seats.

"Hey, Nec-chan. Tsuk.u.moya won"t do, so I"ll ask the Hakata guy, Blackleg Nameko-kun. Sorry but could you contact them?"

[J-jersey 24-kun? You mean to owe that fungus type guy? Eeeh? I"m definitely going to say some things later, you know? Who knows if you"ll get yourself a bounty?]

"We"re a bit restricted on people who could accomplish the task in a short time besides Tsuk.u.moya. That kind of work is a field you"re not good in, right? He has a debt towards me for a reasonable job I took a few years back, so I just decided to have the favor returned."

[Hee hee! That"s quite a high interest that came in.]

Nec started to make contact with the hacker by the name blackleg_nameko.

On Izaya"s side he began to make a call to another person.

"Yes, it"s me, but is it alright to start as soon as the preparations are completed? After that I"ll manage to match the timing. Tell Fujiura-san that too, so, I"ll leave you to it."

Not grasping what Izaya was doing, Sozoro continued to pray for Haruto and Himari"s safety in his heart. Just that one wish. While also holding onto the conviction that for all involved it will end badly either way.

As he was continuing to be bewildered at Izaya"s and Nec"s work there was an impressive cheer from around them. When they looked at the diamond vision screen it seemed that Kanshirou Munakata"s turn at the bat has come around. The game had turned into a batting battle and at this rate since there was the chance for his turn to come around again one last time. And the dream of him accomplishing a feat could become a big record lasting in baseball history.

"Well, it seems to become really incredible."

As Izaya smiled he looked towards Sozoro standing beside him.

"Now that"s it"s gotten this wild, is your intuition becoming dull? At this rate you probably can"t tell the difference between Takioka"s or Hiura"s subordinates, right?"

"Hmph……However, if there is someone with any apparent killing intent, I can differentiate them by just their bearing. It is not a matter of looking at someone one by one but by chasing sensations for an out-of-place feeling while looking at the whole crowd……."

Sozoro cut off for a moment. One eye opened real wide and after several seconds in silence he spoke while stroking his beard as though in admiration.

"Well…..now look at this."

"? What"s wrong? Sozoro-san?"

"Hmmm, unexpected meetings are quite terrifying. I cannot believe to see a person we know at a place like this. Haha, I noticed right away from the tremendous killing intent."

"Killing intent……You don"t mean you can see something like an aura like you"re someone from some fighting manga right?"

After questioning him Izaya took out opera-gla.s.ses from his bag and moved over in the direction Sozoro was looking at.

"It is in front of the hotdog stand."

"Sozoro-san, are you farsighted? Even though you have gla.s.ses you can see that place well, huh. Where is it…"

And then seeing the giant silhouette appearing in the lens Izaya unconsciously raised his voice.

"……Whoaa. No way."

His smile did not fall from his face, but his eyes were not smiling.

"I give up. Regardless if my coming to this baseball stadium today is really a coincidence or not, didn"t this just get odd?"

"Let me see. Between myself and you, which one of us does he resent?"

"I think it"s both? Seriously, I like humans, but I prefer to observe those types of people from far away…..Being chased by that kind of guy makes me remember an unpleasant monster…"

Izaya told Sozoro while receiving a flashback of memories when he was in Ikebukuro.

"This is difficult. Even though we just finished preparations. All that"s left is to leave it to Nec……Well then, let"s run away, Sozoro-san."

"? Run away……Where would that be? While I hold that back, you will be defenseless ……You do not mean to leave the stadium?"

"No, there"s a more safe place, right? A place that suspicious outsider can"t get into."

Izaya pressed the self-propulsion switch for the wheelchair and began to move towards the stand. And then approaching the security staff nearby – a man he recalled as Takioka"s subordinate that was watching him – he addressed him with a triumphant smile.

"Now then, I want to hear Takioka-san"s answer soon……could you guide me to the executive"s room?"

A few minutes later

"What"s this? They"re gone?"

Having arrived to the wheelchair s.p.a.ce and tilting her head in confusion, Yuuki looked around aimlessly.

She told Usubara, "if you suddenly meet Izaya-kun you"ll get into a fight, right? I"ll ask him to come to the outside of the stadium first, so until then wait here." And after telling Usubara who seemed like he wanted to say something, "It"s alright! I don"t think he can do anything in front of these people," she walked all the way over here. But the crucial figures of Izaya Orihara and the old man had vanished completely.

Did they go to the restrooms or something?

She considered this, but then thinking perhaps he noticed her son and ran away she decided to ask the people around her. The children in wheelchairs watching the game next to the young man like Izaya Orihara provided a, "he just left somewhere." The woman accompanying them gave her eye-witness information with, "Yes, the person with the cool elderly man, right! If it"s that person you"re asking for he just talked with that guard over there……and then someone came to greet them and then left with the elderly man somewhere."

Yuuki then approached the guard steadily without a second thought on the matter. Even if she drew back on her optimistic personality it would be a difficult order to tell the baseball stadium staff to be cautious of her. After all, the regular audience including Yuuki did not realize the ruined atmosphere surrounding this stand.

"Ummm, I"m sorry. I"m looking for this kid, but have you seen him? He"s a friend of my son."

The guard looked at the picture the pretty woman had and for a moment his eyes widened. He then recovered his poker face and began to make a wireless call somewhere.

Ryuusei"s Office

"What is it? Izaya has already been picked up by Fudou-kun, right? ………….Eh?"

Hearing the message from the underling of the third investigation division, Tamae frowned.

"Nii-san, it seems a woman came looking for Izaya in the wheelchair s.p.a.ce……."

"……Someone he"s connected with?"

"Apparently she said he"s a friend of her son. But she still looks young."

"I see, so words to trick us. A friend of her son……I see, her son being the boy in the sixth parlor room right now then?"

Izaya was being led by Fudou and would be arriving soon .

For a contact to appear with this timing then is there some sort of mistake?

After thinking for a little bit, but wanting another card to threaten Izaya Orihara with he gave the order with a plain expression.

"Bring her to the sixth parlor room. After that……tell them to be politely hospitable towards her. With the kids too."

"I got it. Should I bring out tea?"

Ryuusei said sarcastically at his sister"s question, partially mixed with a joke, with the corners of his mouth raised into a smile.

"It may be their last dinner. If they have hope, let them eat whatever they like."

Without realizing what kind of disaster he called for on that judgement he just gave.

In the Audience

After his step-mother talked to the stadium"s staff she disappeared. From far away he saw it. There was one person from the other side of the stadium that witnessed it. It was Usubara who was told by his step-mother to "wait here."

However, it was not in front of the hot dog stand where she said those words. But since Izaya Orihara and Sozoro started to move and vanished when he was watching the scene he tried to go to the same side of the unreserved seats to stop his step-mother. But in the midst of that, in the gap of a few seconds he looked away his step-mother disappeared.

Perhaps she went to the restroom or something?

He unconsciously thought that in his mind. Or perhaps he wished for that. However his animal-like intuition was making his whole body apprehensive as though sensing something is wrong.

Usubara made it all the way to the wheelchair s.p.a.ce you whipped his head around the area. And he found a familiar face there. They only interacted for barely a few days, but it was the woman who worked on the same team as him.

Usubara moved with quick feet to the unreserved seats, brushing aside the crowd using half of his strength and reached out to her shoulder.

After she hushed a small an "oh shi-" and tried to slip into a gap in the crowd.  But Usubara"s hand, which was one instant faster, succeeded in grasping the nape of her neck. Usubara then picked her up with one hand.

When they made eye contact- although he was completely unaware of his own actions, he did confirm that the gothic woman was definitely someone he knew.

The other party was the woman being held roughly like a cat, Nec. After averting her gaze disgustingly, she raised a hand to the giant with a troublesome smile.

"Yahho~, it"s been awhile. Usubara-cchi."

"Ummmm…..You, were from that Adamura-san"s place, right? Hee hee."

Huh? What do I think of Izaya? He"s the president, right? An unsettling guy right? Is there anything else?

Have I ever seen him as someone of the opposite s.e.x? Hee hee. You ask quite the stupid question. If there was a woman who fell for that guy, wouldn"t she be quite the suitable advocate?

I heard the one person the president trusted the most was some pharmacist lady who worked as his secretary…but it seems she"s in America now and more than that I heard she has a huge brother complex, so she doesn"t even have one millimeter of interest in him.

Well anyway, he and I are not like that. It"s a complete mutual interest…or rather I should say we have a business partner relationship.

If it wasn"t for that, who knows how many times I would have killed him. Hee hee. What did he do? Nah, it"s just he gave my real na-…

Yeah, sorry. It"s nothing. Just forget it, forget it. If you don"t forget it, you"ll die. I"m serious. Hee hee.

Well, I am grateful to him though. He gave me, an incompatible person in society, a job and a place to belong to. Besides, say this or that, but I"m also just one variety of a sickness.

The troubles he brings sucks, but it can be relatively fun. He"s okay with bothering people around him. He"s never had such brakes, but…it"s best to say he is a bad example to learn from. He does much more excessive things than I, so when I see other people"s behavior conversely it calms me down with a feeling of changing my own behavior.

Yeah. I"m grateful to him. It"s really true.

Sometimes I think "it"d be great if he"d die," but that"s better than Sozoro-san or Himari-chan constantly thinking "just die" towards him. Well, I guess you could say either way the two of them are more like the people with common sense. Hee hee.

Well, no. Any person would say that about him. I think of him as just a computer bug. He doesn"t self-multiply, but he"s the type of bug you cannot completely eliminate. And what"s more annoying is that he knows he is a bug.

You should be careful too.

That bug cannot multiply by itself. However, he specializes in breaking the normal parts and making other bugs.

But it might be too late. For you to want to know him in full detail, you may already be a bug. Though I have always been a computer virus from the beginning rather than a bug. Hee hee hee….Well, I"m a virus behaving like a bug, so I don"t have much meaning in existing.

I said this a while ago, but since Izaya gives someone like me meaning, I"m grateful. If he ever tries to give me boring stuff, I totally plan on biting the hand that fed me!

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