Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

Seasonal Opening Ceremony

Yagi had pride in the work he did. As a servant, he would carry out numerous routine tasks – even from preparing the meals to taking care of the house – and sometimes he would eliminate anyone who would threaten the family as a hitman. He dedicated his life from morning to night without question, and it was Yagi"s role to protect the head of the family"s position and honor. He worked at the Matsuda household on this long year as well, supporting his master publicly and behind the scenes.

The life of a politician was extremely busy, and for Kazuo Matsuda – a member of the Lower House – he was likely to be a pick for the next Cabinet member in this election, and so he had been working tirelessly day in and day out. Yagi caught sight of Kazuo"s exhaustion on his face as he entered his private room and set off to prepare pouring him a coffee to help wake him up.

Kazuo was the eldest of a political family. His grandfather was the former prime minister and his father was the former cabinet minister, and he was turning fifty-five this year. Kazuo was only a boy of ten when Yagi began working for this household as a servant. The days and months of these past few decades had flown by; Kazuo had developed visible wrinkles around his face and Yagi"s hair had turned completely white.

Kazuo"s study was located on the south side of the first floor in an old, three story western-style house on the corner of a high-cla.s.s residential area in a certain part of the city. Yagi gently knocked on the door, carrying the tray with a cup placed on it with one hand. "Sir, I have brought you your coffee."

"Yeah," He heard Kazuo"s exhausted voice reply to him. "Thank you, Yagi."

Yagi opened the door and let himself in. Kazuo sat on a black leather seat, currently in the middle of work. He was typing on his notebook laptop placed on his desk.

And then all of the sudden, something made Kazuo"s complexion change.

"Wha-" His eyes widened, and his face contorted into fear.

Just what had happened? Seeing Kazuo terribly shocked by something, Yagi tilted his head and questioned him. "Is something the matter?"

"Look at this."

Yagi did as he was instructed and looked at the screen. The laptop screen had completely froze. It did not respond no matter which key was pressed.

But that was not the only issue. Abruptly the screen turned pitch black and white text appeared in the center.

"Kazuo Matsuda."

The characters that appeared were his master"s name.

Did it get hit with a virus? Unable to control the device in front of them, Kazuo and Yagi could only stare, dumbfounded. And then, there was movement on the screen. More sentences appeared after his name.

"Kazuo Matsuda."

"I know your true face."

"If you do not wish for it to be known to the world, then send 10,000,000 yen as fast as possible."

"What is this……?"

Kazuo muttered next to Yagi, but he could only c.o.c.k his head, baffled.

His true face – there were too many options that came to his mind for what that could possibly mean. Kazuo had used any means at his dispense in order to survive as a politician.

Yagi had been hired by this household for many years now, and there were very few who attempted to blackmail with Kazuo"s secrets before. The sender of this threat was one of those few people.

However, there was a catch this time. It was different than the usual threats. This was the first time someone had infected his personal laptop with a virus. Yagi had dabbled in various forms of battle up until this point, but he felt a strange uneasiness this time, as though it would only grow worse. He had to dispose of this threat as soon as possible. He existed solely for instances that arose like this.

"Sir," Yagi addressed him firmly. "Please leave this matter to me."

His master had faith in Yagi"s work. "I"m counting on you." Kazuo nodded.

However, no matter how capable Yagi was as a servant or as a hitman, he was a complete novice when it came to computers. He had no other choice but to ask for a professional for help.

Fortunately, he knew of one such person. That man could be able to resolve this. That conceited, unendearing hacker.

The only issue was he had to find where that man was currently.

Top of the First Inning

Daimyo street in the central ward in f.u.kuoka was overflowing with young people today as well. Enokida met and dined with an acquaintance in a small Italian restaurant at a corner of that street. A man wearing a suit sat across from him on the other side of the round table. He was Karimura, an investigator on the cybercrime countering division. He was still young and appeared to be straightforward and solemn, but he was not someone Enokida could not talk with. There were plenty of investigators who would contact the informants in this city, even a skilled hacker like Enokida. Enokida would periodically meet up with them and exchange information. And sometimes he would indulge in light banter.

"I saw the news earlier. After threatening the murder of a politician, now there"s a threat of an explosion at the Diet?" Enokida said teasingly with a smile. "Must be rough for you guys."

"Well, it"s part of the job." Karimura gave a wry smile back.

Recently there had been the succession of threats sent via the internet. Even a bomb disposal unit was dispatched, although they did not find anything potentially dangerous on the site.

"They should just do it without a warning if they mean it. Nine times out of ten, when someone writes a threat on the internet it"s just a joke."

Since they had to make a detailed report case by case even for a joke, the job of the cybercrime countering division was tough.

"It"s because there may be the chance someone is actually serious. This time it wasn"t." Karimura spoke as though he knew who was behind it.

"Ah, so you already figured who was behind it? Was it someone on the right?"

"No, just a regular guy. He was a young male who was searching for job and must have given into temptation after not getting any results. We"re hearing the details from the man himself right now."

"Sounds like a really troublesome guy."

Enokida scooped up the pasta with his fork while shrugging his shoulders. The food from this restaurant was fairly good. Their ratings varied on the internet, but they were unreliable.

"Speaking of trouble," Enokida suddenly changed the topic. "About that .mmm."

.mmm was a free-for-all cyber terrorist organization. The origin of their name was taken from the acronym for World Wide Web and flipped it upside down to implement the idea for "a world without internet" as their slogan. They were a troublesome cracker group that would attack websites throughout the world without discrimination and disable web browsing freely. The size of the organization was said to be around a few thousand people. Because of them, various corporate sites in j.a.pan took damage as of late.

A technician residing in j.a.pan was apparently correlated with the .mmm, and Enokida looked into the man per Karimura"s request. "It was a tough job. A professional"s household had some st.u.r.dy walls."

"Did you get inside?"

"Of course."

Enokida told him and placed a USB flash drive onto the table.

"This is?"

"A data he had in his possession that is absolutely secretive. He kept this under lock and key, so it was pretty hard to get. I think this will help you." Enokida smirked. "So would you look over me hacking into a credit card company"s server from last week?"

Karimura gave him a light smile. "That"s not something I can overlook all the time, you know. You don"t even try to hide it."

Enokida returned to the main topic. "The data seems to be some sort of list, but it"s pa.s.s code protected. You guys are more suited in this area, right?"

Karimura nodded. "Our division will break it."

"Good luck."

"Thank you for your help as always," Karimura told him as he put the USB drive into his pocket.

After they finished their meal, Karimura was the first to leave the restaurant. Enokida"s job was done for the day. He did not have anything particular to do, so he decided to return to the internet cafe he was staying at. He walked from Tenjin to Nakasu. Just as he pa.s.sed by Kokutai-doro avenue, he got an incoming call.

"h.e.l.lo?"

The caller was Shigematsu.

"Ha?" Enokida came to a stop when he heard what Shigematsu said. What"s the meaning of this? His eyes widened in surprise, and he repeated back. "Saitou-kun was arrested?"

"I wasn"t arrested! I went to be questioned voluntarily!" Saitou quickly corrected. "Please don"t a.s.sume I"m just a criminal!"

The food stall Genchan was currently being prepared to open for business. The owner, Genzou, was working briskly in front of Saitou, and Martinez was grinning in his seat next to him. Saitou had also taken a seat and explained the details of his day to them. "The police came to my apartment. Someone from the cybercrime countering division."

"Cybercrime?" The large man next to him questioned back with wide eyes. "What sort of crime were you arrested for?"

"Making threats, obstructing business, and child p.o.r.nography……"

Saitou was nearly arrested for sending death threats to a politician, sending a threat to bomb the Diet, and then possessing large amounts of photos of naked girls and adolescents.

"That"s insane." Martinez broke into a laugh, his body shaking from it.

"Apparently the death threat to the politician and threat of bombing a building were posts made on the internet from my laptop."

Naturally, Saitou had no memory of this. He never wrote anything like that or recall opening such platforms those were posted on.

"So I allowed the police to investigate, but that"s when they found a bunch of photos of naked girls on my laptop and-"

"……You had that kind of preference?"

"No!" Saitou yelled in denial when Martinez glared at him as though he saw him as something unsightly.

"Seems like it was the work of a remote controlled virus." Genzo had finished his work and chimed into the conversation.

"A remote controlled virus?"

"That"s right. Because your laptop got infected with a virus, it started writin" all that stuff on its own." According to Enokida, Genzo added.

"I think that one e-mail was the cause of it." Saitou recalled something. "I was looking for a new job, and I got e-mails from a recruitment site frequently. But one of them was really strange……"

It was a response from a corporation he did not apply to. Although he had thought it was odd, he still thought he could not let the opportunity pa.s.s and downloaded the attached file without precaution. "Enokida said some hacker must have put a virus into that file."

"What, so it wasn"t Enokida"s work?"

"No it wasn"t." Genzo replied. "He said, "I wouldn"t do such a cheap joke as that.""

"Someone seemed to have looked at my information too. The laptop itself had stopped responding and started to move on its own……And it wasn"t just my laptop but my smartphone as well."

His unlimited calling app and SNS were taken and used for criminal acts, so Saitou must have been shaken up.

"That culprit took my account and sent pictures of naked middle school girls on it. I was in the middle of questioning with the police, so it was clear it was hacked into……"

Because of that he was saved. But what was the culprit"s objective behind it? Saitou frowned. He felt overwhelmed that someone he did not know was out there controlling people in that manner.

"In short, the blame was placed on you for crimes you didn"t commit because of this guy."

"That"s right," Saitou replied, weeping.

"……That reminds me. There was a story like that in a Jeffrey Deaver work." Martinez muttered to himself while stroking his chin. "A man who was said to know everything had misused other"s personal data and framed innocent people for the crimes of others."

"The internet sure is a scary place." Genzo whispered keenly.

"The investigator seemed to be an acquaintance of Enokida-san, so he really was a huge help." With the addition of Enokida vouching for him, Saitou was proved innocent. "A hacker and an informant are important to have."

"Even so," Genzo suddenly piped up. "Why was Saitou-kun targeted you reckon"?"

"Maybe it was a grudge or just a prank." Martinez added.

"Either reason is bad……I"ve had enough of this."

"That was a disaster for you." Genzo told him while placing the ramen he made in front of Saitou. "Here, this is my treat. Eat it and feel better."

Genzo"s kindness seeped into his heart. Giving his thanks, Saitou brought the noodles to his mouth.

"Now then," Martinez slowly rose to his feet next to him. "I guess I should get going."

"Ah, is it work? You"ve been busy."

"No," he held out his hands and shrugged his shoulders. "I haven"t been getting any work recently. So I thought of going to Jiro"s place and see if there"s anything I can do for him."

His roommate – Zenji Banba – was watching the professional baseball game today as well, placing himself almost directly in front of the TV. While watching him with a cold gaze as he swung between joy and sorrow each time a player made a pitch or swing, Xianming Lin called out to him.

"Hey, Banba."

Naturally there was no response from him. Banba"s entire focus was on the game.

"Let"s hurry up to the old man"s place. I"m hungry."

They had plans to eat dinner at Genzo"s food stall at nine in the evening and to also receive work from him, but Banba would not get up and moving. The match was prolonged, and they well pa.s.sed their appointment.

"Just wait a sec. It"s gettin" to the good part." Banba replied back curtly while still facing the TV screen.

It was the bottom of the twelfth inning with the Hawks on the offense. They were two points behind, but with one out and bases loaded they had a chance. In the batter"s box was the fourth player who had a hit rate of more than thirty percent. The count was one ball and two strikes. They were driven into a corner. The fourth pitch was a two-seam fastball. The batter hit it with a full swing, but it was rough.

"Ahh! A grounder heading towards the shortstop! Two bases are out! And one more base is out! A double play! That was three outs! The game is finished!"

The voice of the live announcer he heard from the TV was similar to that of a wail.

"Unable to make a comeback……The Hawks have ended up with seven consecutive defeats."

"Aaahhhh!"

Immediately following that statement, Banba"s hollow cry echoed throughout the office. On the TV screen, the players from the team on defense with the lead all gathered at the mound and exchanged high fives to each other for their victory. They then ran quickly back to the benches with lively expressions. Following that, the hero interview with the player that attained victory coming from behind began.

Banba hung his head, holding it in his hands.

"Now then, let"s review the highlights of today"s match."

Just as the announcer stated that, Banba had turned off the TV. He then tossed the remote away before wordlessly crawling into his bed and covering himself all the way over his head with the blanket.

"……Idiot Ban." After giving a sigh, Lin called out to him again. "What are you doing? Hurry up and get ready."

No matter how many times he tried to urge him to get up, Banba did not move.

"Are you listening to me?" He said in a firm voice.

At that, he heard a voice like that of a sob from Banba. "Uugh, seven consecutive defeats……It"s no use. It"s over……"

It was the very beginning of September, when the final stage of the professional baseball pennant race was drawing near. However, the number one team Banba supported looked like they were in a slump.

"I thought……I thought they"d win today……"

Although they were winning, they ended up losing. At the beginning of the game they had a lead of ten points, so it looked like they could pull it off. Then a very capable pitcher relieved the starting pitcher"s position. The team steadily closed the gap with a barrage of hits and home runs, and although the other team tried to make a swift recovery they were unable to stop their opponent"s momentum. The match was pushed back into an extended game at the top of the ninth inning. Unable to catch up by the top of the twelfth inning, their opponent managed to surpa.s.s them following errors made on their part. They had started with a ten point lead but ended two points behind.

"You"re helpless." Lin shrugged his shoulders, exasperated, and then pulled the blanket off of Banba. "Let"s hurry up and go already. I"ll treat you for today."

The man, who had curled up like a bagworm, started to slowly but reluctantly get up.

"A cla.s.s recital?"

In the bar Babylon in Nakasu, Jiro was digesting what Misaki had told him as he wiped down the gla.s.ses.

"Yes," Misaki sat across from him on the other side of the counter, swinging her legs back and forth, and told  him about the events going on at her school. "Each cla.s.s has to do a performance in front of all the students in the school. Something like having a play, a choir, or an ensemble."

The elementary school Misaki went to had started a new event this year.

"That sounds fun. What is your cla.s.s going to do?"

"A play. We"re doing the Bamboo Kingdom and the Mushroom Princess."

"My, I"ve never heard of that story before." Jiro would have a.s.sumed they would do a famous tale like Momotarou or Snow White.

"It"s because it"s the teacher"s original work." Misaki told him and took out a booklet from her knapsack. "This is the script."

Jiro took it from her and glanced through it. It appeared to be a tragic love story between the bamboo prince, Takehiko, and the mushroom princess, Kinomi. The two were in love. However, the two countries were destined to be in war with each other. It was a rather adult story for elementary schoolers to play.

"So, what is your role in it?"

"Kinomi."

"Oh my, isn"t that the heroine?" Jiro exclaimed. "You did great."

"It was decided by a draw though," Misaki replied bluntly. She did not appear to be that happy about her role. She either did not have interest in the play itself or was just shy.

"Even so, that"s amazing. I mean, you"re going to be the only princess among the whole cla.s.s. You"ve got to try your best."

"Yeah," after Misaki gave a small nod she looked up at Jiro with upturned eyes. That was a habit she had when she wanted to ask for a favor. "And so, we have to make our own costumes."

"A costume for a mushroom princess?"

"Yeah."

I see. That was what she meant. Jiro understood what she meant to ask of him.

"I got it." Jiro said proudly. "Leave it to me."

It was a grand event for his precious daughter. He had to use his skills as a former beauty artist and make the perfect costume for the occasion.

"I"ll make you into a marvelous princess."

Jiro had stated with self-confidence, but truthfully he was unsure what to do. What would a princess of a mushroom kingdom look like?

A mushroom, huh. He whispered to himself. Suddenly, the face of that man with mushroom hair came to his mind.

"Saitou was arrested?"

Lin raised his voice in surprise upon hearing the unbelievable news from Genzo.

"He wasn"t arrested; he went in himself." Genzo corrected as he made their ramen.

"In either case, that still means he was brought in by the police, right?"

"Well, that is true."

Genzo said as he placed two bowls of Tonkotsu ramen in front of them. Lin and Banba sat beside each other and placed their hands together, "thank you for the meal."

"So?" Lin restarted the conversation while slurping up his firm noodles. "What did Saitou do?"

Genzo told them while listing all of them off on his fingers. "Sent threats, obstruction of business, and child p.o.r.nography violations."

"Whoaa……" It was worse than Lin expected. "He"s a helpless sc.u.m then."

"Well, Saitou-kun was innocent. It was all the work of a remote virus."

According to Genzo, someone controlled Saitou"s laptop by infecting it with a computer virus to use for committing crimes. It was a chilling story.

"More than that," Genzo suddenly turned towards Banba. "What"s up with you Banba? You ain"t your normal self."

Banba had the expression as though the world was ending and was doing nothing but sigh. He did not eat much either.

"He"s upset because his team lost seven times in a row." Lin answered for him.

"That"s just seven loses at most. During their Nankai era they had lost fifteen times in a row." Genzo laughed. "You gotta support them even when they"re in their slumps. That"s what makes a fan, ain"t that right?"

"……Yeah, I guess so." Banba nodded weakly. He then changed the topic to take his mind off of that matter. "Old man, can ya give me a job?"

"Ah, me too." Lin jumped in on the request.

"Alright, some work for you two. I just got two in today, which would ya like?"

"I don"t really care which."

"Then how "bout we decide on a draw?"

Genzo took out a pen and splittable chopsticks and drew something at the tip of them.

"Alrighty, draw your pick." He instructed and held out his fist gripping the two chopsticks in front of them. "The client"s contact is written on the tip of the chopsticks."

Lin reached for the chopstick on the right. "Then I"ll go with this one."

Banba took the remaining one. "Last but not least."

"Neither one ain"t a jackpot." Genzo said jokingly.

Bottom of the First Inning

The plaza in front of Hakata Station was packed with people today as well. They ranged from tourists taking photos in front of statues and monuments to salarymen taking a rest underneath the trees and wiping off their sweat. There were also some families with children tagging along.

j.a.panese zelkova serrata were flourishing as a lush green around the plaza, and several wooden benches were placed in the area. Chegar sat on one of those benches. He watched the ma.s.ses of people pa.s.s by him in haste as he awaited for the usual man to appear. He looked up at the train station building, squinting from the harsh rays of the sun. The large clock of JR Hakata City indicated it was roughly noon right now – their appointed time to meet up had come.

After a few moments, another man took a seat next to him. The person Chegar was waiting on had arrived. The man was of medium build and had black hair. He was a nondescript middle aged man who wore the same business suit as him.

The man began to speak while still facing forward and away from him. "I got a job for you."

Chegar did not know his name; he only knew that the man was an executive from the same organization as he was. But Chegar simply followed the orders as an overseas worker under .mmm.

"The target is?" Chegar asked him.

"A hacker named macro-hard. He"s in this city." The man explained. "He was looking into a politician we support."

Chegar thought over the name macro-hard in his mind. It was a hacker name he never heard before. "I"ll have Siva look into it right away."

The other man"s expression clouded over at his words.

"You plan on using that psychopath again?" He replied sternly.

Chegar had two freelance hitmen working under him and utilized them as his hands and feet. This man did not like either of those killers – Siva and Irasawa.

"The hitmen you employ are both crazy."

That was his excuse. Although that certainly may be the case. They were not like normal people. They were both psychotic and deranged men removed from society. But if Chegar could utilize them effectively, they would be useful.

"Siva"s cracking ability is the best in the world."

"I have an issue with his personality."

"A hitman does not have anything like personality." Chegar held back a sigh. "Besides, it"s better this way than have them against us."

"And that ex-boxer," the man reb.u.t.ted. "Who knows when he"ll be caught."

The ex-boxer referred to Irasawa.

"Shouldn"t you put him through counseling?"

Chegar got slightly irritated at the man"s question. "And where would the budget for that come from?"

The cyber division comprised of elite hackers and hacker trainees; both were welcomed with open arms, and the spies working overseas were secondary. But support from the organization was insufficient, so it was difficult to keep capable workers. As such it was better to hire cheap hitmen when money was tight. Chegar nearly muttered those complaints.

The man did not say anything more on the matter though. "Don"t screw it up." That was the only thing he said before leaving and disappearing into the crowd.

After watching him leave, Chegar immediately called those two hitmen.

Chegar himself was also originally from .mmm"s cyber division. They committed repeated terrorist acts via cracking throughout the world, but once they were left with the skills to proceed through the changes in the next era they were ordered to take a backseat five years ago. In actuality that was a DFA.

The only way was up. It was like that in every part of the world. There were an abundant amount of people who were more skilled than Chegar. People with brilliant hacking skills sprung up every year. And Chegar chose the path to survive without sticking with those people – the path of a spy, designated to jump around the world and eliminate any individuals who stood in the way of the organization he belonged to.

Except Chegar did not dirty his own hands. He hired other capable people in the area he settled in and put them to work in his place so he would not leave any traces behind; anyone who he could easily cut ties with at a moment"s notice. In this country, those were Siva and Irasawa. Once this job was finished, he would eliminate them and find his next p.a.w.ns.

Chegar got onto the subway at Hakata Station and headed to Siva"s place. The store he ran was at the corner of the shopping district in Nishijin between the laundry service storefront and the stationary shop. At the front of the shop there was the sign that read "PC Doctor"s Studio," and "We Do Computer Maintenance, Data Recovery, and Virus Removal" were written on the wall. It was a small and old shop.

When Chegar peeked inside, there was an old man. He seemed to be a customer.

"If you exchange the keyboard for a new one, I will have it fixed right away. I will have it read in two to three days." A young man wearing a blue ap.r.o.n with the store name on it was interacting with the customer. He was a thin and gentle-mannered, and he looked suitable to work in the service industry. "If you have any issues, do not hesitate to give me a call."

The elderly man gave his thanks and walked out. Chegar stepped into the store in the other man"s place. "You seem busy."

"Ah, Chegar-san. Good afternoon." Siva gave him a smile and greeted him. "Irasawa-san is already here."

"Is that so?"

They always met at this shop to discuss work.

"I"ll close the store, so please wait inside."

Chegar headed behind the counter as instructed and proceeded into the next room. It was a ten-tatami mat size room and served as Siva"s work s.p.a.ce. There were five computers set up on a long table and ten display screens on the wall. A man wearing a jersey was sitting on a sofa in the corner of the room. He had a large-build and blond hair that reached to his shoulders. He was Irasawa.

Irasawa made no move to look over at Chegar and kept his focus on his smartphone. Occasionally he would smirk. It was creepy.

"Irasawa," Chegar addressed him. "What are you looking at?"

Irasawa finally looked over to him. His eyes were vacant and he had hollow cheeks. His complexion was poor too. His features reminded Chegar of a drug addict, but what he indulged himself with was not drugs but murder.

"The previous match. Here," Irasawa tossed him the device. Chegar caught it with one hand and looked at the small screen. The video was on replay. A slightly dirtied man was in a unique ring covered by a wire netting. He must have been homeless. The one filming was Irasawa. It looked like he was slicing up the man while holding the camera in his left hand, and the footage was zoomed up close to his victim"s expression as he yelled in pain. Blood spurted forth from his body and got onto the camera lens.

"I"ve had enough." Chegar tossed back the cellular device with a sigh. "I don"t want to see it."

Irasawa was a boxer in the past. However, his mental psyche broke down the moment he killed his opponent in a match. He was unable to forget the sensation of when he took a person"s life, and he disappeared from the public stage. He continued making small coin for a living by hurting others in underground boxing for a while, but he ended up being unsatisfied with that and desired to become a murderer. Even now he kept abducting homeless people and forced them to partake in a one sided match. He even made a ring in his garage for the occasions.

"You were the one who said to take a video of it, remember?"

"I didn"t say you could watch it twenty-four-seven."

This man was sick. He could not be cured from his crime addiction. Irasawa would periodically feel restless until he killed someone. But as time pa.s.sed, he developed a thirst for killing people.

Although his victims were homeless, if he killed too many of them too frequently, someone would end up finding out and capturing him. So Chegar ordered him to "take a video of when you"re killing them, so you can watch that and distract yourself when you get the urge to kill." It had some effect on him, and since Irasawa started making the videos his killing sprees had lessened.

Just as the executive from the organization had said, Irasawa was crazy. But he did not just have vices. Murder was a hobby for him. If Chegar gave him the request to kill someone, he would do it for free. Chegar had to pay a heavy amount of money for a skilled hacker like Siva, so it was difficult to maintain a budget. Having Irasawa handle the body disposal after killing them for free was a huge convenience for Chegar. Although Irasawa had a couple of issues, Chegar could not be unsatisfied with him. He was able to turn a blind eye to his behavior.

"Do I finally get to kill someone?" Irasawa looked up at Chegar and smirked. Chegar came all the way to this shop only when he wanted to task the two killers with a job.

"Don"t you always do?"

"Homeless aren"t people." Irasawa laughed. "They"re just trash."

"Listen, Irasawa." Chegar stated with a stern voice. "This is work. It"s different from the games you usually do."

"I get it."

I wonder about that. Chegar shrugged. He then glanced over to one of Siva"s computers. It was still on. Chegar peeked at the screen. On it was an image of a young man.

Just about then Siva had just finished closing the shop and entered the room. "Sorry to make you wait."

Chegar pointed to the screen and asked. "Who is this man?"

"Don"t know." Siva smiled and c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "Just some NEET."

He sat down in his chair and continued.

"I tampered with this guy"s life, but I messed up. I think looking back on it, I was too hung up on the nude middle school girls."

Nude middle school girls? I have no idea what he"s talking about, but he must have been causing mischief again.

"I was going with the scenario that he quit working for a company while looking for another job, but job searching didn"t go well and despaired and blamed everything on the company, making him result to writing death threats."

This man named Siva may have a worse personality than Irasawa. There was probably no other person as two-faced as he was. Although he appeared to always have a gentle smile and seemed honest and kind, his true self was twisted. No one could see his true nature under the mask he donned. While he worked at the computer repair shop, behind the scenes this man took pleasure in taking action to destroy others" lives.

"Was the congressman Yamanaka forfeiting his position earlier also because of you?" Chegar recalled the report which included the article of a certain congressman withdrawing himself from the re-election the other day.

"It was a job I got from the opposing candidate." Siva explained with pride. "I exposed his corruption and acts of adultery. It didn"t even matter if it was real or not. As soon as they became rumors, his life was over."

This man Siva – codename s_i_v_a  – was a hacker as well as a hitman. However, his method of killing was unique and nothing similar to standard hitman"s. He specialized in eliminating people socially, making him receive the name the Cracker in the underground. He would fabricate crimes or scandals and make people in society believe in them. He even had pressured people into committing suicide before. Siva had influential people and celebrities among his regular customers – from politicians who want to eliminate their opposing candidates and company executives who want competing companies to go bankrupt, to actresses who want to knock down their rivals by a peg.

"But I"m tired of having these big shots and celebs as my targets. They"re doing shady things behind the scenes without me making them up anyway."

Chegar glanced at the man displayed on the screen. "And that"s why you are trying to mess an ordinary good person"s life?"

"That"s exactly it." Siva nodded with a smile on his face. "Like making an earnest salaryman out to be a s.e.x offender or a police officer with a strong sense of justice a drug addict. Isn"t it marvelous how it"s possible to make someone"s life anything you want it to be? I made a company employee quit his job just previously. That was a lot of fun."

"Seems like you"re acting like a G.o.d would."

"You must be envious of it, right?"

Chegar tutted in his mind. He was slightly unnerved that this man would use his abilities to play G.o.d. If he would use them on meaningless shenanigans, then it"d be great if I could have those talents. They could be found useful in helping the country or justice instead.

"Enough with your games for now. I have a job for you."

Siva"s eyes shone at Chegar"s words. "Who do we get to kill this time?"

"Macro-hard."

"Macro-hard?" Siva burst out a laugh. "That"s a stupid name."

"He seems to have obtained information on our organization. Find his location."

"Alright." Siva moved his long arms over the keyboard and began typing.

Credit and much thanks to Voissane for helping me edit this series as always.