Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Double Play

Fudou was impatient.

Currently the Natsugawara Serpent’s game occurring at the stadium was

being closely watched by the world. But even if the game did not have

many paying close attention to it, 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 happened and ‘

that’ was discovered, everything would come to an end.

Even if the public were to only found out about the disposal of the body, that by

itself would cause the head of the baseball team

management to be replaced. However, Ryuusei Takioka had settled these incidents many

times before.

In the past many extortionists and free-writers who attempted to

threaten Ryuusei had suddenly disappeared. Fudou was unaware how many

had been eliminated directly right in front of Ryuusei, but the

lingering malice around him probably suggested that the number could not

be counted on the fingers of both hands.

But if ‘

that’ was discovered, it would completely change everything.

Although all the murders or disposal of bodies would be taken care

of, there was the fear of the baseball team dying off upon Takioka’s

arrest. There was even the possibility of the Natsugawara Group to

decline itself. To not allow that to happen, the Natsugawara Group may

cut ties with the Takioka faction and act as the victim, claiming the

corruption was only contained in the inside, in order to manipulate the

public and social media. And that power solely belonged to the Natsugawara Group.

At any rate, Fudou was someone so worthless he would await his own destruction. He had already gotten at taste of ‘

that’

as well after making a successful career path through Takioka. 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 that he was targeted by the culprit and was put down after questioning for it.

That was what Fudou thought anyway, but now he did not find the

culprit to be the terrifying one. The face of the dead man was not what

appeared in Fudou’s mind when he had discovered the body; it was the

overwritten image of the face that had been 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 used for radio interception. The guards

perceived 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 perceived 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 were oblivious of the incident concerning 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 happened, his future would be lead him

down to nothing more than a path of destruction.

However, his wish was in vain. The situation had already begun to take its course into deterioration. He still had not realized the worst person

participating 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 that, 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 going fairly well. Hee hee.”

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

“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 she must have 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 was a pro reigning as the top of the information dealing there.

Nonetheless, the company 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.

Only a select few were capable of contacting

her starting from Candiru’s temporary president Isozaka and the actual

top of the company Izaya, with Nec being one of her aliases passed throughout the company.

Even so, her skills in information gathering on the internet was

certain. She had gone as far as collecting data in the images folder

related to the person’s fetishes on their personal computer without

discretion for certain assignments.

She began to talk to Izaya about the information he asked her to look

into between the third switch of the offense and defense teams.

“The Natsugawara Group was originally a toy shop that has been going on for generations. It’s a conglomerate made by this old man with an

amazing name as Byakuyamaru Natsugawara. Even though the group

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 associated

groups... but this place is a little unique. There doesn't seem to be 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 as though she was reading software on her computer.

Except she was reading out the letters appearing on an imaginary monitor

inside her brain instead from her laptop screen.

“Ryuusei Takioka. 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 numerous weaknesses of the group.”

She put all the muddled information she had 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 which could not be read too much into, but her eyes were

ablaze, as though she took pleasure in collecting and exposing the big

corporation’s secret information.

“Looks like this Ryuusei Takioka is just some elite’s kid. And 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

foolish 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.

There seemed to be information tumbling out around Ryuusei enough for

Nec to find laughable. Izaya listened to Nec’s continuation on the

topic, considering 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?”

Ryuusei whispered that to himself, recalling that this room was one of the ‘places planned for a murder.’

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

Ryuusei responded to his sister’s rebuke with a self-possessed attitude.

“It means we should have better guns. It’s not just about the efficiency.

We need 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 to go with. Their goods are being sold in quantity more than quality.”

“Tamae, don’t say that. There is a person from that old nest here.”

Ryuusei gave a fleeting glance to the subordinate. The man 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

assistant.

“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 attitude.

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 found it as 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. There was 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 to make you go through 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 or not, he ignored the greeting. He smiled and stated.

“Sounds like there's some 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.”

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

“The guards have really gotten active.”

“There are audience members who get excited when a home run is hit.”

“I believe I said ‘don’t kid with me.’ The guards received some sort

of message over 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 you behave like that while being an executive of the Natsugawara group.”

“Why don’t you stop calling an existence as ‘crazed’ just because

they have surpassed the limits of your understanding? That is a term

that indicates no respect for the person who has managed to pass your

scope of common knowledge. Are you a beast, prefecture vice governor

Ranzou Hiura?”

“Leave it, youngster.”

The the vice governor, Ranzou Hiura, walked past the arrogant man and plopped down onto 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. Now, about his stadium’s VIP room. Look, you can

see it from here right? It’s an indoor seat behind the glass 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 there 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 gave a thousand yen bill to each of them.

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

“…Thank you.”

Both expressed their own words of thanks. Haruto had jumped and flailed

around in excitement, and Himari glanced at Izaya with a suspicious eye

rather than a shy manner.

After watching the children run off to the shop corner, Izaya

resumed the serious conversation with the same smile he gave the

children.

“So? What kind of connection does he have with the vice governor Hiura?”

“Hmmm, you have a face of a child who’s been given ice cream just now. ”

“Indeed, information is similar to ice cream. Ice cream satisfies

one’s appetite, 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. There seems to be 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 circumstances. From the people I know,

you are about the top level in Honshu.”

“I want to be called the number one best in Japan, but I’m not that

conceited. Kee hee hee. There is Ikebukuro’s Tsukumoya, 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 had was information generally not well known in

the first place. But just by collecting information one after the other,

even the proof of the tax evasion, from just the laptop in her

possession indicated Nec’s abilities were abnormal. Yet she continued to

type on the keyboard with nimble fingers cheerfully as long as there

were information to be found on the surface layer.

“In all honesty, it’s because the Natsugawara Group is a big company

catching even Candiru’s eye. I didn’t want to meaninglessly be hostile

to them, so I didn’t look into it much before, but I’ve set up a

foundation for times like this.”

“Really, you’ll be careful, right? Although, rest assured they’ll come to the realization that you did this all by yourself.”

“That’s great. I’ll become a celebrity who leaked the big corporation’s dark secrets. They’ll say, ‘die idi~ot. I-di~ot’.”

Nec hit on the keys with a cackling laugh.

She was the most excited audience member out of anyone in the stadium

which was currently changing teams from offense and defense positions.

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?”

Hiura said with a sour expression, but Ryuusei smiled happily in reply.

“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 have completely fooled or orchestrated it to

avoid the Natsugwara Group’s meddling. In every single aspect, my

stadium is working perfectly 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,

it’ll hurt my pride if I produce a play that feels like a fixed game.”

“…The ones who would get hurt from a fixed game would be the players’ pride...Anyway, 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 buttons, he showed footage of the

“front” and “back” of the security system on the room’s projector from

the computer monitor.

“We’re analyzing 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. Even if they had meant to show that there was nothing

wrong to Hiura, nonetheless it drew their strange

fate together.

“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 who was nervously raising his hand was the one who spoke to

Tamae earlier – the former bodyguard 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. Ryuusei,

however, considered the man’s origins and decided to indulge in the

conversation.

“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 Ryuusei’s question after wavering on it for a few moments.

“About this, if my previous employers were to…”

“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 started 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 of the name. He is someone

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 worked 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 we’re in 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 space, Ryuusei 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.

“Someone like him could easily obtain the information regarding ‘

that‘

if he was affiliated with the Medei Group or in the higher ranks of the

Awakusu Group. Especially if the either group had a rival relationship

with the Asuki Group. They first issue a threat using the protégé

informant, and if it all works out, they take all the concessions. But

even if that wouldn’t work, they may plan on demanding, ‘if you don’t

want

that exposed add it to the concessions.'”

“Eh?”

“If that’s the case, then this is made easy for them. 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 space

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. With the power the Awakusu has, it’s

possible for them to solicit us for the concessions using the disposal

of Amagi’s body as blackmail.”

“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 Association. 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 assumption. 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

then in next moment, he smashed the glass 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

while his hand sluggishly bled. 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 gave a sigh and slowly rose.

“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 title 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.’ However, behind that face, she

carried out the baseball company’s dirty work under Ryuusei’s direction.

As such, when trouble arose within the baseball stadium she was someone

to settle the matter through 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 details through a unique code.

However, she was called by name and had received a new order to carry

out from the top of security, Fudou, while she was patrolling the

stadium.

‘The man in black who brought the old man with him in the wheelchair

space. Keep your full attention on that man, Izaya Orihara.’

The designated wheelchair space was not far from where she currently

was selling beer at. Iroha briefly glanced over there, and just as the

information provided to her had indicated, 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, my intuition is dull. It’s because that old man may not actually be that strong.

She told herself and quietly took a step forward. She would approach

them as a salesgirl so she could make certain with her own eyes that her

assessment was right.

However-

Perhaps this was because she was watching the old man too closely.

Her path closed off, not noticing the boy who was running in her direction from the

shop.

They crashed into each other with great force. When Iroha turned 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 Iroha 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 Iroha saw the boy off with a smile and went to go clean the

discarded ice cream on the floor, even as she considered it was

troublesome to do that for a publicity stunt.

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 space 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. Shortly after, a girl he assumed to be around the same age

as the boy appeared 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 them.”

“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 glasses. She was facing her laptop and was doing something

on it.

“...Could that also be one of his friends?”

The woman just kept diligently working on her laptop without really

paying attention to the baseball game. Tame thought she could be talking

with Izaya Orihara, but since she hardly turned to face in his

direction Tame 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 grid her teeth a little. She was supposed to have the skill as

someone governing information. However, if the hacker who sneaked in the

temporary and current hidden camera network was indeed her, then her

skill far surpassed Tamae’s.

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

Tame was not sure which, but she 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 and muttered, furrowing his brows.

“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 march to the young man in a

wheelchair, Ryuusei regarded Hiura’s action as imprudent and start to

think of his next move. Depending on the situation, they would probably

have to take action 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 Japan 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 young woman sitting in the passenger’s seat. However, he did not

understand any of the content since he ignored his passenger’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 peaked out under his

bandages on his face, he felt like it would have been better to let a

ghost on-board.

However, what was more strange to the driver was the young woman in

the passenger seat talking to the monster-like man lightheartedly. He

tilted his head, wondering if she was just not frightened or she just

had gotten 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

identity and with a strong rage burning inside him, he decided to crush

Izaya and Sozoro.

He decided that. And yet –

“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 circumstances 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 considering the problems of the people

around you and throwing an 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

pass by and don’t even put up a resistance will eventually lead to

distorted pleasure. That would dull the sharpness of your violence.’

Usubara 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 who was 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 spacious 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!”

Translation Works:

Byakumaru is written as 白夜丸 which can mean “Full white night.” The

“maru” is still pretty common in names today, so I didn’t think much of

it, but during the Sengoku and Edo periods “maru” was usually given to

young boys – typically feudal lords’ kids or samurais’ kids, at least

someone of nobility or importance. Though the “maru” could be dropped

later in life, since it indicates someone as “young.”

Keep in mind that “maru” does not always indicate nobility for people in

real life now. Its meaning and usage has changed over the centuries.

But for the fictional character, sure, it can be considered.

Zaibatsu – 財閥. Literally called a financial clique. They are large

Japanese business conglomerates, which usually had such influence it

could have control over parts of the Japanese economy. This was

especially the case in the Meiji era and continued until WWII. They were

not necessarily monopolies, as the companies would usually specialize

in multiple industries.

Sadaharu Oh is a Japanese-Chinese baseball player for the Yomiuri

Giants and currently holds the world home run record with 868 throughout

his career. He also has various other batting records. If you love

baseball, you can read more about him here.

In Japan, there is one governor of a prefecture and one to four vice

governors appointed by the governor. Hiura is one of the vice governors

of some prefecture.

Jersey 24 is referring to the character Enokida from the series

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens. He will also be referred to as blackleg nameko,

which is his hacker name.

The term people refer to Ryuusei is 支配人 (shihainin), which means

“manager” or “executive.” It is a stylistic choice of why I chose

“executive” over manager, though there were legit reasons too. To me,

the English word for “manager” is just too generalized. A manager could

be anyone in charge of a small business to the head of a massive

corporation. In comparison, the Japanese language has various words for

“manager,” but each one is more specific to what type of manager they

are and their position. Not to mention Ryuusei’s ego and he’s very

influential/intimidating presence as well. There were plenty of reasons I

had to translate it as “executive” over “manager.” But in a few

instances like in this chapter, it made more sense to translate it as the latter as demonstrated in the dialogue between Iroha and Haruto.

Namusan 南無三 – I’m pretty sure this is a Baccano reference since Yuuki mentioned it was

something she heard from an American couple. I unfortunately do not know the series so well that I would

know what Yuuki could have been talking to the American couple about or

if that couple used the line “namusan.” So if I translated that

differently, my apologies. It seems to be a nuance so it means something

like “damn it,” “oh shoot,” or “oh my god.”

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Translation: Kaede726

Reposts are prohibited and should be exclusive to Kaede726 on blogger.

Illustrations provided by: Soutenkyuu

Support the Official Release: Raws can be purchased at

BookWalker.jp and Amazon.jp

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