Chapter 1: The Man Who Came

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A Certain Month on a Certain Day, Extracted from a Portion of a Region Newspaper Article

[A body in Bunokura – determined as the missing eldest son of a wealthy family -]

[Last night the body found in Bunokura was identified to be Ryuuichi Adamura (age 28) who had disappeared three days prior. The police are investigating from the case and accident -]

In a land from off from the town the newspaper article was written in.

In a small mountain hut one man gazed at the article. It was unclear how he obtained a regional newspaper from another prefecture, but the date was certainly today. The man smiled excitingly and threw the newspaper into the fireplace. And then he threw various pieces for games one would amuse themselves with on a table like chess and Shogi pieces, and Mahjong tiles and playing cards into the fireplace.

The season was the rainy season. Even on such a sodden, gloomy day he continued to light the flame in the fireplace.

The black-haired man watched the newspaper and game pieces turned into ash before he stroked the wheelchair left next to his rocking chair and took out his cell phone. Then making a certain call he happily begins to speak.

"I will accept what we talked about before. I will bring some people and come to the town."

He used polite words, but it was in a tone with not much respect. Without ridicule, his words just contained a feeling of uneasiness like a child.

"………Yes, this is not for your sake. It is nothing but for my own though."

On top of the squeaking rocking chair the man gave a clear smile.

"It"s been a while……..I missed people. That"s all it is."

After dropping the call, the man pondered to himself as he rocked the chair.

– Now then, who should I bring?

"Namie-san is in America, Kine-san and Mikage-san won"t leave Ikebukuro, Ran-kun is with the Awakusu group, Mamiya-san is annoying……Fujiura-san is in prison, Neguro-san"s whereabouts in German are still unknown. Lisa-chan has come back to j.a.pan, but……to move for this case she"d stand out so let"s stop there."

After listing off several names of acquaintances, the man smiled.

"Yep. That"s about right. First would be Sozoro-san…….and those two I guess."

The moment he decided on the acquaintances he would summon, the man in the wheelchair thought over the journey ahead while humming.

"Ah, moving will take some time, so we have to do what we can so everyone doesn"t get bored."

And then while watching the fireplace he let out a sigh as though he slightly regretted it.

"…….I wonder if it was a bit of a mistake to burn even the trump cards?"

A Few Days Later Bunokura

It rained in the town today too.

Under the sky covered in thick clouds, the darkened wall of the building stood like a gravestone. Even though it was supposed to be the best entertainment district in this land, the atmosphere surrounding the area was stagnant, and the bright voices seemed to have misrepresented that.

At the entrance to the entertainment district the man who had been splashed in muddy water by a car, Koshino, tutted in annoyance.

"d.a.m.n, seriously."

He was an underling of a gang in the local area and walked with newcomers below his position. Looking at the mud splashed onto his pants he saw the car dash off, but it was already turning at the corner. Suppressing his irritation, Koshino slowly headed for the place of his destination.

It was on the fourth floor of an old building standing at the corner of the entertainment district. The third floor had brothels, and the fourth floor had become a small office for black-market lending.

The organization Koshino belonged to- the Futsuku group was backing it, and it was one of the meager sources for funding.

"…..These are quite the numbers."

Koshino who had looked at the unsubmitted books in the office made a plainly solemn face. Then a man from the same generation as him thought to be an entrepreneur of the illegal loaning said.

"With the current situation any more would be impossible. The number of guys closing the shop also increased."

"Put in some more motivation. With not even a bit of money saved that rotten bonbon sensei will seriously take over the town."

While having such a conversation the door to the office opened and a man showed his face.

"Hey, what"s wrong. Aren"t you making a pitiful face."

"……Sasazaki-san. h.e.l.lo."

While clicking his tongue in his mind, Koshino bowed his head without changing his expression.

"Is the Futsuku group also unable to win against the waves of the recession?"

"No, thanks to you, we managed to pull through."

"Huh, is that so. If that"s the case, there"s nothing to hold back."

As he said this the man called Sasazaki shoved out his hand as though expecting to accept something.

After Koshino made a signal with a glance to the other, the entrepreneur of the black-market pulled out a thick envelope from a drawer. Sasazaki took that and after confirming the ten thousand yen stack of bill, he grinned.

"Aah, well then, I"ll borrow this."

"…….Do the police have some plan on approaching the current case?"

"The current case? We have a lot, so which one?"

Feigning ignorance, the middle-aged man having taken the envelope shrugged his shoulders.

Sasazaki was an active detective.

Even if one could say he was active, he was a fellow hard-pressed to be called detective and was a person on the criminals" side giving out disclosed information instead of raising bribes from the town"s black-market and brothels.

"It"s the murder case with Adamura"s child. Three days have gone by, but there has not been a follow-up report so I"m interested."

"Hey now, don"t say something so reckless. It may still be a suicide, you know? After all the victim had a weapon thought to be a cutter knife in his hand."

"There is no way a suicide where a man with marks of restraints on his arms and legs would gouge out both his eyes by himself with leaflets stuffed in his mouth, cut off his nose and ears and then jump off the building would even happen."

"Who knows. Maybe it was the drugs that did it? Confused, he cut himself while laughing and jumped from the building. Maybe such a witness testimony will come out?"

"I see, so from the start you had no intention of seriously investigating?"

The corrupt detective gave a bitter smile at Koshino"s sigh.

"No? Outwardly I"m properly investigating into it. After all this time it"s been rowdy in even the media. ………Well, we"ll be investigating, but it"ll die off once the excitement cools down a bit. The chief that came here half a year ago is naturally a kid of the career group. More than making a dispute against sensei or the feudal lord he"ll keep to his principle quietly until his promotion."

"In other words, the boss of the police will remain uninvolved in our meddling as usual?"

"As long as the media doesn"t make a fuss."

Koshino also gave a bitter smile and spoke to himself at Sasazaki"s words.

"…….Really, even if I say it, just what is up with this town?"

Bunokura located on the land looking out onto the j.a.pan sea could be said to be a fairly large town as a provincial city. But there were not many people who would happily migrate to the town.

The adjacent Hagane city was a city opened enough to tie sister city relations with tourist cities, but this town existing in a place separated by a mountain was filled with an enclosed atmosphere. But it did not necessarily mean it was a town in a recession.

Being a town developed by the exploitation of the mine, it had continued to prosper even now by the hands of a family monopolizing the few silver mines actively working in j.a.pan. Recently there were movements to redevelop the city; the local born politicians having begun to take the lead and buying the land. But there seemed to be a large rift between the family that was the head of the silver mine and the politicians, so that friction had caused further discord in the deteriorated town.

The corrupt town.

Evading the nickname the neighbors had given it, a large half of the influential people in the town would b.u.t.ter up to the mine owner or the politicians and try to line their pockets with the corruption.

The one such person, the corrupt detective Sasazaki, said with a sarcastic smile.

"This town is already packed of gas from rotten people."

"So you say, sir."

"I"m still not rotten."

– Naturally having to erase that much of a showy murder there is too much risk for us.

– It"d probably be better to save up money to get out of here already.

Sasazaki thought that in his mind, but not allowing himself to say anything about himself taking money under the table in front of Koshino he spit out deceiving words.

"Well anyway, you guys be careful to not set off any sparks. With this many bribes, I can"t cover for you."

"We understand, sir Sasazaki. We don"t have the time to do reckless activities. We have to search for new clients instead of chasing those guys skipping town."

The corrupt detective shook his head with a coa.r.s.e smile to make a fool of Koshino.

"There won"t be any people coming to this town knowing the details now."

A Few Minutes Later

Koshino opened the blinds of the window with his finger and looked down onto the street. At about that point, he watched the back of Sasazaki as he headed out of the building and walked through the city, clicking his tongue.

"Tch…….That s.h.i.tty b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Just by saving a bit of money he feels like he could escape."

"Shall we abduct him?"

Koshino frowned at the words of his delinquent subordinate.

"That would be creating reckless sparks. If that b.a.s.t.a.r.d betrays us that"s another story."

Koshino tried to avert his gaze from Sasazaki"s back with a sigh, but then a strange sight caught his attention.

"……..What the h.e.l.l?"

In front of Sasazaki stood two children, making him come to a halt, and were talking to him about something.

"…….Today is a weekday isn"t it?"

No matter how he looked at it they were a boy and girl about the same elementary school age where they could both be admitted to junior high at best. From this distance he could not make out their expressions, but he was certain that they were children.

They were dressed neatly creating the impression that they were "wealthy children," and they were presences completely unsuitable in the entertainment district lined with saloons, especially for noon.

"Sasazaki shouldn"t have a wife or kids though….."

Ahead in his gaze as Koshino tilted his head to the side, Sasazaki was being pulled by the hand by the kids, heading off somewhere.

From the way Sasazaki walked, Koshino realized he himself was also perplexed.

"Just what is happening…..?"

He thought it was strange, but deciding those children had nothing to do with him he chose not to look into it further. From his experience of him living in Bunokura for thirty years, he knew full well.

That he would be better off than to recklessly poke his nose in matters where he did not belong in this town.

Inside Bunokura At the Hotel: "Bunokura Grand Palace" Royal Suite

"Ah, this is a good view."

The man said as he looked over the rain covered town from up high. He was at the highest towering hotel in Bunokura, the "Bunokura Grand Palace." The man who reserved the room on the highest floor entirely continued to gaze out of the side window of the suite room down onto the scenery of the town.

The man with glossy black hair was dressed in black clothes. And he was sitting down in a black based wheelchair. Unlike normal ones, it was a wheelchair with a strange, comfortable design that gave an impression of a reclining chair.

Crossing his legs lightly on the wheelchair, the man looked down on the city satisfied.

"I can sense the aroma of people just by looking. It"s a city entwined with a good feeling of violence and love. I like it."

Chucking, the man continued speaking. With a happy smile across his whole face from the bottom of his heart.

"If it"s here, I think I can have a good time."

The man moved his gaze to the side and addressed the bespectacled elderly man standing there.

"Don"t you think so? Sozoro-san."

The elderly gentleman called Sozoro was dressed in a little bit of a different designed suit with black and white as the basis. From the sharp glint in his eyes reflected in his gla.s.ses and straightened back, he was a man who could be thought to be a kind of butler or bodyguard.

For a bodyguard that would be the most fitting impression for him, regardless of his old age.

"………I do not think so. Unfortunately, I am a herbivorous man. This greedy air is difficult to breathe in."

He used the "soregashi" first personal p.r.o.noun in a polite manner. Even though he seemed to be respectful he actually was not at all. Rather his voice contained an att.i.tude that he was looking down on the man from somewhere, and the man in the wheelchair smiled heartily at the old man.

"You"re quite honest, Sozoro-san. Shouldn"t you pay your respects a bit more to me, your employer?"

"If you were not my employer, I would break that neck for the sake of the world."

"You"re trying to be quite bloodthirsty, Sozoro-san."

While smiling the man in the wheelchair moved its body forward. And then while gazing at the sky that had begun to turn darker than before he excitingly, excitingly whispered strange words.

"How exciting. Yeah, I"m really looking forward to it."

"What kinds of sounds (humans) will play when this town is stirred up?"

The Restaurant "Kongonsaikan"

"…..You"re the one who called for me?"

In a high cla.s.s Chinese restaurant on the highest floor of the Bunokura Grand Palace, Sasazaki spoke up cautiously. It was because of the strange children who had called out to him in the middle of town. He stood right here ,having been brought by them half-forcefully.

– "Hey, mister, you"re a detective right!"

– "……..Please come with us."

After taking money under the table from the black-market lending company, he was suddenly called out by a young boy and girl as he was walking around town. He felt disturbed they knew he was a detective and tried to chase them off with a joke, "How about school? I"ll arrest you." However –

– "Um, there"s a person who wants to bargain with you."

– "It"d be best to follow…….probably."

Being told of a bargain startled him, and he unconsciously looked around the area. He doubted it could be a trap, but at the present time he could not determine it for certain.

The children looked like they were about the same age, but they did not look like twins. Since they were a boy and a girl even if they were twins they would be fraternal twins, but based on that a.s.sumption they did not look quite alike. Not able to think of them as siblings, Sasazaki concluded they were probably not blood related.

While considering of the possibility of a trap. Sasazaki followed them while remaining cautious. If ahead of them was a warehouse or a dark alley he planned to immediately run away. Since there was the possibility of people who did not think well of him or criminals he arrested in the past whom would try to kill him. If it was a normal town he may not have been so cautious, but Sasazaki understood full well that Bunokura right now was a land that would overlook those kinds of occurrences.

But the place he was brought to was a prominent high quality restaurant in the city.

The moment he entered, Sasazaki froze up.

It was because the moment he stepped in well-built men in business suits in the shop wordlessly stared at him. It was not just one table. More than half of the tables occupied by these aggressive looking men were turned towards Sasazaki staring without a word.

– These guys……who are they?

– Hey…….wait. I believe I"m resented by sensei and the feudal lord…….

Being kept an eye on by the two forces of the town, then would they try to kill me?

Sasazaki thought that, and while he was desperately thinking of an escape route he was pulled by the hand of the children. While considering at worst he could use the children as hostages. He was then brought into a room in the restaurant – a high cla.s.s private room where people with black credit cards were guided to.

And there was one man.

"Hey, you"re Sasazaki-san, right? Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself."

Pointing to the business card left on the table, facing in front of Sasazaki made him freeze. He seemed to be a man without any of the businessman formalities.

[Financial Planner, Izaya Orihara]

His business card had that written on it, and after that only his cell phone number and e-mail address were given.

After seeing the name Izaya Orihara, Sasazaki observed him steadily.

He had glossy black hair and black clothes. There resided a clever shine in his eyes, and he had well-arranged face. No, more than cleverness it would be more correct to say sly. He had met face to face with murderers arrested in this town in the past, but he felt this man had the same look in his eyes. It was not that he felt a killing desire in them but with the simple meaning of "I cannot tell what he is thinking."

If there was another unique quality to notice – the man was sitting in a wheelchair. At some point the boy and girl who brought him here circled around behind him, and each one of them stood by while placing a hand on the wheelchair.

The man"s complexion was good, so it did not look like he was seriously ill with something.

If that was the case, was he injured?

Sasazaki thought that and decided to try and ask him.

"You look healthy, but are your legs bad?"

"A while ago I got into a gaudy fight. If I tackle rehabilitation it seems I have the chance to heal, but according to the doctors half of it seems to be psychological."

While the man gave a bitter smile he stroked the wheel of the wheelchair.

"Well, it doesn"t mean I cannot completely walk, but it"s impossible to jump and move around. For example, if you try to kill me right now it"d be difficult for me to run away."

"I"ll say this. Outside this private room there are a ton of people gathered."

He may certainly be able to strangle him here, but after that he would be killed. Besides he might be concealing at least a gun somewhere on his person.

"…….Now then, what does a financial planner want from a detective like me?"

He said this, but Sasazaki did not believe from the start that he was a financial planner. He had judged it was clearly a fake occupation and thought his name was probably a false name as well.

Financial planners helped future plans for people"s lives and companies included with a.s.sets, but from the man in front of him he did not feel the indication that he would think of others futures upfront.

And then the man in the wheelchair, Izaya Orihara, said while smiling cheerfully.

"Of course, it is about the future plans. For this town."

"Is that so…..Whose request? This isn"t something of you thinking the future of the town with a volunteer?"

"I cannot give a name, but I can only say an influential person in this town."

Hearing that, he came to read between the lines.

– I see, so he"s someone from an organization employed by either sensei or the feudal lord.

– Which one? If I poorly back the wrong one I could already be targeted by the other party.

Thinking it would turn out bad for him, Sasazaki thought to try to not get involved with this man as best as he can, but –

Izaya threw over a thick envelope towards him.

Sasazaki thoughtlessly took it, and after peeking from the opening he was shocked to see the roll of banknotes.

"H-hey, what is the meaning of this?"

"Really now. That"s a bribe."

Izaya continued with a gentle smile.

"I can easily look up what you have at least been doing. Well, when I looked into the town under the a.s.sumption there are people who would do that, your name appeared…….As a result, you have been invited for a meal like this."

Sasazaki doubted for a while, but after confirming the roll of banknotes were more than fifty he prepared for the worst.

"…….So, what do you want from this middle-aged detective with nothing ahead for him?"

"For one, with the envelope I just gave you I would like you to pretend to not see the scope of things no matter what I do in this town from here on out. The other one….."

With a wide smile Izaya took out another envelope.

From seeing the thickness of it, there seemed to be more money than the previous one.

"So I can carryout operations smoothly I would like to hear various topics from you who knows both sides of the town so well."

"…..In other words, I answer you honestly, and I could receive the contents of that envelope?"

Izaya answered Sasazaki, who was swallowing hard, with a smile.

"Of course. Ah, there isn"t the punchline that the contents are actually just a newspaper or just a thousand yen bill or anything like that, so please be rea.s.sured."

Showing the banknotes from inside the envelope slightly he flipped through the stack with his fingers.

Sasazaki started to sweat once he confirmed the total to be one million yen.

– This isn"t good.

– I don"t know between sensei and the feudal lord which side this kid is employed by, but if I poorly let information loose it seems I"ll be targeted by the opposite group.

Perhaps he noticed Sasazaki"s anxiety but Izaya started talking with a meek smile.

"Ah, I"m not saying to tell me some high cla.s.s information here. I don"t mind even common knowledge of the human relations and organization charts of this town grasped even by slightly informed people. If you think it is inconvenient to you, then I"m alright with you intentionally hiding it on purpose. Although it"d be problematic if you just give nothing but lies."

"……Is it fine with just that?"

"Yes, no matter who employed me I just want objective information whether it be from opportunists or even better people in a neutral position. Starting from that is the basis of my subsidiary business after all."

"And what would that be?"

"Ah, well more than subsidiary business it would be my princ.i.p.al occupation though."

Izaya answered Sasazaki"s question while slightly changing his smile to a devious one.

"I am an informant."

– Is he messing with me?

Sasazaki thought that.

There certainly existed individuals who were called informants. But it was a general term for those people who gave out information of a town for small coin, sometimes existing as bookmakers at race tracks or hostesses at bars. Thinking from the perspective of the police there were many information providers called "informants" in the ranks of gang organizations or cult religions.

He had not heard a man call himself an informant other than in dramas and manga. If someone looked into another person"s information then they could be called an investigator or part of a detective agency.

What is he doing taking the name of such a shady occupation for himself?

Sasazaki, thinking it was too childish for a simple joke, shook his head with a cynical smile.

"Ooh, that"s amazing. If that"s the case if I asked you the details of what I ate yesterday you would know."

Izaya kept his smile the same and answered him while shrugging his shoulders.

"It was a brilliant dish of Tantanmen with black sesame seeds, right? You also asked for two helpings of kaedama."

Sasazaki felt the sweat forming on his palms.

– No, he just looked into me. He probably shadowed me for about a day.

So he thought and tried to keep is composure with a fake smile but –

"After the meal, you said some rather rude things to the new police chief at the Bunokura station, right? Hmmm, wasn"t it, "I"m fine with turning a blind eye at what you are doing, but I"ll have you know when I"m around I"m not going to show my true self like an idiot."

His smile froze at Izaya"s words.

– N-no way.

– Why does he know even that!?

– Was there anyone else there at that time!?

– Was he also there!? No way!

– Was it bugs!? The police!? No, a betrayer in the police force!?

Various possibilities came to mind and then vanished, but as though to wipe away the conjectures he made in his mind the text message ringtone of his cell phone went off. The content of the text was short with the subject line being "from the man in front of you."

[How about you give me the names of the many patrons of yours in this town and the contents of the crimes they asked you to erase in person or through text?]

Seeing the written text Sasazaki comes to understand. That the man called an "informant" thrust in front of him a piece of information as free service.

The worst information – that the man in front of him already had a tight grip on his fate.

"Alright everyone, the shoot is done. Thank you very much."

After Sasazaki left, Izaya came out of the private room in his wheelchair and called out to each person in the general seating. The well built men sitting there after looking at each other asked Izaya.

"It was Nakura-san, right? Is it really alright for one person each to receive 10,000 yen? We really only just took a seat and stared at every new customer that came in."

"Yes, it was the best. That"s the kind of research this is."

"Is that so? Well, we don"t really get it, but good luck."

The people who were seated in the restaurant"s general seating were members of rooters and Rugby clubs at three universities out of town. They were employed by a man under the name of Nakura from one of the universities OB with "For praxeology research we are studying the human responses of when they are stared at suddenly by a large number of people," and they continued to "stare at a visitor" in the shop being filmed on the hidden cameras.

While thinking it was a strange research, they were caught by the high daily wages and thus partic.i.p.ated in this part-time job without questioning too deeply into it. Even the ones who doubted and did not partic.i.p.ate in it naturally did not ask the university"s side to look into the OB"s registry. If there was someone who did they would have realized there was not a graduate by the name Nakura. Although they were deceived, they did not lose out and left with the earnings they easily received with a pleased expression.

After everyone left, the boy asked Izaya, who left the private room to make preparations.

"Hey, Izaya-san! Won"t the people of the store get mad for doing this?"

Izaya said back to the boy"s innocent question.

"Yeah, it"s alright. I properly asked the owner beforehand."

"……You threatened them."

Izaya answered the girl who said that before she averted her gaze while shrugging his shoulders.

"No way. As if I would threaten humans. When I brought up the matter of them hiding the producing area of the meat they use, they just mistook it as they were getting threatened."

"I don"t really get it."

The boy tilted his head to the side and the girl made an impatient sigh.

Hearing that from them, after Izaya drummed the arm of the wheelchair with his fingers he whispered half to himself.

"Well, perhaps they didn"t see through the misunderstanding."

"Why?"

Placing a hand on the boy"s head who further tilted his head in confusion, Izaya cheerfully answered.

"I like that cowardice side of humans too."

Izaya chuckled. His laugh felt like a kind of self-mockery from somewhere more than laughing at the cowardly humans.

"Humans don"t know when they will die, so they honestly have to live doing what they like."

After saying such an odd statement, Izaya said as he began to roll the wheelchair forward.

"Yeah, but this place is a really nice city. It"s a good city. It"s overflowing with human qualities. Just from listening to Sasazaki-san it makes me want to stay in this city for a long time."

Looking outside from the window the last time, Izaya lightly shrugged back his shoulders and sighed.

Happily, desolately.

"But because of just that……This city may not live that long."

Interlude: The Man Called Izaya Orihara ①

Izaya Orihara?

This is quite a nostalgic name to ask. Well, I guess it"s not that nostalgic. When I talk to friends and family, his name sometimes comes up in the conversation. Each time a dangerous or odd event happens it"s "what did Orihara-kun do?" or "was the one behind the black curtain Orihara-kun?" It"s that kind of topic.

You see, just from that you can tell he is a good-for-nothing kind of human being, right?

What type of person is Izaya Orihara? Even if you say what type. In terms of occupation, he is an informant. Outwardly he calls himself a financial planner though.

An informant is an informant. He especially gathered a lot of information in regards to humans. Like the human relations in the city, someone"s opposite side, or secret love relationships of famous people. If you ask him, he knows most of those sort of things. He sometimes knew the ordinary person"s love relationships, but he looked into various topics for his hobby. He has also had times he investigated love affairs too.

He"s that type of guy that when he occasionally saw couples that seemed to have an adultery relationship, between intervals of work he would look into that couple and send a picture as proof of the act to the man"s daughter. In other instances, he would slip into suicidal online meetings even though he had no intention of dying himself and listen to their stories before making them fall asleep with sleeping pills and run away.

Don"t you think he"s the worst?

If you thought that, then your sense was right. You shouldn"t approach that kind of person. If you can, it"s better to never get involved with him. For me, well look, my sense is wrong I guess. I"ve been friends with him for more than ten years. For you to reach me at this point, you should know that I"m not normal, right?

Is he still alive? Yeah, that was a foolish question. He"s still alive and that"s why you"re asking. It"s just that everyone has said that he may really be dead, so, well, I guess it doesn"t matter either way. Even if he is alive or dead, it won"t really change the feeling of his existence. Ostensibly he is not the kind of guy to stand in front of people.

The first time I met him was in middle school. We were in the biology club together, but he"s a bit different from back then.

That"s right, he changed just a little bit. It"s not like he is some cutthroat, and naturally he isn"t even some saint.

Good and evil, strong and weak, love and hate, hopes and despair, capitalism and socialism, conservatives and progressives, aristocracy and democracy…Well, isn"t there many structures of antagonism? Like with love and hate being one in the same, you disregard the difficult of thinking those things out and think of the simplicity of it in the end.

If there is a pendulum that swings between those two extreme ideals, then he likes to watch that swing.

His reason in living……No, if I went with that it would just be one kind of illness then.

Nevertheless, when you think the pendulum is stagnate, he would adequately make the pendulum sway, knock into other people"s pendulums, and after doing those things would then watch the reactions. He"s a guy that cannot live without doing that.

For that, he"s also the guy who would use those logical people or even the police. As a result, he doesn"t care if he gets arrested, hurt, or ends up dying at worst. Really, it may be the same as breathing or eating for him.

Yeah, without a doubt it"s an illness. That guy has the ability to collect extraordinary information, so I think the world really is unreasonable.

Yeah, he"s certainly extraordinary. More than information collecting, that is acc.u.mulation. He may look at information as one piece to his collection. The amount of information he grasps is really, how should I say it……non-standard or sly. It wouldn"t be strange to call it a cheat if you compare it from a game of today. "If there is a G.o.d in this world, why does he not preempt it?" is that type of feeling.

G.o.d, huh.

If normal people had about the same information collecting and processing as him, wouldn"t they a.s.sume the role of G.o.d and manipulate various things? I wonder about that.

Just because he outwardly does work with the layout of human lives, he doesn"t like managing all other people"s lives. He"ll manipulate events from behind the scenes, but he"s not that a.s.sertive of a man.

Although, no matter the result he would happily accept it with a face that "it was all according to my calculations." And everyone gets easily fooled by that.

He sees through all that. Everything up until now was in the palm of his hand. They misunderstand that and despair arbitrarily. He enjoys seeing those expressions on people. Only looking at his personality, he would only be an "evil spirit," a "mysterious existence the world has not seen."

I wonder if there are people who remember him with those sort of images. In actuality, it"s not an impossible mistake to make of him as such.

I want you to try and imagine it. The man who suddenly appeared in front of you knows more about you than you yourself. That fact in regards to the field of information should make him be called someone with an "adaptability" or perhaps someone "broad minded and free in disposition." If it is something connected with life and death rather than being broad-minded then it is the "power of life and death," but anyway, if there is a human has been troubled by him, Izaya Orihara has that type of image.

Certainly with that meaning he may be a "miscreant."

But you see, it doesn"t mean he is a villain. This is the most troubling thing though… It"s not like he does it with bad intent. Really, he does it because he loves humans.

He"s the "smoke and miasma". He is the poisonous mist itself. Even if he means no harm to his opponent, just by being in the area it"s harmless to humans.

But the troubling thing is…the misfortune for humans is that he follows them.

Love…

That"s right. He loves humans.

He loves, loves, loves, loves humans, so he just wants to see. The various expressions humans make.

Of hurt, of joy, humans that sing of love, humans that release hatred, and in his mind child birth and murder is considered the same. Perhaps when he was a kid he may have admired G.o.d or demons. He likes to prepare a wall on other people"s life rails. The people who cross over it and come to a happy ending, or the people who crash into the wall and end with a bad ending. He would say "either one is a wonderful human life. I love them."

He said this before.

– "If there is a life no one scorns, then I think at least I have to give them love. I don"t mean to love them out of a sense of obligation. Really, how should I say it….just genuinely like them."

Like that.

Yeah.

I think you already understand. If you want to have a normal life, not getting involved with him is the best answer.

There"s been times someone has abruptly been dragged into it by his whim, but that"s not always the case. Rather than suddenly throwing in a bomb in a peaceful place, it"s originally from the burnt land or incident.

It"s not like the proverb "wanting the mountain rain to come to fill the wind tower," but in the surroundings where he is involved in, an ominous air swirls around in advance.

If you can realize even that, you should get away immediately. If you do that, I think you will be fine with not getting mixed in with that troublesome love or idiosyncrasy of his. If you don"t want a normal life…Well, I won"t stop you though. I bet there are a lot of people who get involved happily.

-Selected from listening to Izaya Orihara"s acquaintance, person K.Translation Notes:In j.a.panese, there are many different types of personal p.r.o.nouns. You use different ones based on your gender and/or for your position/who you are addressing. I couldn"t come up with one to indicate the "polite tone" Sozoro has for a personal p.r.o.noun. But he uses "soregashi" (某), which I"ll be honest, I never knew before I started reading this character"s lines.Tantanmen Ramen is the j.a.panese name for the Chinese dish dandan noodles (or dandanmian). It is a Szechuan dish of noodles with a sauce of sesame paste and chile oil.Kaedama is an extra serving of noodles you can order when you have mainly the broth left. This only applies for ramen noodles, not for udon or soba.

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

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