Bunokura Police Station, The Chief"s Office

There was a fight and a small fire at the Oukarengou hideout. Despite such a report rushing in, no one tried speaking about the situation in detail.

One of the veteran detectives was suspicious, and when he called for the bar owner on the stairs discovered there was a dangerous incident that occurred.

"Weren"t the casualties an arson and then a kidnapping…….Why wasn"t that in the report!"

The bar owner answered the veteran detective"s words apologetically.

"I was forbidden to speak by the Oukarengou. It would have been an uproar to hear they were almost crushed having been beaten by an elderly man, and then having the former member Douma-san getting kidnapped."

Listening to him speak, it appeared he would not receive a damage report from the Oukarengou. The fire was also extinguished before it burned the walls, so even the bar owner did not want the story to become a big event.

As he said, if he poorly let the story out about the incident he would be killed by the Oukarengou, so he wanted them to spare him. But naturally with a kidnapping – let alone the victim being the son of a congressman – there was no way to leave the incident as it was. Each member of the Oukarengou was independently searching for the culprit without depending on the police, but there was no choice for the police to neglect it.

However, it did not become a huge uproar with the congressman Kiyojima getting involved. When the chief was about to try and contact the congressman Kiyojima he received a report from his subordinate. That Douma Kiyojima returned to the nightclub and after meeting up with each member of the Oukarengou returned to his home.

"According to the owner of the nightclub the name that was mentioned when he was kidnapped in conversation……in other words the one who talked with Douma on the phone was Izaya Orihara. At the least, I know a man with the name Orihara and an old man called Sozoro are not residents of this town. Of course there is a high possibility of them being fake names, but if such an old man was there he should have stood out way before then."

"So they are people from the outside, then?"

Sasazaki asked.

It would have been bad if anyone in the area overheard their conversation, so after that they had moved to the chief"s office. In the room there was only the chief and Sasazaki, and it was leaking with a meek atmosphere.

"Since it hasn"t turned into an actual case, I cannot get permission to directly look into the office"s data base. But if this town is involved in other crimes, even if something trivial, then that would be a different story. It seems possible to investigate there for leads, but….right now besides that kidnapping case there are no names."

Sasazaki thought as he grimaced in his mind.

– He isn"t saying I"m involved……

– But shall I use this story then?

"Actually, I have heard the name from the guys in the Futsuku group."

"Really?"

"Yes, it seemed they were looking for a man with that name, but……perhaps he caused problems for the Futsuku group and not just the Oukarengou."

"……There"s no possibility of that."

While the police chief was in thought Sasazaki continued and asked.

"Well, what did Douma have to say?"

"That too, I want you to look into it. As long as it is no more than an investigation, we can"t even do formal legwork."

The chief said with tired eyes while giving a troubled sigh. It seemed there was the possibility of damaging his career history, so he did not appear to want to get involved with Kiyojima and Adamura"s troubles that much. It was also true he could get into great trouble unprepared if he had to investigate prior to it.

"You probably only need to pretend to run into town and keep your ears open."

"…….Understood. I"ll try."

Sasazaki answered while hesitant.

It was not whether he should contact Douma or not.

It was Izaya Orihara.

Should he contact him, or should he not?

It was said he was a mysterious figure no one could figure out the Kanji of his name for, but Sasazaki knew it was written in Kanji as 折原臨也. It was not normal to read 臨也 as "Izaya." It was so uncommon one would think it had to go through the application process even in public offices.

Normally even if it was searched nothing would come up, but Sasazaki was able to grasp various information from the results he searched under the correct Kanji. On the display board of Tokyo"s central cities Ikebukuro and Shinjuku sometimes that name came up. It also matched with the name of a victim stabbed by a phantom killer somewhere northeast a few years ago.

– Maybe the injuries he got when he was stabbed resulted him being in a wheelchair.

His spinal cord or lumbar vertebrae may have taken damage when he was stabbed from behind. Sasazaki concluded that by himself, thinking of that possibility making sense to him.

– …..But this may be a chance.

Sasazaki carefully thought after he left the chief"s room. Either way, it would be dangerous to stay in this town any longer.

If so, then the most important thing to do was to frame-up a well sound reason to give a letter of resignation to the police and run. But he would need money to escape too. If it was possible enough money to play around and live off of for the rest of my life. Since he already decided on running, Kiyojima and Adamura did not matter to him.

– Well, if it was a mysterious informant…..

-I don"t know which side he is on.

– Although I think he would leak information of the other camp he is not a part of.

If it was to gain that information, he thought he would not mind paying a price. Naturally he would not gamble his life, but depending on the situation he did not mind taking the highly cla.s.sified doc.u.ments the police had or the data of the investigations.

In Sasazaki"s eyes there was a strong gleam in them that was not there before. He was only frightened by Izaya the day he met him, but seeing his name having started to spread throughout the city contrarily it hardened his resolve. If he was caught, he would not get away with handing over the information the first day either.

Understanding he was already sharing the same consequences as him, Sasazaki tightly clenched his fists and thought. That in exchange of letting himself be used, he would also use that informant as much as he can.

The Kiyojima Household

"Dad, let"s crush Adamura."

Just when he thought his profligate son came around to show his face at home he suddenly announced something foolish. Munenori Kiyojima let out a big sigh, thinking that.

"If I could I would do it immediately. Say something after you think for a bit."

To Munenori his son had been a pain in his side since long ago. He was certainly important to him as a parent, but he regretted his naïveté.

He was fine using his political influence and money to make others obey him. But he was not alright with hasty violence. Erasing an act of violence was a pain and on the day his opposing congressmen knew it would become a current rumor used as a big scandal.

"I am thinking about it. I"m already twenty-eight, you know? It"s not an age where it"s odd for me to be independent."

"Just when I thought you suddenly started saying something crazy, but you can"t even see reality? It would be more odd not being independent until twenty-eight normally."

"Well, look, I"m also a part of the company, right?"

"Yeah, a job too good for you to only show your face once a week. I was a bit relieved that you did not treat that as "being independent." Then don"t be so shocked if you think of telling me ‘I"m already independent" will do any good."

It could be said Kiyojima"s eldest son Douma"s main job was to leech off of his father Munenori.

At first it was thought he watched on hand as a secretary, but Douma did not have the skills as a secretary and also did not want to be acknowledged as the congressman"s employed secretary. Since there was the possibility that it would affect him nation-wide including the Diet members Kiyojima did not want his son to be a secretary at all.

– It"ll be a problem revealing his past behavior when they look into his history.

And like that Douma did not become a secretary but a "staff member of a cleaning company with access in businesses Kiyojima was a.s.sociated with in the past."  Although since he only went to work and collected garbage when he felt like it, it was an appropriate situation to almost call him a "salary thief."

– It"s a cleaning company I made for my son. I"m not worried of him getting fired…..but if the details of his wages are let out it may turn into a big fuss.

He paid him an extra amount in wages than the average cleaning personnel in the whole country, but half of it was money to shut his son up and to have a strong implication of a collar on him.

If he easily handed over money to him, he would have an underground business with the Oukarengou. And if done improperly he would have a hand in blackmail or selling illegal drugs.

Actually there were many times the police got involved in his extorted crimes during high school, and he was forced to erase them each time.

– Besides, this kid…..! …..No, I don"t want to remember.

More wrongdoings tried to appear in his mind, but he shook his head, giving up.

"Whatever, how about you behave like an adult. That just happened to Adamura"s eldest son. What will happen if you move poorly right now? I have a lot of influence over the police chief, but if we take initiative and do anything that would make them doubt us it"s obvious the guys from the ma.s.s media would be quick to write about it. When that happens how much money and time do you think it"ll take to suppress that information?"

"Wouldn"t it have been for someone on the Adamura"s side to have done it? Killing Ryuuichi."

"What a foolish thing……"

"If we win over the Futsuku group, the work to do the same would be simple wouldn"t it?"

"They are Adamura"s dogs. Even if we send in spies, the profits would not match the money we would have to pay to have them switch. We can only exploit them if we grasp their weakness."

Shutting down the conversation, Munenori was considering to quickly head over to the office, but with next words Douma spat out they changed the direction of his thoughts slightly.

"If we get rid of Adamura and start the redevelopment plans, the organizations under the Medeii group would swarm to us for the interests. The day they express their desires and stand out they would immediately be crushed by them. Wouldn"t they quietly become your own army then?"

Munenori was taken aback by his son"s proclamation.

He naturally predicted that happening behind the scenes, but he did not expect his stupid son who thought nothing but punching the enemy in front of him to think ahead on his first move.

The harbor redevelopment was a big project that would move a large amount of money. There was a big possibility of many illegal organizations to gather aiming for the interests on it. But they would be crushed if they did not stick with the strong foundation that was Adamura.

"At the harbor development, that Adamura b.a.s.t.a.r.d stirred up the fishermen"s a.s.sociation and the owners of the coastlines and had them oppose the movement right? He paid the fishermen"s a.s.sociation with the settlement, but it"s obvious behind it all Adamura took a good sum from the fishermen, right?"

"……..Well, that"s about right. If that was simply a hara.s.sment towards me I would think he did it gratuitously, but if he was someone who doesn"t take that much of the interests, this ridiculous town would not have been made."

"And that"s why we take in those fishermen and not let the money flow to him."

"Ridiculous. There"s no way the fishermen would defy their stupid lord (feudal lord). The first thing even without that money coming in, that would not be painful to Adamura."

Kiyojima tried to discard the conversation, but his son Douma mentioned one possibility with a wicked smile.

"But when the mine dries up, then it"ll completely change right?"

Half a Day Ago, The Royal Suite at the Bunokura Grand Palace Hotel

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…….staying at a place like this."

"I like high places. I"m not hung up on royal suites though. If it was allowed, I would put up a tent on the rooftop"s heliport and be fine with sleeping there."

"Shut up."

Douma chattered with his teeth.

After he got abducted from the threat of the alcohol and lighter, he was brought to the most high quality hotel suite room in the city. The alcohol had already evaporated, and even if he started a fire it would not have covered the whole area, but he ended up unable to run, yielding to the pressure the old man Sozoro emitted standing behind him.

"So, what does a great informant as yourself having kidnapped me plan to do? If you feel like trying to get ransom money from my dad, you should give up. My dad would use the label of "a tragic father whose son was killed by his kidnapper" and abandon me with it being too difficult to try. He may use that despite the culprit, the Adamura guys, spreading rumors and having the city under their thumb."

He spat out and glared at the informant sitting in the wheelchair. And then the informant Izaya Orihara said, shrugging his shoulders.

"It can"t be you think I"m a killer hired by Adamura-san?"

Without using the respectful keigo manner of speaking like when he was on the phone early, Izaya spoke with an exceedingly friendly and casual manner.

"Do you not think of the possibility it was your father who hired me? His son who was likely to become part of a scandal would get in his way, and so he decided to have you disappear."

"Ha. My dad wouldn"t go that-………"

"Douma-san. Didn"t you say it yourself just a moment ago? He would benefit by becoming the "tragic father whose son was killed by his kidnapper." It would be killing two birds with one stone, actually, even if it was three birds do you really think he would have the options to not abandon you?"

Douma fell into silence.

It was certain his father had a callous side to him.

But would he go that far?

As though to give the final blow, Izaya inquired further.

"Ever since you were little you strayed from the right path and played out every night that you barely went home. Just how much would someone like you be able to say you know your own father?"

"Just shut up a bit! I"ll kill you……."

"Oh my, how scary. I wonder who would be faster: Sozoro killing you or you me."

Douma clicked his tongue at Izaya"s chuckling.

– d.a.m.n, if that old man wasn"t there behind me…..

Imagining the scenario if he rebelled here, sweat formed on his back.

But Sozoro himself said after a moment of thought.

"I am awaiting for this person to kill you, Izaya Orihara-dono, so if I finish him as a bodyguard after the fact then I can clean up the stagnation of society while remaining innocent, correct?"

"Sozoro-san. That"s awful. Going beyond calling a person a villain and call them a "stagnation of society."…….."

"As long as you remain unaware of yourself, then there is no hope in saving you. More than evil deeds committed by ill intentions, I say it is more dangerous to commit evil deeds by good intentions, but for you who continues to defile the people around you just by your interests there is nothing else to properly call you than a stagnation of this weary world in human form."

"Thank you for the polite explanation. You hurt my naïve heart a little."

Though Izaya only shook his head with a smile, completely lacking the att.i.tude of being hurt.

"Really now, why is it the people I hire always have such a sharp tongue against me more than necessary."

And then moving the wheelchair forward, he said to Douma while approaching him a small amount at a time.

"Now then, about why I called you here. Just like I said on the phone, I only want to collect information from you."

"Information……? Ha, so you"re really a spy for Adamura then. So you want some kind of weakness to grasp of my dad"s?"

"No? What I want to know is just one thing. Since this is our first meeting, I"m hoping you"ll become a regular customer, so how about I provide you a service? How about I give you one piece of interesting information first?"

"……Interesting information?"

While looking out of the window onto the mountains, Izaya said to the frowning Douma plainly.

"This town"s mine, you see. It"s already dried up."

For just a few seconds, silence reigned in the suite room. The sound of Douma snorting broke the heavy silence.

"Ha…..what the h.e.l.l are you saying?"

"There were only rumors about it from a long time ago, right?"

"Rumors are rumors! Even if it was, why would you know that!"

Izaya plainly answered Douma who was yelling strongly.

"What if I said……I grasped the evidence on a registry that the Adamura group is receiving rare metals and silver from overseas?"

"The mine was already dried up since last year too. Since then the Adamura family secretly have been receiving minerals from other places and made it look like they got them from their mine. Of course including disguised transactions in large amounts too."

"Wait a sec……Aren"t the ones losing out the other way around? There"s no reason to do that."

"There"s a reason for that. The distinctiveness of the Adamura group is quite big."

Izaya took up the high quality wine gla.s.s in hand while remaining seated in the wheelchair and rolled the barley tea poured from the PET bottle beforehand in the gla.s.s.

"It"s not like the gold mines and silver mines have withered. It"s just opening new gold mines and digging too much would have major effects on the market price of gold, so they excavate while also regulating it."

"Is that so?"

"Most major companies buy another land and open another mine on some mountain when the mine they own dries up…..if that it is possible, but with the Adamura group too fixated on controlling the region they cannot show interest in starting new mining outside the town right now. Once they show weakness they would be targeted by the other big organizations and that would be the end to them."

Douma unconsciously objected Izaya"s plain interjection of "the Adamura group ending." They were enemies, but he could not think their sworn enemy who had been given the name "feudal lord" and who was controlling the town could be crushed with the mine depleting.

"There"s no way that could happen. Actually, they put their hand in many deali-….."

"To advance in those other dealings and control the town, silver….well more than that perhaps rare metals. What if they used the supply of those resources? There were plenty of people before me who searched the plans of having them received accommodations for flowing rare metals to particular companies."

"No, there"s something really odd though. In the end, aren"t the ones losing out are the other way around? If they save up money I even know it"d be enough without effort."

"Yes, and so it"s just them making-do."

Chuckling, Izaya said.

"This town"s redevelopment plan….If it weren"t for that, they may have announced the unexpected closing of the mine."

"Ah….."

"If they could firmly cut into the redevelopment plans, they would have received enormous interests. Enough change came in. Enough for the mine shutting down to not be that much of an issue."

At that point Izaya cut off. After downing the barley tea in the wine gla.s.s in one go, he continued the negotiations with a light smile.

"Now then…..regarding the "evidence of them getting minerals from the outside," I"ll offer to sell it to you."

Once again, the room was reigned in silence.

Douma also broke that silence again, but it was not a snort; it was the sound of gulping uneasily.

"……In exchange, what did you want to ask? I don"t have any information to match that….."

If it was his father"s love relationships he knew that, but he did not think that would counterbalance it, and his father would readily erase any suspicions raised of his lovers right now.

He was half-dead listening up until this point and not obtaining the crucial evidence.

Money probably won"t help, right?

Thinking until then, he suddenly thought of a question.

– Wait a second.

"…..Why me?"

"Eh?"

"You could get far more money negotiating with my dad more than me, and if the evidence is real, if it was my father he would give out quite a fair sum for it. No, he should be able to use the money from Adamura for blackmail. I could get killed, but if it is a person like you, you would be able to negotiate from as much people on the outside right?"

And then Izaya made a face understandingly and answered.

"It"s simple. I wanted to ask something no one but you would know."

The smile was erased from his face, and Izaya gave his ‘request’ to the frowning Douma with a serious expression.

"I want to know in detail of the person who died here a while back: Ryuuichi Adamura."

"As much as you can. If it is information only you know, depending on the contents I"m fine with giving you 50 million in cash."

Present, A Library Along the Coastline

At a library standing adjacent to the sea, a sea breeze came in.

The books won"t get damaged faster, would it?

While thinking that, a girl was seated at the window of the library.

Her name was Nana Kiyojima. She was Douma"s younger sister, and she was currently in her third year of high school.

She continued to read her preferred hard cover fantasy novel with a depressed feeling.

She liked stories where the unfortunate deceased souls reincarnate into another world unrelated from the earth. It was one righteous story told to her from long ago, but now she could not help but be jealous of the light novel"s main characters.

The daughter of the congressman Kiyojima.

There were people jealous of those circ.u.mstances, but she could not help but feel uncomfortable about her situation. She was bullied due to it, and there were times she was chased on her way home from school by people who called themselves free writers.

There were plenty more people in unfortunate circ.u.mstances. She wanted to reason to herself she should be fortunate to just be able to live, but even so it was relentless to bare the suffocating feeling of this town. For the daughter of Kiyojima, she may have been suffocating far more than the regular person.

But right now she did not think of dying to fly to another world. She could not think of being the only one to go first.

"……Kazuhisa."

She murmured the name of the man who was her childhood friend and her sweetheart.

But there was no one to answer her.

There was no doubt she went through happy times. Just by being with Kazuhisa, she was released from the suffocating feeling of the town. Just being able to smile with him normally, to her the man Kazuhisa was an irreplaceable existence.

Until he was taken into the Adamura family.

They rejected everything of their relationship. More than that, he became the younger brother of Ryuuichi Adamura – the man who messed with her and fought with her brother in a ma.s.sive fight like a death match.

At first she put in an effort, thinking ‘if Kazuhisa and I become the suspension bridge, maybe the opposition between Adamura and Kiyojima would vanish.’

It was certain she received trauma from the teasing she got from Ryuuichi in the past. But she thought if she could handle even that then it should not be a problem. If it would make Kazuhisa happy, she could handle that much.

But she was reminded that the resolution of the two family"s discord was quite a high wall. And that she was powerless and without her father"s protection she was an existence that could do nothing.

Her father, mother and brother even told her, ‘you were just tricked.’ And then, even if she could reject that, she despaired over her weak self who could not change their way of thinking. With the backlash of losing what was most important to her, the suffocating feeling grew stronger throughout her days.

It would be wonderful if with him the two could go to another world – not a suffocating world like this Bunokura.

Thinking those thoughts, she quietly continued to turn the pages of the book.

And then a small voice reached her ears.

"Hey, miss. Are you Nana Kiyojima-san?"

When she looked over, there was a cute looking boy seated next to her. The boy still looked about elementary age, but there was no knapsack on his back.

Today is a day off, so is he a child who came to study in the library?

But why does he know my name?

Nana thought that to herself and tilted her head to the side, but the boy said to her.

"Um, I was asked by Izaya-san to bring you to him!"

"Izaya-san? Who is that?"

"He"s a good person! So don"t worry!"

Only saying that, the boy moved off the seat.

"Please hurry up! I"ll wait outside!"

Perhaps he was considering to behave like he was because it was a library. Saying that in a small voice, he headed over to the outside on quick feet.

As though he was the rabbit luring Alice to another world.

Izaya Orihara?

Who are you? An acquaintance of Izaya"s? If that"s the case I won"t say anything bad. Keep a fixed distance from him.

No? I don"t plan on saying don"t approach him. That is up to each person. There are some people who like him, and there are some who find faults in his liking of other people. Well, he is good looking. That in itself made him a popular guy.

Guy friends, huh. I only talked to him occasionally, but I think there was only one or two people he was on good terms with.

Well, I won"t stop you if you want to be his friend. There are guys who find being by the side of a dangerous person like that brings a thrilling everyday life and it"s fun. However, I"ll tell you a few things.

You better not try to use him. You better not try to rely on him for anything beyond the essential. That guy Izaya is definitely omnipotent.

I know many people who listened to the information he has and become successful. But I know about the same number of guys who went through terrific times by being manipulated by his information.

Has he lied? Not really. He sometimes may lie, but I heard that the joke that he basically calls himself an informant is true. It just seems there were times he did not say what should have been said.

You may think he is a terrible person, but to him he blesses the path other people have chosen to take.

He likes humans.

That"s what he self-proclaims. He always said since high school he liked the limitless potential of humans.

So that guy likes to stand behind the choices people decide on. Even if that clearly is the wrong choice.

It"s amazing how well-connected and quick-eared he is. His information is certainly some miracle drug to humans at an impa.s.se. However, drugs are also poisonous. Be around him too long and it"ll cause an addiction past the heart burn.

So if you want to become his friend or his girlfriend- Don"t lend an ear to the information that comes from Izaya"s mouth.

It"s fine sometimes, just don"t rely on him. Don"t use him.

On contrary, you could save Izaya. Understand Izaya and conversely thrust the "choices" to him. On top of that, stand by the choice he decided on.

…..Well, it is not that difficult to do. "

If you were a normal friend you would do this unconsciously.

However, that is vital to him.

Izaya may certainly love humans. Equally and without discrimination. Although he is not an arrogant guy with admirability to bestow love unilaterally.

Before you think you want to be loved by him, before you think you want to become friends with him-You should love him first. You should become his friend. And you can see, he is a surprisingly loyal guy.

I think this is all I can earnestly say. But like I said previously, don"t use him. It"s dangerous to rely on him but using him is worse.

This is a story I"ve overheard, but…..before there were people who tried to use Izaya. One was a group that were selling some dangerous drug, and another was a group that operated some underground casino. They used Izaya and tried to make him move like their p.a.w.n, but….. Both of them were crushed. They simultaneously were attacked by one another. He gruesomely crushed the guys who used him.

…….No? I don"t have any intention of saying anything bad about him. But I wouldn"t talk about it like this if he was a normal guy in the first place. Do you know why?

It"s because you guys have that same scent. The group who would use Izaya and get crushed. So this is more like a warning.

Take a good look at him. He"s certainly not a good guy. He may be a villain.

But….

He is also human, you know?

– A certain place in Tokyo, extracted from the testimony of the plasterer worker person K.

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