A Standing Ovation With Izaya Orihara Prologue

– A certain selected pa.s.sage of a log from a smart phone.

‘Izaya Orihara? You say you want to meet him? No, I do know him quite a bit, but I did not know his whereabouts. Up until just now, I didn't know if he was alive or dead, but it seems he's still kicking.

A wheelchair? Yeah, I guess that's right since the last time I saw him he was severely injured. Why do you want to meet him?’

(Omitted)

‘Izaya solved a case? Many cases all over j.a.pan? I don't know what you're talking about, but isn't the one behind the black curtain of those cases Izaya himself?

The man Izaya Orihara is not a detective. He's rather the opposite kind of being.

I don't mean that he's the culprit. Certainly when some kind of case happens, he has the ability to solve it if it satisfies his requirements. If he gathers the information needed whether it be a murder case or theft. Actually, in the past he a.s.sisted in arresting the culprit for many police cases.

I'm talking about when he was a student he was well guided, although he may have already made connections at that time.

In actuality, whenever some big event occurs, in most cases he would reach the criminal in the end and depending on the circ.u.mstances would directly confront them. Yeah, I think it is a feat to have the ability to find the culprit and bring the truth of the situation to light.

But you see, he is far from the detectives that come from hard boiled light novels and serious mysteries. I said he has incredible abilities, but rather than that being knowledge it's his changing form of mayhem.

First, he does not reason. He does not sort things logically. Furthermore, he does not have a view of logic. Izaya would easily soak his hands in crimes if it is for his own interest, and depending on the situation he would probably help the criminal run away free.

Yeah, with that meaning, if the answer is he is a criminal that may be fitting. He can mostly accept what happens right in front of him without hesitation. Even if someone tried to shoot his real family in front of him, Izaya would ask the killer with a smiling face, “How do you feel right now?” Almost with an att.i.tude when with an old friend.

Right, just now that was a what-if scenario. His family is still fine. I cannot guarantee it after this. But anyway, he's a fiend.

And so, Izaya Orihara won't do conducts of praise logically, nor will he reason logically either. He will accept what happens in front of him indifferently with an expression like “everything is as I expected.” This is when you remember frustration as well as fear towards this person at the same time.

So, he is not a detective that solves crimes. He is a clown who corners criminals and victims.

He would chase them down while blessing them. He wouldn't bear any grudge or anger, but just for his own enjoyment he would chase, and chase, and chase them down…he is a disturbing clown who would watch them fall from a cliff and laugh.

Why a clown? Imagine a clown standing in your room in silence in the middle of the night. Your heart would twitch at that wouldn't it? He's that type of guy who would corner someone like that. If it's someone with determination, they could probably punch that clown fearlessly……but even that pain Izaya Orihara could accept.

And he would make a face that everything is as he would expect. He would have an expression as though he knew everything.

You better remember this. This is even more so if you plan to cause an incident by his side. He may disclose everything about you. However, that's not because he's not a detective. It's because Izaya Orihara is a villain.

Without choosing any means, he will only have exposed your inner side. Honestly, I can't give you a recommendation. Well, I don’t admire him causing the case itself originally anyway.

Izaya Orihara is not a detective. He is a mad clown in all respects, a jinx who will drag everyone involved into the swamp.

Myself and a roommate of mine, we both went through a fairly unpleasant experience a while back. My roommate was a friend and a cla.s.smate of the same grade in middle and high school, but those things don't matter. Whether it means it's good or bad, he doesn't distinguish among humans.

At least remember that.’

Prologue: Draft Conference

In the midst of lukewarm humidity of the remaining dregs of summer in the first week of October, the professional baseball season was entering its final stage, and each stadium was teeming with people's enthusiasm for the game. Ironically, that enthusiasm masked over the beginning event that happened at a certain stadium. Or rather, perhaps the lukewarm corpse left in the pool of blood in an underground warehouse.

In a baseball stadium on the outskirts of a certain prefecture – “Summer Tile” – its official name the “Natsugawara Baseball Stadium,” was a newly made baseball stadium completed not even five years prior. It was a large-scale baseball stadium capable of accommodating forty thousand people including the standing rooms under its automatic opening and closing roof. The baseball stadium was directly administrated by the company of the baseball team the Natsugawara Serpents and was an entertainment business facility expected to be moving a considerable amount of money just by the advertis.e.m.e.nt income taken from the brand new diamond vision screen.

This day a doubleheader game was taking place, and the Serpent's great slugger Kans.h.i.+rou Munakata, who managed to hit two home runs at the end of the first match, was drawing attention to how he will play in the second game. In addition to Munakata's home run streak, the team itself was involved in the league champions.h.i.+p, and the audience of more than 30,000 people crowded together created an eccentric enthusiasm in the stadium.

"What the h.e.l.l is this…"

The guard on duty, Michiaki Fudou, stood stock still in the middle of a warehouse underground. At first, he thought it was a lost drunk sleeping there, but the moment he turned his light on it a red pool of blood was reflected and a metallic scent a.s.saulted his senses at about the same time, bringing him back to reality.

A corpse.

Without having to search for a pulse, he knew that the flame of life was already extinguished. A knife was embedded deeply into the center of its back. The business suit of the corpse laying face down was all torn up, the blood stains spread across its entire body, making him imagine it was stabbed in the back numerous times relentlessly.

The first thing to cross Fudou's mind was to naturally report to the police or call for emergency aid.

'But have the baseball players appeared in the stadium?' – The cheers echoing from far away stopped his train of thought.

"First, I have to…contact……"

The guard pa.s.sing his forties prioritized contacting his superior first rather than reporting to any public organization. He made the decision by himself because he realized it was too heavy of a situation as well as the fact that he was here.

Presently, several meters above on the ground, a night game of baseball had just begun. With this being an important game involved with the champions.h.i.+p, and the fact that there were sufficiently more than 30,000 spectators crowded up to even the standing rooms, the man who arrived at the position of security officer through flattery and connections with the baseball team managers did not have the nerve to upset the crowd of more than 30,000 people with his one report.

Fudou gave his report to his superior via radio and was ordered to first 'check the pulse to see if it was really dead.' He did not want to touch the corpse, but he did not want to be seen as a man who decided to watch it die in the off chance it was still alive, so he approached it while shaking. Prior to this, he also had the reason of not wanting to displease his superior.

From the sensation of his shoes stepping in the pool of blood he felt like throwing up. Pus.h.i.+ng the nauseating gastric fluids down his throat desperately, Fudou placed his hand at the nape of its neck. No longer feeling any body temperature, he could only feel the same lukewarm temperature and elasticity of the skin hardened like rubber. There was indeed no pulse, finally obtaining positive confirmation that it was indeed a corpse. Fudou, having swallowed down the gastric acids with teary eyes, already did not think that it had very much meaning to it.

After reporting that the body in the middle of the pool blood was without a doubt a corpse, he received the order to stay on standby at that spot, and upon hearing that he had to stay with the body made him stiffen. He turned his gaze from the body and having decided to leave further decisions to his superior, Fudou suddenly realized.

– Wait.

– Does this mean I will be a suspect too?

– This isn't good…my shoes stepped in the blood…

– Would it be better to wipe the footprints and dispose the shoes as well….? No, if I do something like that poorly, then I will be treated like the culprit by the police –

As he started to think to himself of not being the culprit he made another realization since this was a serious situation.

– The……culprit?

It was clear to even untrained eyes that this corpse was a murder victim. In other words, the murderer may still be in this room. The reason he did not consider this obvious possibility was because of the shock upon discovering the dead body.

But he realized this just now.

Fudou immediately waved his flashlight left and right, s.h.i.+ning a meaningless illumination around without thinking of turning on the warehouse's lights. But no matter how much he looked around the inside of the warehouse, he could not sense anyone's presence. The weapon was still lodged in the back of the body, but he could not disregard the possibility of the culprit possessing another weapon on hand.

Carefully looking further inside the room, Fudou noticed something sticking on the shelf next to the body. A long pa.s.sage of characters one would think are printed from a computer are on the paper fixed on that steel-made shelf with a magnet.

The moment he fearfully approached it wondering what was written while looking at the body from his peripheral vision, the doors of the warehouse opened vigorously.

"Aaaah!"

Going completely rigid, he turned around and there were several faces Fudou recognized standing there. Ignoring the shriek from Fudou, the man in the middle of the group around the age of his late twenties or early thirties headed towards the fallen body in the center of the room. Then as he stared at the side of the corpse's face laid face down, he whispered its proper name.

"Amagi, huh…"

Confirming the body was the completely distorted form of his subordinate, the man frowned slightly.

But that was it.

Without showing any other kind of emotion, the man simply observed the body's condition with an att.i.tude of indifference. The pair of eyes were as though they were gla.s.s beads fitted in a machine puppet that could not feel the humanity more than the body that lost its life.

Watching the man, Fudou muttered with a voice mixed with relief and fear.

"Ex…Executive……Takioka…"

Ryuusei Takioka.

He took the position of an official said to be even in the top of the baseball team's operation company and was entrusted with the entire Summer Tile Stadium's management. While being around the age of thirty, he stood out within one of j.a.pan's leading conglomerate companies, the Natsugawara group, and his outward appearance possessed a dignity of someone wanting control of everything. In truth he had various t.i.tles within even the baseball team company, but he was a man many around him call 'the executive' with fear.

At that, a woman's face appeared from behind Takioka's back and started to gaze at the body with curious eyes s.h.i.+ning in joy.

"My, it is really Amagi-san. Is he dead? He's dead, right?"

"Tamae, step back."

Seeing that woman here, Fudou felt a foreboding that this murder incident would become a serious matter.

Tamae Takioka was Ryuusei's younger sister, and a woman working as his secretary. However, Fudou knows she was a central figure of the intelligence supervision department collecting all personal information from the members of the baseball team company to the players of the team. In another sense, she was a 'woman you must not make an enemy of' more than the executive Ryuusei, but at the fact that she came to this place where the body was made Fudou feel a sense of impending danger that overcame his sense of discomfort.

This did not seem to be just a murder case. And in actuality, Fudou also had many ideas about the possibility of it not being a normal murder case.

"Fudou, the reason why you came here was to pick that up, right?"

Fudou came to his senses and nodded his head vigorously.

"Y-yes."

"Is that so. Then the vital that is safe?"

"Ah…"

Fudou rushed into the center of the warehouse in haste. After commanding his subordinates behind him to stand by, Ryuusei slowly glared around the inside of the warehouse.

"It has gotten interesting, hasn't it, nii-san. For a murder to happen in the middle of your theater."

Hearing his sister snickering at him, Takioka answered while squaring his shoulders.

"Whether an incident happens or not is something I decide. Depending on the situation, I'll have you put to work too."

As he said that, he noticed the paper pinned to the shelf, approached it while avoiding the blood and reached a hand out towards it. And then seeing what was written, he snorted.

"I see. How amusing."

"Amusing?"

One subordinate behind him frowned, so Takioka summarized what was written on the paper with a smile like a child trampling on an insect.

"It seems we were threatened."

"Threatened…?"

"If I cannot accept the request, it seems people will die during the game at the stadium hereafter. It isn't stated which game it is, but if the culprit figured out that we found the body, then it's possible it will be this game."

"Wha……"

Takioka did not bring up the details of the request. And seeing Takioka's att.i.tude, his subordinates kept their mouths shut. Only Tamae asked her brother with a snicker.

"Then is this the work of a professional? Or is it the work of an amateur who learned of that by chance?"

She squinted a little and added with a voluptuous smile.

"Or……is it the work of a traitor among us?"

"It doesn't matter which. When you look at the place he politely warned us of, he would probably plan for half of the game too."

"A warning?"

"Both of the team's benches and bull pens, the VIP seat, the wheelchair zone and the stroller zone, the network's special seats. The camera seats for the journalists. And my executive office… Haha, it seems from here on out it will be chosen randomly. Wherever a body is found, it will not be conspicuously hidden. Aside from my office."

After shrugging his shoulders with self-derision, Ryuusei faced back towards his sister.

"There is a possibility the culprit is somewhere in those notified places. Can you bring up the footage of those areas?"

"Alright, just wait a bit."

Tamae operated her tablet. She received the data conducting the original cipher processing from the independent server in the stadium, and the footage from the hidden cameras were shown on her tablet.

"……Have the number of cameras increased?"

"There still isn't enough. I prepared them so normal visitors cannot find them, so don't worry."

The hidden camera footage covered everything in the baseball stadium from the guest seats to the pa.s.sageways. Among those, the footage showed the previously mentioned VIP seat and special seats and even both the benches for the teams in the midst of the game.

At that point, Fudou came back.

"Executive, it was safe. There were no traces of it being open or the vault itself being found. I checked the inside of it too, and it was safe."

"Is that so. If that's the case, then the reason why Amagi died is because he was killed at the end of his torture since he did not know its safekeeping or how to open the safe for that….perhaps."

Nodding his head in understanding, Ryuusei asked Tamae again.

"Yeah, sorry about this while you're working, Tamae. But are there any bugs or hidden cameras installed here?"

"I checked them all up until here, but the cameras we installed changed to just still images. The route from the third exit of the stadium to this warehouse is completely messed up. So really, is it a professional's work?"

"Yeah, don't think so. I don't mean just the cameras we set up, but if the culprit also put one of his own in."

"Wait a minute."

Tamae pointed to the subordinates behind them and indicated for them to check the room with the personal tools. She answered after working for a few minutes.

"…Yeah. It seems like it. At least, I can't locate any electromagnetic waves dispatching from here to outside."

"Is that so. Then that's good."

Ryuusei put on a triumphant smile, and from there he slowly approached Amagi's corpse and –

drove in a kick with the tip of his shoe into the face of his dead subordinate.

"Hee…."

Fudou thoughtlessly cried out but almost immediately held back the sound from his throat. Tamae gazed at her brother's atrocity with a large grin, and the other subordinates watched the executive repeatedly kick the body several times over with varying expressions, but not one person tried to stop him.

"What the h.e.l.l were you doing….Amagii…! You worthless b.i.t.c.h!"

Ryuusei relentless drove in more kicks as he raised his voice.

"For dirtying! My theater! My stage! With your fresh blood!"

The same time he cut off his words he delivered another kick and continued to warp the dead body's face more even though it should be impossible to do so. Then, he trampled on his face with his blood stained shoe and crushed his temple like extinguis.h.i.+ng the flame of a cigarette as his voice resonated with utter resentment.

"Couldn't you have at least simultaneous killed each other? How about leaving just one clue by gouging out a piece of his fles.h.!.+ Or at least running away to a place safe from the cameras before receiving the final blow!"

A few minutes later.

The body was lying down in the middle of the room, its arms and legs irregularly bent in different directions, and its face no longer having any trace to its original form. The knife that was embedded in its back had fallen out already, and it turned into some cruel situation that would be mistaken as someone beaten to death rather than stabbed to death or run over repeatedly by a car as seen by an outsider.

Ryuusei asked Tamae indifferently as he wiped the blood from the underside of his shoes with a handkerchief.

"How is it? Is there someone we know?"

"Hiura-san came as tonight's special guest in the VIP seat. The rest…are several entertainers who came incognito in the box seats. That's about it. The one that stands out is -"

"How is the game?"

"It just started. The first hit came from the lead-off man, so if there is no double play it will be Munakata's turn at the bat soon."

Ryuusei talked about the progress of the baseball game with his sister with a composed expression. Seeing him like that Fudou instantly forgot the fear that there was a dead body here. Ryuusei looked down at the deformed body of Amagi with a pitiful look that was the complete opposite from several minutes before.

"Even so, how terrible…What was Amagi even doing. In such a pitiful state, we won't be able to show him to his family."

As if he commanded the intention behind those words, several men waiting around the vicinity of the entrance came in. They appeared to be cleaners of a fas.h.i.+on, and the men completely dressed in waterproof garments like rubber gloves and long boots surrounded the body.

"Handle the body with care. Although he is dead, don't forget your respects. The moment you forget respect people become monsters. I'll never forgive anything like that."

"Alright, Nii-san. Leave the rest to us."

Hearing his sister in an agreement with him, Ryuusei shrugged his shoulders and continued.

"It turned into a sad outcome, but shouldn't we at least pray for Amagi's happiness in the next world? Munakata's home run today is surely the condolence for Amagi-kun. He was a wonderful subordinate. He really devoted himself for us."

"Y-yeah."

Fudou desperately tried to not show any emotion, although shaken to the core internally, and nodded. Ryuusei gave him a gentle smile.

"I won't forgive the person who did that to Amagi-kun. We have to catch him no matter what. For Amagi-kun's sake…That's right! It's also for Amagi-kun's sake! You think so too, right? Fudou-kun."

"Y-yes."

Guessing on the meaning of the man's words, Fudou felt he reached a point he could not return from. The silent cleaning of the body behind him indicated that they had no intention of getting the police involved on the case. And Fudou was a person on the side who understood why the police could not get involved.

"If he is planning to continue incidents during this game, the suspect may be among the 35,000 people in the stadium right now. No, there are still people coming in. In the end, there may be a possibility of more than 40,000 people. And that someone is a murderer who will kill without hesitation."

"At the same time, it means that the people who could become victims could surpa.s.s 30,000. It is impossible to guard every single person. It's almost like it's a draft conference. You have to decide who to protect by predicting who your opponent will designate."

Ryuusei placed a hand on Fudou's shoulder, who was turning more pale than when he found the body at the mention of the numbers, and dug his finger in roughly with a smile on his face.

"It's alright. No matter if it's 30,000 people or four people, as long as it is in this stadium everyone is just dressed up presenters on my stage. They cannot go against the director, nor will they."

After proclaiming such arrogant words that look down on both presenters and audience members alike, the man playing the role of director spread open his hands with a smile of pure killing intent.

"That's right! Everything is a show! It's not something difficult to think about. This stadium is the s.p.a.ce for dreams separated from society! It is a dream itself! It has to be! Isn't that right?"

"…Y-yes, that's right!"

"Which are you? Michiaki Fudou. Are you a puppet manipulated on the stage without understanding its meaning? Or are you a human 'on this side' who pulls the strings from above under my directions?"

"Of course I am move according to your motives, a-a person who pulls the strings!"

Not understanding what half of the man was saying, Fudou shouted this due to the overpowering influence emitted from the man. Perhaps hearing his words made him relieved. Ryuusei nodded deeply and patted Fudou's back thoroughly.

"Amazing. You are the best staff. You are not an actor who moves strictly based off the script. You are an existence capable of looking down on the stage from such heights."

"Th-thank you."

"I'll put you in the third investigative division."

The third investigative division.

The moment he heard the term, Fudou lost all color to his face.

It was because he knew. That the unofficial division was responsible for all the dirty work in the darkest sides of this stadium. They usually concealed themselves as workers in every division from janitors to beer sales vendors, but they were professional killers who move according to Ryuusei's orders in emergency situations.

Fudou understood what Ryuusei desired, realizing the implications of working with such a group. He was saying to catch the culprit and kill him under Fudou's hand.

"We should remind them, shouldn't we? The stupidity of picking a fight with us in this theater."

The curtains for the case silently opened like this. With the audience of more than 30,000 people not realizing the beginning of a tragedy. Anyone could be the culprit. An impure air settled around Ryuusei and his group who were the intended victims of this case. However, the wounds on the corpse showed their lack of sportsmans.h.i.+p.

At this point the Natsugawara baseball stadium would change to a pandemonium mixed with the rotten smell of desire.

However, they did not know.

Not the executive who put on airs for the theater, nor the murderer who caused the incident. That in the 'theater' Summer Tile which became the stage of a tragedy there was one irregularity who was neither a stage actor or a performer but a simple guest in one regard mixed up with the event.

"Hmmm…there are plenty of people in the wheelchair s.p.a.ce…..What's this?"

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing. It's just there seems to be a rather wealthy person that came."

"Wealthy?"

Ryuusei knitted his brows in confusion, peaked at the monitor screen and saw a man on it. The man, despite being across the monitor, was clad in a ominous presence. He had glossy black hair and black clothes. The eyes on his arranged face shone with an intellectual glow yet he could not grasp what he was thinking.

– What is this man watching?

Ryuusei, while rotten, was the administrator of the baseball stadium. He understood immediately that the young man was not watching the game. But he could not fathom what it was he was watching from the monitor screen. If there was any specialty to note it was that he was sitting in a wheelchair along the personal use s.p.a.ce, and there was a butler-like elderly man standing next to him keeping an eye on the area around them more than the game itself.

– Is this old man…some kind of professional?

Ryuusei came to the impression that the man was not your run-of-the-mill guy, but Tamae was focused on a completely different aspect.

"The wheelchair that man is in is a new electrical model made from a carbon-fiber material. It's the best product made by a foreign producer, so I think the price is roughly more than 3,000,000 yen. The person next to him seems to be a butler rather than family, so he may be some rich person's kid."

"Well now…If he is from a wealthy family, then we should have him watch from the VIP seat inside next time."

Ryuusei gained a little bit of interest in the man, so thinking there was no need to fuss in a situation without positive proof he turned his gaze away from the man projected on the tablet screen. The screen quickly changed to another footage from the hidden cameras, and the man in the wheelchair was temporarily left as one piece of information out of the 40,000 people in the back of his mind.

Without realizing that him being here in this baseball stadium was the worst coincidence to the people concerned in the case.

Translation Notes: The term used in the very first line, 上旬, refers to the first ten days of a month. We do not have a specific term in English like this, so the translation is more generalized as "the first week of October." The price of the wheelchair was not converted from yen value as I am uncertain exactly when this story is taken place. Perhaps late 2000s and early 2010s.

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