Chapter 1 - Part 4
Somewhere in Ikebukuro
Idol Hijiribe Ruri experiencing a stalker attack.
In channel 8 news, a male reporter publicized this information. Heiwajima Kasuka spoke to his brother.
“It’s said Ruri’s stalker appeared on the Dollars message board, I don’t understand much about Dollars. But when I was investigating, I accidentally saw brother’s name, so I thought you would know more about Dollars than me.”
“Ah, so that’s it. But, I’m no longer a Dollars member anymore. Even though I got an invite….. but, because there were disgusting people there, I just haven’t been on.”
Recalling the matter months ago, Shizuo looked at the ceiling and quietly said.
“Dollars is only a site where you can connect to several message centres on your phone. What kind of organization that is, I really don’t know.”
Seeing Shizuo’s melancholic expression, Kasuka slowly nodded his head.
“I see….. excuse me, you must have remembered something unpleasant.”
“Don’t worry about it, we’re family, you shouldn’t be so formal.”
Shizuo said with a gentle smile, but the smile quickly turned into a worried frown as he asked.
“…..Speaking of which, you look troubled, have you contacted the police?”
The sudden change of topic towards herself caused Ruri to lose her composure - but she quickly recovered, and started to talk about the present situation.
“Yes…. but recently the key to my house has stopped working, I’m not able to go through the gate.”
“Can’t get into your house?”
If it was the stalker, then there would be cameras and wiretapping installed in the house, but why not let her enter the gate?
"Probably to upset me…. also these kind of things are happening everyday….. after the warning, the camera put on guard caught sight of a strange masked man, but the suspect still hasn’t been caught. The officers have started to patrol the area, but this time we recieved a picture of a scene, blood-stained cruetation crosses were thrown everywhere, and the bodies of monsters that I’ve played in movies were all piled together, notices of this picture were then posted up all over the place..…”
The mind of this stalker is really beyond comprehension, Shizuo asked another question.
“Wait, since the crime scene was photographed, wouldn’t the criminal be one of the staff?”
“The police also suspected that, but everyone had an alibi… As we investigated, the information seemed to have leaked to my fan-site somehow. At that time, the fans became frantic….. but, everyone had alibi’s.”
“This transfer of information on idols is apparently in Dollars. But after I tried to find the Dollars message centre, I realized there is a special invitation-only board. If you're not invited, you can’t go in to get information.”
Kasuka’s voice held no emotion, it was like a robot reciting data - but Shizuo, as his family member, noticed the subtle changes in his voice and expression.
“Though I know you’re worried, but calm down a bit, Kasuka. If you don’t calm down then you won’t be able to detect any hidden facts.”
Shizuo’s recommendation is not what normal people would usually give.
“Yeah….. you’re right, thank you.”
Both Vorona, looking at them from her nearby location and Ruri reclining on the side hadn’t sensed a hint of Kasuka’s tense mood, and couldn’t help but be puzzled by the behaviour of the 2 brothers.
Shizuo, ignorant of the 2 females’ confusion, continued to speak.
“This isn’t good, I’m no good in matters like this. If only there was someone familiar with Dollars…”
- Someone close to Dollars.
- Who would it be - a person that is most familiar with Dollars.
Suddenly, a person shows up in his mind, but he immediately destroys the image and waves it away.
- I’m not going to consider that guy.
- Ah, but Kururi and Mairu also seem to know a lot.
- But still, just letting those two meet Kasuka, they would definitely be annoying.
- The boss should know as well, but it’s bad to always trouble him.
While Shizuo pondered, suddenly the features of a well-known Dollars acquaintance floated into his mind.
- I’ve also given that person trouble…..
- But, first I’ll just ask to chat.
“I’ve got it, I know someone, I’ll visit them now, do you want to come?”
“Is that okay? I’m not putting you through too much trouble.”
“We’re family, don’t talk like we’re strangers.”
Hearing Shizuo use a teasing tone to say these tranquil words, Kasuka thought of the phrase which office workers like using: “I saw a rare scene”, but Shizuo also noticed and quickly recovered his usual appearance.
Just as this occurred - a sound broke the silence.
“Meow.”
It was a cat.
“You’re up, Dokusonmaru”
Kasuka looks around and found the pet near his feet, then says to Shizuo.
“I just remembered, I also wanted to ask you.”
He had no expression on his face while he picked up the cat and transported him from the sofa to the box - inside, the cat curled around himself.
“Ruri is staying with us temporarily, in case she gets attacked by the stalker when we’re not there…… but the nearby pet house is already full, this cat can’t find a home.”
“So I wanted to find someone that can look after Dokusonmaru for a while.”
※※※※※
Shinra’s apartment, somewhere in Kawagoe
“Ah then, to have disturbed you, I’m extremely sorry.”
After their discussion, though there wasn’t really any progress, Anri started to pack her things to leave.
Though Celty thought that a lot could be speculated due to Mikado’s status as the leader of Dollars - but voicing this personally to Anri just didn’t seem right, so in the end she decided not to say anything. In fact, Mikado falling into a dangerous situation is really not unexpected, moreover the present situation doesn’t seem like an urgent threat.
But, because Mikado really is acting strange, Celty resolves to ask him if she bumps into him again.
Celty was lost in thought, then turned to Anri who was preparing to leave and told her.
“It’s late, it’ll be dangerous to go back, why not stay tonight?”
“Eh..… no, no. I’ve already imposed on you for so long..…”
Celty patted Anri’s shoulder, then lively typed on her PDA.
“Don’t worry. And it’s not the first time you stayed over, but if you don’t like staying over here then I guess it can’t be helped.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s definitely not because I don’t like it.”
“Then, I can give you my sleepwear….. the size should be alright.”
On the side, Shinra relished looking at the two “abnormalities” talking intimately.
In that moment, the doorbell rang.
Despite being a high-class apartment, there was no intercom installed at the entrance because it had been constructed early, instead a simple doorbell was placed at the household’s gate.
“Now who is it, it’s so late.”
- Maybe, it’s that Aoba boy?
Celty’s heart couldn’t help but worry as Shinra walked forward - but what appeared at the gate was a familiar presence, on his head however was something that one would never expect.
“Meow~”
Shinra, roaring with laughter was promptly kicked across the room by Heiwajima Shizuo. On seeing this scene, Celty also rejoiced quietly to herself since she had no head to laugh, but her shaking shoulders made her happy expression obvious.
Of course, she wasn’t aware that the situation would become much more than anticipated.
Some day, chatroom
.
.
.
.
No one is in the chatroom.
No one is in the chatroom.
No one is in the chatroom.
----- Gaki has entered the chatroom -----
Gaki [Hello everyone.]
Gaki [Since no one is here, I’ll simply bless for everyone’s welfare.]
Gaki [Saika.]
Gaki [Sorry. I received this invite from Saika.]
----- Shoro has entered the chatroom ------
Sharo [Good evening.]
Gaki [Good evening.]
Gaki [Nice to meet you, are you a regular member of this chatroom?]
Sharo [Hello. No, I also got invited here.]
Sharo [It looks like the regular members haven’t come yet.]
Gaki [Yeah, it’s strange.]
Sharo [No, maybe we just have to wait for everyone to come.]
Gaki [Oh, I see (laugh).]
------ Pure Water 100% has entered the chatroom ------
Pure Water 100% [Hello everyone, I was also invited, can I join you guys?]
Pure Water 100% [I’ll introduce myself, nice to meet you, I hope everyone is well.]
Pure Water 100% [A simple greeting, I didn’t use polite speech. If everyone is an elder, please forgive me.]
Gaki [No problem, everyone here is seeking to be friends, so don’t worry.]
Sharo [Right, age is irrelevant.]
Sharo [Looking at the chatroom record, Kyo also does as she likes.]
Sharo [Isn’t it better not to have everyone using cautious words in a chatroom.]
Gaki [I’m not familiar, I treat everyone with polite speech.]
Pure Water 100% [Then I’ll just talk like normal, haha.]
Sharo [My normal is casual (laugh).]
Pure Water 100% [Hah? (laugh).]
------ Saki has entered the chatroom ------
Saki [Good evening everyone.]
Saki [Bakyura invited me.]
Saki [I hope everyone is well.]
Sharo [Ah, good evening.]
Gaki [What’s going on, it couldn’t be that today is a party for the new people? (laugh).]
Pure Water 100% [Hello!]
------ Chrome has entered the chatroom ------
Chrome [Nice to meet you all, good evening.]
Chrome [Seems very lively.]
Chrome [I was also invited by a friend.]
Saki [Good evening.]
Gaki [Hello, hope your well.]
Sharo [Good evening. I only came on to give a greeting, but now it’s become this lively.]
Sharo [Though, the most important thing is that the senior level characters for this chatroom aren’t here wwwww.]
------ Bakyura has entered the chatroom ------
Bakyura [Good evening.]
Bakyura [Huh?]
Bakyura [What’s with this?]
Saki [Welcome.]
Chrome [Good evening.]
Sharo [Ah, a senior level character has appeared.]
Gaki [This ‘senior level’ view is really disrespectful.]
Pure Water 100% [Good evening.]
Bakyura [It’s lively.]
Bakyura [Sorry.]
Bakyura [Among all of you I only know Saki, so I’m a little anxious.]
Pure Water 100% [How cute! I really like these type of shy kids.]
Bakyura [Thank you, Thank you wwwww.]
Gaki [Say, inviting everyone here to chat is great and all, but what do the regular people talk about?]
Bakyura [Ah ah.]
Bakyura [Mainly exchange information relating to Ikebukuro.]
Gaki [I see.]
Pure Water 100% [Then, everybody is in Ikebukuro?]
Bakyura [Right now me and Saki are in another area.]
Bakyura [But we used to live in Ikubukuro.]
Gaki [My work is in Ikebukuro.]
Sharo [What, Gaki is already working?]
Gaki [No, I’m only doing some jobs. Forget it, everyone was asked to disregard age and those matters wwwww.]
Saki [That’s right.]
Sharo [Ah, I looked at the previous chatroom record…. In the chat everyone was interested in the matter relating to Hijiribe Ruri’s stalker.]
Sharo [They were wondering if the stalker is in Dollars?]
Sharo [I’m going to unnecessarily ask, is anyone here a Dollars member?]
Bakyura [All of them were urging that guy to stop it wwwww]
Sharo [Actually, what is Dollars like, is it good or bad?]
Chrome [I’m a Dollars member, though I only landed on the message board by accident.]
Gaki [I also landed on it by accident.]
Bakyura [Yah yah.]
Saki [Then, Bakyura and me will also join and have a look.]
Bakyura [You’re joking wwwww.]
Sharo [I’m interested, I also know people who have joined.]
Sharo [But with how the situation is now, is it popular to become a Dollars member?]
Sharo [If it’s popular, I also want to join Dollars.]
Bakyura [Popular?]
Chrome [Speaking of which, is the rumour about the stalker true?]
Chrome [If that kind of person came from the same association as me, too scary.]
Chrome [Moreover, it’s as if the association doesn’t want to hand its criminals over to the police.]
Gaki [I think as long as there’s evidence, they’ll definitely be results.]
Chrome [Actually, right now the Dollars site seems to have another exchange platform. It exchanges internal information about the organization, some say it also engages in illegal deals.]
Gaki [These really are despicable times.]
Chrome [During May, didn’t that incident occur involving a gun fight between a criminal organization and a group of weird college students?]
Chrome [It’s also said those college students traded narcotics through a Dollars network transaction, some of them were Dollars’ members.]
Gaki [Something like that happened as well?]
Gaki [So Dollars have these kind of people?]
Bakyura [Let’s not talk about this.]
Bakyura [Everyone should discuss their hobbies and interests.]
Bakyura [For instance, how about we recommend some nice meeting places in Ikebukuro or something.]
Gaki [You want to come to Ikebukuro?]
Bakyura [I’m giving suggestions.]
Pure Water 100% [Some meeting places, huh, I think Tokyu Hands is a good place.]
Bakyura [Ah, to go there I’ll have to wait for a day I won’t get tired.]
Chrome [If you want a place that isn’t tiring, Seibu’s Loft is not bad.]
Sharo [That place isn’t bad, but it’s inappropriate for a meeting place.]
Sharo [Compared to that, I think a place where it’s easy to meet girls would be better.]
Pure Water 100% [Like at a department store?]
Shoro [It’s a bit different. Though I like those places too, but the place I’m thinking of is different.]
Chrome [Are you talking about online dating sites?]
Sharo [Is that a place you can meet up with friends?]
------ Kyo has entered the chatroom ------
------ Mai has entered the chatroom ------
Bakyura [Yo.]
Chrome [Good evening.]
Gaki [Nice to meet you.]
Pure Water 100% [Good evening.]
Sharo [Good evening.]
Mai [Good evening.]
Mai [Wah.]
Mai [There are a lot of people.]
Kyo [Hello everyone, there are a lot of new people.]
Mai [Very lively.]
Mai [I’m happy.]
Kyo [Then, first I should propose a topic. It seems you guys were just discussing the matter about Hijiribe Ruri’s stalker and Dollars…. well, recently it appears there are some internal disputes going on in Dollars.]
Gaki [Internal disputes? I haven’t heard of this.]
Chrome [Me either, I haven’t seen any information relating to this on the message centre.]
Kyo [It’s not spread on the network, it seems it started two months ago, some guy who was using the Dollars name started to attack other Dollars members. They’ll have a detailed printing tomorrow in the weekly release, someone who saw the incident beforehand said it.]
Gaki [Really? I’m a little interested.]
Gaki [Just what exactly is going on?]
Bakyura [It’s a little unbelievable.]
Bakyura [From the beginning.]
Bakyura [This stuff about internal fighting.]
Bakyura [I remember the organization never had a coordinated form.]
Gaki [You have a point.]
Chrome [It makes me a little anxious.]
Sharo [It just seems like a dispute among a group of young rogues to me.]
Pure Water 100% [It’s too scary, Chrome and Gaki haven’t been attacked?]
Mai [Ah!]
Bakyura [Ah?]
Kyo [Sorry, beside me, Mai was startled, the chopsticks dropped.]
Kyo [Really, Dollars is like Japan’s history, similar to the past communist party, it’s original form was a loose organization used simply to exchange intelligence. However, the core of Dollars have started changing, only the inside has authority over the exchange platforms and the many split fields. It’s like the Sengoku period in Japan, where various types of countries existed.]
Kyo [However among these, there were some especially violent countries. A newly built organization force then defeated them. Though nobody understands this new organizations position exactly, they are recognized by distinctive features. They wear unified clothing and a symbol, it apparently has a design characteristic of animals teeth…. and it’s likely imported from overseas.]
Bakyura [Huh?]
Bakyura [Really?]
Kyo [What is it, did you think of something?]
Gaki [Oh, that, I also know of it.]
Gaki [You’re talking about blue squares, in the past, a few of them particularly liked to wear those hats, but it was only a few of them.]
Bakyura [It’s just a coincidence.]
Sharo [What’s wrong? Could it be you know people who wear the same kind of hats?]
Bakyura [No.]
Bakyura [I got it wrong.]
Chrome [Don’t worry about it too much, there’s so many new people online today, why don’t we introduce ourselves first.]
Pure water 100% [Ok, then how about we all chat about our favorite TV shows?]
Pure water 100% [I like <>.]
Gaki [I like everything.]
Bakyura [I……]
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