rubestie

Season: Winter

Writer: Akira

Characters: Madara, Tsukasa

-

<Some days later. On the roof of a luxury hotel, on a stage specially prepared for the final episode of “[MaM]’s Chronicle of Parenting Struggles”.>

Madara: “♪~♪~♪”

“Mikejima Madara’s ~ ♪”

“It’s the final episode! “[MaM]’s Chronicle of Parenting Struggles” ~!”

“Hahaha! Earth-shattering! To commemorate the final episode, we’ve rented out an entire hotel to broadcast from!”

“Thanks to all of you, this show went off the rails in popularity. So today we wanted to make use of all the money we earned that way and deliver this special episode to you!”

“Happy and thrilling! Let’s shoot up extravagant fireworks to finish this day of celebration!”

“These extraordinary days are coming to a close, to usher in the return of our peaceful daily lives! To celebrate, let’s unfold a grand festival!”

“Saying goodbye is lonely, but that is exactly why we will do so with a smile big enough to blow that sadness away!”

“♪~♪~♪”

Tsukasa: -It seems they’ve begun.

I am on standby in the designated room. Yes, I used a fake name to borrow a room in the luxury hotel which stands directly across from the filming site. I am quietly monitoring the situation from here.

Simultaneously, I have utilized my authority as an investor in both the program and Double Face to be allowed to receive live footage of the scene as they are shooting the show.

I have asked to see the footage live before as well, so that request shouldn’t come across as unnatural.

However. If I make my existence known any further, I might end up antagonizing the kidnapper, so I can’t do any more than this.

All I can do is to keep checks on the situation on-site while reporting to you like this, Saegusa-senpai.

Yes. For now, Mikejima-senpai is the only person visible at the scene.

The culprit has designated their request to Double Face, but unfortunately, Double Face has already announced their disbandment.

Since it would be exceedingly unnatural for them to hold a reunion live this soon after disbanding, Mikejima-senpai is acting on his own for now-

Or rather, he apparently insisted on appearing on the show as MaM.

It seems the culprit also wanted to avoid attracting negative attention, so he had to accept that request, although reluctantly.

Of course. Since we ended up forcing a condition onto the culprit, they insisted we also go along with one condition of theirs in return.

Because of that, Mikejima-senpai is currently the only person physically present on the set on the luxury hotel roof, as per the culprit’s request. We ended up paying much more money than expected thanks to that.

Yes. The footage I am receiving is therefore being automatically filmed by a Camera on-site.

This is a highly unusual sight within Idol work. There truly isn’t a single member of Staff on-site currently, not even a Cameraman.

Mikejima-senpai is all on his own in that dangerous place.

At this point in time, it is impossible to say whether this choice, this deal with the culprit, was a point of success or of failure.

Our negotiations also gave us the advantage of Oukawa being able to move freely.

He was able to avoid appearing on the program. In other words, he can avoid exposing himself in front of our enemy.

I’m afraid even I do not know what that child is currently doing, and where he has gone to. There is the possibility that I could be captured by the enemy in search of information on him, after all.

As a precaution, Oukawa is currently hiding his whereabouts from all of us and moving around secretly. Of course, his aim is to rescue J-san from these villains.

The Oukawas, the clan who carried the dark secrets for us Suous, are skilled at such dealings in the dark.

I will give him my seal of approval as the Suou family head.

This Mission will definitely end in success.

…Of course, personally I would like Oukawa, and Mikejima-senpai as well, to avoid undertaking any more dangerous work like this henceforth.

Yes. That is why I’m praying that this job will be the last dirty job they will have to complete.

Those two have fought endlessly in a domain of darkness of the type I cannot even imagine. This might be the time when the experience and the skills they have honed up until now come to fruition.

I would like to think that the reason they had to swim through that sea of blood was so they would be able to save that innocent child - J - today.

Of course. It is not as if all their sins can be forgiven just because they were committed for a noble cause.

It is as Oukawa said himself. They only have themselves to thank for the fact that they are undergoing such hardships currently.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, of course, but their actions up until now is what brought about this tragedy in the first place.

However. They are now attempting to fix this situation they have caused. They are risking their lives by putting themselves into the most dangerous position.

They have dirtied themselves, but I can sense a little beauty in their actions, their way of life. I myself am also the son of a samurai family whose position was built on top of a mountain of human corpses.

Dirty and clean, clean and dirty… Whether those two, whether Double Face is good or bad is not for me to judge, but rather for the historians of the future.

As for me personally, I cannot reject their every action. Of course, I cannot accept their every action either.

I am no longer capable of holding the sins they have built up while walking through the mud thus far in enmity.

Though it was but for a short time, we lived together under the same roof-

Now that I have come to see behind their facade, I am incapable of dismissing them as simple dirtied villains. I cannot declare them to be filth and turn my eyes away from them.

Double Face, those two have continued to struggle in the grey area between light and darkness, good and evil.

I plan to watch over this last mission of theirs from here.

From this shore, where mud from the swamp they swim in can still reach and stain my body.

tsukasa