rubestie

Season: Winter

Writer: Akira

Characters: Ibara, Madara

Ibara: I’ll leave it to you, Suou-shi.

All the employees of my private security company, myself included, are being kept away from the filming location.

I am currently taking your call at an airport far removed from your location.

I chose to stay at the airport so that if something was to happen, I would quickly be able to arrange an airplane and travel to your location.

After all, it would be impossible for me to rush straight to the scene in no time like an ally of justice in a tokusatsu show would.

Whether or not we can successfully save J-san depends entirely on those of you who are present at the scene.

However, Suou-shi, you should avoid moving about carelessly. Originally, you were also supposed to heed the culprit’s demands and stay away from the scene.

If you were to be discovered, there is a chance the culprit could enact punishment on us for breaking our promise to him. Additionally, there is no guaranteeing your own safety.

It appears that members of the Oukawa family are currently disguised as you, so the culprit shouldn’t be able to easily discover your actual whereabouts. However, we cannot be certain that our plans will succeed.

However, it is a great help for us as well if you are able to stay close to the filming site and provide us with information. This case is still awfully suspicious in my eyes.

I can’t help but suspect that there is a traitor among us, so I’m grateful to have a trustworthy person like yourself watching the scene for me.

Yes. I fear there may be enemies of ours lurking both within my security company as well as within the Oukawa family.

J-san’s kidnapping was too unnatural, so I cannot help but suspect even our closest allies. I have no proof, and all of this is simply based on my instincts-

However, Suou-shi. Unlike me, you are not a person who tells lies. This is a praiseworthy quality, I regard you as a sincere and honest person who doesn’t scheme or plot.

That is why I can be absolutely certain there is no possibility of you being a traitor.

It is important to have one such as you close to the site as my source of information.

Yes. Of course, you are free to be as suspicious of me as you’d like.

My being at the airport could have been a lie, and I might be hiding close to the filming location and scheming intrigue as we speak.

Fufu. That is not possible, you say? And what makes you say that?

Yes, you are right.

Rather than betraying you now and winning this battle, it would holistically be better to prove myself as your ally now to gain your trust and win the war.

I am a businessman. I make the necessary decisions for my investments. Even if my personality is untrustworthy, you trust my business sense, is that it?

Thank you so much, that is the greatest compliment I can receive.

Yes. If possible, please keep relying on my business ♪

…Oh, there is movement on-scene, you say? Understood. I would appreciate it if you could keep me regularly updated on the situation.

Even if I am far removed from the site, I have methods of taking action available. Yes, yes, thank you for everything.

Yes. Well then, I’ll excuse myself for now.

-Fufu. What an adorable person. It really is a good thing, the sight of a helpless child growing stronger.

This is the perfect entertainment. This is exactly why parenting programs and tear-jerking home dramas will always be popular.

Even while unconsciously looking down on and ridiculing these helpless children, adults can pretend to be good people when praising their growth.

It is the same as keeping small animals as pets while posting videos and making fun of them online. It is a pastime of the privileged to look down at foolishly weak creatures from up high and simultaneously admire them.

We hide away our unconscious biases by disguising them as good-natured. Thus we are able to keep consuming entertainment that treats people’s lives as toys while maintaining the lie that we are good people.

Aah, how entertaining! I truly am glad to be such an awful person!

Madara: -Welcome.

So you are the kidnapper, huh.

Yeah. We’re in the middle of filming, so I shouldn’t be calling you that. I get it, I get it. I spoke out of reach of the mic just now, so please don’t worry.

Yes. The sound of the helicopter you rode here should drown out the sound of our voices anyhow.

Hahaha. This is truly a glorious spectacle, huh? So the reason why you went as far as to rent out a luxury hotel rooftop like this is so you could arrive at the scene in that helicopter, is it?

And this way, even if we broke our promise and stationed soldiers inside the hotel, it’s no problem for you.

Of course, we didn’t break our promise. But like this, the chance of you getting captured before we can complete our “exchange” greatly decreases.

Of course, there’s always the danger of sniping rifles, but you’ve attached explosives to your helicopter.

If someone tried to shoot you without being careful, it would be a catastrophe. Even if they managed to eliminate you, both me and J would also be blown away in the following explosion. Since we are pretending to be the good guys, there’s no way we would want to cause such a tragedy.

That’s your reasoning behind this, isn’t it, uhm, what exactly should I call you?

Since it seems like you are GFK’s successor, why don’t I call you GFK II?

Yeah. Of course I’ve done some research into you.

You gave us your name without trying to hide anything, after all. Heading to the meeting spot without doing any research on the other party would just be foolish.

A child’s life is at stake here. It’s a given that we’d prepare ourselves as well as possible.

There is no blood connection between you and GFK. You were simply picked up by GFK and entrusted one of the companies he managed. You were mere strangers.

You should have been satisfied just with taking over that company. But you are as greedy as GFK was, so you ended up wanting more.

And that’s how you came to target J, who was set to inherit GFK’s fortune.

Even though the underworld tried putting a lid on all of this, your greed made you go and open that lid in search of money, huh?

What really takes the cake, though, is that our culprit ended up being some weirdo whose name was never even mentioned until now.

It’s too boring to be featured in any sort of story, but I guess there’s an element of realism to all of this.

You want money. Yup, that’s a motive everyone can accept.

Actually, it came as a relief to me. If your goal had been to enact revenge on us for erasing GFK, then there would have been no reason for you to keep J alive.

But since you’re only after the inheritance, you couldn’t let the recipient of that inheritance - J - die. At least not for now.

Ah, it’s okay. Rest assured. We will meet your demands fully. At the very least I have absolutely no interest in GFK’s fortune.

The only thing I care about is J’s life. If you will give him back to us, then we will give you all the money you could want.

However. If you went back on your promise and we find even a single scratch on J’s skin.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you would leave here alive.

Yes. All right, it seems you’ve brought J here as promised. He seems to be restrained so he can’t move, but I can see his usual energetic self inside of the helicopter.

You must’ve had a hard time dealing with that kid. After all, he might look all cute on the outside, but on the inside, he is a proper monster.

You’d have to be on our level to be able to handle someone like him.

You’ve probably had that lesson drilled into you by now, so why don’t you try reconsidering this plan of yours? You don’t feel like it? Hmm?

madara