Souichirou's Story
Ok, this is my theory on the cause of Souichirou's death. When I've finished the fic, I'll upload a final chapter, showing my train of thought, on how I got to here. I started this fic after reading Chapter 16. When more manga chapters are released, I try to edit the remaining parts, to make them seem more ahh.. accurate. Heh, ok. Enough of my rambling. Here it goes.
"Rikopiiinn..."
"Hm?"
"I wuv you."
"Mmhm. Love you too Sou-Sou."
"Get a room you 2!"
"Aww... Is little Kuro embarrassed?"
"Tasuku, even one as senile as I can tell that at this rate, unless you 'man up', you are never going to get a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend, if you feel that way."
This was one of the many scenes that often greeted the team's colleagues as they headed towards their own work areas.
"Shut up, will ya, you faggots."
That wasn't.
A stunned silence was the reply.
"Crap, sorry. That came out bad." Ever since he'd quit cracking, Kurosaki had felt freed. However, when he was cleaning out some old stuff he'd found a loose thread in his work which, if dealt with correctly, could expose his underworld identity.
Now, he was constantly restless. Every new email, every phone call that came in, every summons for anyone in his team left him unsettled. At the rate he was going, he was gonna have a nervous breakdown, if not a heart attack. If lucky, he'd only end up going bald.
Souichirou grinned. "Don't worry Kurosaki. Woof! (Kurosaki cringed.) Everyone gets stressed at times. Woof! If you want, go take a break." He winked (much to the horror of Rika). "We'll cover for ya."
Kurosaki forced a smile in reply. "Hahah...yeah. Ok. Uhh...then I'll... go....Bye..."
Slamming his bedroom door, he sprawled on the bed, silently swearing at himself. Geez, what was wrong with him today?? Well apart from the fact that I may lose my job and even jeopardise the other's opportunities, everything's just peachy! Of course. A flashing tab brought him over to his computer.
"You have (1) new email from Kazuo Aitarou. Subject: 'Breach of Security Message: 'Tasuku Kurosaki/DAISY, we have been informed of a breach of security as of the 17th..."
Crap...Well there you go. Gahh... This is not good...
Kurosaki was lost. The morals and ethics he'd been taught said that he'd stuffed up, that the right thing to do was to tell his team. If he was lucky, they'd be willing to listen to his reasons, would try to help him resolve the issue and life would go back to normal, albeit with Kurosaki a lot wiser.
What if it doesn't go that well?
If things went badly...Kurosaki cringed at the thought of the consequences. Not only he would get punished, but the rest of his team may be as well.
What if it gets put on our criminal record?
A series of knocks on the door woke him up from his reverie. It was the Master.
"Sou and Rika have gone out for lunch."
"Ahh..."
Enough was said. Souichirou and Rika were gonna have lunch, watch a movie and would probably spend the rest of the evening talking lovey-dovey at a park.
"Have a seat. I just finished up on the installing thread. Waiting for the whole thing to save. So freakin slow... Hey, you want a drink?"
"Yeah, thanks. Have any Coke?"
"Heheh, yeah. Bought 2 cases of them. $20 discount. Huuuge bargain."
The Master laughed. "You cheapskate..."
"Cheap Asians ftw!" was the distance reply.
Chuckling, the Master settled down in the chair. A flashing tab on the computer screen caught his attention.
"You have (1) new email from Kazuo Aitarou. Subject: 'Breach of Security Message: 'Tasuku Kurosaki/DAISY, if you do not compensate us within the..."
DAISY...? Wasn't that the name of the cracker who'd lately been going berserk around the net? Security measures had increased 10 times over, because of him...
"Tasuku!" he called.
"Yeah?"
"What's this?"
"ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH DANGER YOU'VE PUT US IN?? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH DANGER YOU'VE PUT YOURSELF IN??"
"..."
"IF YOU'RE LUCKY, THE COMPANY WILL FIRE YOU. IF NOT, YOU WILL BE SUED AND FIRED AND GET A CRIMINAL RECORD AND WE WILL ALSO GET FIRED AS WELL AS BEING SUED AND GETTING A CRIMINAL RECORD."
"Shut up."
"YOU PUT US IN THIS MESS AND YOU'RE TELLING ME-"
"TO SHUT UP!! Look, I know I screwed up. Ok. I'm sorry. I'll-"
"BEING SORRY ISN'T GOING TO SOLVE THE GODDAMN PROBLEM."
"LISTENING TO OTHER PEOPLE WILL."
With that, Kurosaki stormed out of the room.
"Sou, he had a point. You didn't really give him a chance to explain things."
"What, you want me to go and apologise? Pfffft! As if..."
The Master cleared his throat.
"Er... That IS the general idea Sou..."
Souichirou stared at him in disbelief.
"No. Not until there's ice in Hell 3 feet thick."
With that, Souichirou also stormed out of the room.
Rika and the Master stared at the door.
"Well. That went well..."
"Mmhm. I'll go look for Kurosaki."
"Er, Rika, maybe I should do that. Seeing as how you're you know... with Sou and all, it wouldn't be too good if you... you know... went after Tasuku... Maybe I should go..."
"And I go after Sou? Yeah, ok, I've got it."
And thus, Rika and the Master also left the room, albeit more calmly than the other half of their team.
The Master walked into Souichirou's apartment and into his room. As he thought, Souichirou was perched on his desk, hunched over his laptop. He and Rika been warned many times that doing so was a bad posture and that when he became an old man and she became an old hag (Rika had screeched at this), they'd continue to walk around, with that same posture.
The Master sighed. The lecture could come later.
"Sou."
"Hm?"
"Kurosaki's gone missing."
"Ok."
"So that's the attitude you're going to give?"
"Uh huh."
"Even if the boy makes one mistake, you won't give a crap if he disappears?
"Nuh uh."
"You bring him in, he's your responsibility."
"Sure."
Realising he was getting nowhere with this, the Master strode out.
The slammed door woke Souichirou up. Ahh...What was it the Master had said again...Right... Kurosaki's gone missing... Eh, whatever. Back to work...
-blink-
Hang on... Ah, crap...
"MASTEEERRRRR!!! WAIT UUUP!!"
"No sign?"
"Still no."
"Whatsoever?"
"Nope."
Rika, Souichirou and the Master had spent the whole night searching the whole city, both manually and electronically. It was now morning and the 3 had met up in the office.
"Aiyaaa... For all we know, the company he hacked into may have taken action themselves...if you know what I mean..."
"You're serious? Argh, Good job, Sou."
"Stop it Rika! I get it. It's all my fault. I'll apologise to the guy when we find him. After I teach him a lesson or two..."
"Sou!"
"Ok ok! We'll skip the lessons."
Rika's retort was cut off by Souichirou's phone ringing.
"Rika, get ready to trace the call, in case it's Kurosaki."
Placing the phone on loudspeaker, Souichirou answered it.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Kurebayashi Souichirou."
"Who's this?" In his heart, Souichirou already knew. He motioned for Rika to start tracing . She did so.
"Your Kurosaki tried to hack into our system. We have him with us now. He's still alive...although his health may be in want of medical attention..."
"... YOU BA-"
"Really now Sou, do stop trying to trace us. Co-operate instead. It would be a pity if...the police managed to find and arrest him..."
"What is that you want? Money? I'll need to finish writing the programs and sell-"
"I think you know what we want."
"..."
"Sou, their firewall's too good. Every query I run just gets rerouted." Rika.
"C'mon Sou, you're supposed to be a smartass. Use that head of yours."
"No..."
"And...the penny drops."
"Not the programs. I've spent years on them! My team has spent years on some of them! You can't-"
Suddenly, Rika cried out. A window opened on the computer. Souichirou's face paled and he heard the muffled gasps from the Master. It was an image, showing Kurosaki lying on the ground.
His hair lay dank. His skin was an unhealthy shade of grey. Souichirou had once seen the single scar that curved over Kurosaki's shoulder and down his back to the side of his waist. Its numerous new companions were clearly visible all over his back and along his arms. What shocked Souichirou most of all however, was the cigarette hanging from his lips.
His captors had managed to get him hooked? Souichirou knew from experience that once you were addicted to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, it would take a Herculean effort to quit permanently.
"Your team will be permanently lacking one member within a week if you don't finish the programs and hand them over."
"..." He could already see that Kurosaki wasn't going to last a week. They all could see that.
"I'll be lenient. Discuss your decision with the remainder of your team. Give me your answer in 2 days time."
With that, the computer screen went blank and the phone went dead.
"Sou...You're the leader. What are we gonna do?"
Again. He was the leader. Everything was decided by him. What codes were used ...Whether the ASCII or the WYSIWYG formats used...What Teru's dinner was gonna be...How the security measures would be set up... And now, Kurosaki's fate.
"Sou...?" The Master, again.
"For now...we'll work on the programs. Until we find a better idea."
"Yessir."
As if understanding that he needed alone time, the other 2 walked out, leaving Souichirou to his thoughts.
Ok. That's all I've come up with so far. Does it work? Any flaws being pointed out would REALLY be appreciated!! :D