Chapter 1: The Interview


Takagi Fujimaru tried not to fall as he trudged down the last few steps. He was dead tired from the previous night, the only indicators of his sleepless night being his bloodshot eyes and messier-than-usual brown hair. As he walked past the entryway, he paused, counting the pairs of shoes. There were only two pairs of shoes lined up next the small cupboard. Other than that, there were no signs that anyone had entered or exited that night. Fujimaru scowled and walked into the kitchen.

A slender girl with shoulder-length black hair was cooking something at the stove. As she placed the food on the plates, she turned and saw Fujimaru enter the kitchen. "Ohayo Onii-chan!" Takagi Haruka smiled brightly at her older brother. Fujimaru ruffled her hair in response and sat down at the dining table, yawning loudly.

Haruka frowned at him as she brought the breakfast to the table. "Onii-chan, what were you doing so late last night?"

Fujimaru shrugged. "Nothing. Working on homework."

Haruka gave him a disbelieving look. "Usotsuki. I already know you finished your homework. I overheard you and Otoya talking about it."

Fujimaru sighed. He needed to be more careful. "I was downloading some scary computer games, that's all. I'll let you play them later."

Haruka seemed to question his excuse, and for a moment Fujimaru thought she would call him out. But all she said was, "We should eat, or the food will get cold."

"Ittadakimasu," muttered Fujimaru, picking up his chopsticks. After a few mouthfuls of the delicious omelet, he commented, "This is great, Haruka."

Haruka beamed, forgetting her earlier suspicions. "Really? I found it in a magazine. I was planning on making it for Otou-san, but…"

Fujimaru didn't reply, but he frowned slightly. Not for the first time, he cursed his father for not coming home. He didn't want to think about how many times his father would promise to come home early, only to call and cancel. It seemed that Takagi Ryunosuke liked his job more than his children. Fujimaru wasn't naïve, and knew exactly what kind of stuff his father got into, but that didn't mean he couldn't just come home early for one night and spend time with Haruka.

"Oh. Falcon is back." Haruka's announcement made Fujimaru look up. She was reading a message from one of her friends on her phone.

"What?"

"Falcon. You know that legendary hacker. Apparently he revealed that a group of students were posting blackmail pictures of teachers, accusing them of crimes they didn't commit. He has all sorts of evidence." Haruka went back to reading her messages.

"Oh. That's cool." Fujimaru stretched and checked his watch. It read 7:27. "Shit!" he exclaimed, running upstairs. "I'm gonna be late!"

Haruka smiled to herself as she heard her brother's curses from upstairs. She was already dressed in her middle school uniform, a navy blue seifuku, having woken up an hour earlier She watched, amused, as he raced down the stairs and struggled to get his shoes on.

Fujimaru was wearing his uniform which mainly consisted on a white short-sleeved button down shirt and black pants. Before leaving, Fujimaru paused and looked at Haruka. "Be safe, and keep careful. Don't exert yourself. I'll try to come home straight after school."

Haruka nodded and smiled to show she was fine. "I'm okay, Onii-chan! Iterashai!"

Fujimaru smiled and shouted, "Itekimasu!" as he left. He ran fast down the streets, turning the corners with ease. Fujimaru went to an 'advanced' school that was farther away from his house than Haruka's middle school, so most mornings he was sprinting to make it on time.

As he crossed the bridge that crossed Arakawa River, he was hit on the back of the head by something. Cursing, he turned around to face his attacker.

Asada Aoi grinned at him, swinging her schoolbag. "Yo Fujimaru."

"Aoi! What do you think you're doing?" Fujimaru glared at the tall girl.

"Going to school," replied Aoi, as if it was obvious. "Come on!" She reached to grab his arm but Fujimaru moved out of her reach.

"I can get to school just fine. It's not like I'm planning to skip." Fujimaru started to walk away.

Aoi rolled her eyes. "You're walking so slow! Come on, Otoya said to meet him at the clubroom before school."

Fujimaru sighed. "Otoya? What does he want this time?"

Aoi sighed. "If you were paying attention, we're doing an interview! Now come on!"

Fujimaru followed the long-haired girl though the streets, wondering what was the real reason Otoya wanted to see him.


"Yagami-kun!" Yagami Raito closed the book and looked to see who had called his name. Makozawa Yuri, the class president, was pointing towards him, a group of underclassmen walking his direction. He noted the camera bag one boy was holding and the recorder in the hand of another girl. Raito smiled, drawing the conclusion that they were the Newspaper Club. They looked rather small, two girls and three boys, but most of them looked calm and professional.

A boy with curly dark brown hair and a serious expression stepped forward. "Ano… Yagami-senpai? We're from the Newspaper Club, and we were supposed to do an interview with you today."

Raito nodded. "Hai. I believe you had some questions for me."

The boy nodded. "My name is Kujo Otoya and I am the manager of the Newspaper Club. This is Asada Aoi, reporter, Tachikawa Hide, photographer, Anzai Mako, artist, and Takagi Fujimaru, handyman." As Otoya introduced the members, they bowed respectfully towards their senpai. Except Fujimaru who was too busy listening to music and not paying attention. This earned him a punch in the arm from Aoi. He glared and stuck his tongue out at her.

While the two argued, Raito tried to remember where he'd heard of Takagi Fujimaru before. He was pretty sure Otoya hadn't mentioned him before. He had met Otoya several times before due to the fact that Otoya's grandfather was the Minister of Defense, who had met with Raito's father about some "secret" business. Otoya had never mentioned Fujimaru though. Finally, it hit him.

"Ano, Takagi-kun. You wouldn't happen to know Takagi Haruka would you?" he asked, interrupting the fight between Fujimaru and Aoi.

Fujimaru glared at him. "Yeah. What do you want with my little sister?" His tone was low and threatening, and he seemed ready to punch Raito if needed.

Raito smiled and held his hands up in a peaceful way. "Nothing. Your sister just comes over to my house quite often and talks with my sister, Sayu."

Fujimaru narrowed his eyes, thinking. Finally, he growled, "Brown haired girl with bad math skills?"

Raito laughed slightly. "That's her. Your sister talks about you a lot."

Fujimaru relaxed slightly and opened his mouth to reply, but Aoi cut him off. "Anyways, I think we should get on with the questions. We shouldn't bother Yagami-senpai any longer than we need to." Fujimaru didn't argue with her and started listening to his music again.

Aoi and Otoya took turns asking Raito various questions. Most were about his views on politics and police action as well as his future plans. While he talked, Hide would snap pictures of him and Mako held the recorder, catching every word he said.

As they wrapped up their questions, Mako asked suddenly, "Ano… Yagami-senpai. What is your opinion on Falcon?"

The room grew quiet as the other students turned to look at Raito. His opinion on Falcon was a complete mystery to everyone. He never took part in any discussions about the hacker and seemed to avoid the concept altogether.

Raito kept his calm. "Falcon? I would say he's a criminal."

Mako looked slightly shocked. "Eh?! But Falcon-sama is a hero! He takes down lots of bad guys!"

Raito wanted to yell. How the hell were these people so stupid? What was this world turning into? First, there was the fact that criminals were being released, and now hackers were being called heroes? Ridiculous! Raito sighed inwardly and said, "Falcon may seem like a good person, but his ways of exposing people is wrong. Besides, how does anyone know that the evidence is real?"

Fujimaru snorted. "Of course it's real. If it wasn't, then the criminals would get let off. Falcon probably sends it off to the police before posting it on the web."

Raito raised an eyebrow. "It's all a matter of opinion. I believe this concludes the interview. We only have about ten minutes before lunch is over."

Otoya nodded, glaring at Fujimaru. "Arigato, Yagami-senpai. We will feature your interview in the next issue. Please look forward to it." The club bowed again, Otoya making Fujimaru bow this time and left the room.


Raito stared out the window as the English teacher droned on. He already knew what the teacher was lecturing, and didn't want to pay attention to someone who obviously didn't know what they were doing. His mind wandered, thinking about Falcon again. There was no doubt in his mind. Falcon was still a criminal, no matter what. He'd looked into the police records and found that several of the criminals Falcon had 'captured' had been released. Not publicly of course, but due to the sheer amount of criminals in prison already.

A sudden movement outside caught his attention. He leaned forwards, looking down into the schoolyard. A black notebook of some kind was lying in the yard, where it hadn't been before. Raito frowned. Had someone dropped it? No, that wasn't possible. Even if someone climbed to the third story of the school building, they wouldn't be able to throw the notebook so it landed like that. Raito decided that if it was still there when school let out, he would check it out.