Author's Note: I have so much that I want to add to this project that I shrug to figure out what and where to part them. I shrugged with what to put in this halo alone. I brought back some characters that we haven't seen in a while this week. I will bring back in a certain canon character next week along with bringing another back to Ikebukuro. Even after that, we're getting closer to the end of the season. The question is will I be able to get more into this season in time? We will have to see. I am at least going to try. For now, enjoy this week's halo.

Halo Sixteen: Taro:

A feminine-looking boy waltzed his way into Ikebukuro. Sure, he was late, but there was such a thing as being fashionably late. He just wanted to make an entrance at the right moment. And that moment was now.

He smirked to himself. His siblings were going to flip when they saw him. Maybe he should give them a call. No, it would be better to surprise them. The boy couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces. Especially hers.

It didn't take long for the death of Yukimura Itsuki to hit the news. The official cause of death was a slit throat. The reports are saying it's a robbery gone wrong. But that's not the big story. His secretary's black tablet has gone missing. That tablet has all of the power. Every secret, every note, every single exchange. Not just in Ikebukuro either. All of Japan. Maybe some people in Asia. This was going to be big. There's certainly a panic ripping through the country.

Yuuko closed her eyes and held out her hand. The neighing and the hooves were closer this time. She opened her eyes with a huge catlike smile on her face.

"I hadn't expected two deaths today!" she said. The deity held out her arms and twirled about laughing.

"How close is your horse?" Daichi asked.

"I can almost feel the breath on my skin," she said. "I am going to need more people to die." Yuuko frowned.

"When do I get to kill that bitch?" she asked. Her handler patted her on the head.

"Patience," he said. "You will get your chance." Yuuko pouted.

"I want to kill her now!" she wailed.

"How are you calling on the Toramaru?" Daichi asked. Yuuko sighed and dropped her shoulders.

"I'm working on it," she said. The deity shoved him away. She's gone back to being cold again. Daichi shrugged to himself. Sorry, dear. I can't let you kill her yet. That's just how it is.

"Hey, your brother should be due here soon," he said instead. Yuuko turned with her head tilted.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yes," Daichi said. "Here." He showed her his phone. Yuuko leaned in for a look. She narrowed her eyes to read the text. The deity whistled.

"Wow," was all that she could say. Daichi smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," he said.

"Heh. It's about time," she said, folding her arms across her chest. Daichi smiled and shook his head. This was going to have to do for now.

The tadpoles were starting to have visions of the end. Lately, they have been getting much worse.

Mikado opened his eyes to snow falling in the darkness. But he wasn't alone.

The red made it hard to ignore. She had her back to him. She held out her arms and laughed.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" she asked. The pale damned woman slowly turned around. Her arms were covered in blood. It was then Mikado saw the true horror before him. The snow-covered ground was littered with bloody bodies. The color drained from his face. He recognized her victims lying before him. Mikado covered his mouth as he took a step back.

"No…" he said. The Woman in Red's laughter filled out the empty snow. She started floating upwards to the sky. The tadpole boy sank down to his knees. He thought that he was going to vomit.

Mikado jerked back into reality.

"Are you alright?" a girl's voice asked. The tadpole boy looked up. He could barely see her face at first.

"Who are you?" Mikado asked. The girl tilted her head.

"Did you hit your head or something?" she asked. Mikado quickly sat up. By now, a crowd of people started to gather. He turned to the girl standing behind him.

"What happened to me?" Mikado asked.

"Uh… well, you were coming out of that 7-11 right there," the girl said, pointing to the building. "And then you froze and you fell to the ground and started convulsing. You were having a seizure. I didn't know what to do. I was screaming for help and I called you an ambulance. Are you sure you're okay? You really do need to sit down." He waved her off.

"No, I'm fine," Mikado said.

"But the ambulance…" she said.

"Forget about it," he said. The boy turned and ran off. His mind was elsewhere now. And now, he realized that the end was coming much closer than everyone thought.

Everyone, we have to find the others and fast!

Etsuko was scrolling through her phone when she paused.

"Hey, Kitano," she said. The therapist glanced up from his paperwork.

"Hm?" he asked.

"Do you remember Yodogiri Jinnai?" the doctor asked.

"I haven't heard that name in ages," Kitano said. "Didn't he die a while back?"

"Yeah," Etsuko said.

"How long ago was that?" he asked. The doctor took a moment to think.

"I want to say it was around 2006," she said.

"Hm," Kitano said. "Why do you bring him up?" Etsuko slid her tablet over to his desk.

"It appears that someone is posing as him and trying to interfere with our game," she said. The therapist picked up a tablet for a better look. Different message boards had a user using the Yodogiri name. Kitano raised his eyebrow. The last post was two days ago. Just before Yukimura's murder. It seemed like the user knew about the "little black book". As Kitano scrolled through the messages, an idea formed in his head.

"What was his secretary's name again?" he asked.

"Kujiragi Kasane, I believe," Etsuko said.

"Uh-huh," the therapist said. He slid the tablet back to his partner.

"And she too has control of Saika, right?" he asked. The doctor looked up in time to see the wheels turning in his head.

"What's on your mind?" she asked.

"I think I just might have a way to get Mari back to Ikebukuro," Kitano said. He rose to his feet.

"I will make the call," Etsuko said.

"You do that," the therapist said. "I am going down to the basement for a small favor." The doctor pulled out her phone as Kitano walked out of his office.

Junko sat at her desk when her phone buzzed. She pulled in front of her and looked at the screen.

"Heh, about time," she said to herself. Junko turned away from her desk.

"Yui! Kawaguchi!" she yelled. Her interns looked up from tending the angels. Their boss rose to her feet with a huge smile on her face.

"Get my kit ready!" she commanded. "We're going to make some more angels!" Yui and Kawaguchi had intrigued looks on their faces.

"Ooo! Who do you have in mind?" Yui asked. Junko tapped the side of her nose.

"You'll see," she said. The nurse clapped her hands together.

"Go on! Get going!" she shouted. Her interns scattered around and got straight to work. Junko smiled to herself as she pictured her first target.

Kitano knocked on the basement door.

"I'm coming in," he said. The therapist opened the door and walked inside. Kimiko sat at her computer. She didn't even look up.

"How are you on that tablet?" Kitano asked.

"I'm just about finished," she said. He walked over to her computer.

"Leak it all," the therapist said. This gave the hacker pause.

"All of it?" she asked.

"Yes," Kitano said. Kimiko was used to not asking any questions by this point, but this was different.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"There's stuff about us too," Kimiko said. Kitano's face didn't change.

"Do it!" he said. The therapist stared intently. The hacker trembled at first.

"Alright," she said. Kitano nodded once. The determined look in his eyes told her not to ask any questions. He really was serious about dragging the bus all the way down to hell. Kimiko turned back to her computer. She gulped before she pressed enter.

There was no turning back now.

-Ueno-

He knew they would be trailing him. Anything to get Mari back to Ikebukuro. Izaya had taken the batteries out of all of his phones. Couldn't have that digital bastard stalking him at every turn. It drove him crazy that he had to cut himself off from what was going on in Ikebukuro. The information broker couldn't focus on that now. Better get this over with and then figure out what to do next.

Izaya made it up to a payphone. He was only to call her if there was an emergency. He put in the change and dialed the last known number that Mari gave him. Knowing her, it would be a long shot that she would still be there. But Izaya doubted that she left the country. Maybe there was still time to warn her.

"Hello, I would like to place a collect call to the Takayama Ouan," he said. The information broker waited. He looked around the booth. No one standing out in sight so far. It's a good thing that the Tandeki Group didn't know about Saika yet. Or at least not to his knowledge. Izaya tried to push the thought of Saika falling into their hands out of his head.

"Takayama Ouan, how can I help you?" the woman on the other line asked.

"Aw, yes," Izaya said. "May I please speak to Ma…" He paused. Of course, she wouldn't use her real name. There was only one name that he could think of using.

"Ono Laura," he said.

"Hold on, please," the lady said. The typical hold music started playing on the other line. Izaya looked around again. The trip here had been easy, too easy. He couldn't help but feel that Kitano and his inner circle were planning something.

"Hello?" a familiar voice asked.

"Mari-tan!" he said. There was a pause on the other line.

"Why did you call me?" Mari asked in a whisper.

"Aw come on, I missed you, Mari-tan," Izaya said with a pout. "Plus I'm on a payphone."

"What do you want?" she hissed.

"How have you been?"

"Not good. Look, why are you cal-?"

"Listen, you remember when you asked about wanting to leave the city?"

"Yes… But I meant that for you."

"Well, I want to take you up on that offer."

"Are you even listening to me?"

Izaya looked around the booth again. "In fact, why don't you go ahead of me first."

"What are you talking about?" Mari asked.

"Seriously. You really should go ahead of me. Say, have you met any friends?"

"No… You're not making any sense."

"It's crazy. I keep running into some old friend. Including Old man KY."

"KY… Wait… You can't mean…"

"Yeah, you are going to have to run again. They now know. No, they aren't after you yet. They don't even know where to start looking for you. But it would be in your best interest to get as far away as you can before they track you down."

"And they sent you to get me back?"

"Yes. So I was you, I would get going and run. Goodbye." Izaya hung up before Mari could say another word. That ought to piss them off. He just hoped that she could at least get as far away as she could before the rest of the group caught on.

"Good luck, Mari-tan," he said under his breath. Then Izaya walked out of the phone booth. It would be best to get back to Ikebukuro before they got suspicious. Hell, he could even say that he was in a dead zone the entire time.

-Ikebukuro-

The feminine-looking boy hummed to himself and danced around in the street. Where should he go first? See his siblings? Go see her? Or maybe… He should stop by Raira Medical University Hospital?

The boy giggled to himself. So many possibilities today.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed.

"Hm?" the boy asked. He pulled out the phone that she gave him and looked at the screen. A new text message from Yodogiri. "Look at this," the message line said. The boy opened the message. He smiled like a hungry smile. So the next round has begun.

"Ready… Set… Go!" the boy said to himself. He crouched down into a running position and took off running. He knew where he was going first.

The information on the little black tablet started to make its rounds. Satsu was looking around on the dark web again. Lately, her habits had been getting worse in Aoi's eyes. Satsu assured her that she was still the same.

"I'm still me," she said. "I haven't changed. I'm since her." Her girlfriend wants to believe her. But there's always that fear…

Satsu looked around for a new thrill tonight. She didn't feel like visiting Death Tube tonight. Maybe she could check out one of the infamous "red rooms" she had heard about. Now, Satsu wasn't surprised by blood and murder anymore, but she had always wanted to know if they were real or not. She would be the first to admit she was dubious about stories about what's on the dark web.

"I mean, how much of it is real and how much of it is made up?" Satsu asked before. She was about to find this out tonight. Good thing that Aoi was sound asleep for this. Satsu took a breath and logged in until her secure connection. Already, she had a new message in messenger. Someone called Yodogiri wanted to reach out to her. Satsu raised her eyebrow. Okay then…

She accepted the message.

"Look at this?" Satsu read to herself. There was only one link. This smelt like a set-up. This could be a virus or spyware. Maybe spam or malware? This could be nothing but clickbait. Satsu giggled to herself. Did she dare?

She clicked on the link.

"Welcome to Red Library," she read to herself. Tingles ran through her body. What did she have here? It looked like a library at first. Two chairs sat in front of the fireplace. Many books filled the bookcase. There was a fire in the fireplace. Satsu stared at the screen. She waited from bated breath. Okay, she was here. Now what?

A notification popped up on the screen. Satsu smiled. Here we go. She clicked on the notification. A file popped up in its place. It didn't take long for Satsu to read the contents. Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

"Holy shit," she whispered to herself. Satsu turned and shook Aoi awake.

"Hey! Hey! Wake up! Hey! Hey!" she whispered. Her girlfriend slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head.

"Huh? What?" she asked. "What is it?"

"Look at this," Satsu whispered.

"What?" Aoi asked.

"Look!" her girlfriend insisted. The blonde-haired girl leaned into the screen. A confused look came over her face.

"What am I looking at?" Aoi asked. She reached over for her glasses on the nightstand and put them on. The woman read over the document.

"What… is that?" she asked. Satsu grinned as her girlfriend scrolled down. Aoi looked up at her.

"Is this…?" she began to ask. Her girlfriend smiled and nodded. Aoi could only whistle aloud. Satsu pressed her lips together and nodded.

"It looks like everyone in Japan is up shit's creek," she said.

By morning, news of the leak eclipsed the death of Yukimura. Everyone in the country sat biting their nails as the details were blasted all over the news. Meanwhile, Kitano sat back and smiled at the screen. Sure, some of Tandeki's dirty secrets were exposed, but only for a small price. His phone rang at his desk.

"Hello?" Kitano asked.

"What the hell have you done?!" Hikibi asked on the other line. "It was you, wasn't it?" The therapist sat back with a smirk on his face.

"Yes and no," he said. "I didn't leak the information, I just instructed one of my hackers to do it."

"Do you realize that you've put some of my clients at risk?!" the other man shouted.

"Relax, relax," the therapist said. "My group is exposed too. We're all in the same boat together."

"This could ruin them and me!" Hikibi shouted.

"It's all a small price to pay for the game," Kitano said. "After all, it's going to take them a while to look through everything." There was a pause on the other line.

"Everything?!" the club owner asked.

"I don't believe in half-assing it," the therapist said. "If we are going to do this game properly, we have to go all in. Besides, there's so much that they have to go through it's going to take a while to get to us."

"And what are we supposed to do until then?" the other man asked through gritted teeth.

"Stay calm," Kitano said. "Act natural. There's no need to confess to a crime that no one knows about. There could possibly be nothing at all."

"Wait… you didn't look at the files?" Hikibi asked.

"I just said release everything," the therapist said. "Now, we just sit back and let it all fall into place."

"I doubt my clients will agree with that," the club owner said. Kitano shrugged.

"I can't determine what they will do," he said. "All I can see is watch your back. We'll take it from here." The therapist hung up before Hikibi hung up. Kitano smiled at the phone in his hand. Good thing he managed to swipe one of Izaya's phones before he left.

The news made its round by the end of day one. It's all just getting started. Meanwhile, the feminine-looking boy made it to Rampo Biotech. He stood as the doors pushed open. Junko looked up as she walked outside. She looked up in time to see him. The boy broke into a huge grin.

"Hi!" he shouted to the night sky. Junko couldn't help but smile.

"Hello, Taro," she said. The nurse gave him a graceful little bow.

"Care to join me as we go and collect another test subject?" she asked.

"Yay!" Taro shouted as he jumped up in the air. He laughed and clapped his hands together. Junko chuckled to herself.

"Good, let's get going," she said. Taro perked up as he followed her out to her jeep.