Gift for crystallekil
To: crystallekil
From: virdant
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
Title: Virtual Reality
Pairing/Group: Arashi; mentions of Matsumoto/Ninomiya
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A lot of very deliberate tense changes.
Notes: Dear crystallekil, your wants were so vast and diverse that I was at a loss at how to actually write you all of them. Therefore, I went and looked at what dramas you watched, and built this story around a drama that you said you liked. Or, at least, I attempted to. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to my beta reader for doing this on such short notice.
Summary: AU: “What do you know about the Ariake swindlings?” Ninomiya, faced with an oppressive Management, begins his form of rebellion.
Ninomiya will meet Nishikido in Reality in a few months (before Sakurai is fully integrated into their workings-their new ones, the ones they started when he was gone), look him up and down, and then say, “You’ll do.”
“Do?” Nishikido may echo.
“What do you know about the Ariake swindlings?” Ninomiya will ask briskly, hooking a hand into the crook of Nishikido’s elbow as if they’re the greatest of friends instead of barely acquaintances before leading him into the small dark room that serves as his office. “Quick.”
“Ariake swindlings? What are those?”
Ninomiya will smile to himself, a smug smile. “My work, keeping it from the public. We can’t have people thinking that Maintenance is failing, can we?” His voice will be proud-more proud than Nishikido would think that Ninomiya had a right to be-but there's no harm in taking pride in one's work.
So Nishikido will shake his head, partly confused and partly wary, before Ninomiya will hand him a packet of papers detailing thousands of credits stolen in the Network.
“I hear you’re good at undercover work. In fact, your work is pretty widely acclaimed, at least around Maintenance,” Ninomiya will say thoughtfully, as if Nishikido weren’t so startled.
“Thank you,” Nishikido will murmur, hesitantly.
Ninomiya will grin. “Then you’ll understand,” he’ll say. “There’s been quite a few swindlings going on. We think that the mastermind is Ariake Shizuna, who takes on different identities for each job.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
Ninomiya will only grin wider. “You’re going to be Ariake Taisuke, Shizuna-chan’s precious older brother.”
“Don’t you think that she’ll be suspicious?”
“Oh no, I think it’ll be fine,” Ninomiya will say, waving a hand carelessly in the air, and Nishikido will find that statement to be true when he accesses the Network as Ariake Taisuke for the first time and finds himself with an armful of Ariake Shizuna shouting, “Tai-nii, you’re late!”
*
“What is the Network?” Ninomiya asked languidly. He waved a hand in the air, imitating the lecturers at their podiums, all grand gestures and little else. “Nothing more than a cesspool of corruption that requires a deft hand to control. And that, my dear, is where Network Maintenance comes in.”
“Don’t tell me you believe that drivel,” Matsumoto snorted. He leaned back, watching Ninomiya with a smirk. “You of all people should know that that’s just propaganda that Management puts out.”
Ninomiya grinned from his seat. The two of them sat in across from each other in metal seats with insulated wires wrapped messily around the handles. Aiba hadn’t put away the wires properly after the last time he played hooky at work, and now they trailed and twisted around the hook-up chairs in a tangled mess. “If the rest of the world believe it, what’s stopping us from believing it?”
Matsumoto rolled his eyes. “Other than the fact that we’re the people who go and tell the world that we’re out purifying the Network when all we do is-”
“Shhh.” Ninomiya held a finger to his lips in mockery, his eyes wide and innocent as he leaned forward in the hook-up chair, the very picture of innocence. “Don’t say it.”
Matsumoto grinned. “How much will you pay me to be quiet?”
Ninomiya straightened, folding his hands primly in his lap and clearing his throat with a polite hack, polite offense radiating off of him in waves. “We don’t get paid until next week. Not to mention that Management keeps a firm eye on all our credit transactions. To engage in such actions spell certain disaster for us both.”
Matsumoto snorted. “It never fails me how easily you can switch roles.” He leaned back a little more, studying Ninomiya before flicking his eyes up towards the steady red glow of a camera watching them in a corner.
Ninomiya slouched down in his chair, relaxing into a pose that he used when around the rest of Arashi, his eyes focused on Matsumot's eyes. “Really, Momo-chan?”
Matsumoto narrowed his eyes. “That was a long time ago. And an assignment.”
“Are you sure that was all it was, Domyouji-kun?”
He shook his head. “Those were all in the Network. I'm not any of them.”
Ninomiya grinned, leaning forward with a look that was all him, and not any role. “Really now, my dear, if you can do it in the Network, you can do it in Reality too.”
*
“Oh-chan!” Nino exclaims, flinging his arms around the other man with a wide grin, ignoring the waves crashing against an artificial beach. The server's empty, and there's only the two of them standing near an old rickety boat with a fishing rod lying inside. “What are you doing here?”
Oh-chan shrugs, lifting a tackle box. “Fishing?” he offers. He glances over Nino’s shoulder at the sea.
Nino narrows his eyes. “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”
“This is working,” he assures Nino. “Really.”
“Alright.” He grins, flipping out a deck of cards and shuffling it with a single hand. “I’m going to go swindle some money from poor unsuspecting school girls.”
“Mmkay.”
“Don’t forget to tell Management that our payday is tomorrow.”
Oh-chan smiles slightly. “We got our pay deposited yesterday, Nino-chan.”
“Oh really?” Nino said casually, “I must have not noticed.”
Oh-chan pats Nino on the shoulder. “Nino-chan’s such a good liar, isn’t he,” he comments offhandedly.
“I’m not lying. I’m suspiciously low on credits this month.”
“See? Either way, Nino-chan doesn’t need to worry. Everybody knows that Nino-chan has ways of getting money from people other than Management.”
“You make it sound like I have a part-time job.”
“Oh?” Oh-chan asks, eyes wide and guileless. “What should I call it then?”
Nino shrugs. “Don’t forget that you have a meeting with Management later today.” He pauses for a moment to study the sea. “It’s your duty as Leader.”
“Of course. Nino-chan’s account will be perfectly accumulate, won’t it?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“But Ariake Koichi’s account is growing, isn’t it?”
Nino shrugs easily. “Do you even have to ask?”
*
Nishikido will have problems getting close to Ariake Shizuna; not because she’s pretty-he’s used to swindlers being pretty-but because she will seem completely clueless, and that'll worry him. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, but it will this time; it will be a sharp nagging thought in his mind that keeps him one step away from beautiful, smiling, innocent Ariake Shizuna who tracks down her targets with ruthless accuracy.
That doesn’t mean that Nishikido will believe her clueless act. Nor does it mean that he'll believe she doesn’t know-or at least suspect-who he is and what his purpose is. The Network's full of swindlers wary of Maintenance cracking down on illegal activity. There will be no reason for him to worry about Ariake Shizuna knowing who he is.
But he will stay one step back, taking advantage of the fact that Ninomiya will not press for results. Ninomiya isn’t the type, he'll conclude after a week with nothing from Ninomiya asking for results.
And then he will wonder why.
*
These days, online properly meant you had to be sitting in a hookup chair, with the wires trailing along the floor and then up a leg before settling in an implant. It meant the implant had to be buried deep in the lower back and locked to prevent them from slipping out before log-out procedures were initiated. It meant settling down in a chair and connecting wires to the spine, twisting them around and around until they finally connected and your body slumped in oblivious relaxation.
“Want me to connect your wires for you next time we do this?” Nino asked Jun, syrupy sweet as they sat in a cafe sipping coffee on the Network.
“Don’t be silly,” Jun scoffed. “We aren’t kids playing at a romance.”
“But wouldn’t you like to?” Nino asked. He leaned forward, smiling smugly. “Wouldn’t you like to, with me?”
Jun leaned back, rolling his eyes dramatically-everything online, in this server at least, was dramatic. “Don’t be crass, Nino.”
“I’m being serious.” He settled back, before slurping his hot water-free, of course.
“What are you playing at these days, Nino?”
“Let’s say I’m not playing,” Nino began. “But let's say I want to start. Aiba put this idea into my head, him and his fooling around with different identities when we're supposed to be working. But remember playing Domyouji? Remember how easy it was, to just steal one of those nice fancy watches in the Network and sell it for credit in Reality?”
“Your point?” Jun said, but Nino knew he was remembering the ease of palming the watch, the way nobody watched somebody with the words Maintenance stamped all over their profile.
“Let’s do it.”
“You’ll get caught,” Jun said even though he was already thinking about which server he should hop to after this, which identity to slip into.
“Why would we?” Nino smirked. “We’re Arashi. We control all the information that goes to the general public. We’re the group that investigates the leads and then reports on them, which means that we’d never get caught unless we catch ourselves.”
“NewS does propaganda too.”
“NewS investigates the leads we deem important; and half of them are just mouthpieces for us. They’re not going to investigate us if we don’t tell them to.”
Jun smiled. “You’ve thought this out, haven’t you. Have you talked to Leader yet?”
Nino studied the ceiling. “What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”
“He’s working so hard,” Jun added thoughtfully. He smirked, and Nino grinned back in perfect understanding. “He can’t help it if he falls asleep during work.”
*
Ohno's napping when Ninomiya comes in to work.
Matsumoto looks up from the paper's he's studying. “Ohno's sleeping,” he murmurs, quite redundantly. “And aren't you supposed to be working?”
“That's why I'm here, isn't it?”
“That's not what I meant, and you know it,” Matsumoto murmurs, keeping his voice low. “Last time I checked-”
“I can go do work now.” Ninomiya sits down on one of the hookup chairs, beckoning to Matsumoto with a sly grin. “Want to join me? Jun-kun?”
“Don't be crass,” Matsumoto says, but there's no eye roll this time. “And no. I'm not interested in playing so close to Management. You can do what you want on time controlled by Management, I'll stick to playing this game at home where I'm just a citizen.”
“Suit yourself. I'm off.”
“Have fun.”
*
Nishikido will never actually meet Ariake Koichi. He'll receive a peculiar message in his inbox-in Ariake Taisuke's inbox-asking him to play backup to Ariake Shizuna, so he'll go to the designated area and watch as Shizuna plays the innocent fool.
“She's not innocent,” Nishikido will report. “She asked me to go back her up.”
“Keep investigating,” Ninomiya will reply, rubbing his brow in worry. “We have to find her and stop her before the rest of the world finds out about this travesty and loses all respect for Maintenance.”
But it's not like anybody will have any respect for Maintenance then anyways. If nobody respected them before, nobody respects them now, then nobody will ever respect them. But Nishikido won't say that.
He will value his job too much for that.
*
“Aiba-chan,” Sakurai said wearily as the call connected with a faint beep. “What do you want?”
“Just checking up on you,” Aiba replied, adjusting his porternal-the view flickered on Sakurai’s porternal. “What’s it like to be overseas?”
“I thought you already got all the details out from Ninomiya when he went West.”
“I imagine that they have their own version of Maintenance.”
“Mm.”
“Nino-chan’s doing fine, by the way,” Aiba said carefully. “Ohno’s the same as always too.”
“I didn’t ask,” Sakurai said, closing his eyes. Aiba’s voice came out full and clear as if he were right across from him instead of across the sea, the marvels of modern technology. If only he could access the Network-a full immersion with all his senses stimulated-for himself instead of just for work. Then he could see Aiba, reach out and touch him, feel his breath against his cheek and the knarl of his curls twisting around his fingers.
“We miss you, Sho-chan.”
“I figured,” Sakurai murmured, opening his eyes to the metal pipes criss-crossing his ceiling. “What have you been up to?”
“Studying convicts. And gardening.”
“That’s quite vague.”
“Is it?” Aiba asked thoughtfully. “It’s interesting though. Law and judgment is always interesting, of course, but gardening especially.”
“Why?”
“I mean, gardening is such a Network activity. You don’t see gardens in Reality anymore. It’s...”
“Depressing?” The room could benefit from plants, a burst of green against the matte steel.
“Oh, you can’t say that,” Aiba said cheerfully. “The world’s a better place now than ever before, you should know that, Sakurai. After all, you report the news.”
“Don’t we all? We’re all in charge of propaganda, Aiba-chan.”
“That’s such a harsh word,” Aiba said dreamily. “Propaganda, I mean. Shouldn’t we just say ‘News that’s pleasant to listen to?’”
Sakurai shrugged, watching Aiba’s face flutter with thoughts across the connection. “What’s it been like with me here?”
“The entire nation is fixated on you. Don’t forget to report properly. Matsumoto will send you a list of information you should include in your next broadcast.” Aiba nodded, all work now. “Is Sakurai having fun?”
“Tell Ohno that Sakurai has been working hard and he finds his duty as attractive as ever.”
“But what about Sho-chan?”
Sakurai tilted his head back, staring at the pipes running across his ceiling, all metal and plastic. “I suppose that’ll have to wait until I get online properly.”
*
“Aibaka,” Nino chirps as he slings an arm around the other guy. “What a surprise! I didn't expect you here, especially at this time. I'm learning how to make hayashi rice, did you now?”
“You should learn how to make mapo tofu instead,” he replies, pulling back. “That's not what I came here to tell you, by the way.”
Nino raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Do you know what this server's been reporting?”
“Other than the most amazing hayashi rice ever, no.” Nino narrows his eyes. “Is there something I should know?”
He shrugs at Nino, before grinning wryly at him. “Nothing, really, Nino-chan! What does your hayashi rice taste like?”
Nino tastes it. “Dunno. I think I might have picked up a glitch the other day, my senses aren't registering properly. Want to try, Aibaka?”
He tried it. “I like mapo tofu better.”
“I think it's off,” Nino says, before smirking at him. “I'll have to figure out what this sever has to offer, won't I?”
*
Nishikido will sometimes wonder how Ariake Shizuna-stupid enough to fall for every swindling attempt known to mankind-is the mastermind of the Ariake swindlings.
“I don't understand this,” Nishikido may comment to Ninomiya. “Ariake Shizuna's the stupidest person I know, but all the evidence points to her swindling.”
“Then she's the one in charge,” Ninomiya may reply. “Unless you have evidence that points otherwise.”
Nishikido will think of the message in his inbox-the letter that said nothing but: meet Shii in the video store. “You want me to find out who she is in Reality.”
“Sure,” Ninomiya will say. “Let's go with that.”
*
“I have it all planned out,” Ninomiya said to Matsumoto as they met at work a good two hours before they were supposed to. “We'll have to work separate.”
“You never said that,” Matsumoto hissed. “What are you playing at, Ninomiya?”
Ninomiya leaned back and scowled. “Do you really think Management won't notice two people in the same group frequenting the same server under various aliases? How long do you think that we'd be able to lie to them and say that we aren't doing anything? A week? Two weeks? Eventually they'd catch us, and this will be over.”
“Management wouldn't notice, by your original plan, since we have to find the problems in the servers.”
Ninomiya shook his head. “There are plenty of hackers in the slums who wouldn't hesitate to report us.”
“Hackers hate Maintenance.”
“Exactly.” Ninomiya grinned, and Matsumoto remembered that there had been a time when Ninomiya had been more hacker than maintainer. There had been a time when Ninomiya and Ohno had discussed leaving, hacking into Management and fucking them over and then leaving and returning to the slums where Management wasn't watching their every move. Matsumoto hadn't been included in those discussions, but he knew about them-he was a slum kid at first, before he had been recruited by Maintenance. Out of the five of them, only Sakurai had actually planned on working in Network Maintenance-it was expected that a son from an influential family enter Maintenance, though nobody knew why Sakurai wasn't in Management and ran around playing investigator with the lot of them instead. Aiba had submitted an application but had never dreamed he'd be accepted into the prestigious position of Network Maintenance. “Think like a hacker, Matsumoto-kun-and I know you still have contacts among that community. Wouldn't you love the opportunity to get a Network Maintainer in trouble?”
Matsumoto rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“Subtlety is key here, Matsumoto.” Ninomiya stepped forward, pressing up against Matsumoto. He didn't flinch, and Ninomiya smirked. “Hard for you to understand, I know, but I'm sure the great Matsumoto Jun can manage it.”
“We're not online, Ninomiya. There's no need to act like this.”
Ninomiya stepped back to an appropriate distance, still smirking. He circled around Matsumoto, always staying a good half-meter away, the same distance that hook-up chairs spread around. “Just think about it, Matsumoto. You know I'm right.”
“Yes, I do,” he snapped. “So what's your plan?”
Ninomiya tapped a finger on his lip thoughtfully before he grinned. “Not for you to know.”
*
“Hi, Aiba,” Sho says. The connection is just as patchy as it was a month ago, but he's managed to hack the networks, and he can almost see Aiba in front of him.
“Hi,” Aiba replies. He laughs. “When are you coming back?”
“Maybe in a month.”
“You better hurry. Nino's been weird.” He laughs again. “Who knows what Nino's been up go.”
“What have you been up to, Aiba?” Sho closes his eyes. It's quiet overseas. Ninomiya said that when he went west, the world had been busy, full of noise and excitement, but Sho only can hear the stillness in his ears until he goes onto what this country calls their Network, even more tightly regulated than home.
“Work.” Aiba laughs. “Lots of work, Sho-chan.” There's a long pause, and then Aiba says quietly, “I think Nino's breaking the law.”
“Are you going to let him?”
“I'm going to protect him.” Aiba laughs again, but this time it isn't as lighthearted. His voice is serious as he continues, “And you're going to help me, Sho-chan.”
“Of course.”
*
“I know her next target.”
“Good,” Ninomiya will say, frowning. “Play along. We don't want to stop the swindling, we want to track down Ariake Shizuna's position in reality.”
“I'm working on it. You'd think it'd be easy to find out a girl's name, but she's got safeguards. High level safeguards.”
“Make sure you log out properly each time you finish investigating.” Ninomiya will look up thoughtfully. “Don't get caught.”
*
Getting started wasn't the hard part. You could buy whatever you wanted if you had enough connections and enough credit. You could get whatever you wanted if you knew enough dirty secrets.
“I remember your little tryst as Akira,” Ninomiya muttered as he passed Yamashita in the hallways.
Yamashita turned. “Ninomiya-kun?”
Ninomiya smirked back. “Shuji and Akira were so special, weren't they?”
Yamashita frowned a little. “What do you want, Ninomiya?”
“Your programming expertise, especially regarding alternate identities.” He smiled innocently. “Otherwise I'd have to go to Shuuji-kun, and who knows what would happen then?”
*
“What game are you playing?” MatsuJun demands as he steps into Nino's personal space. The room is quiet, empty except for them. Sakurai can't access the Network properly, not while he's still working overseas, Aiba's busy, and Ohno... Ohno's fishing on the sea. Alone. Blocking Ninomiya out with an invisible wall.
“Game?”
“You don't trick me,” MatsuJun hisses. “Do you think I wouldn't realize what you're doing? You said this was about getting back at Management. This isn't. This is bigger.”
“This is exactly what I said it would be.” Nino retorts. He leans back. “This is me getting back at Management.”
“Liar,” MatsuJun snarls. “You fucking liar, Nino. Your little Ariake operation has gone on for long enough. You've gotten other people involved. You've gotten Yamashita involved; I heard.”
“Nishikido Ryo is still listening to me.”
“But it's only a matter of time before he doesn't.” MatsuJun leaned forward, close enough that if Nino still imagined things, he could imagine MatsuJun's breath across his face. “Listen to me, Nino. Step back. Stop this little operation before it blows up in your face.”
“I can handle it.”
*
Ninomiya will not handle it.
“Ariake's going nuts.” Nishikido will say, twisting a wire between his hands. “I don't even know why, or how, but this whole situation is going nuts. I need to bring Yamashita in, the rest of NEWS in, I don't know.”
“Keep going on with Ariake's orders,” Ninomiya will mutter.
“You can't keep having me do this, Ninomiya.” Nishikido will scowl at him from where he stands, across from him. “You can't keep waiting for Ariake to mess up. He won't.”
Ninomiya will smile back. “We'll see.” But he'll think: how do I end this before I get caught?
*
“We can't get caught,” Ninomiya explained to Matsumoto. “What we're doing, we're trying to play the system. We are playing the system. And we can't get caught.”
“Do you think we'll get caught?”
“Management is very good.”
“So are you. So am I.” Matsumoto shrugged. “And really, do you think Management is going to notice a bit of petty cash here and there?”
“Who said anything about petty cash?”
Matsumoto snorted. “We're not talking about a full-blown swindling operation here, Ninomiya!”
Ninomiya stared steadily back.
“You are, aren't you.”
“We're working separately,” Ninomiya said blithely, patting Matsumoto on the arm. “You don't need to know what I'm doing.”
*
“Management wants to send somebody to fix a swindling problem in the Network, Sho-chan.”
“Are you going to do it?”
Aiba laughs. “I don't think I can, Sho-chan. Not without making Nino-chan worried.”
“So what are you gong to do?”
Aiba shrugs, even though Sho can't see from where he's still sitting, across an ocean, on a different network. “Build an invisible wall to keep Management out.”
“Nino will get mad at you.”
“Nino is mad to begin with. He's swindling, Sho-chan. I'm supposed to report him.”
“So report him.”
“I can't do that, Sho-chan. It's Nino. It's Nino, Sho-chan.”
“You've gotten extra money in your account, haven't you.”
There's a long pause before Aiba says quietly, “He's looking out for us. I won't let him get caught because he cares.”
*
“Pull back.”
Ninomiya will turn to Matsumoto. “Oh?”
Matsumoto will glance at Nishikido Ryo, sitting with his eyes closed and his body lax with entering the network, and continue, “Yes. You need to end this. You're going to get caught.”
“I'm still in control,” Ninomiya will snap.
“But how long can you keep this going, Ninomiya?” Matsumoto's voice will be angry, upset. He will lean forward, his hands grasping at Ninomiya's wrists. “You can't promise me that Nishikido won't figure out that you're Ariake.”
“I never told you that,” Ninomiya will reply.
“I'm not blind, Ninomiya! I can see what you've been doing, how you've been leading Nishikido on. But you have to stop. Nishikido will ruin things. Nishikido, if you don't stop now, will end all of this.”
“How do you know?”
Matsumoto will sigh. “Because if you don't end it, I will. I know Toda Erika too.”
“Don't do this, Matsumoto.”
“Can't you see?” Matsumoto will laugh bitterly. “It's over. You can't keep doing this. You can't, not with Management really paying attention. Yamashita's watching you now. The world's watching. The safest way to end this is to just stop.”
“And not get caught.”
“I won't let you, Ninomiya.”
Ninomiya will lean up, brushing his lips against Matusmoto's. “I won't get caught.”
*
“Nino-chan,” Leader said quietly. “Are you happy?”
Nino turned, studying Leader as he stood, almost impossibly far away. “I will be.”
“Then be happy, Nino. And tell Jun that he needs to be happy too.”
*
Nino meets Oh-chan at the beach again. The sun's setting, and Oh-chan's by the shore, pants rolled up and the waves licking his toes.
“Are you doing well, Nino-chan?”
Nino steps forward, frowning when his feet hit an invisible wall between them. “Oh-chan, what's this?”
He turns around, his feet planted in the water, and tilts his head thoughtfully at Nino. “Oh, you must have logged in with the wrong credentials.”
“I didn't! Get rid of this wall, Oh-chan. It's not funny.”
“I can't,” he murmurs, watching Ninomiya pound on the wall soundlessly until the server's had enough and starts chiming a warning. Nino slams a fist against the barrier one last time before he steps back. “Nino-chan has to get rid of it himself.”
“Damnit, Oh-chan, what are you playing at?”
“What game is Nino-chan playing?”
*
Ninomiya will end things on his own terms.
Ariake Koichi will disappear, suddenly. When Nishikido Ryo realizes that Ariake Shizuna is actually Toda Erika, it will already be too late, because Toda Erika was merely hired, and the mastermind behind the swindlings will be gone already.
“Can't be helped,” Ninomiya will say, locking the file of the Ariake Swindling Case behind ten layers of passwords.
“Indeed,” Nishikido will reply.
“Good work,” Ninomiya will add. “A pity that you couldn't get to use your secret weapon. What was it again?”
“Togami.” Nishikido will shrug and laugh. “Well, no need for that then. Tricking a swindler would be nearly impossible.”
“I suppose this Ariake's pretty lucky then.” And Ninomiya will smile to himself, a small secret smile.
*
“My name is Ariake Koichi,” Ninomiya said to himself, closing his eyes in thought. “And I'm going to steal money from the Network. I'm going to steal money from Management.”
He opened his eyes, focusing on the single light from a camera in the corner, watching his every move.
“And you won't catch me.”
*
“I've been assigned to the Ariake swindling case, Nino-chan.”
Nino smiles, leaning back in the plush chair of the cafe. “Really, Aibaka? Want to trade? I've already started looking into that.”
“Is that why you were making hayashi rice the other day?” He tilts his head thoughtfully.
Nino blinks, and then smiles. “Yes. Best way to gain information, make delicious hayashi rice.”
“You're silly, Nino-chan.” He laughs.
“Are you going to give me the case?”
He nods, beaming. “Sure! In exchange, you have to learn how to make mapo tofu!”
Nino rolls his eyes, but nods. “Whatever, Aibaka.”
He was quiet for a moment before he said softly, “Reality is so dull compared to the Network, don't you think? We don't have people like this in Reality anymore, everything happens on the Network.”
“Your point being?”
“So, just think about it, Nino-chan.” He looks up. “The person in charge of the Ariake swindlings, the mastermind behind it all. It could be me, and you wouldn't know.”
Nino stared, and then he laughed, throwing his head back. “Good one.”
“Why are you laughing?” He smiles, reaches out, and wraps a hand around Nino's wrist. “Nino-chan, we're not in Reality anymore.
“And you aren't yourself anymore.”
From: virdant
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
Title: Virtual Reality
Pairing/Group: Arashi; mentions of Matsumoto/Ninomiya
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A lot of very deliberate tense changes.
Notes: Dear crystallekil, your wants were so vast and diverse that I was at a loss at how to actually write you all of them. Therefore, I went and looked at what dramas you watched, and built this story around a drama that you said you liked. Or, at least, I attempted to. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to my beta reader for doing this on such short notice.
Summary: AU: “What do you know about the Ariake swindlings?” Ninomiya, faced with an oppressive Management, begins his form of rebellion.
Ninomiya will meet Nishikido in Reality in a few months (before Sakurai is fully integrated into their workings-their new ones, the ones they started when he was gone), look him up and down, and then say, “You’ll do.”
“Do?” Nishikido may echo.
“What do you know about the Ariake swindlings?” Ninomiya will ask briskly, hooking a hand into the crook of Nishikido’s elbow as if they’re the greatest of friends instead of barely acquaintances before leading him into the small dark room that serves as his office. “Quick.”
“Ariake swindlings? What are those?”
Ninomiya will smile to himself, a smug smile. “My work, keeping it from the public. We can’t have people thinking that Maintenance is failing, can we?” His voice will be proud-more proud than Nishikido would think that Ninomiya had a right to be-but there's no harm in taking pride in one's work.
So Nishikido will shake his head, partly confused and partly wary, before Ninomiya will hand him a packet of papers detailing thousands of credits stolen in the Network.
“I hear you’re good at undercover work. In fact, your work is pretty widely acclaimed, at least around Maintenance,” Ninomiya will say thoughtfully, as if Nishikido weren’t so startled.
“Thank you,” Nishikido will murmur, hesitantly.
Ninomiya will grin. “Then you’ll understand,” he’ll say. “There’s been quite a few swindlings going on. We think that the mastermind is Ariake Shizuna, who takes on different identities for each job.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
Ninomiya will only grin wider. “You’re going to be Ariake Taisuke, Shizuna-chan’s precious older brother.”
“Don’t you think that she’ll be suspicious?”
“Oh no, I think it’ll be fine,” Ninomiya will say, waving a hand carelessly in the air, and Nishikido will find that statement to be true when he accesses the Network as Ariake Taisuke for the first time and finds himself with an armful of Ariake Shizuna shouting, “Tai-nii, you’re late!”
*
“What is the Network?” Ninomiya asked languidly. He waved a hand in the air, imitating the lecturers at their podiums, all grand gestures and little else. “Nothing more than a cesspool of corruption that requires a deft hand to control. And that, my dear, is where Network Maintenance comes in.”
“Don’t tell me you believe that drivel,” Matsumoto snorted. He leaned back, watching Ninomiya with a smirk. “You of all people should know that that’s just propaganda that Management puts out.”
Ninomiya grinned from his seat. The two of them sat in across from each other in metal seats with insulated wires wrapped messily around the handles. Aiba hadn’t put away the wires properly after the last time he played hooky at work, and now they trailed and twisted around the hook-up chairs in a tangled mess. “If the rest of the world believe it, what’s stopping us from believing it?”
Matsumoto rolled his eyes. “Other than the fact that we’re the people who go and tell the world that we’re out purifying the Network when all we do is-”
“Shhh.” Ninomiya held a finger to his lips in mockery, his eyes wide and innocent as he leaned forward in the hook-up chair, the very picture of innocence. “Don’t say it.”
Matsumoto grinned. “How much will you pay me to be quiet?”
Ninomiya straightened, folding his hands primly in his lap and clearing his throat with a polite hack, polite offense radiating off of him in waves. “We don’t get paid until next week. Not to mention that Management keeps a firm eye on all our credit transactions. To engage in such actions spell certain disaster for us both.”
Matsumoto snorted. “It never fails me how easily you can switch roles.” He leaned back a little more, studying Ninomiya before flicking his eyes up towards the steady red glow of a camera watching them in a corner.
Ninomiya slouched down in his chair, relaxing into a pose that he used when around the rest of Arashi, his eyes focused on Matsumot's eyes. “Really, Momo-chan?”
Matsumoto narrowed his eyes. “That was a long time ago. And an assignment.”
“Are you sure that was all it was, Domyouji-kun?”
He shook his head. “Those were all in the Network. I'm not any of them.”
Ninomiya grinned, leaning forward with a look that was all him, and not any role. “Really now, my dear, if you can do it in the Network, you can do it in Reality too.”
*
“Oh-chan!” Nino exclaims, flinging his arms around the other man with a wide grin, ignoring the waves crashing against an artificial beach. The server's empty, and there's only the two of them standing near an old rickety boat with a fishing rod lying inside. “What are you doing here?”
Oh-chan shrugs, lifting a tackle box. “Fishing?” he offers. He glances over Nino’s shoulder at the sea.
Nino narrows his eyes. “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”
“This is working,” he assures Nino. “Really.”
“Alright.” He grins, flipping out a deck of cards and shuffling it with a single hand. “I’m going to go swindle some money from poor unsuspecting school girls.”
“Mmkay.”
“Don’t forget to tell Management that our payday is tomorrow.”
Oh-chan smiles slightly. “We got our pay deposited yesterday, Nino-chan.”
“Oh really?” Nino said casually, “I must have not noticed.”
Oh-chan pats Nino on the shoulder. “Nino-chan’s such a good liar, isn’t he,” he comments offhandedly.
“I’m not lying. I’m suspiciously low on credits this month.”
“See? Either way, Nino-chan doesn’t need to worry. Everybody knows that Nino-chan has ways of getting money from people other than Management.”
“You make it sound like I have a part-time job.”
“Oh?” Oh-chan asks, eyes wide and guileless. “What should I call it then?”
Nino shrugs. “Don’t forget that you have a meeting with Management later today.” He pauses for a moment to study the sea. “It’s your duty as Leader.”
“Of course. Nino-chan’s account will be perfectly accumulate, won’t it?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“But Ariake Koichi’s account is growing, isn’t it?”
Nino shrugs easily. “Do you even have to ask?”
*
Nishikido will have problems getting close to Ariake Shizuna; not because she’s pretty-he’s used to swindlers being pretty-but because she will seem completely clueless, and that'll worry him. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, but it will this time; it will be a sharp nagging thought in his mind that keeps him one step away from beautiful, smiling, innocent Ariake Shizuna who tracks down her targets with ruthless accuracy.
That doesn’t mean that Nishikido will believe her clueless act. Nor does it mean that he'll believe she doesn’t know-or at least suspect-who he is and what his purpose is. The Network's full of swindlers wary of Maintenance cracking down on illegal activity. There will be no reason for him to worry about Ariake Shizuna knowing who he is.
But he will stay one step back, taking advantage of the fact that Ninomiya will not press for results. Ninomiya isn’t the type, he'll conclude after a week with nothing from Ninomiya asking for results.
And then he will wonder why.
*
These days, online properly meant you had to be sitting in a hookup chair, with the wires trailing along the floor and then up a leg before settling in an implant. It meant the implant had to be buried deep in the lower back and locked to prevent them from slipping out before log-out procedures were initiated. It meant settling down in a chair and connecting wires to the spine, twisting them around and around until they finally connected and your body slumped in oblivious relaxation.
“Want me to connect your wires for you next time we do this?” Nino asked Jun, syrupy sweet as they sat in a cafe sipping coffee on the Network.
“Don’t be silly,” Jun scoffed. “We aren’t kids playing at a romance.”
“But wouldn’t you like to?” Nino asked. He leaned forward, smiling smugly. “Wouldn’t you like to, with me?”
Jun leaned back, rolling his eyes dramatically-everything online, in this server at least, was dramatic. “Don’t be crass, Nino.”
“I’m being serious.” He settled back, before slurping his hot water-free, of course.
“What are you playing at these days, Nino?”
“Let’s say I’m not playing,” Nino began. “But let's say I want to start. Aiba put this idea into my head, him and his fooling around with different identities when we're supposed to be working. But remember playing Domyouji? Remember how easy it was, to just steal one of those nice fancy watches in the Network and sell it for credit in Reality?”
“Your point?” Jun said, but Nino knew he was remembering the ease of palming the watch, the way nobody watched somebody with the words Maintenance stamped all over their profile.
“Let’s do it.”
“You’ll get caught,” Jun said even though he was already thinking about which server he should hop to after this, which identity to slip into.
“Why would we?” Nino smirked. “We’re Arashi. We control all the information that goes to the general public. We’re the group that investigates the leads and then reports on them, which means that we’d never get caught unless we catch ourselves.”
“NewS does propaganda too.”
“NewS investigates the leads we deem important; and half of them are just mouthpieces for us. They’re not going to investigate us if we don’t tell them to.”
Jun smiled. “You’ve thought this out, haven’t you. Have you talked to Leader yet?”
Nino studied the ceiling. “What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”
“He’s working so hard,” Jun added thoughtfully. He smirked, and Nino grinned back in perfect understanding. “He can’t help it if he falls asleep during work.”
*
Ohno's napping when Ninomiya comes in to work.
Matsumoto looks up from the paper's he's studying. “Ohno's sleeping,” he murmurs, quite redundantly. “And aren't you supposed to be working?”
“That's why I'm here, isn't it?”
“That's not what I meant, and you know it,” Matsumoto murmurs, keeping his voice low. “Last time I checked-”
“I can go do work now.” Ninomiya sits down on one of the hookup chairs, beckoning to Matsumoto with a sly grin. “Want to join me? Jun-kun?”
“Don't be crass,” Matsumoto says, but there's no eye roll this time. “And no. I'm not interested in playing so close to Management. You can do what you want on time controlled by Management, I'll stick to playing this game at home where I'm just a citizen.”
“Suit yourself. I'm off.”
“Have fun.”
*
Nishikido will never actually meet Ariake Koichi. He'll receive a peculiar message in his inbox-in Ariake Taisuke's inbox-asking him to play backup to Ariake Shizuna, so he'll go to the designated area and watch as Shizuna plays the innocent fool.
“She's not innocent,” Nishikido will report. “She asked me to go back her up.”
“Keep investigating,” Ninomiya will reply, rubbing his brow in worry. “We have to find her and stop her before the rest of the world finds out about this travesty and loses all respect for Maintenance.”
But it's not like anybody will have any respect for Maintenance then anyways. If nobody respected them before, nobody respects them now, then nobody will ever respect them. But Nishikido won't say that.
He will value his job too much for that.
*
“Aiba-chan,” Sakurai said wearily as the call connected with a faint beep. “What do you want?”
“Just checking up on you,” Aiba replied, adjusting his porternal-the view flickered on Sakurai’s porternal. “What’s it like to be overseas?”
“I thought you already got all the details out from Ninomiya when he went West.”
“I imagine that they have their own version of Maintenance.”
“Mm.”
“Nino-chan’s doing fine, by the way,” Aiba said carefully. “Ohno’s the same as always too.”
“I didn’t ask,” Sakurai said, closing his eyes. Aiba’s voice came out full and clear as if he were right across from him instead of across the sea, the marvels of modern technology. If only he could access the Network-a full immersion with all his senses stimulated-for himself instead of just for work. Then he could see Aiba, reach out and touch him, feel his breath against his cheek and the knarl of his curls twisting around his fingers.
“We miss you, Sho-chan.”
“I figured,” Sakurai murmured, opening his eyes to the metal pipes criss-crossing his ceiling. “What have you been up to?”
“Studying convicts. And gardening.”
“That’s quite vague.”
“Is it?” Aiba asked thoughtfully. “It’s interesting though. Law and judgment is always interesting, of course, but gardening especially.”
“Why?”
“I mean, gardening is such a Network activity. You don’t see gardens in Reality anymore. It’s...”
“Depressing?” The room could benefit from plants, a burst of green against the matte steel.
“Oh, you can’t say that,” Aiba said cheerfully. “The world’s a better place now than ever before, you should know that, Sakurai. After all, you report the news.”
“Don’t we all? We’re all in charge of propaganda, Aiba-chan.”
“That’s such a harsh word,” Aiba said dreamily. “Propaganda, I mean. Shouldn’t we just say ‘News that’s pleasant to listen to?’”
Sakurai shrugged, watching Aiba’s face flutter with thoughts across the connection. “What’s it been like with me here?”
“The entire nation is fixated on you. Don’t forget to report properly. Matsumoto will send you a list of information you should include in your next broadcast.” Aiba nodded, all work now. “Is Sakurai having fun?”
“Tell Ohno that Sakurai has been working hard and he finds his duty as attractive as ever.”
“But what about Sho-chan?”
Sakurai tilted his head back, staring at the pipes running across his ceiling, all metal and plastic. “I suppose that’ll have to wait until I get online properly.”
*
“Aibaka,” Nino chirps as he slings an arm around the other guy. “What a surprise! I didn't expect you here, especially at this time. I'm learning how to make hayashi rice, did you now?”
“You should learn how to make mapo tofu instead,” he replies, pulling back. “That's not what I came here to tell you, by the way.”
Nino raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Do you know what this server's been reporting?”
“Other than the most amazing hayashi rice ever, no.” Nino narrows his eyes. “Is there something I should know?”
He shrugs at Nino, before grinning wryly at him. “Nothing, really, Nino-chan! What does your hayashi rice taste like?”
Nino tastes it. “Dunno. I think I might have picked up a glitch the other day, my senses aren't registering properly. Want to try, Aibaka?”
He tried it. “I like mapo tofu better.”
“I think it's off,” Nino says, before smirking at him. “I'll have to figure out what this sever has to offer, won't I?”
*
Nishikido will sometimes wonder how Ariake Shizuna-stupid enough to fall for every swindling attempt known to mankind-is the mastermind of the Ariake swindlings.
“I don't understand this,” Nishikido may comment to Ninomiya. “Ariake Shizuna's the stupidest person I know, but all the evidence points to her swindling.”
“Then she's the one in charge,” Ninomiya may reply. “Unless you have evidence that points otherwise.”
Nishikido will think of the message in his inbox-the letter that said nothing but: meet Shii in the video store. “You want me to find out who she is in Reality.”
“Sure,” Ninomiya will say. “Let's go with that.”
*
“I have it all planned out,” Ninomiya said to Matsumoto as they met at work a good two hours before they were supposed to. “We'll have to work separate.”
“You never said that,” Matsumoto hissed. “What are you playing at, Ninomiya?”
Ninomiya leaned back and scowled. “Do you really think Management won't notice two people in the same group frequenting the same server under various aliases? How long do you think that we'd be able to lie to them and say that we aren't doing anything? A week? Two weeks? Eventually they'd catch us, and this will be over.”
“Management wouldn't notice, by your original plan, since we have to find the problems in the servers.”
Ninomiya shook his head. “There are plenty of hackers in the slums who wouldn't hesitate to report us.”
“Hackers hate Maintenance.”
“Exactly.” Ninomiya grinned, and Matsumoto remembered that there had been a time when Ninomiya had been more hacker than maintainer. There had been a time when Ninomiya and Ohno had discussed leaving, hacking into Management and fucking them over and then leaving and returning to the slums where Management wasn't watching their every move. Matsumoto hadn't been included in those discussions, but he knew about them-he was a slum kid at first, before he had been recruited by Maintenance. Out of the five of them, only Sakurai had actually planned on working in Network Maintenance-it was expected that a son from an influential family enter Maintenance, though nobody knew why Sakurai wasn't in Management and ran around playing investigator with the lot of them instead. Aiba had submitted an application but had never dreamed he'd be accepted into the prestigious position of Network Maintenance. “Think like a hacker, Matsumoto-kun-and I know you still have contacts among that community. Wouldn't you love the opportunity to get a Network Maintainer in trouble?”
Matsumoto rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“Subtlety is key here, Matsumoto.” Ninomiya stepped forward, pressing up against Matsumoto. He didn't flinch, and Ninomiya smirked. “Hard for you to understand, I know, but I'm sure the great Matsumoto Jun can manage it.”
“We're not online, Ninomiya. There's no need to act like this.”
Ninomiya stepped back to an appropriate distance, still smirking. He circled around Matsumoto, always staying a good half-meter away, the same distance that hook-up chairs spread around. “Just think about it, Matsumoto. You know I'm right.”
“Yes, I do,” he snapped. “So what's your plan?”
Ninomiya tapped a finger on his lip thoughtfully before he grinned. “Not for you to know.”
*
“Hi, Aiba,” Sho says. The connection is just as patchy as it was a month ago, but he's managed to hack the networks, and he can almost see Aiba in front of him.
“Hi,” Aiba replies. He laughs. “When are you coming back?”
“Maybe in a month.”
“You better hurry. Nino's been weird.” He laughs again. “Who knows what Nino's been up go.”
“What have you been up to, Aiba?” Sho closes his eyes. It's quiet overseas. Ninomiya said that when he went west, the world had been busy, full of noise and excitement, but Sho only can hear the stillness in his ears until he goes onto what this country calls their Network, even more tightly regulated than home.
“Work.” Aiba laughs. “Lots of work, Sho-chan.” There's a long pause, and then Aiba says quietly, “I think Nino's breaking the law.”
“Are you going to let him?”
“I'm going to protect him.” Aiba laughs again, but this time it isn't as lighthearted. His voice is serious as he continues, “And you're going to help me, Sho-chan.”
“Of course.”
*
“I know her next target.”
“Good,” Ninomiya will say, frowning. “Play along. We don't want to stop the swindling, we want to track down Ariake Shizuna's position in reality.”
“I'm working on it. You'd think it'd be easy to find out a girl's name, but she's got safeguards. High level safeguards.”
“Make sure you log out properly each time you finish investigating.” Ninomiya will look up thoughtfully. “Don't get caught.”
*
Getting started wasn't the hard part. You could buy whatever you wanted if you had enough connections and enough credit. You could get whatever you wanted if you knew enough dirty secrets.
“I remember your little tryst as Akira,” Ninomiya muttered as he passed Yamashita in the hallways.
Yamashita turned. “Ninomiya-kun?”
Ninomiya smirked back. “Shuji and Akira were so special, weren't they?”
Yamashita frowned a little. “What do you want, Ninomiya?”
“Your programming expertise, especially regarding alternate identities.” He smiled innocently. “Otherwise I'd have to go to Shuuji-kun, and who knows what would happen then?”
*
“What game are you playing?” MatsuJun demands as he steps into Nino's personal space. The room is quiet, empty except for them. Sakurai can't access the Network properly, not while he's still working overseas, Aiba's busy, and Ohno... Ohno's fishing on the sea. Alone. Blocking Ninomiya out with an invisible wall.
“Game?”
“You don't trick me,” MatsuJun hisses. “Do you think I wouldn't realize what you're doing? You said this was about getting back at Management. This isn't. This is bigger.”
“This is exactly what I said it would be.” Nino retorts. He leans back. “This is me getting back at Management.”
“Liar,” MatsuJun snarls. “You fucking liar, Nino. Your little Ariake operation has gone on for long enough. You've gotten other people involved. You've gotten Yamashita involved; I heard.”
“Nishikido Ryo is still listening to me.”
“But it's only a matter of time before he doesn't.” MatsuJun leaned forward, close enough that if Nino still imagined things, he could imagine MatsuJun's breath across his face. “Listen to me, Nino. Step back. Stop this little operation before it blows up in your face.”
“I can handle it.”
*
Ninomiya will not handle it.
“Ariake's going nuts.” Nishikido will say, twisting a wire between his hands. “I don't even know why, or how, but this whole situation is going nuts. I need to bring Yamashita in, the rest of NEWS in, I don't know.”
“Keep going on with Ariake's orders,” Ninomiya will mutter.
“You can't keep having me do this, Ninomiya.” Nishikido will scowl at him from where he stands, across from him. “You can't keep waiting for Ariake to mess up. He won't.”
Ninomiya will smile back. “We'll see.” But he'll think: how do I end this before I get caught?
*
“We can't get caught,” Ninomiya explained to Matsumoto. “What we're doing, we're trying to play the system. We are playing the system. And we can't get caught.”
“Do you think we'll get caught?”
“Management is very good.”
“So are you. So am I.” Matsumoto shrugged. “And really, do you think Management is going to notice a bit of petty cash here and there?”
“Who said anything about petty cash?”
Matsumoto snorted. “We're not talking about a full-blown swindling operation here, Ninomiya!”
Ninomiya stared steadily back.
“You are, aren't you.”
“We're working separately,” Ninomiya said blithely, patting Matsumoto on the arm. “You don't need to know what I'm doing.”
*
“Management wants to send somebody to fix a swindling problem in the Network, Sho-chan.”
“Are you going to do it?”
Aiba laughs. “I don't think I can, Sho-chan. Not without making Nino-chan worried.”
“So what are you gong to do?”
Aiba shrugs, even though Sho can't see from where he's still sitting, across an ocean, on a different network. “Build an invisible wall to keep Management out.”
“Nino will get mad at you.”
“Nino is mad to begin with. He's swindling, Sho-chan. I'm supposed to report him.”
“So report him.”
“I can't do that, Sho-chan. It's Nino. It's Nino, Sho-chan.”
“You've gotten extra money in your account, haven't you.”
There's a long pause before Aiba says quietly, “He's looking out for us. I won't let him get caught because he cares.”
*
“Pull back.”
Ninomiya will turn to Matsumoto. “Oh?”
Matsumoto will glance at Nishikido Ryo, sitting with his eyes closed and his body lax with entering the network, and continue, “Yes. You need to end this. You're going to get caught.”
“I'm still in control,” Ninomiya will snap.
“But how long can you keep this going, Ninomiya?” Matsumoto's voice will be angry, upset. He will lean forward, his hands grasping at Ninomiya's wrists. “You can't promise me that Nishikido won't figure out that you're Ariake.”
“I never told you that,” Ninomiya will reply.
“I'm not blind, Ninomiya! I can see what you've been doing, how you've been leading Nishikido on. But you have to stop. Nishikido will ruin things. Nishikido, if you don't stop now, will end all of this.”
“How do you know?”
Matsumoto will sigh. “Because if you don't end it, I will. I know Toda Erika too.”
“Don't do this, Matsumoto.”
“Can't you see?” Matsumoto will laugh bitterly. “It's over. You can't keep doing this. You can't, not with Management really paying attention. Yamashita's watching you now. The world's watching. The safest way to end this is to just stop.”
“And not get caught.”
“I won't let you, Ninomiya.”
Ninomiya will lean up, brushing his lips against Matusmoto's. “I won't get caught.”
*
“Nino-chan,” Leader said quietly. “Are you happy?”
Nino turned, studying Leader as he stood, almost impossibly far away. “I will be.”
“Then be happy, Nino. And tell Jun that he needs to be happy too.”
*
Nino meets Oh-chan at the beach again. The sun's setting, and Oh-chan's by the shore, pants rolled up and the waves licking his toes.
“Are you doing well, Nino-chan?”
Nino steps forward, frowning when his feet hit an invisible wall between them. “Oh-chan, what's this?”
He turns around, his feet planted in the water, and tilts his head thoughtfully at Nino. “Oh, you must have logged in with the wrong credentials.”
“I didn't! Get rid of this wall, Oh-chan. It's not funny.”
“I can't,” he murmurs, watching Ninomiya pound on the wall soundlessly until the server's had enough and starts chiming a warning. Nino slams a fist against the barrier one last time before he steps back. “Nino-chan has to get rid of it himself.”
“Damnit, Oh-chan, what are you playing at?”
“What game is Nino-chan playing?”
*
Ninomiya will end things on his own terms.
Ariake Koichi will disappear, suddenly. When Nishikido Ryo realizes that Ariake Shizuna is actually Toda Erika, it will already be too late, because Toda Erika was merely hired, and the mastermind behind the swindlings will be gone already.
“Can't be helped,” Ninomiya will say, locking the file of the Ariake Swindling Case behind ten layers of passwords.
“Indeed,” Nishikido will reply.
“Good work,” Ninomiya will add. “A pity that you couldn't get to use your secret weapon. What was it again?”
“Togami.” Nishikido will shrug and laugh. “Well, no need for that then. Tricking a swindler would be nearly impossible.”
“I suppose this Ariake's pretty lucky then.” And Ninomiya will smile to himself, a small secret smile.
*
“My name is Ariake Koichi,” Ninomiya said to himself, closing his eyes in thought. “And I'm going to steal money from the Network. I'm going to steal money from Management.”
He opened his eyes, focusing on the single light from a camera in the corner, watching his every move.
“And you won't catch me.”
*
“I've been assigned to the Ariake swindling case, Nino-chan.”
Nino smiles, leaning back in the plush chair of the cafe. “Really, Aibaka? Want to trade? I've already started looking into that.”
“Is that why you were making hayashi rice the other day?” He tilts his head thoughtfully.
Nino blinks, and then smiles. “Yes. Best way to gain information, make delicious hayashi rice.”
“You're silly, Nino-chan.” He laughs.
“Are you going to give me the case?”
He nods, beaming. “Sure! In exchange, you have to learn how to make mapo tofu!”
Nino rolls his eyes, but nods. “Whatever, Aibaka.”
He was quiet for a moment before he said softly, “Reality is so dull compared to the Network, don't you think? We don't have people like this in Reality anymore, everything happens on the Network.”
“Your point being?”
“So, just think about it, Nino-chan.” He looks up. “The person in charge of the Ariake swindlings, the mastermind behind it all. It could be me, and you wouldn't know.”
Nino stared, and then he laughed, throwing his head back. “Good one.”
“Why are you laughing?” He smiles, reaches out, and wraps a hand around Nino's wrist. “Nino-chan, we're not in Reality anymore.
“And you aren't yourself anymore.”