139: Chronic

At any rate, that would be why there’s nothing to worry about in regards to Kazehaya-kun. With the exception of when he was playing revolutionary—

Even though I spent a considerable amount of money to look into it, I couldn’t find anything on him.

Kazehaya-kun, your home seems like quite the tough nut to crack. There’s really no worth in picking a fight with you…

And Crazy:B aren’t so half-witted as to try and sting you.

Depending on the situation, they would only be spelling out their own destruction.

My, how embarrassing.

? When you say Tatsumi-senpai’s house, was that not a church of some kind?

Well, it’s more or less registered as a shrine, actually. But it’s a bit difficult to explain, and I always have a hard time talking about it.

Yes, it’s incredibly complex. It’s something that would be difficult to understand for someone not already in the know…

Making a move like that is too high a risk, and I doubt that Crazy:B will gamble with their reputation on the line.

So you’re saying that they will only harm themselves by bringing it up. I understand now.

Umm. I’m kinda more interested in like… Are you saying Kohakucchi has some kinda dark side to him?

I’ve only gotten to talk to him a little bit, but I thought he was really nice—

No, that child is steeped in darkness.

S–steeped?

To an extent, his weak point will be the easiest to strike. He’s someone who, if you strike him only to knock some dust loose, you’ll have large clumps of dirt falling out.

He himself might be a good, kind child, but that’s not the case for his family.

At the Summit, even the Suou family’s Tsukasa-kun gave his consent that in the worst case scenario, we may expose this.

Suou… Do you mean the one from Knights?

Oh, are you already acquainted with each other? Tsukasa-kun seems to be quite the straight-laced person, but he’s unexpectedly light on his feet.

The Oukawas are a branch off of the Suou family; they still have close ties with each other.

That’s why, should we expose the darkness residing within the Oukawa family, the Suous too will suffer a heavy loss.

But Suou-kun is overflowing with a sense of chivalry. He appears to have taken great offense to the events of Idol Royale the other day.

He flew into a rampage, saying he didn’t care what happened to himself or the Suou family—He just wanted them to take responsibility for their actions. Ahh, it’s nice to see such foolhardiness in children.

Take responsibility… Nngh, doesn’t it sound like it’s getting more and more like some kinda gang war?

I think you’re reaching the correct conclusion. We’re fighting an unlawful war—not between nations, but among smaller factions.

The tragedy which humanity has repeated countless times over, never tiring of it—We’ve been cast in such a play once again.

At any rate—Oh, I’m not sure just how many times I’ve repeated that to get us back on track. But the other one, Shiina Niki-kun… He’s somewhat of a difficult case.

Compared to Oukawa-kun or HiMERU-kun, there’s nothing particularly dark about him.

Well I guess… He really just seems like some flashy guy.

He does, yes. But then there’s the matter of his father, a chef and his teacher—someone he loved and respected very much.

His father was once an extremely handsome chef who was all the rage on TV…

Perhaps even you all know his name.

Ummm? Was he an idol or something?

No, he wasn’t. He was exceptionally charismatic on his cooking show and the like, but he was a chef through and through.

He may have been an entertainer, but he was no idol.

Right, then I doubt I know him… Especially if he’s some boomer who isn’t active anymore.

Fufu. For the rest of your family, it’s likely not such a bygone tale. You see, Shiina-kun’s father was…

Well, he was banned from TV due to a certain incident he incited.

It seems he was made to swear never to appear on TV again, and he returned to work as a mere chef.

A–an incident…? What kind of incident?

Oh, the meat was… Actually, no. This isn’t something children should hear.

…? …?

And besides, it’s possible that “incident” was nothing more than baseless rumors with no basis in fact. Back in those days, TV stations were attempting to revive the idol industry.

They considered it an eyesore that a chef had gained more popularity than any idol—and maybe, just maybe, they hatched a scheme to get rid of him.

C–could they really do something like… that?

Yes, it’s quite common in the entertainment industry.

Well, perhaps not common, but certainly not rare.

It seems that Shiina Niki-kun grew up in that environment, with his father having lost such a political battle.

With that fact alone, it would be easy to catch him in a vise. It’s a matter of spinning a simple tale—

Shiina-kun harbors resentment toward the idol industry because of the immolation faced by his father.

And that’s why Crazy:B criticizes idols and the industry so harshly.

We can just insist that Shiina-kun is on a mission to avenge his father by destroying the idol industry, all because of a petty grudge.