dele

Wait!

Wait!

Stop!

Stay still!

Target secure!

Save me...

Going with strangers is dangerous!

Let's go back to my place.

- Please save me! - Huh?

Please save me!

Alright, then why did you run away?

I just couldn't help it, I guess.

Like a cat, you know?

We have a cat called Tamasaburo and he's the same.

He's a good cat, but as soon as I approach him,

he freaks out and hisses at me. I'm like, "Why are you hissing at me!?"

Please only answer the question at hand.

Right, my bad.

Moving along, your occupation

is providing a service to carry out miscellaneous tasks?

Nah, it's nothing that complicated. I'm just an errand boy.

Various people ask me to do various things

and I get to make a bit of money.

An errand boy, huh... Well, whatever.

The victim, a six year-old child

was kidnapped from his father's side...

That was a request from his mother.

I ask the accused not to interrupt the prosecutor.

In order to put up with her husband's violence, the mother became an alcoholic

and had to get institutionalized.

Now it's the child who gets abused by his father.

- And that's why you came to save him? - Exactly!

I was about to deliver him to the police,

but his mother didn't want me to.

They're not going to believe me, she said.

And the child would be too scared to indict his own father.

If I kidnap the child, the father will want to save him and I get the police involved.

I could make the kid understand by telling him, "Everyone's going to want to save you."

A great idea, right?

Did you know that his father has the parental authority?

I did not,

but when his mother came to me,

she told me to save her child and her husband.

I figured this family might not be a lost case yet.

How's the child doing now?

No more questions.

Just in case...

The child is at a child consultation center.

As for the father, I heard he's being thoroughly questioned by the police.

Thank you very much.

The criminal case? You mean Mashiba Yutaro?

He's an intriguing kid. Such a curious incident.

You want to be his lawyer now?

Taking the case from the court-appointed lawyer.

Director: Lawyer Sakagami Mai

Mashiba Yutaro

You know him from somewhere?

No, just a simple case of love at first sight.

Please get his bail dealt with asap.

Thank you! I didn't expect you to actually pay my bail.

I don't even have money to pay a lawyer...

As we discussed, you'll pay me back in labor, right?

Fine by me, but I don't have any skills.

You're 25 now, right?

You can't keep on being an errand boy forever, can you?

- You better find a place where you belong. - Where I belong...

That's for people who want to be needed by other people.

In your case,

I have a feeling you're simply trying to avoid being needed.

Why not give it a try? It might be surprisingly comfortable.

Here?

The place I want you to work at is...

Sakagami Keiji, my younger brother.

What?

It's inconvenient being alone, isn't it?

Here, Mashiba Yutaro. Why not employ him?

I'm busy. Another time.

Especially since you're so busy.

Alright.

Accompany that woman out of here. You're free to go home after that.

How many people is that now?

None of them were useful. What makes him different?

He can invoke a bit of kindness in other people.

He's the last one, so give it a try.

If you refuse, as the owner of this building,

I'll have no choice but to insist about last month's rent.

- The last one, you said? - Yes, he's the last one.

Understood.

Good.

Alright, you're going to work here from now on.

A desk... won't be necessary.

That sofa, it's mine, but you can use it.

By working here... What is this company exactly?

Deleting inconvenient data from digital devices upon a person's death.

That's my job.

Digital devices?

Mainly computers, smart phones and tablets.

Inconvient data?

Ah, lewd stuff?

First our client installs the app I created.

Once installed, it's in constant contact with our servers.

If the device doesn't get used in a specified time,

the server reacts and sends a signal to the mole.

The mole?

So, if a smart phone or a computer doesn't get used in a long time,

this fellow here will make a sound in their stead?

After I get the signal, I confirm whether the client is dead or not.

Once I confirmed the death, I delete the designated data.

But the client's already dead, right?

You won't be able to confirm if it's actually him who wants to get it erased.

This company is linked up with our office.

That gives this company a certain credibility.

That said, who is the client this time?

Mikami Manabu, 62.

His notebooks hasn't been used in the past 48 hours,

so I'm preparing to delete the designated folder from his computer.

- A big-shot right out of the gate. - A big-shot?

The person who appears to have died is the movie director Mikami Manabu.

He won the big prize in France three years ago.

- You don't know him? - I don't.

At the time of the contract, we only ask the client for their name,

date of birth, address and their mobile phone number in case of an emergency.

Some people also write their place of employment, but he did not.

It's hard to tell whether it's the movie director or a different person with the same name.

Let's confirm that he's actually dead.

- However, his deletion request must not be revealed. - Okay.

I called the client's mobile phone.

Is this Mikami-san's phone?

The thing is, I lent him some money.

I guess it's time for repayment?

Huh? His lawyer?

"Coming for his money as soon as he's dead!?" I got yelled at.

Come to the office and talk to our lawyer, she said.

Too bad, he already got a lawyer.

Why a moneylender?

It's the last person you want to have a conversation with.

You wouldn't hesitate to tell that person that he's dead.

This folder, huh?

You deleted it just now?

What if it contained material related to his current movie project?

We confirmed his death, so I deleted his data as requested.

- The content doesn't matter. - It wouldn't hurt to check.

Well then, do your best. Your trial isn't over yet

and I'm no cheap lawyer.

Right...

Be quiet!

Sorry...

Another dead person? They come like this?

No, two cases in one day is rare.

Who died this time?

Yasuoka Haruo, 44.

He set up for a folder on his computer to be erased if neither

his smart phone nor his computer get used for 36 hours.

- Confirm his death. - Right...

No luck, it's his voice mail.

Hakugei Shuppan

He works for a publishing company, huh?

"Shukan Shinsou" I guess he was a reporter for a tabloid.

A gossip writer, huh?

- Confirm his death. - ...right.

Excuse me, but I'd like to talk to Shukan Shinsou's Yasuoka-san...

I have, you know...

He said he was going to buy a story... Yes.

Through the home page...

Okay. Ah, wait a sec--!

He hasn't shown up for two days and they don't know when he will.

Not the first time from the sound of it.

Since we got the signal, something must be different this time.

His address.

Huh? You're telling me to go?

Translation: HPriest @ d-addicts Twitter: @hpriestsubs

Ouch! What?

Shun! What are you doing!?

- I'm sorry. - It's nothing...

- Why? - He's suspicious.

He's calling our apartment.

- Suspicious? - You have business with us?

Are you Yasuoka-san's wife?

I'm Mashiba Yutaro. We work at the same company.

Has he never told you about me?

Dunno, can't remember.

His birthday is on February 15th, right?

My birthday is in February, too.

We always make sure to celebrate together in February.

- At a pub near work. - That so?

Yes!

Yasuoka-san is amazing. I look up to him as a colleague.

I want to write as many stories as him

and become an amazing report like him...

So what's your business here?

Well, I haven't been able to contact him for a while now.

Do you happen to know where he is?

How would I know if not even you guys know?

Exuse me.

Let's go.

Say...

Dad's an amazing reporter?

Yes! He sure is!

He's writing a lot of stories.

I want to become just like him.