Lavo Standard (17) (9-29-09)

Having left the Ryogoku station, both Ric and Libro were flying high in the sky. Although along with the lion and the red slime the hawk was only a constituent piece of the human version of Ric, the hawk re-introduced himself with his name as Ric to Libro. Now, every time Libro looked down, the lights of buildings appeared to be tiny spangles and made him realize the altitude, scared and trembling, a fear which was mixed with anger and sadness about Jade. At the same time, suspicions about Ric remained which urged Libro to brave himself against peer pressure from Ric: Libro was doing his best in trying to disguise his cowardly mannerisms. If there haven’t been Jade’s tragedy and Ric’s meaning, how much Libro loathes heights must be more precisely translated into expression.

Although Libro actually was yet understanding that killing him and/or Jade was not an intention of Ric after seeing him insist that the red slime was the ruler of the human version of Ric, scars in Libro’s sentiment could not immediately heal.

“(Are you optimistic I’ll believe in you and cooperate with you?)”

“I think so, David, while I’m wanting you to read my sadness after leaving the lion, Michael, my friend under a blitz of gunshot there.”

“But I only wish you would help me free Daryl, in the hope of making up for all the misdeeds. I’m not meaning I would repay all of them even if our plot worked successfully. But it sounds much better to help Juno and her family get back onto their original track.”

“(For Juno and her family?)” Libro stared at Ric from under him, as winds at the high altitude were constantly cold.

“Freeing Daryl is still possible, but you may better understand the chance is fading steadily. We should take action ASAP, as the scenes with me in a human state at the Ryogoku station will be telecast soon,” Ric said, pausing briefly to inhale in the middle of the remark.

“And...,”

“...if I’m really wanting to kill you, I can most easily do so by letting you go here right now. Do you understand what I mean?”

Still reasoned halfway, Libro again looked down and found that he and Ric were flying almost in parallel with the rail tracks of the Yamanote Line, to lead them roughly southwestward from the Akihabara station, the second stop to the west from the Ryogoku station on the Sobu Line. Looking ahead, Libro could see a high-rise becoming larger and larger in step with the approach. The pair was heading for a district of Roppongi.

Roppongi Hills was a mega compound which served multiple purposes: Those architectural works were Roppongi Hills North Tower, Hollywood Beauty Plaza, Metro Hat, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo City View (an observation deck), TV Asahi, Roppongi Hills Arena, Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills, Keyakizaka Complex, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Roppongi Hills Gate Tower, Keyakizaka Terrace, Residence A-D (residential buildings) and Roppongi Hills Mori Tower; and those gardens were Mori Garden and Sakurazaka Garden.

Today, although Roppongi Hills was also a popular place even just for a walk, in business terms it was more successful after its debut in 2003.

Some 26 million people visited Roppongi Hills during the first half of the year. And many who worked at IT companies resided in Roppongi Hills, earning a nickname, Hills-zoku (or Hills families).

However, Roppongi Hills would lower its name value through corruption cases about Murakami Fund in 2006, Goodwill in 2008, Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the arrest of Manabu Oshio (actor-cum-singer) after he possessed MDMA and handing a portion of it to a hostess led to her death in 2009.

Due to a reduced reputation, high rents and inevitable fading of the initial impact after the inauguration in 2003, the occupancy rate dropped while some of which was converted into that of Tokyo Midtown, another commercial compound built in a mere about ten minutes walk from Roppongi Hills in 2007.

Yet Roppongi Hills with its surrounding commercial areas--housing bars and restaurants--enjoyed merits well enough to cover all shortfalls and was still active as one of the most popular entertainment spots in Tokyo, bringing in great numbers of visitors.

On the shoulders of that pedigree, the high-rise, Mori Tower, with more than 50 stories was the landmark that helped keep Roppongi Hills competitive against Tokyo Midtown. At night, the lights of Mori Tower made it conspicuous enough to tell people, a long distance away, where Roppongi was. Libro didn’t know that the structure he was looking at was this tower, but he was enthralled by the appearance of it.

The English school company, NORA, was headquartered in Mori Tower. Apart from the business therein, inside a living-cum-dining room of Residence C, located a short walk south from Mori Tower, NORA’s president was relaxing, reading a book at leisure.

Almost all walls of the room that appeared to span around sixteen square meters were colored white. At some comfortable distance from a gray sofa which was placed very close to a wall and upon which the president was resting, there was a wide flat TV being off; And there was a white round table with a tall thin stand at the center of the room. To the opposite side of the sofa, a state-of-the-art kitchen had two swivel chairs before a counter.

The president preferred this condominium and apartment because it possessed remarkable amenities of itself, one set high-end condominiums should have, and Roppongi Hills. Plus, an international pre-kindergarten at the heart of Roppongi Hills let the president have a look at what children were engaging in even while going through her tight working schedules.

At once, someone knocked on the door, opened it and entered the living room.

“Crystal?” said a tall and bald white man who looked aged around 30 in a dark vest and dark trousers.

“Those cats are starving, it’s about time you fed them.”

Then, Crystal, the president, replaced a cup of coffee on a saucer on the round table, shut the paperback and stood up.

Although she, in a dark dress, looked in her early 40s, her elegance was something which made none of other women around the same age competitive to her.

“I will go,” Crystal said, took a pack of food for cats from a cupboard in the kitchen and went out of the room into the corridor.

As Crystal and Tim proceeded into the dim room which seemed as large as 50 square meters in area, there was another door about an innermost corner to the left. As the door was opened, the floor of the small room expanded to be over six square meters. Inside the room, there were four cats. At first, these cats were only lying on the floor as though dead. But as soon as Crystal turned up, all of them but one got resuscitated and sprang to Crystal.

“Be glad, your mom’s here,” standing by Crystal, Tim said.

“Eat up, kids!” Crystal said, upon opening the food pack and pouring its content into a dish placed on the floor. In no time, three cats out of the four began pigging on the portion. While they seemed to be made mindless by the food, Crystal kept stroking them.

“I really love you all, Choe, Norimitu, and Thom..., but Daryl!” Crystal shouted, pointing a finger at the cat which was having a chastening stare at her.

“You are contumacious for this time again! It’s already been more than a week since you came here! When will you show any sign of loyalty to me!?”

“It’s weird,” whispered Tim, looking at the cat highlighted. The phrase seemed to partake of a respect for Daryl’s loyalty to his family.

“But...,” Crystal seemed to regain her composure.

“...such your strong will captures my heart and fuels my desire to see you behaving as my son. I’m sure you’ll grow up as my best kid.”