I'm one of the candidates you're supposed to scout, right?
Can't it be me?
Huh?
Are you able to take the weekends off, Miss Rei?
Yes, usually.
Um, if you'd like a better explanation of STAND,
I can just go along with your schedule.
I can always make time.
There's no point if you're not off, too.
I'm asking you out on a date.
Oh, it's just a date...
What?!
Go out on a date with me, Miss Rei.
"Stand My Heroes"
Come on in!
Thanks for waiting.
All right, the beers are here.
And some shochu for Rei.
Thanks!
Really? You're starting off with shochu?
Uh... Why not?
Why are you still holding that, Mr. Aoyama?
I wanted to get some ideas on presentation... Er, never mind.
Does everyone have their drinks?
Good work, everyone.
Cheers!
How's Mr. Tsuzuki doing?
I heard he's doing fine now. Apparently it was overwork.
You take care of people, and you're getting the hang of being a scout.
That's my Izumi.
Yui, stop playing with the drinks.
I'll have you know that this is an experiment.
Okay and done.
Wait, me?
STAND already acquired Section 1, right?
Mr. Watabe, Mr. Asagiri, Mr. Arakida, and Sugano, was it?
You've also made contact with all 4 members of Revel and the Tsuzuki brothers.
And you've gained the trust of a handful of them.
That's a decent pace.
Thank you...?
You're holding off on scouting Makoto Tsuzuki for now, right?
I guess we can try other candidates for now.
What about his younger brother?
This is his little brother, right?
The super popular young actor Kyosuke Tsuzuki. His nickname is Kyon-kun.
Ah, isn't he also known as the Ratings Prince?
You've already made contact with him, right?
Izumi?
Do celebrities usually contact you throughout the day
and invite you to go out to eat?
What?
Wait... Is he hitting on you?!
No, I think he's just teasing me.
Don't be fooled! He's after that body of yours!
Wouldn't that be you, Kotaro?
Who would actually try to put their hands on Rei?
No, this actually worries me.
Rei is a lovely young lady.
He's a celebrity that definitely knows what he's doing.
Even if Rei has no intention of it being so, before you know it...
Izumi.
My buddy from the Community Safety Division has a good self-defense spray.
I'll get one from him right away, so make sure you're never alone with him.
Okay, Dad.
Don't. That actually gets to Mr. Seki.
If he's coming at you that hard, does that mean he's agreed to join STAND?
Well...
He wouldn't agree to join because he thought I'd refuse to go
on any more dates with him if he did.
So why not just date the guy already?
You can't be serious!
Don't let that actually get to you.
How many men do you plan on dating while being a scout?
Now, now.
Don't worry.
If anything actually happens, we'll save you.
At least Itsuki or Shun will.
Responsibility diverted.
Well, don't.
"Scoop! Confessions from the Popular Author!!" "Makoto Tsuzuki Denies Retirement"
Oh, an article on Makoto.
What's your problem? Don't just come in without saying anything!
I said I was coming in.
I'm glad he actually announced it.
Like it matters to me.
Oh, come on.
You've been grinning at that article since yesterday.
Shut up. Don't make me throw you.
Mr. Asagiri.
I was asked to deliver this.
Running errands in between your scouting duties?
Everyone's pretty busy because of that drug.
Must be rough.
Oh, if you haven't eaten yet, wanna get some lunch?
I was just about to take a break anyway.
Natsuki, you still owe me a report.
Uh oh.
If you're hungry, I'll give you one of my beloved instant noodles.
"Instant Yakisoba" "Melon Soda Flavor" If you're hungry, I'll give you one of my beloved instant noodles.
Now, have a seat.
Thanks...
I'll be going now.
Thanks.
Izumi.
Maki! It's rare for you to show up here.
I'm covering for Hatori.
Are you heading home?
Yup.
Perfect timing then.
Miss Rei.
Kyosuke?
Did I surprise you? My brother's not Revel's only client, you know?
Just kidding.
I just asked Kei about you.
Oh, that's what he meant by perfect timing...
You keep declining through our messages, so I came to ask you out in person.
You're off tomorrow, right?
Got any plans yet?
I, uh...
Sara's birthday is coming up.
I wanted you to help me pick out a gift.
No?
If that's the case...
There're a lot of people here. Are you going to be okay?
Don't worry. People rarely see through my disguise.
Let's go!
I was able to pick out a perfect present thanks to you.
I'm glad I could help.
Look over there, Miss Rei.
Those look great!
Let's have one together.
What?
You just look like you're having so much fun.
I am. We're on a date, after all.
I was hoping you'd step a little out of work mode...
I think I did.
I haven't had this much fun in a while.
Really? Yes!
Hey, doesn't that look like him?
Is that actually Kyon-kun?!
Crap... Let's bail!
Man, that made me panic.
Sorry to make you run like that.
It's okay. That was a close one.
Yeah.
I could almost see the "Steamy Love Affair!" headline.
Though I wouldn't mind if the headline involved you, Miss Rei.
There you go teasing me again.
You're a tough one, Miss Rei. I'm being pretty serious here.
Seriously, if you don't stop...
Would you prefer my brother?
Y-Your brother is a STAND candidate...
But so are you, Kyosuke.
Right.
But as soon as my brother joins STAND, even you'll forget all about me.
But I might just join immediately if you say, "I like you, Kyosuke."
I won't say that!
Aw...
Hey, hey.
Your favorite Mr. Watabe's brought you some tasty treats again!
Uh... what?
So you're all busy trying to get more information on this mystery drug.
We still don't know what it is or where it's coming from.
Kotaro's still running a component analysis,
and Natsume's looking into "Plus" since it was so similar.
Come to think of it, where is he?
Maybe he went to wash his face.
By the looks of it, he stayed overnight.
Looks like you've got your hands full.
I haven't been able to help at all...
You've been busy with your own work, Izumi.
He keeps messing with you because you're too nice.
Wait, what's this about?
Apparently Kyosuke Tsuzuki keeps asking her out on dates.
Oh, but they're not really dates...
Oh? First some socialites and now an actor...
Pretty smooth, Rei.
Seriously--
We figured it out.
I've got the component analysis for the drugs that were brought in.
Not only is it similar to Plus that circulated 15 years ago...
...it is Plus.
I thought the component analysis data on Plus was incomplete.
Natsume can explain that.
I did some digging but came up empty, so I got some documents from the MPD.
I'll need those docs back, since I'm going to be setting them on fire later.
Does that mean...
Not bad, Natsume.
Honestly...
You can scold me later.
The problem was the state of the component analysis results.
Can you imagine?
Hidden deep within top secret files.
It was being kept as data that only a select few from
a certain agency even had access to.
It was STAND.
Huh?
STAND?
The security was pretty tight,
so I just barely managed to get the component analysis out.
I'm pretty sure that this means that Plus is
involved in some cases that STAND will be dealing with.
Did you know about this, Mr. Seki?
No...
It's strange that anyone would have any drug-related data other than the DCD.
Not to mention it was top secret. Something's fishy.
I'm just speculating here,
but STAND may have ulterior motives that we're not aware of.
For now, Aoyama and I will deal with this.
We managed to make some progress in finding out about this drug.
Aoyama and Imaoji, hurry up and find out where they're coming from.
Yes, sir.
Yui and Natsume, find out all the information you can on this drug as well as Plus.
Roger.
Please excuse me a moment.
Hello, Kyosuke?
Miss Rei! My brother...
He was taken by the police!
What?
He went with them voluntarily to be questioned?
Thank goodness.
I thought he might've been arrested.
Sorry... I panicked.
It's all right. I don't blame you.
Have you seen Makoto since?
The police had sent him summons to go to the station,
but apparently he'd been ignoring them.
If he had declined again,
they were going to issue a warrant on suspicion of concealing or destroying evidence.
Meaning he might've been hiding evidence? For what?
They wouldn't tell me,
but judging by the conversation the detectives were having,
they mentioned an Anonymous something or other...
Anonymous?
Could it be the "Anonymous Case"? Is Makoto involved in that?
I have no idea. I've never heard of a case like that.
But...
There's no way my brother did anything bad.
He's always done what's right.
I'm proud to have him as a brother.
I never stood a chance against him.
He was the son my parents were proud of.
Everyone I've ever liked always ended up liking my brother in the end.
Kyosuke...
What am I even talking about?
Sorry to bring that up at a time like this.
I like you, Kyosuke.
You're very charming.
Charming? Me?
Yeah.
I see.
I don't know everything that's going on,
but I'll look into this, too.
Thanks, Miss Rei.
Yes, I'm heading back now. Thanks.
Hello, this is Izumi.
I heard Tsuzuki was taken by the police.
So you already heard.
I heard they were questioning him about the Anonymous Case.
Um...
Don't worry about me.
We're looking into this matter, too,
though we won't be asking the police about it directly.
Makoto will be out soon, right?
If it's just a standard questioning, they shouldn't hold him for days, but...
Those brothers are headed for some serious trouble.
What's wrong?
"Popular Novelist Makoto Tsuzuki Arrested"
What is this?
"Popular Novelist Arrested"
"Tied to a Heinous Crime"
"Breaking News: What Do the People Think About a Popular Novelist's Sudden Arrest!?"
Kyon-kun's big brother?
"Breaking News: What Do the People Think About a Popular Novelist's Sudden Arrest!?" That's so shocking!
There has been no formal word from the police,
"Will his brother's drama be okay?" "What if more stuff comes to light?" There has been no formal word from the police,
"I'm sure it'll still air if his brother is cleared. But it'll definitely be affected. The ratings might actually go up." causing various speculations to circulate.
"Breaking News: What Do the People Think About a Popular Novelist's Sudden Arrest!?"
Speaking of Mr. Tsuzuki,
"Breaking News: What Do the People Think About a Popular Novelist's Sudden Arrest!?" isn't his younger brother currently working as an actor?
"Breaking News: What Do the People Think About a Popular Novelist's Sudden Arrest!?" This will probably affect his brother's work.
Who knows how this will affect the ratings of his current TV drama?
"The Truth Behind Makoto Tsuzuki's Arrest"
My, my. Listen to that sigh.
They sure aren't holding back on Mr. Tsuzuki.
Nothing really big is going on otherwise, either.
Are you worried?
Of course not.
Huh... So I guess the one you are worried about is Little Miss Narc.
She might be rather depressed right now since she's so nice.
I guess you're on her side now, too, Sosei.
How surprising.
It's not like I've actually acknowledged her.
Welcome back. How did it go?
I looked into a few leads but didn't find out any more details.
I couldn't find out why he was looking into the Anonymous Case
or how else he's involved.
I see.
It's rather strange that there haven't been any other details.
So either Section 1 has a gag order on them...
Or only a select few from Section 1 know about it.
That's what Revel thought, too.
I asked them if there's anything we could do about all the negative comments...
But for now, they said they'd just have to deal with it.
You should probably get some rest, Rei.
You look a bit pale.
I'm fine. You're returning that to the library, right?
I'll take them for you.
Calm down.
No good will come out of you panicking.
Rei, there's about to be a press conference
with Kyosuke Tsuzuki.
I'm very sorry for all of the trouble this has caused.
As my agency has already announced,
the reports of my brother, Makoto Tsuzuki, being arrested are a mistake.
My brother is fully cooperating with the police and their questioning.
I can't talk about why he's being
questioned because it'll affect their investigation...
Is he really just being questioned?
Isn't it possible that he became interested in committing a crime himself
after writing all of those crime fiction novels?
Isn't it possible that your brother
was involved in a crime, and you just had no idea?
No.
I believe in my brother.
He's a bit awkward, but he loves his family,
and I'm proud to call him my brother.
Rei?
I'm sorry. I need to go.
What brings you here?
I came here regarding Makoto Tsuzuki.
The media is reporting that Makoto was arrested.
The press is being rather ruthless with both Makoto and Kyosuke.
There's so much speculation going around that it's getting out of control.
Is there any way you could at least announce that he wasn't arrested?
I know that I may be out of line, but those two are suffering right now
from the awful treatment they're getting.
--So please-- --Ms. Izumi.
Please!
There's nothing more to talk about.
You don't get a say in this, Little Miss Narc.
This is our job.
Your job?
Right, as in...
This is STAND's job.
Though it's publicly known as Section 1's investigation.
It's actually STAND that's holding him right now.
But why...
Why didn't I tell you?
Isn't it obvious?
You're nothing more than a scout.
You're an outsider.
The sound of the cold rain fills my ears.
The path that I progressed upon slowly was shattered with a single word.
If the guidepost I had seen off in the distance
and the light within my heart were mere illusions...
Hey.
Where am I supposed to go?
"Amusement Park in the Forest"