The President of the Daily Days

Much of the identity of the unnamed president of the Daily Days' is a mystery. He is usually hidden behind a large pile of papers on his desk.

Personality
The President is an extremely cordial person, and perhaps a tad eccentric, judging from his office suite. He cares about his employees' well-being and health and treats them with respect.

The President appears to relish situations, taking keen interest in the local goings on and shifting alliances and events.

He has stated that he believes "it's a wonderful thing to trust one's own feelings," and "to do something without having a specific reason is something quite important."

Pre-1931
At some point in 1928, The President was in the know about the clash between the Martillo Family and the Gandor Family, and spoke with Keith either in person or over the phone.

1932: Drugs and the Dominos
In late December, 1931 Keith Gandor visits The President's office late at night. The President apologizes for the mess (speaking over the incessant ringing of telephones), noting that there isn't even room for a chair for Keith to sit in. The President asks Keith what information he is in need of, observing that Keith likely already knows the identities and the goals of the men who invaded his territory. He proceeds to summarize the information he's aware of concerning Gustavo Bagetta and Bartolo Runorata, admitting that he doesn't have any reliable information on the Runorata Family's true motives, though he spends the next few minutes posting possibilities as to what Bartolo's motives are and how he thinks.

The President then temporarily cuts the phone lines, in anticipation for whatever Keith plans to say, making it clear that anything Keith says will be previous information (though his prices will vary depending on the information, it is clear he respects Keith's silence and knows whatever Keith deems important enough to say out loud will be important) and that he'll be happy having useful information. He proceeds to hear Keith out.

On December 29, 1931 a few of the Daily Days employees, including Nicholas Wayne, Henry, and Elean Duga report to the President in person. The President reviews the developing situation and asks Henry what happened with his meeting with Roy Maddock. Henry claims that they could not settle on a price, and Roy left without buying any information. The President acknowledges him and tells Nicholas to send someone over to check on Lia Lin-Shan, who currently posses the all-important black case that the President refers to as 'the trump card that determines victory.'

At some point after The Flying Pussyfoot's arrival, Rachel delivers her account of the train to the President in person. He offers her information free of charge as to Turner's fate, and asks her if she feels a little better, admitting that he'd sold information about Mr. Turner's past to the executive who'd called him.

On New Year's Eve, the Daily Days executives hold a conference in the President's suite. The President discusses Rachel's report on The Flying Pussyfoot and the clandestine nature of Senator Manfred Beriam. He is most interested in Rachel's account of the red monster aboard the train - the very likely assassin Vino, explaining to Nicholas that the conductor's corpse on the train was probably not Vino (Claire) but someone else instead. He is confident that not even Ronny Schiatto, Chane Laforet, or The Former Felix Walken could kill Claire.

He inquires about the black case once more, and Nicholas tells him that two men visited Lia's room - one her younger brother Fang Lin-Shan, the other Fang's companion John Panel. The President orders Nicholas to send people to keep an eye on them, and informs the room that the Daily Day's priority now is to "grasp the 'ceaseless movements,'" referring to the immortality elixir incident from last year and how this time people's movements will be more predictable.

The next day, on January 1, 1932 Nicholas loudly confides in the President that he believes Henry is 'hiding something.' The President agrees - Henry was never a very good liar in the first place - and says that Henry doesn't yet comprehend the risks of information. Once he does, the President believes his little 'quirk' will be restrained. Speaking with a voice "tangled with an undercurrent of complicated feelings," the President says he hopes that none of his employees would ever have to undergo such an experience, since the purpose of information is to prevent such (traumatic) experiences from happening.

At some point during one of these conferences, the President briefs Nicholas on Keith Gandor's situation and what he should tell Keith to do as they wait for more information on Gustavo and his men.

On January 2, 1932, Edith and several Daily Days' executives gather in the President's suite in anticipation for the oncoming confrontation. Eve's servants - Benjamin, Samantha, John and Fang - are there too, planning on spending the night at the agency. Once enlightened as to the situation Benjamin rushes forth to assault Henry - John and Fang restrain him, only to see Samantha pick up where he left off.

The President announces that according to their insider, Gustavo will be attacked the DD Newspaper Agency/The Informer in an hour from now. Nicholas gleefully asks if the agency will launch a counterattack, at which the President exclaims he should leave it to the Gandor Family. At Nicholas' disappointment, the President elaborates that this was Keith's request. The agency was supposed to have settled this matter as the neutral party, but since they'd all been dragged into the mess as well, the only solution was to have the Gandors deal with it. The agency should be cautious with its actions, viewing the incident objectively (though he qualifies that this is just his personal opinion). He surveys the room with a rallying statement: "--Chase Gustavo and those idiots out of this city. --What does everyone think about this?" and is met with no protests.

The President compares the situation to the immortality elixir incident in 1930, only this time the ones who are the 'fuse' are the agency employees. It's because the agency made preparations that Gustavo and his cohorts dare to invade them at all. Since all the information has been collected, they all ought to wait for the 'instant when the overlapping information...crumble[s] and dissolve[s].' Before then, they all need to do what they can. So saying, he picks up the phone to call the Gandor family office, advising his employees that they should hide in the sewers. If anything should happen, they should use the sewer directly below them to escape to the police station. He then orders Nicholas and Elean to organize the retreat, stating that the DD Newspaper Agency has never skipped an issue, and that they will be expected to ensure normal circulation tomorrow before proceeding to speak to Luck Gandor over the phone.

During the attack, the President remains in his Suite rather than taking refuge outside, using the speaking tubes in his office to listen in on Gustavo and the others during their confrontation.

After the showdown, the Daily Days' employees return to work in the building on January 3, 1932. The President holds court in his suite, summarizing his and Keith's actions and the exchange of information that had happened with him and Edith with undisguised happiness to Nicholas and Elean. He opines that once Gustavo goes straight from the hospital to jail this whole incident will be more or less over. Nicholas and Elean exchange a look and point out that the police had arrived much later than they'd been anticipating. For this, the President has a classified explanation: the police were on guard against the remaining Lemures after the incident aboard The Flying Pussyfoot, especially concerned since the inquiry of terrorist Huey Laforet had taken place on the 2nd of January (and that today, on the 3rd Huey had been escorted away from Manhattan in highest secrecy). The President think that it was because of this that the police were late.

Elean wants to know where the President was during yesterday's showdown, and with a little laugh, the President confesses he'd been in his office all along, listening in on the goings' on with his speaking tubes. With impressive nonchalance, he muses that it was a "real surprise" he hadn't been discovered (perhaps with a 'delighted smile'). At his employees' shock, the President states that collecting information is best done "with your own eyes and ears. No matter how much knowledge you possess, in the end, you can trust only your own thoughts and experiences. That's how things are."

A few days later, the President (along with the other high-ranking employees) is absent for an undisclosed reason from the agency.

1932 ~ Summer: Man in the Killer
In August 1932, the high-ranking employees have convened inside the President's suite. The President asks Carl Digness the results of the incident he was tied up in, and Elean chimes in, asking Carl why he didn't report to the other journalists right away after getting into danger/trouble. Carl uncomfortably replies that "this incident is wrapped up in two, three layers of secrecy." The President is unsurprised, and comments that it seems that Szilard Quates has left a deeper mark on this city than they'd thought. At Szilard's name, the employees frown, and Elean questions why Szilard - all this talk about clandestine goings on and Elean thought they'd be talking about the Gandors. Carl replies that it's because the Gandors are involved that they are talking about Szilard. The President clarifies that all the victims of the serial killer all had ties to the Gandors, although that's only the beginning; in fact, the victims all had connections to each other from the start, and all approached the Gandors in their own ways in order to figure out the whereabouts of a 'certain object.'

Carl picks up where the President leaves off and brings up Szilard's group of elderly sponsors, who have lost track of the immortality elixir, and the murder of Paula Wilmans, who looked after the elixir under Barnes' watchful eye. Elean finds it heartbreaking that Paula's son, Mark Wilmans, is now taking revenge for her death as the serial killer Ice Pick Thompson, and asks Carl if there was no other path Mark could have taken. Carl's reply is bitter - sure, Mark could have given up and gone to the police, but that would have gone nowhere. The cops had already wrapped up the case, and probably wouldn't have reopened it based on the confession of one "drug-addled prostitute."

The room goes quiet, and the President breaks the silence by gently asking Carl if they could get to the "heart of the matter," asking him what happened to Mark and the reporter Lester. Carl solemnly answers that Mark was murdered by an assassin-for-hire, and "that pitiful coward of a reporter is still alive. Home free."

After giving his report, Carl visits Graham Specter and his gang, and then the Gandor Brothers at the Coraggioso and put together a picture of the events that had taken place without his knowledge. He returns to the President, and in confusion asks him why Lester had gone to the Gandors rather than fled New York. After a moment's consideration, the President responds in his normal gentle tone that "can only surmise that the bloodlust of the killer within him had been influencing the actions of his normal self."

1933: (Last) The Slash ~Bloody to Fair~
On a stormy evening in 1933, the high-ranking employees gather in the President's office (the ever present cacophony of ringing telephones, for once, absent). The President finds it both amusing and interesting that one of the groups involved in the affair of The Flying Pussyfoot (the group in question being Jacuzzi Splot's gang) has gotten themselves involved with not only the Martillo Family and the Gandor Family, but with the likes of those under the employ of Huey Laforet. Nicholas reproachfully points out that it's only amusing to the President because it's someone else's business and not his own. As a mere "poor employee who works day and night just to pick up his paychecks," Nicholas would rather avoid a 'ruckus' like what happened in 1932. Ever observant, the President wonders if Nicholas can really say in all honesty that he isn't enjoying the hubbub - if he wasn't, he wouldn't be standing in his office in the first place.

Equally the ever cordial gentleman, the President counters Nicholas' description of himself: "Perhaps you might be a simple employee in the editorial department, but in here? In here, you are Nicholas Wayne, and independent individual and also a fine information broker in your own right." The President then segways into the purpose of this meeting, asking his employees to make sense of everything that's happened so far. Nicholas, Elean, and Henry go over what their agency knows so far, and once they've summed up the situation Elean confronts the President, figuring that there must be something more to the meeting than just a recounting of the situation with Jacuzzi's gang down at the Genoard establishment.

The President's answer is simple: Huey Laforet's involvement was more than enough reason to gather his employees together and get to grips with the situation. Elean is confused - wasn't Huey arrested? The President poses his own question: It has been a full year and sixth months since Huey's arrest--why has the public heard next to nothing about the man since? It's as if the world wants them to forget the name of Huey Laforet. To the President, it is clear that Huey is special, and that he does not care about being captured - perhaps his arrest was actually part of Huey's plan, as well as the decimation of his Lemures.

Elean or one of the others thinks that this is preposterous. Why would Huey do something like that? The President speculates that Huey is the sort of man who would not bat an eye at such sacrifices. He puts that aside, and then wonders if the Larvae is aware that Chane Laforet, the daughter of their master, is currently part of Jacuzzi Splot's gang. He asks the room if there's anything else they need explained, and Henry pipes up, saying that he thinks everything is about to become even more chaotic - or, on the other hand, it might all come to an abrupt end. The President would like to know what information has led Henry to this conclusion, and Henry replies that 'Vino' is on the move - and has allied himself with Jacuzzi's gang. Why? Because of "his fiancée" (that being Chane). Nicholas, incredulous, exclaims "his fiancée" but the President demurs from revealing who exactly Claire's fiancée is.

In excitement, the President once again highlights the involvement of Huey Laforet as something that could turn the whole shebang into something "quite entertaining." At that moment, Rachel enters the room. She took the evening train to get here, and at her face someone (Nicholas or the President) asks her if something is wrong. She says she saw the Lamia aboard the train. The President deduces that they must be coming to New York to join up with the Larvae. Rachel answers his inquiries about the group as best she can, and an annoyed Nicholas interrupts, wanting to be in on the know. The President is of the mind that the situation has become even more entertaining - not only is Vino involved, but now Christopher Shouldered as well. The President conjures that Vino, Christopher, and perhaps even Ronny Schiatto will battle each other. Yes, this situation is going to be much more captivating than they'd first thought.

Nicholas tempers the President's enthusiasm by asking about Christopher, whom he's never heard of before. The President ponders - only himself, the vice-president Gustav St. Germain, and Rachel have heard of Christopher. But the Lamia are sort of a roving urban legend, and it is also the first time they've ever come to New York, so he supposes it's not too out of the ordinary that Nicholas hasn't heard of them. The President then launches into an account of who exactly Christopher is, functioning as a segway to the 'main prologue' of the novel.

Trivia

 * The President claims in his conversation with Keith in 1931 that as of late he's been entering his office through the window (using a ladder).
 * Apparently at one point a policeman pointed a gun at him
 * One might presume that this means his desk area is so cluttered it is impossible to go behind the desk by normal means.
 * He also says during that conversation that the last time he'd heard Keith speak more than five words was 'three years ago', so presumably during the tail end of 1928.
 * His suite seems to have more than one operating phone, all of which are actively in use.
 * His suite is on the second floor of the building.
 * In the anime, the sign on his door reads "Chief Editor" and below that "Chairman."
 * According to the 7th light novel, It's said that nobody but vice-president Gustav St. Germain has seen his face.
 * This is not so in the anime: there is a scene towards the beginning of Episode 16 in which Rubik (Sugarcube) walks behind the President's desk and offers him a sugarcube (the President accepts).