“Affirmative. Matches facial photograph from celebrity yearbook inside my memory,” Vorona told Tom. Quiet murmurs arose from around them.
“No way… Is that really her?”
“I just bought two copies of her photo book…”
“And is that the real Yuuhei Hanejima?! Hey, can I take a picture?!”
“I want an autograph.”
“Can I shake her hand?”
“If he’s Heiwajima’s brother, does that mean he’s a good fighter, too?”
“Isn’t Ruri Hijiribe amazing?! I guess it’s true that she’s just as hot without makeup!”
“Whew!”
Tom turned around and saw a small crowd gathering near the screen—it was the entire remaining staff in the office, all leaning up against the partition. In fact, it was more than just this office; somehow, people from other floors of the building had heard the news and come up to mingle.
“What the hell are you people doing?! Get lost! Go on! Get back to work!” Tom hissed, figuring that Shizuo would snap if he found out. He decided that he ought to clear out and go back to his desk for safety, too.
Vorona was the only one who still kept her back to the screen, assuming a ninja position as she eavesdropped on the reception area. She probably figured that she would listen in and try to learn some weakness of Shizuo’s through his family connections.
But to everyone else watching, the assumption was a much more peaceful and heartwarming one: “Oh, if she’s curious about Shizuo’s family, it must be because she likes him…”
“Oh…I’ve seen you in magazines or whatever. You’re, um…,” Shizuo started to say.
“Someone important to me,” Yuuhei finished simply.
“…Right, that,” Shizuo mumbled and examined Ruri Hijiribe again. “Is she trembling?”
Yuuhei answered, “Ruri’s seen you fight up close before. Just recently.”
“Wha—?!”
Shizuo flinched awkwardly. He’d never heard such a convincing reason for someone to be afraid before. A few seconds later he returned to Ruri and said, “Uh, well…s-sorry about that.”
“Oh n-no, it’s all right! I’m sorry, actually.”
A few months earlier, after having seen Shizuo from a proximity close enough for him to smash her with a bench, Ruri had developed a subconscious fear of him. But she couldn’t explain that to him now. Yuuhei had told her that his brother would understand if they just explained the situation properly, but deep down, she really wanted more time to work herself up to that point.
Shizuo could sense something more than simple fear in her reaction and noted it with curiosity but didn’t push the matter. He sighed and said to Yuuhei, “Uh, listen…it’s nice of you to run things by me and all, but shouldn’t you report to Dad and Mom first of all…? In fact, people make a big enough deal about you admitting the relationship. If this is about marriage, won’t that kick up a fuss?”
“Actually, that’s not what we wanted to talk to you about.”
“Huh? What is it, then?”
Yuuhei told him in his flat, mechanical voice:
“Do you know about…the Dollars?”
Shinra’s apartment
“Um…I’m sorry to barge in on you like this.”
Anri Sonohara bowed and apologized repeatedly from a dining room chair, glasses glinting in the light. Celty shook her helmet back and forth and held out her PDA.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Shinra lured you in here.”
“Lured her in! Celty, that’s so cruel! You make it sound like I was trying to cheat on you! They say that ‘a fallen blossom doesn’t return to the branch, and a broken mirror cannot shine,’ but I would never knock your flower off the branch, nor would I break any mirror that reflects your beauty!”
His answer was as nonsensical as always, and Celty could do nothing but shrug her shoulders in annoyance.
According to her story, Anri had been wandering around the town, considering if she should ask Celty something, when Shinra had passed by and called out to her.
“Anri, you really shouldn’t follow suspicious men like him around.”
“Okay, before I offer a rebuttal, I need to say this. For whatever reason, hearing Celty call me suspicious really doesn’t feel that bad. I suppose the word suspicious contains some hint of mystery and eroticism—babufh!”
“Why would you talk about that in front of a teenage girl?” Celty demanded, as Shinra doubled over following the knee to his gut.
The woman turned back to Anri and asked, “What did you want to discuss?”
“Well…it’s about Mikado…”
“Ah, you want romantic advice? Asking me and Celty might not be the right decision, then. We are in such a torrid state of constant love and perfect equilibrium, you see. I’m afraid we might not be much help when it comes to repairing an upset relationship.”
“N-no, Mikado and I aren’t like that,” Anri protested, her face going red.
Celty quickly covered Shinra’s mouth with her shadows.
Well, it’s quite obvious from a glance that Mikado’s rather smitten with her…but while he might have a shot, their situation seems rather delicate and complex, so it’s probably best not to set things off.
She waited for Anri to raise her head again so that she could show her a message on the PDA.
“What is it about Mikado, then?”
“Oh yes… Um…I’m not really sure how best to say this, but…Mikado’s been acting strange recently.”
“Acting strange? Like he’s low energy or going on about odd things…?”
“No, just the opposite… He’s gotten very bright and lively and happy,” Anri replied. She seemed to be unsure if she should continue, but her willpower eventually won out.
“Just like…when Kida was around.”
Half a day earlier
“Ah, Sonohara. Congrats on making it to the end of the year!”
Mikado spotted Anri at the class representatives’ meeting just after the end-of-year ceremony.
“Congratulations to you, too,” she said quietly, bowing her head meekly in stark contrast to Mikado’s crisp greeting.
“You got any plans for summer vacation, Sonohara?”
“Uh…w-well, no major plans…”
“Ahh. Well, if you’re ever bored, just hit me up.”
“Uh…okay.”
Normally, such an invitation would be a delight. A year ago, she wouldn’t quite know how to respond, but since getting to know Mikado, Masaomi, and Celty, Anri Sonohara could tell that a part of her was changing.
So she should have been able to smile and accept his offer with an open heart—but a different reason was preventing her from doing that now.
There was simply something wrong with the way Mikado was acting these days.
A number of interrelated incidents had happened during Golden Week, the weeklong string of holidays in May.
A mysterious woman had ambushed her on two consecutive days, for one—but Anri was more worried about the injury Mikado had suffered at the hands of a youth gang.
When she’d leaped to his aid, she was afraid that he’d seen her using her katana.
She’d been spotted with a katana before that as well, when she rescued Masaomi Kida from a mutiny within his own gang, the Yellow Scarves. But this could have been a much more direct and damning witness.
Her sword was the cursed blade Saika, a being that dwelled within her body and continuously chanted words of love. That made her alien and inhuman, just like Celty, and she was worried that this revelation might cause Mikado to reject her. But on the contrary, he hadn’t mentioned it once since the holiday ended.
Yet that was not a source of relief. The incident had changed Mikado.
He was back, you might say. That desperation to act cheerful in the wake of Masaomi Kida’s absence was no longer there.
She didn’t notice for the first few days, because she was more preoccupied with concern for his injury
and worry that he’d be terrified of her freakish nature…but eventually, she realized that the occasional hints of uncertainty and regret that she’d caught on Mikado’s face since Masaomi had left were no longer surfacing.
There was purpose and vitality in Mikado’s smile, his words, and his actions—as if he’d just found his reason for living.
That should have been a good thing.
But clearly, it wasn’t that Mikado had forgotten about Masaomi or was totally over him.
She almost wondered if he had reunited with the boy somewhere, so she had asked him if something good had happened recently.
But when Mikado replied with a joke of the kind he never usually told (“I guess you could say talking with you is a good thing!”), that only underlined Anri’s feeling of unease.
Something happened during that incident… But they do say that people grow over time… Maybe I’m just getting the wrong idea…
Anri was shy and reserved by nature, so she couldn’t come out and say, “You’re acting strange these days.” Instead, she had simply continued her high school life with this strange feeling eating away at her.
She watched the world objectively through the picture frame.
Perhaps this unique mental position of hers was what allowed Anri to recognize that the particular painting she liked so much had developed a different coloring.
Anri had sensed that something was wrong as summer vacation began, but it wasn’t until Mikado’s parting statement that day that she recognized her unease was stemming from an actual anomaly.
On the way home from school, at the place where they usually split off for their respective homes, Mikado had sported a more serious look on his face. He turned to her and said, “Hey, Sonohara.”
“Huh? Y-yes?”
They’d been chatting idly the whole time, so the look in his eyes took her aback—but that was nothing compared to her surprise at his following words.
“Whatever secrets you have, I don’t mind.”
“…Huh?”
What?
“Sure, maybe I can’t really be a source of support to you…”
What is Mikado…talking about?
Mikado Ryuugamine.
Masaomi Kida.
And Anri Sonohara.
Each of the three had a secret.
Mikado was founder of the Dollars.
Masaomi was founder of the Yellow Scarves and its central figure.
Anri housed an inhuman being inside of her named Saika.
Anri had learned Masaomi’s secret, and Masaomi had heard about Mikado’s status from the info broker.
Now Mikado seemed on the verge of discovering Anri’s secret, enacting a strange three-way relationship.
Anri was close to learning Mikado’s status, but she wasn’t attempting to get to the bottom of it.
There was a tacit understanding between the two: They would only reveal their respective secrets to each other when Masaomi came back.
But now Mikado was coming close to broaching the subject of Anri’s secret. In a roundabout way, he was reaching for the inner parts of her heart.
“…But no matter what you are, I’m sure that I can help create a place just for you.”
“…”
She had wanted to say something, to ask something, but she couldn’t find the words.
Did he take her silence as discomfort? Mikado’s smile had grown even brighter and more confident.
“I’m going to make it so Masaomi can come back,” he finished. “I’ll make a place for everyone…so there’s no need for you to worry.”
No.
Deep down beneath her hesitation, Anri denied Mikado’s words.
She recalled something Mikado had said months ago.
“He’ll come back.”
“Oh…?”
“I’ve known Masaomi since we were young. He’ll absolutely come back.”
“Um,” Anri stammered, clearly troubled.
Mikado had come to his senses and said, “Oh, s-sorry. That was weird of me… Well, get in touch if you need anything!”
He had hurried away to hide his sudden embarrassment. Anri had still been upset, but she never attempted to stop him from leaving.
Something’s…wrong.
That was all Anri knew, all she could tell herself as she had wandered through the shopping district of Ikebukuro.
On multiple occasions, she had thought of asking Celty for advice, but at each instance, she decided that it wasn’t right to get the woman involved in her personal matter and closed her flip phone.
Just as she was deciding to head back home, someone called out to her from behind.
In the end, the thing that had pushed Anri Sonohara to consult with Celty…
“Hey, is that you, Anri? How’s Saika doing these days?”
…was an extremely forward and indelicate statement from a man in a white lab coat.
Now, back to the present.
“Earlier, he believed that Kida would come back on his own, but now Mikado’s talking about creating a place for Kida to return to… It just feels so strange…”
She wasn’t sure how to phrase her feelings. But the only way to get to the bottom of the vague haze of wrongness was to review the day’s events in fine detail.
“I see. So rather than believing in his friend, he’s believing in his own power.”
“You’re right, that doesn’t sound like Mikado,” Celty typed before folding her arms in thought.
Usually making an effort on your own is a positive thing… Why does this strike me as odd? Plus, the part about it starting after Golden Week is troubling… I have a bad feeling about this.
I wonder… Did something happen between him and that Aoba Kuronuma boy?
The one idea that floated into Celty’s head brought her back to the final night of Golden Week.
It was right after she and Shinra had gotten home from their little vacation.
May 5, night
“I’ve come here…to be friends with you two.”
A boy named Aoba Kuronuma had stopped Celty and Shinra on the way home late at night.
“How did you find out about this place?” Celty asked.
Aoba smirked. “A lot of it was simple coincidence. But don’t worry. I’m not going to tell the police about it.”
The mention of the word police brought to mind the face of a particular motorcycle cop, causing a shiver to run down Celty’s back.
“I’m not sure what’s going on here. Do you mind if I ask?” said Shinra to the boy, stepping forward to protect Celty. “You said you wanted to be friends, but coming over to a person’s house before that point is really rather rude of you. Perhaps it was through great personal toil and turmoil that you found this apartment, but you do realize that we might not necessarily value that hard work,” he added smoothly.
Aoba shrugged and answered, “Yes, I know it’s rude. But I doubt I could have gotten any closer to the legendary Headless Rider any other way.”
“I’m not interested in getting closer to anyone who would cause trouble with biker gangs like Toramaru. Besides, didn’t you consider the possibility that I’d just silence you for good?”
“Ah, right. You heard my conversation with Mikado, right?” Aoba smiled, leaning against the hallway wall and narrowing his eyes. “You can’t really silence me. My friends all know this location, too. If I go missing, the cops and tabloids will descend on this place like an avalanche. Then again, it might go up in flames before that.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, sorry. I’m not intending to push you around. I’m just like Mikado… I want to get closer to you and the people around you, that’s all.”
He’s lying. He’s aiming for something after we get to know each other, Celty’s instincts told her. She considered how to proceed.
But the first one to act was Shinra, taking another step forward as he adjusted his glasses. He stared closely at the boy’s face, gave a faint smile, and
said, “You’re just like Izaya Orihara.”
“…I’m offended that you would compare me to him,” spat Aoba, his cocky confidence instantly gone at the mention of that name, a scowl now on his face.
Clearly satisfied with himself, Shinra’s cold smile grew. He leaned in closer. “Yes, I said that assuming that if you knew him, you’d be upset. And as I suspected, you do know about Izaya. Let me guess: Did he put you through some painful experience in the past?”
“…What makes you say that?”
“Because your methods are exactly like his. It was less of a coincidence and more of a familiar tip-off, you might say. But I didn’t say you were a copycat. I think your nature is exactly like his, from the foundation.”
“…Well, geez. Not only does the Black Rider know him, but so does the cohabitant.” Aoba glared back at Shinra, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his assessment.
“Hatred of one’s own kind, they call it. Both you and Izaya are the type who get annoyed when the world doesn’t dance in the palm of your hand. Of course, someone like that isn’t going to be happy about a kindred spirit moving in. After all, if the world is dancing on someone else’s palm, how will it dance on yours? You’re such greedy people. The only thing I want to hold in my palm is Celty’s hand.”
“? …!”
Aoba tried to bite back his words, unsure what Shinra meant by that. He found the answer along with a small pain down the nape of his neck.
When did he take that out of his bag? There was a sharp scalpel in Shinra’s hand now, its end pressed to the back of Aoba’s neck. Just a little bit of pressure, and he could easily slide it around into the flesh of his throat and sever his carotid artery.
“Here’s a warning.”
Shinra’s face was no different than usual. He had that simpering, lackadaisical look, all the while holding the means to easily end the boy’s life.
“I don’t care what you and Izaya get up to plotting. But if you think you’re going to destroy the happy life that Celty and I have here, you will make yourself a sworn enemy for life.”
Meanwhile, despite that imminent threat, Aoba showed no signs of fear. He even smiled a bit as he looked back at Shinra. However, a shimmer of sweat had risen on his palms and forehead.
Durarara!!, Vol. 8 Page 4
