Durarara!! - Volume 11 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Like Father, Like Son

The next morning—Raira General Hospital, Ikebukuro

When the sun rose again after a day of many events, there was one difference in Ikebukuro.

As Anri reached the hospital where Kadota might be waking up soon, she ran across a young man who had come to pay a visit, all the way from Saitama.

“So do you know where Kadota’s hospital room is?”

It was a man named Chikage Rokujou, speaking just outside the door to the surgical ward. Both his tone of voice and his general appearance suggested “light and breezy,” but in fact, he was the commander of a large motorcycle gang in Saitama named Toramaru.

In a similarly breezy tone, Erika Karisawa replied, “Sorry, Rocchi. They’re only letting family see him at the moment. One of those ‘no visitors’ things, I guess. Anyway, it doesn’t sound like his life is in any danger, but he’s not waking up yet.”

“Oh, gotcha. Well, dang, this backfired. If he was awake, I figured I’d get him all pumped up by showing off how hot my girlfriend is,” he said, shaking his head sadly. Behind him, a number of young women reacted in a variety of ways. He was practically a walking harem, and he spoke to anyone on first meeting as though they were already on comfortable terms.

“Hey, y’know, it’s pretty friendly of you to call me Rocchi at our first meeting. Wanna exchange numbers so we can text?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

None of the gaggle of women raised any complaint about Chikage hitting on this unfamiliar woman; they seemed to be used to it. But their eyes were full of the intent to gang up on him as soon as they left this place, since they didn’t want to raise a fuss in a hospital.

Standing behind Karisawa, Anri Sonohara wasn’t sure if she should join the conversation or not. She didn’t know this man very well, but she understood that he’d seen her swinging Saika. On the other hand, all she knew about Chikage was that he was the person who stopped her sword fight with that mysterious woman, and if he was a friend of Kadota’s, then he probably couldn’t be a bad person.

“Erika Karisawa, huh? That’s a cool, cute name,” Chikage said. Then he favored Anri with a nice smile; he clearly recognized her. “And, uh, may I ask your name, too?”

“Huh?! Umm, it’s…Anri Sonohara…”

“Anri Sonohara! Nice! That sounds like a celebrity’s name.”

“Huh? Umm…”

She wasn’t entirely certain how she should act around this young man, who was just so casual about everything. Fortunately, Karisawa stepped in to help her out.

“No, no, you can’t go after her. She’s in the midst of a competition from her very close and precious suitors already.”

“Oh, really? And I’m not allowed to throw my hat into the ring?” Chikage mourned. The girls behind him laughed, but their eyes went even colder. Anri could only imagine the fate that awaited him as soon as they left the hospital grounds—but if he acted like this all the time and they still hung around, it had to be a sign that they had a special bond of trust with Chikage Rokujou.

A part of Anri almost felt jealous of that relationship—but that was the kind of weakness that Saika could exploit.

And in fact, right after seeing Chikage and the girls with him, new words began sneaking through Saika’s endless internal “words of love,” directly to Anri:

—You’re jealous, aren’t you?

—Which do you want to be, Anri?

—Do you want to be the boy?

—Or one of those girls?

—Do you want Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida to wait upon you?

—Or do you prefer to serve one of them?

—Do you want to be dependent?

—Or depended upon?

—Do you want to bind someone to you?

—Or be bound yourself?

Saika’s toying, manipulative messages punctured the usual wave of praises for humanity. Anri tried to push that voice into the picture frame within her mind, but it wasn’t quite working. And she had a feeling she knew why.

Saika was already in the process of being on this side of the frame. It all started after the incident involving Shizuo Heiwajima and Haruna Niekawa resolved, and one particular sentence had struck a chord within her.

I cannot love you, but I do not hate you.

Maybe it was just my imagination, she had thought.

But at this point, it was less that she hoped it was her imagination and more that she was fine with it as long as it wasn’t her imagination.

Since then, there were times that Anri felt like Saika was speaking to her directly.

Saika’s parasitic presence filled her mind with words of love for all other people. But Anri never found that to be all that troubling or agonizing. In a sense, Anri even felt a kind of respect for Saika, who was at least capable of strongly loving someone else.

But now that relationship was evolving.

She knew the reason why. It wasn’t something she wanted to face, but she was certain she knew.

Saika hadn’t changed. It was her.

Up to that point, she’d been unable to feel love and stayed hidden inside her own shell—until she began to accept other people into her side of the picture frame.

It was a major change.

Mika Harima was a good friend, but to Anri, she was a symbol of longing and aspiration, so rather than being a person on this side of the frame, she was more like the central figure of the painting itself. Occasionally, she did come back through that frame, but Mikado and Masaomi had been on this side almost since the very start.

Perhaps another big event was seeing how Celty—a dullahan, not a human being—had found such a strong partnership with the human Shinra Kishitani. She didn’t think much of it at the time, but the steady accumulation of so much normalcy had slowly but surely brought about change in her as a person.

Now Saika was neither some foreign object, nor a host that she was reliant upon, but something she could commune with, something like a companion—whether anything you could call “love” existed there or not.

—Go on. Use me.

—Swing me.

—I will love anyone and everyone!

—I will love! In your stead!

—All you need to do is hold me!

—Which of them do you really love?

—Is it Mikado, the calm and gentle boy who will tend to your wounds?

—Or will you boldly attempt the adulterous Masaomi and go down in flames?

—If you let me love him, Masaomi’s body will be forever yours, even if he is promised to another.

Anri considered these booming, echoing sentiments from Saika to be no one’s business but her own. She would not let the blade harm Mikado Ryuugamine or Masaomi Kida.

But Saika reacted to that thought:

—Well, well… You’re stronger now, aren’t you?

—Now you’re actually answering my voice. It has been so very long.

“…!” Anri tensed up.

—Don’t get so defensive. Why don’t we talk for a bit?

—Remember what I said? I cannot love you, but I do not hate you.

All the while, the words of love echoed in the background like musical accompaniment. But the voice Anri was hearing was crystal clear, and it functioned just like any conversation.

—In the past, I once told you…

—That as long as you hold me, I can only ever love those you want to cut.

—So why do you think that I was able to love the man named Egor?

Because…

—It’s not because you fell in love with him at first sight.

—I fell in love with his strength at first sight. Not as badly as Shizuo Heiwajima, though.

—You understand, don’t you? At the start, we each rejected the other…

—But now we are growing slowly closer, aren’t we?

That…might be true, but…

—I’ve become just a little bit you, and you’re just a little bit me.

No.

—That’s all this is.

No. I am…me.

—You don’t have to reject it. I’m not trying to take you over.

—I’m just suggesting that we understood each other.

—I think your mother and I reached quite a good understanding, if not a mutual love.

Please…stop.

—It’s how your mother was able to use me better.

—She could do a number of things that you cannot.

—Want me to tell you? Do you want to know how she felt when she…

Stop!

“What’s up? You look bad. Oh, sorry, did I frighten you?”

The sound of Chikage’s voice brought Anri back to her senses with a start. The words of love continued to echo as they always did, but she couldn’t hear the words directed toward her anymore.

Anri looked around in a daze for a few seconds, then bowed to Chikage. “I’m…sorry. I just feel a little bit dizzy…”

“Hey, you okay? Good thing this is a hospital—maybe you should ask for a checkup? Dizziness doesn’t seem like much, but it can often be a sign of more serious illness. Forget about me; cute girls like you need to live nice, long lives, until you’re adorable old grandmas.”

Something in Chikage’s lackadaisical tone struck a chord in Anri.

Oh. He’s just like Kida.

Masaomi’s face flitted through her head, followed by memories of when the three of them had been together with Mikado.

They were fun times. Not dreams, not fantasies, but times that Anri had truly held within her grasp. Irreplaceable times that accepted who she was.

A part of her was gripped with a vague fear that they might never return.

But Anri did not sit back and cower beneath that fear. She had come here to meet Karisawa for the purpose of erasing this worry. And then she met this strange man…

He knows that I have a katana…so why is he treating me so normally?

His entrance had caused her to delay her original purpose for coming. If he knew Kadota, then perhaps he might know what was happening around the city.

But her hopes were dashed right away.

“So anyway, I got no idea what’s happening with this one,” Chikage said to Karisawa, his voice gentle and soothing. “They caught the guy who ran over Kadota, right?”

For a moment, Karisawa’s smile wilted but only enough to make it a bit sadder, not to eliminate it entirely. “Nope. I assume the cops are working on it, though,” she admitted.

“Huh…? So it was a hit-and-run?”

“Oh, you didn’t know that already. Yeah, a hit-and-run. No idea who did it, though.”

Rokujou fell silent for a while.

“Got it,” he said. “Then I’ll leave for today. I’d appreciate a message once he wakes up, though.”

“You’re going back to Saitama?”

“Nah, me and the honeys are going to Namco Namja Town today. And once I’ve seen them off back home, I plan to wander the night streets…”

The girls behind him started beating on him, and Chikage practically ran out of the scene. With a brief good-bye, he left the hospital grounds. Anri felt a strange disquiet as she watched him go.

I could have sworn…

That in the moment when Chikage Rokujou learned from Karisawa that it was a hit-and-run—she felt the briefest bit of a dark emotion exposed in his psyche.

Outside the hospital

“You looked a little scary back there for just a moment, Rocchi,” said one of Rokujou’s entourage, Non, after they left the hospital.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry about that. Did I frighten you?”

“I wouldn’t be here now if you scared me, Rocchi.”

“Oh…oh, right. Thanks.”

Something about Chikage’s manner suggested that his mind wasn’t entirely present. The girls glanced at one another and exhaled through wry smiles.

“You’re thinking of something violent, aren’t you?”

“What’s up, Rocchi? You gonna get revenge for your friend?”

“Of course, he’s gonna stick his head in there. God, that purehearted side of him is so embarrassing, isn’t it? Not that I mind.”

The girls didn’t bother to hold back in their assessments. Chikage readjusted his hat to hide his embarrassment and said, “Look, I won’t deny it. I owe that guy a lot, and I haven’t paid up yet. But don’t worry, I’m gonna make sure none of it comes back on you girls.”

“We’re going to worry unless we know you’re safe, Rocchi. What if you get hurt really bad, like recently?”

“If I do, will you peel my apples and feed them to me again?” he asked blithely. Then he went silent and mentally continued his earlier thought.

If I’m gonna get our revenge on Ikebukuro while I’m still leader…I at least gotta pay back my debt to Kadota first. It’s just the right thing to do.

He was so absorbed in this thought as he walked that it took him a little while to realize there was a strange man approaching them.

The man glanced at Chikage and his entourage for a split second, then passed by them with a thin-lipped smile—and disappeared into the hospital grounds.

The man gave off an unsettling aura, but that was the extent of Chikage’s reaction as he continued on his way.

Who was that guy? Isn’t he hot, wearing all black in the summer?

Within the hospital

For a while after that, Anri and Karisawa kept talking about Chikage Rokujou, until Karisawa remembered something in a flash.

“Oh, what did you want to talk to me about? What did you mean, you want me to know everything about you?”

Anri looked away awkwardly. “Oh…right. Um, I’m not sure how to explain this…”

“Look, I have a general idea. It’s about that katana, right?” Karisawa said, getting right to the point.

“Um…y-yes! That’s right…”

“Is that something you can talk about here?”

Anri glanced around her. Everyone in the vicinity was a visitor for one hospital patient or another. It wasn’t crowded, but it was far from empty, too.

She gave it a little bit of thought, then decided, I can’t drag her away from this place.

Karisawa had a very specific reason for being here: to let Yumasaki and her other friends know the moment that Kadota awoke at last.

“…Yes, we can talk about it here. And if anyone accidentally overhears us…well, I don’t think they would believe it anyway,” Anri said with a self-deprecating smile.

She sucked in a breath, willing herself the strength to push forward—

“Ooh, do you mind if I listen in, too?”

—when a very lackadaisical voice appeared from beside where they stood.

“?!”

Anri spun toward the voice—and felt a tremor run through her entire body.

This was not the spasm of delight from Saika that she felt when Shizuo Heiwajima was present. It was a shiver of fear from Anri herself.

“Whoa, it’s been forever. What’s up? You here to visit Dotachin in the hospi— Hmm, yeah, I guess not, huh?” quipped Karisawa, whose reaction was casual and friendly, not at all like Anri’s stunned disbelief.

“By the way, are you familiar with Anri already, Iza-Iza?”

Thirty minutes earlier

“Ms. Kujiragi never did show up last night.” Izaya Orihara chuckled as he lounged on the house’s sofa.

He must’ve been bruised all over his body, but nothing in his demeanor suggested any pain whatsoever. He continued monologuing to himself for the benefit of all present.

“Either she’s more cautious than I thought, or something tipped her off to impending danger. Maybe she was supposed to get periodic messages from Slon. Or maybe all the houses on this street are under her Saika’s control, and she’s had tabs on us the entire time.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to stay here, then?” Mikage asked.

Izaya never let the smile leave his face. “Considering Saika’s power, you’re in danger no matter where you are. I will say that when one of the Yodogiris stabbed me while I was on vacation up north in Tohoku, that took me by surprise.”

“When I saw it on the news, I wasn’t sure how to react.”

“I was curious what you’d all think, too. I wish I could’ve had a good long chance to observe it. When I called who I thought was my closest friend to break the news, he said, ‘Oh,’ and hung up on me.”

“Can you…even call that a friend…?” wondered Mikage. It occurred to Izaya that she was still very much ordinary and in possession of a commonsense outlook on life.

“Well, in a way, I consider myself lucky to have been stabbed. It brought me back to my roots in many aspects, and I did get to meet Mamiya again.”

“Who’s Mamiya?”

From the corner of the room, Kine answered, “That young lady with the rather gloomy demeanor.”

“Yes! Well done, Mr. Kine! You remembered. She’s Manami Mamiya.”

“Oh, right, that girl who was staring daggers at you. What did you do to her?” asked Mikage suspiciously, but Izaya shrugged the question off.

“I didn’t do anything. I just lied and asked if she wanted to commit suicide together, then slipped her a drink with sleeping pills to knock her out.”

“…”

Her stare grew colder and colder, to which Izaya just laughed and waved his hand.

“Oh, come on, Mikage. I didn’t do the kind of things you’re thinking of. But as the girls were falling asleep, they did claim they’d kill me. One of the two of them saw my name on the news and visited my hospital within the span of a single day to come kill me… Don’t you think that’s lovely?”

“I wish she’d seen it through.”

“How cruel.”

“Don’t worry, I’d avenge you,” said Mikage, two clauses that were at odds with each other.

Izaya was going to tease her more, but Kine, who was looking at his watch, said, “Nine o’clock.”

“Oh? So it is. What is that supposed to mean?”

“The time the hospital opens. Go and take a visit,” he ordered.

“…Wait, are you talking to me?” Izaya asked. “Goodness, I know I got a little bruised, but the hospital would be a dramatic choice of action.”

“You hit the back of your head. That kind of damage shows up later. Go and get checked out,” said Kine, as he stared at nothing.

Izaya sighed and answered, “I told you, I’m fine. You’re such a worrywart, Mr. Kine…”

“Go and get checked.”

“I told you, I’m fine. I don’t even feel nauseous.”

Kine lifted his cold eyes up to fix on Izaya. He repeated himself.

“Get checked by a doctor.”

“…All right, I’ll do it. I feel like you’re going to kill me if I keep refusing,” Izaya said with a smirk, standing up to face the outside. “I suppose I could pay a visit to Dotachin while I’m there.”

Mikage parted the blinds with her fingers and watched Izaya as he left the house. Someone from Dragon Zombie was going to drive him close to the hospital, but any more protection than that was going to cause unwanted attention.

She sighed, removed her fingers, and asked the other man, “Kine, right? I dunno much about you. How’d you end up working with Izaya, huh?”

“Etiquette.”

“Huh?”

“When interacting with your elders who are still unfamiliar to you, utilize polite etiquette. Once you’re closer, then you can find out if it’s okay for you to speak to them as an equal,” Kine instructed.

Mikage looked away and scratched her ear guiltily. “Wow, you talk like my old man…uh, sir.”

“President Sharaku is strict on such things, isn’t he?”

“…You know about my old man?”

“My old partner learned something about fighting with a quarterstaff at your family’s gym.”

Something about that particular keyword gave Mikage pause, and a moment later, she asked, “Are you talking about…Mr. Akabayashi?”

“Yeah. Haven’t seen him in a while, though.”

“So…are you saying you came from that line of work…?”

“I got outta the business a while back. Now I’m a private eye. But it’s really more of an odd-jobs business most of the time,” Kine said, only relaying the minimum of necessary information. But after another pause, he did say, “I keep my work pretty cut-and-dried, but I will say this. A young lady like you with a future ahead of you would do best not getting involved with kids like Izaya.”

“Oh, I know. Believe me, I do,” Mikage said, cracking her neck and reflecting on the past. “I ended up quitting school because of him. Not that I regret it.”

“Actually, I heard about that one from Akabayashi.”

“…”

“You ought to be careful. The Awakusu-kai have their eye on him. That’s fine—the problem is when they decide to reach out. Akabayashi probably wouldn’t bother with you. He’d focus on Izaya,” Kine said, totally still, doling out basic truths like a stereo speaker. “But Aozaki would come for the throat of anyone, women and children included. Even an old associate like me. And Shiki and Kazamoto are probably somewhere in between.”

He paused for breath. “My point is, when the Awakusu-kai decides it’s time to act, Izaya is done for, no matter how he struggles. So my advice is just don’t leave your tail exposed in a way that makes them want to grab it.”

Then he looked right at Mikage and said flatly, “Are you going to stick with him anyway?”

She briefly considered that he might actually be concerned for her sake and produced an expression of considerable conflict.

“Look, I know he’s not up to any good,” she said with the faintest smirk, plopping into a nearby chair, “but the thing about Izaya is, he’s fair to everyone. He’ll march right into your business and toss around good things and bad things in equal measure. He doesn’t care if you like him or hate him. In that sense, I think that makes him more likable than the folks who are only obsessed with keeping up appearances.”

“…I see,” was all Kine said. He didn’t ask anything else.

But Mikage thought back on the past, her face a mask, and muttered, “I agree it’s better not to get involved with him, though. Like in my case, Izaya’s a kind of poison. Once you’ve got him in your veins, you just go kind of crazy… In my case, that poison saved me. But plenty of folks fall into ruin. I think of him as an extreme form of medicine.”

“Because such things, depending on how you use them, can save you or kill you,” Kine agreed. But he chose not to inquire further about her past. “Just keep in mind, he ain’t some bottle of pills without a mind of its own.”

“The problem is, at the end of the day, he’s as damn human a person as you’ll ever find.”

Raira General Hospital

“What’s the matter, Anri? You’re looking rather frightening.”

“Why…what are you doing here…?” Anri asked, her breathing heavy. Izaya Orihara shrugged.

“Is it that surprising to you that I would pay a hospital visit to Dotachin?”

Karisawa answered in Anri’s stead. “Surprising isn’t the word I’d use for it, Iza-Iza.”

She had noticed the change in Anri’s demeanor after Izaya showed up and pushed herself into the space between them. “It’d make much more sense if you came here to tell Dotachin a bunch of nonsense to get him worked up, or if you were involved in the hit-and-run and you were just coming to monitor how it was turning out,” she said.

Although she was smiling, her eyes were slightly narrower than usual, as if she indeed believed those possibilities were valid.

“Oh, please. I don’t have a car, and I have no reason to hit Dotachin. But I do sell information, as it happens. I’ll contact you if I find out anything about who did it. Normally, I’d charge fifty thousand yen, but I can give you the acquaintance discount. Only forty.”

“You’ll take that forty thousand and donate it all to Dotachin’s hospital bill, I presume?”

“Oh, please. Don’t you know that the number four means ‘death’? Not an auspicious number to spend on a hospital patient, is it?”

As they jousted, not at all clear how much was a joke and how much was serious, Anri went through a furious routine of self-questioning.

Izaya Orihara.

Why is he here?

Did he come for me?

To visit Kadota? No, he wouldn’t.

He’s not that kind of person.

Is he involved? With what? How much?

Instantaneous questions floated into her head, and they all coalesced into one idea.

Mikado Ryuugamine.

Masaomi Kida.

Or put another way, the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves.

Two groups acting in inexplicable ways, and the two boys who seemed involved with them.

“Did you…do something?”

“Hmm? What do you mean by ‘something’?”

“Did you do something…to Ryuugamine and Kida…?”

A rare note of genuine anger in her voice caused Karisawa to turn toward her. “Anri?” There was just a bit of surprise in her expression.

Anri Sonohara was glaring at Izaya Orihara, her eyes wide with open menace—and tinted with a faint reddish light.

The light was faint enough that even a fluorescent would drown it out easily, but for that one moment, Anri’s eyes were most certainly glowing red.

But even then, this phenomenon only registered with Karisawa as a “bit of surprise.”

For his part, Izaya wasn’t startled in the least. He chuckled and answered, “Your suspicions are correct. They’re not misplaced. If I were in your position, I would be skeptical of Izaya Orihara, too. Although I wouldn’t be shining those inhuman eyes at people that way.”

“A-answer my question please!”

Was the cold sweat that ran down her cheek out of fear of Izaya or panic at the idea that she might not be able to control her own power?

Even she was shocked. Anri never considered that meeting Izaya again might bring such a churn of fierce emotion to her breast.

The moment that she had first met Izaya was also the time she had first met Mikado. It was the day she was saved when ganged up on by a trio of girls. (Technically, she had seen Mikado at the entrance test for the school, but that particular day was the first time they had actually talked.)

She’d felt something strange about Izaya since then. Even in that first meeting, she could tell that he was not like ordinary people. Then again, after the impact of Shizuo Heiwajima’s entrance, that initial impression had been all but forgotten.

Once after that, Anri had met Izaya in Shinjuku at night with the intent to slash him. But she did not succeed. In fact, he actually declared war on her that night.

“People belong to me. I won’t let a stupid sword take them away.”

And after that missive, he had left her behind and vanished into the night.

She did not think that their next meeting after that one would come in this fashion. If anything, she had hoped never to see him again.

But Anri was not so foolish or naive as to think that his appearance here was a simple coincidence.

Although, in the sense that he had come to a hospital at all, it really was a coincidence.

But Izaya could turn a coincidence into a matter of fate.

“Very well. I will answer your question. Yes, you’re right to be skeptical of me, but your timing is poor. I haven’t been directly messing with Ryuugamine or Kida lately.”

“…I can’t simply take your word for that.”

“It’s true. And I can tell you why.”

Without realizing it, Anri’s brows knitted.

She was ten feet from Izaya.

If she produced her katana from within, she could reach him in a single leap.

But she wasn’t interested in cutting Izaya and taking him over right now. Too much time had passed since that night in Shinjuku.

It was only half a year, but to a girl at a turbulent period in her life, it was plenty enough time for her emotions to settle.

She hadn’t forgiven him, and she wasn’t letting down her guard. But in order to cut him, she’d need another push, another reason driving her to do it.

If only she had the power to see through lies, she wished. But Anri could not read the minds of others. The only means she had was to control them with Saika and force them to speak their thoughts aloud.

And Saika was quiet now. Either she was figuring out how to treat Izaya Orihara, the man who challenged her to a war, or she was still full of hatred and disgust at him.

“Please explain why,” Anri said, quietly controlling her breathing.

Izaya shrugged again but grinned like a little boy. “Because that part’s supposed to come after this.”

“…Huh?” she said, blinking. In the moment, she didn’t understand what he meant by that. The words made sense, but what reason would he have to tell a joke about that in this situation?

Karisawa, however, had known Izaya a little bit longer than her. “Ugh,” she groaned. “What a bastard.”

The man dressed all in black cackled at the different reactions. “Oh yes, it’s true. Your suspicions are correct. Interesting things are happening with both Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida at the moment. If I had to use an analogy…it’s like they’re crossing a tightrope between two cliffs. Can you imagine that? Two friends, crossing on a rope, between two cliffs.”

Anri lost her focus in organizing how she should be feeling about this and allowed herself to be distractedly swept along by Izaya’s strange analogy.

“Do you have the image in your head? Here’s the next step. There’s another rope connecting each of their necks. If one of them slips, he pulls the other down with him. If the other one manages to cling to the rope, it just means all the weight is hanging from his neck. Rather hair-raising, don’t you think?”

“…”

Anri couldn’t say a thing. She imagined the vision that Izaya was painting, and the symbolism of it matched up perfectly with the anxiety she’d felt about Mikado for the past few months.

“Let’s continue this exercise. The people around them are reacting in myriad ways. There’s a guy trying to charge money to watch, some kids who are jumping around on the rope too for fun, some Goody Two-shoes dragging rescue mats around at the bottom of the cliff, even some folks just having a nice fistfight independent of the tightrope altogether.”

Izaya leaned against the wall of the hospital corridor, speaking just quietly enough to avoid the attention of the hospital employees. “And I’m watching this unfold and thinking to myself.”

After that whole descriptive detour, he finally brought Anri to the answer. “Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida are engaging in this meaningless rope crossing. So I wonder, How will they react if I light both ends of the rope on fire?”

“…?!”

Instantly, Anri felt as though something were clutching her heart. Her chest squeezed hard, like it was trying to force as much blood as possible to her brain.

Despite not moving an inch, her breath was racing as she asked, voice trembling, “Why…why would you do such a thing?”

His answer was very simple and the sort of thing that anyone who knew Izaya Orihara would consider to be totally true to his character: “I just want to see it. I want to know what they’ll do in that situation.”

This time, she really did tense up. The same chill she’d felt on that night in Shinjuku raced up her spine.

“If they safely get off that rope, it just means the same old situation will continue. Yes, everything will wrap up nice and neat, but to me, that means we’re losing sight of their true human nature. I do love boys and girls living peaceful, safe lives, of course…but I want to see what might happen with Ryuugamine and Kida because of who they are.”

“I don’t understand. What…what meaning could there be…? What purpose are you fulfilling by…?”

Anri’s mind was full not of anger or despair but of pure confusion. She couldn’t understand Izaya. She was simply unable to fathom his logic of doing something because he “wanted to see it happen.”

It was like a serial killer saying, “I killed because the sky is blue.” Anri Sonohara could not adjust the signal of her logical antenna to pick up the channel that Izaya operated on. Perhaps their wavelengths were farther apart than different channels. Maybe they were more like analog signal versus digital or even television and radio.

“What meaning? Well, let’s see: curiosity, inquisitiveness, pleasure. You can call me whatever you want, but whenever I’m asked that question, I always say these things. In fact, I’m pretty sure I said this before.”

Then, with an invincible smile, Izaya revealed the pure, honest truth of his heart.

“It’s because I love people.”

“…”

In the absence of any response from Anri, he continued, proud and clear.

“I love people. I’m in love with humanity.”

With a smile of all-encompassing benevolence directed to empty space, he murmured, “When people all over the world do things, no matter how foolish those around them believe them to be, no matter how hideous and detestable, I will accept and cherish them all. With one specific exception.”

It was a monologue for the benefit of the world at large.

“So why wouldn’t I believe it’s okay to do anything to the people of the world?”

“The result is that I can love everyone equally—even the girl who so hated me that she sought me out to kill me in revenge.”

At that moment—Tokyo

At first glance, she was like any other girl you’d see walking around the shopping district. But the dark shadows lurking in her eyes created tension in the air around her and sent signals to keep your distance.

Her name was Manami Mamiya.

While her given name meant “sea of love,” the only thing that filled the seas within her mind was hatred—for Izaya Orihara.

The man who had lied to her and completely dismissed everything she was.

It had the effect of preventing her suicide, so she could’ve chosen to be grateful to him—but nothing in her mind had moved forward an inch from the moment that she made the decision to kill herself.

Instead of moving forward, her life had taken a sideways turn down a detour of hatred for Izaya Orihara. She didn’t even remember why she wanted to die in the first place. Whatever that reason was, it didn’t matter to her anymore.

Not only did he trick her, he also mocked her for choosing the route of death. He tore apart her everything.

Until that moment, her hatred had not been pointed at any target. She didn’t even care enough to hate herself or hate the world.

But in the karaoke room that day, the moment she had heard what the man who had given her the sleeping pills said, a surge of hatred burst forth that had never existed in her before.

“It’s love. I don’t feel any love in your deaths. And that’s wrong. You must love death. You don’t have enough respect for nothingness. And I’m not going to die with you after a sorry answer like that.”

Those words, the last thing she’d heard before she blacked out, had been etched deep into Manami’s soul. She remembered staring back at him and swearing that she would kill him.

His words and hers repeated themselves in her mind, over and over, until the hatred she felt came to define her very reason for living.

Perhaps this was how, when she saw the news on TV that Izaya Orihara had been stabbed, she’d been able to exhibit such an unbelievable proactivity. In a single day, she had identified the hospital where he had been staying, bought a knife at a home goods center and hid it in her bag, then took a ride on the Shinkansen train.

But her blade did not succeed at tearing into Izaya’s heart. Instead, Manami found herself pinned down—not that it did anything to dull her furious, endless hatred of the man she meant to kill.

And there, he suggested to her:

“Do you have a job right now? Do you feel like maybe helping out with my work? It’s getting harder to keep on top of all the little details with just Namie. And I’d imagine it’ll give you many more opportunities to kill me, don’t you think?”

Manami recalled his words and the smug smile he wore and clenched her jaw.

What had he been hoping she would do? Nod and say yes? Scream at him and struggle, trying to stab him with her knife? Or would he have been satisfied at last if she’d laughed and slit her own throat to finally commit suicide?

Manami silently agreed with all those choices and repudiated Izaya.

Izaya Orihara would have been equally happy with any of those actions or anything else.

He loved humanity.

He loved the action and thought humanity brought together, regardless of the end result.

Malice and benevolence, stupidity and sagacity, all in equal measures.

It took just a few days for Manami to understand this. It made her nauseous.

Loving everything equally is no different from loving nothing at all. Love is a selfish thing. It is merely a tool that widens the divide between one and all the rest.

That was an extreme opinion in its own right, but it was how she felt.

As far as reasons for killing another person went, having one’s opinions negated was a very rash and shallow one. But for a woman who gave up on her life for reasons she didn’t even remember, this was perhaps just a natural way of seeing things.

She worked as Izaya Orihara’s pawn, her contempt made clear at every turn. The whole time, her every thought was on how to inflict the most pain on him.

That was what brought her to this place, at this moment. To a cheaply built apartment fairly close to Ikebukuro. The door opened, revealing a girl.

“Oh. Manami, right? What brings you here?”

It was a young woman with long, flowing black hair—Haruna Niekawa. She was smiling, albeit with a note of discord.

“To play a prank on Izaya,” Manami stated flatly.

She already knew about Saika. As a matter of fact, she’d seen the people Haruna had sliced and now controlled. But there wasn’t a sliver of fear in Manami’s eyes as she looked at the woman capable of such things. It was rare that she felt anything anymore, aside from malicious hatred toward Izaya Orihara.

“Sounds like you’ve got it tough. What exactly were you thinking of?” Haruna asked, chuckling.

“I came here to steal something very precious to Izaya. That’s all,” the other girl offered.

Haruna’s eyes narrowed just a bit. “And…how serious are you about this? Because today is my turn to guard the luggage.”

“It’s easy. Just say that I tricked you and said that Izaya told me to come and get it. That’s all,” Manami said.

Haruna’s mouth hung open for a moment, then twisted. “Ha-ha… And what am I supposed to get out of doing that?”

It was a very reasonable question, and again Manami showed no hesitation in answering, “If you don’t have to guard it, that just gives you that much more time, doesn’t it?”

“…”

“Time you might spend searching for someone, perhaps?”

In fact, it was an ideal transaction for Haruna. Aside from when she used Saika for Izaya’s sake, nearly all of Haruna’s time was spent guarding the “luggage.”

Almost as though it would be a bad thing if she had free rein.

“Fine. I’ll let you fool me.”

“Good… Thank you, Haruna,” replied Manami, flat faced. Haruna said no more and leaned against the side wall of the hallway.

Naturally, such an excuse would hold no water at all in a normal social structure. She’d be asked, “Why didn’t you call Izaya directly to get confirmation?”

But such common sense did not apply to the group Izaya collected. All Haruna had to say was, “I trusted the woman Izaya brought into the group,” and that was that. Perhaps Izaya had actually inducted Manami into the group with the anticipation of actions such as this.

In any case, Haruna decided that she would allow Manami to go about her business and pretend she knew nothing about it.

Several minutes later, after she had seen Manami off with the “luggage,” Haruna made plans of her own to leave.

Haruna followed Izaya’s orders out of her desire to see the man she loved: Takashi Nasujima. He had once been her teacher and so much more than that.

She needed to reach him, to tell him about her love.

Takashi…

She remembered just how broad his back was and thought about how badly she wanted to thrust the blade that was the symbol of her love into it. Into his muscular neck; his curved collarbone; his shining eyes; his fingers, slender for a man’s.

She wanted to run her blade through them all, over and over, telling him of her love through Saika. And when that dear man’s eyes were red, too, she would give him a blade, and he could carve Haruna’s body in return.

They would pour their love into each other through the blade of Saika.

It might look like a horrifying battle to the death to any observer, but to Haruna, it looked like a kind of love that no other human being could hope to experience.

Her whole body throbbed with the excitement of her imagination, and she headed to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water.

No. Not yet. You must leave the pleasure for the very end.

As she left the house, her refreshed face wore a diseased smile.

Free again, for the first time in ages, to do what she wanted to do.

To sift through the bustle of the city for the one she was dying to see again.

Raira General Hospital

Meanwhile, the owner of the original Saika, facing off against Izaya, still couldn’t move a muscle.

He just…isn’t normal. I need to cut him, right away! Or else Ryuugamine—! And Kida—! her mind screamed. But she couldn’t take the first step to act on this.

She was afraid.

She was afraid of Izaya’s confidence, in the way he smiled at this distance, even though he knew what she was capable of doing to him. As though he knew he had some trick that would keep her at bay, like that time he pulled out a gun.

At the same time, a question appeared in her mind: Should I really cut him?

Saika’s control was not absolute. Like Haruna Niekawa, some could overpower Saika’s words of love and refuse their status as her “children.”

It sounded nice if you said they “returned to being human” or “overcame the supernatural control,” but the problem was that it was possible for them to use Saika’s power to their own ends.

Saika’s desire to love people was a pure one. But what if that power of love was added to a human with their own personal desires? And what if a human being like Izaya Orihara happened to gain that kind of power?

The more she thought about it, the more Anri realized she couldn’t just whip out that sword. And she never realized that she was already caught in Izaya’s trap.

“You okay, Anri?” asked Karisawa with concern. She must have noticed the sweat on Anri’s cheeks.

Karisawa didn’t say anything to Izaya. She wasn’t sure if she should intervene in what seemed like an issue between him and Anri.

“…”

Out of nerves, Anri couldn’t reply to Karisawa, either.

So Izaya sighed and said casually, “Do you think I’m insane?”

“…Yes,” she was able to respond. Anri wasn’t able to discern sanity from madness in other people’s minds, but her instinct told her to say yes.

Izaya smirked, his eyes slightly downcast, then glanced back up at Anri with a note of mockery. “You know, I could ask the Black Rider this, too. What is it about you monsters—what right do you have to determine that a human being like me is insane?”

“…”

“You don’t still think you’re human, do you?”

“…!”

That took Anri by surprise.

“Besides, do you even have the right to criticize me? It all started with your katana. Saika, right? The cause of it all was Haruna Niekawa, so it would be wrong to blame you entirely for it. And yet, you should’ve been able to avoid all this chaos.”

Huh? I should have… How?

This should’ve been her place to righteously accuse Izaya Orihara. Why was he the one criticizing her? She was so confused that all she could do was flail about as his words pierced her heart.

“You put distance between yourself and Mikado Ryuugamine and distance between yourself and Masaomi Kida. Didn’t you? You chose to stay back and wait. You had people around you who gave you affection. And you were so pleased with that, you chose to do nothing. You could have made more of a move.”

“No, I…”

She stopped short. She couldn’t truthfully deny what he was saying.

Was he actually right about that? He’d pointed out something she had never considered, and now uncertainty clouded her mind.

Once Izaya detected that the anger in her eyes was wavering, he continued, “To be quite frank, you should have used Saika to cut Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida. Then you would have been able to make them admit everything they were feeling.”

“No…that’s not right! That would be wrong!” she shouted before she could stop herself.

An outpatient down the hallway looked in their direction for a moment, then glanced away again, perhaps assuming Izaya and Anri were just having a romantic quarrel.

Whether Izaya was aware of the public perception of them or not, he certainly played into the image by speaking to her as though calming an angry girlfriend. “Yes, that might be the wrong thing to do in humanistic terms. It might not be something a human being could even do, period.”

“Then—”

“But you’re not human, are you?”

“…!”

He stated it again. Anri could feel her lips and her throat trembling.

When she faced off against him in Shinjuku, he’d said the phrase stupid sword, which she’d taken to mean Saika, the being residing within her. But now she was certain she understood.

He was pointing at Anri Sonohara herself and stating that she was not human.

Anri knew that she was not an ordinary human being. It was why she had been so drawn to Celty, who was alien in many ways and yet lived proudly. It was why she made the decision to be positive about her own life.

So why did his words pierce so deeply into her heart?

“You’re not like Haruna Niekawa. You didn’t have Saika forced into you and overcome it to win back control. You gave up on being human and wished to become one with Saika.”

Anri understood the hurt in fairly short order. It was because there was clear hatred and mockery in Izaya’s words.

“The reason I’m irritated is because you gave up on being human, and now that you’re a monster, you pretend to have troubles just like a human being does.”

He was smiling, just like he had been this whole time. But from Anri’s perspective, there was clear and obvious malice in his words designed to corner her.

“In that tightrope analogy from earlier, you would be an audience member watching safely from your luxury box. You’re the person who’s safe and sound and turning to the other people, saying, ‘Look, that’s dangerous. Isn’t someone going to help them?’ And if they fall, you’re the one who’s going to act like the biggest victim of them all.”

“No…I’m…not…,” she protested, but it was more for herself than anyone else.

“There’s no villain in this situation. Ryuugamine and Kida both made their own decisions and stepped out onto that rope, knowing it would be dangerous. No one is the aggressor, but you’re going to run around screaming that you’re the victim. Even though you had plenty of opportunities to save them.”

“No! I…”

“Are you going to claim you can save them both? You’re going to arrogantly use your monster powers to benevolently save the lowly humans? Well, I don’t know about Kida, but I bet Mikado would love that. He might shoot straight past affection and into worship of you.”

He struck down each and every protest she might have lodged before she could say them, boxing her in, allowing no mental escape.

Then came the finisher.

“Let me tell you something, Anri Sonohara. It’s true that, like you’re fearing, Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida are facing real peril. The situation is much more dangerous than the tightrope act you were imagining.”

“Huh…?”

“And I’m going to make it worse. But you can’t do anything about it. Hey, who knows, maybe you weren’t actually planning to do anything.”

“That’s not…”

She shook her head. The red light was already gone from her eyes. Instead, they were moist with tears as she tried to squeeze in a word edgewise.

But as always, Izaya was ahead of her. It was like he was casting a spell designed to capture inhuman beings like her behind a magical barrier.

“Yes, it is true. Because while I was going on and on about that tightrope analogy, you never once broke in and shouted, ‘Is Mikado really doing something that dangerous?’ You didn’t, did you?”

“…!”

“A normal person, before talking about whether I’m insane or rational, would be more concerned about that, wouldn’t they? That’s just common sense. But before you gave a thought to your friend’s safety, you were preoccupied with your own concerns. You’re such a—”

Pwakk.

Izaya was cut off by a sound like a dry, weak gunshot. Everyone else in the hospital within visual range was looking their way, wondering what had happened.

Being right next to the sound, Anri and Izaya were the first to recognize it.

Karisawa had pulled out a large sales flyer from a fan-run event for selling doujinshi, folded it into an origami popper, then snapped it loudly with her fingers. Before the nurses noticed, she then returned the flyer to her bag and grinned.

“Izaya,” she said. Not Iza-Iza.

“…What is it, Karisawa?” he asked quietly.

“If you make my sweet, young friend cry, I’m going to solder your eyelids shut.”

She gave him a pure, unfiltered smile. In fact, this made it clear that her statement was not a mere threat; it was the truth.

Izaya took a moment to reflect on this, then smirked as he so often did and said, “You know, it’s that human part of you that I love so much, Karisawa. I respect you, even when you’re sticking up for monsters.”

“You do? Thanks. But I’m not going to let you off.”

“Fine, fine. I could go on, but I’ll let your threat stand and back off. After all, I ought to go and check in at the reception desk for the brain surgery unit.”

“Yeah, you ought to get yourself checked out. What if your entire brain just looks like a wily fox’s face?” Karisawa jibed.

He shrugged. “Anyway, if I learn anything about who hit Dotachin, I’ll get in touch. If he wakes up, I’d appreciate if you told him that Izaya actually swung by to pay him a visit.”

Karisawa watched Izaya go in silence. Once he had disappeared around the side of the hallway, she realized that something was gripping the hem of her clothing. She turned around and saw Anri, her head down, hands trembling.

“Karisawa…I…I…”

She wasn’t on the verge of tears. She seemed more in a state of shock than anything. Karisawa put her arms around the stammering girl and hugged her tight.

“Ah…”

It was a warm and enveloping embrace, not an inappropriate act by any means.

“It’s all right. Don’t you worry about it,” Karisawa said, allowing Anri to sink her face into her collarbone.

Anri moaned, “But—but I…I’m actually…”

“That’s just Izaya’s MO. It’s like leading a witness. He said a bunch of things that were meant to mislead you and confuse you, that’s all. If it seemed like he was speaking the truth and making sense, that was just an illusion. He’s like a thief who breaks into your house and then lectures you on how sloppy your defenses are.”

“But, Karisawa…I…I really was going to slash him just now…”

“It’s fine, you’re all right. You can tell me all about it later,” Karisawa said kindly, patting Anri on the back. “I may not know all the details, but I can forgive you for everything right now. Even if you’re some vengeful god of the ancient past, and you destroyed the earth once before, I still forgive you.”

It didn’t sound like your typical message of encouragement, but Anri couldn’t help but be heartened by it.

“…”

She couldn’t even find words of appreciation, however. All she felt was the painful realization of her own mental weakness.

And fright at what she was.

When Izaya vanished around the corner, Saika’s voice had begun to speak up again—and it even turned its “blade of love” on Karisawa, who’d been treating her so gently.

She was holding Saika at bay now, but if she ended up slicing Karisawa, if she gave in to Saika’s desires—the very thought of it filled her with terror.

“You’re a monster,” he had said, standing in judgment of her. Those words stabbed her heart now.

Not just that—all the things he had said to her were true.

Karisawa said they weren’t worth bothering over, but the fact that Anri couldn’t come up with a rebuttal meant they must be true. In her confused state, she was close to believing all of it.

If it hadn’t been for Karisawa’s statement of forgiveness, who knows what might’ve happened to her. Anri felt nothing but gratitude to the other woman—and unfathomable loathing for herself.

But realizing that even after all this, she couldn’t take the option of discarding Saika, the truth sank in that she really was no longer human.

The reason she thought and said that she was fine with being a parasite was nothing more than an excuse to avoid examining herself and what she really was.

Kawagoe Highway—Shinra’s apartment

“Are you all right, Celty?”

Despite the crowded state of Shinra’s apartment, they were alone again in the bedroom, now that Shinra had moved back to his bed.

Celty, now the de facto leader of a strange information-sharing organization, had spent half a day, practically an all-nighter, combining and sorting everyone’s stories and collecting information from the Internet to support them.

That was hard enough, but she also had to spend valuable energy calming Namie and Mika down enough to keep them from destroying each other.

They were fairly well-behaved when Seiji was around, but as soon as he left the room—to use the bathroom, say—they would immediately engage in hostilities.

It was an odd sight, two women hurling needles and trowels at each other as the people around them attempted to get it under control. Ultimately, the only thing that worked was Seiji’s return, at which point they behaved as though nothing had ever happened.

The worst of all was when Seiji had asked to use the shower. Because both Namie and Mika casually attempted to sneak into the shower with him, that led to another massive conflict.

As they watched the drama from a distance, Togusa leaned over to Yumasaki. “You know…I figured you were the type of guy who would yell, ‘Blow up to smithereens, normies,’ in this situation, but you’re taking it pretty well.”

Yumasaki’s head inclined at a curious angle. “What? Why would I care? I mean…they’re both three-dimensional.”

“…Oh. Gotcha,” Togusa said, giving him up for lost.

The whole while, Celty just did her best to be the sole peacekeeper of the room.

Eventually, morning arrived.

The clock hands indicated it was close to noon now, but the others were all asleep in another room, and the raucous noise from yesterday was no more. Yumasaki was watching some kind of summer vacation anime special that was airing in the morning, but the sound of it was as soothing as lapping waves compared to the ruckus that Namie and Mika had produced.

Satisfied that all was calm at last, Celty slumped lifelessly next to Shinra.

“I’m just so tired… There’s no other way to describe it.”

“I’m sorry I saddled you with such a huge role.”

“It’s all right. It’s the first time in a while I felt I was doing something worthwhile. The only problem is, I need to cut down on my courier jobs until things chill out a bit…”

“That’s true. I’ll let Mr. Shiki know about that.”

The mention of Shiki’s name caused Celty to recall something. She typed, “Speaking of which, the Awakusu-kai are chasing Jinnai Yodogiri, too, right?”

“Yeah, but I believe they already cleared it up… Maybe they’ve got some information to use. But if you’re going to ask them, you’d better be careful about it. You never want to stir up more trouble.”

“…Good point. This isn’t just our problem anymore. I’d be involving everyone in this apartment.”

Shinra read her sentence and smiled. “You’re so kindhearted, Celty. You’re much more considerate than a normal human being.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere.” She shrugged, lying on her side.

“Celty, I’m not flattering you,” Shinra said. “The part of you that’s trying to be more human is kinder than any human. It’s why I’m worried. With how you overestimate humanity, I’m afraid that when you see true wickedness, you’ll be so disillusioned with us that you turn into some vengeful demon out to destroy the world.”

But then his worried expression turned into a forceful smile, and lying on his side as well, he said, “Don’t worry, Celty! If you wanted to destroy all humanity, I would turn traitor on my species and assist you! I would be happy to die in your arms as the last remaining human being.”

“That is a very, very convenient fantasy you have. But at any rate, your fears are unfounded,” Celty typed, stretching luxuriously. “I’ve been dealing with the Awakusu-kai and Izaya all this time. How would I despair of humanity at this point? If you’re talking about some kind of mass slaughter or footage from some far-off war, that’s going to affect a lot more people than just me…”

“…Well, I was looking more for a moving reaction to my sentiments, rather than a pragmatic response, to be honest…”

“So you were using me and hoping to get an emotional reaction out of it?”

Oddly enough, the words on her screen even looked exasperated somehow. Shinra glanced away from them and whistled nonchalantly.

“You’re not some little kid!” Celty gave Shinra’s cheek a flick with her finger. “Anyway, I guess I’ll be playing along with your little scheme.”

“Celty…”

“But if I’m going to play along, I want you to get better soon.”

“Why, Celty, I feel as though I’m walking on clouds! My body is bursting with the feeling of pure joy…ow! Aah!” he shrieked, his bones screeching with pain after he attempted to do a little bedridden dance.

“Hey! Don’t push it!”

“Oooh, oww…I’m sorry, Celty. But thank you,” he said, lying down flat again as his pain eased. “I’m sure a bunch of different stuff is going to happen starting today… What were you planning to tackle first?”

“I think I should start with Kasane Kujiragi.”

“Yeah…you’re probably right.”

“First things first. Either she or Seitarou Yagiri has to pay for hurting you…”

As she lay next to Shinra, Celty thought about her distant foe.

Kasane Kujiragi.

A woman who plays at human trafficking using the name of a dead man, Jinnai Yodogiri. And because most of her products are things like me and Saika, the law is less likely to get involved.

Based on the information we’ve got, though, I can’t imagine what kind of person she is. It’s like she’s some evil spirit who lives in a much deeper darkness than we do.

No doubt she’s hiding from the sun right now, plotting her next wicked move.

Ikebukuro—cosplay shop

At the very moment that Celty was thinking, Kasane Kujiragi was indeed staying out of the sun.

But the fluorescent lights were bright enough on their own.

“I’ll take this and this.”

She had brought a very well-made cat-ear headband to the lady at the register. The fur and texture were just like a cat’s, so realistic that if she put it on, the ears looked ready to wiggle.

Because she looked just like a company president’s personal secretary, complete with stony expression and bespectacled good looks, the employee at the register had to wonder if she was actually going to wear it. But the worker was a professional, too, and so did not show a bit of this as she smiled at Kujiragi.

“Thank you, ma’am. Is this a present for someone?”

“No, it’s for me,” Kujiragi said, all business.

In fact, the way she walked around the cosplay shop with her back straight was the personification of the term businesswoman, to the extent that the other customers wondered if she was already in cosplay.

With the cat ears stashed in a bag under her arm, she strode crisply through Ikebukuro’s streets. None of the muscles that formed her facial expression moved, aside from a slight narrowing around the eyes due to the sunlight. She simply walked, in a mechanically steady rhythm, through the crowds on the street.

Her cell phone ringer went off. It was not a custom ringtone or song, just the default setting. When she pressed the button to accept it, Seitarou Yagiri’s voice came through the speaker.

“It’s me. How goes the progress? I can’t connect to Yodogiri’s phone. Do you suppose something happened?”

“Mr. Yodogiri was in a car accident last night. He is listed as in the hospital now,” she said flatly.

The elderly men were nothing more than body doubles to take the place of the real Jinnai Yodogiri, who was long dead. Aside from the body double playing the part of the talent agency president, they didn’t have anything proving their identities, so the man would have been admitted as an unidentified patient.

As far as the Yodogiri playing the company president (who actually possessed the “Jinnai Yodogiri” identity) went, it would likely cause a stir if a man who had gone missing showed up as the victim of an accident, but at this point in time, it meant nothing to Kujiragi.

“What?! What happens to the job I hired him to do, then?!”

“I have taken it over. Our company will make use of all personnel to ensure that the work is carried out.”

“Oh. Th-that’s good, then. You never know if Nebula might interfere, like yesterday. Be careful out there.”

“I understand, Mr. Yagiri,” she said, as professional as she had been over the entire call, and abruptly hung up.

Celty Sturluson’s head and body and Saika.

Jinnai Yodogiri’s final job was to provide all these to Seitarou Yagiri.

Normally, she could’ve simply tossed this piece of work to the wayside, but she wanted a clean cut of all her ties to Jinnai Yodogiri, and so she decided she would see this mission through to its end.

For another reason, she considered that she could use this opportunity to turn the attention of her enemy, the Awakusu-kai, toward another enemy, Izaya Orihara.

Once this was over, and the hostility from the Awakusu-kai had dissipated, what would she do next? It was this question Kujiragi considered as she walked.

She’d been controlling an empty human being named Jinnai Yodogiri all this time and modeling his life. But she wasn’t some perfect machine. She didn’t do all this without any doubts in her mind at anytime.

She just didn’t know any other way to live.

Despite the job being on the seedy underside of society, she didn’t have enough of a reason to seek freedom at the cost of the secure life she was leading now. Plus, her Jinnai Yodogiri system was as solid as bedrock, and she had resigned herself to spending the rest of her life as a machine projecting Jinnai Yodogiri onto the world.

But then something had happened, and the world she’d resigned herself to living in suddenly crumbled all at once.

It was Ruri Hijiribe. The moment arrived when her own niece came into her possession as a “product.”

Upon reflection now, even Kujiragi had her suspicions about whether or not she had any personal emotion in the idea of bringing Ruri into this side of the world. In fact, when she had learned that a woman with the same blood as her was living happily and chasing her dreams, Kasane did feel a slight bit of jealousy—if not murderous, hateful rage.

As evidence of that, even after seeing the girl turned into a “product” and plunged into misfortune, Kasane did not feel any lightening of her mood. Neither did she have any reason to rescue Ruri Hijiribe from her plight while the Jinnai Yodogiri activities continued, and so she figured the situation would continue.

But when the elderly body double and her clients banded together to murder Ruri Hijiribe’s father, that took her by surprise. And she never would have dreamed that Ruri would turn into the masked killer Hollywood in search of revenge for her father’s death.

Yet when the girl who’d been working as a movie effects artist donned her own special makeup on a quest for vengeance, the only thing Kasane Kujiragi felt was a faint whiff of longing.

Despite all the pitfalls, all the personal misfortune, she still clung to that idea of a dream. There was nothing that Kasane ever fixated on that way. Even her position pulling the strings behind Jinnai Yodogiri wasn’t something she got because she wanted it.

As the shell of Jinnai Yodogiri began to break around her, she started to see her own dream through the cracks.

The woman who seemed so much like an unfeeling automaton did indeed have her own dreams. The dream of finding her own dream, in fact—like the punch line of some poetic fairy tale.

So she carried out her daily life, possessed with this recursive idea of dreaming to find a dream. Until half a day ago, when that life was shattered to pieces.

By the introduction of Izaya Orihara, a clearly hostile enemy.

The first thought she had about Izaya, who acknowledged her as his foe, was boundless gratitude.

Now the light of the morning sun that burned her skin and eyes was different somehow. Her flesh was prickling, as though ready to burn, but it no longer pained her at all.

At last, she had time to relax and think about what she ought to do. When she finished Seitarou Yagiri’s job and received her payment, perhaps she would travel somewhere. Another good option would be to finish things once and for all with Shinichi Tsukumoya, the pest who’d been interfering with her work for around ten years now.

However, to fulfill Seitarou’s job, she needed to obtain the dullahan’s head and body. At worst, she could branch the Saika she owned now and hand that over instead.

Shizuo Heiwajima was held at bay by her direct “child” within the police force, but once this was all settled, he could be set free. After all, if guided properly, he might be a very good trump card for her against Izaya.

But based on the fact there’d been no contact from Slon, it seemed fair to guess that the plan to kidnap Izaya had failed. He was still on the loose somewhere.

With that in mind, Kujiragi thought it over and headed to a nearby park, where she picked out a tree at random to lean against. Then she pulled out an Ikebukuro tourism magazine and began to very seriously pore over the information provided about local spots.

She flipped through the magazine quickly, apparently having decided that Izaya’s freedom was no reason to limit her own. She folded the corners of the pages for a café that allowed customers to interact with a bunch of cats, and the butler café Swallowtail, re-examining the contents.

She indulged in two visions at this time.

One was herself, wearing the cat-ear headband she’d just bought, rolling around with a bunch of actual cats.

The other was herself, being called “Mistress” by a variety of smooth and capable butlers.

In those visions, she was completely stone-faced. And likewise, her own expression was just as steely as she imagined these scenes.

Should she play with the cats or head to the butler café and hope that someone had dropped their reservation so she could get inside?

Clearly, the choice was a difficult one. She stayed in the corner of the park, exuding her weird vibe and ensuring no one wanted to get any closer.

Kawagoe Highway—Shinra’s apartment

As her archenemy waffled between the choice of cats and butlers, Celty recalled something else she’d been worried about and rose to a sitting position next to Shinra.

“What is it, Celty?”

“I just realized that I forgot something… There was so much that happened yesterday, it must’ve slipped my mind. But I need to tell you.”

And then she told him what she knew about the situation between Mikado and Masaomi: that the Dollars and Yellow Scarves were set up to clash in a different way than before. That both Mikado and Masaomi were aware of each other’s presence.

But both of them had their own ideas in mind and believed that crushing the other group was an unavoidable part of that. To make matters more complicated, Mikado had received a request to find Haruna Niekawa, and Akabayashi of the Awakusu-kai had added a warning of his own.

That warning from the Awakusu-kai was the worst part of all.

Akabayashi was the most easygoing of the principal Awakusu-kai officers—even approachable, in a way. But that did not mean he was a “good person.” He was a yakuza for a reason.

Celty’s biggest concern was what would happen if members of the Dollars started dealing drugs behind Mikado’s back. Given Akabayashi’s known loathing of drugs, and how he viewed such dealing in his turf, the results were as apparent as daylight.

“Honestly, as long as the Dollars and Yellow Scarves aren’t involved, I think they should find a nice riverbank in the sunset and beat each other up…but it doesn’t seem like all the other factors would allow for that to happen. Especially not Mikado.”

“You mean Aoba Kuronuma…? I guess I really should’ve slit his neck when I had the chance.”

“No jokes about violence, thanks,” Celty typed, framing it as a joke on purpose, because she knew he was half-serious.

Neither of them had any idea how to resolve that situation peacefully. Was Mikado correct, and did both the Dollars and Yellow Scarves need to be utterly destroyed so that their relationship could be rebuilt from scratch?

But that can’t be it. That’s not the right way.

Celty then wondered why she felt it was wrong. Perhaps the answer, if she found it, might lead to inspiration for a different solution.

But the answer she got created not an alternative but fresh headaches.

“Anri.”

“Huh?”

“What Mikado’s trying to do…to destroy everything and start over, doesn’t include Anri. That’s what’s wrong. I don’t think it’s the right way,” she told Shinra, her fingers slowly, hesitantly typing her thoughts. “I know just how worried she is about Mikado and Kida. So the idea that they’d totally ignore her feelings and destroy all the strings that bind the two boys together is just not…”

She stopped there to show Shinra. She could have typed more but felt bad about criticizing Mikado…but eventually she gave in and did so anyway.

“It’s just too selfish of him.”

Shinra looked up and smiled at her.

“You’re so kind, Celty,” he mumbled, staring at her neck with affection. “I love that about you.”

It was a serious statement, not like the ones he usually made as a means of saying hello.

“Wwhhaaar id thifallufhasufig”

She meant to type “What is this all of a sudden?” but something in his tone caused her fingers to tremble and slip.

“…Uh, sorry, I appreciate that…but I can’t help but be a little self-conscious when you say that with so many people here, if not in the room with us…”

If she had the same body structure as a human being, her skin would be flushed all over. If she had a head and a face, she might’ve turned away with pink cheeks.

“Now I won’t be able to sleep, dummy. Hang on… I’m going to see if Anri’s in the usual chat room. She seems to find it easier to talk there than through texting. I’ll go check up on her through the guise of small chat.”

Having forced the topic of conversation back to more practical matters, Celty felt calm enough now to admit, “I’m uncertain, too. Mikado asked me to keep this all secret from Anri…but I don’t know if it’s right to keep her out of the loop on everything.”

“Yeah…that’s a tough one. I’m not sure if it’s right to tell her or not, either. I’m sure Izaya would do it without a moment’s hesitation. And in the way designed to cause the most anxiety, too,” Shinra muttered, completely unaware that Izaya had been fanning Anri’s smoldering unease just moments before.

The idea made Celty oddly uneasy, too. She opened up the laptop nearby and deftly typed into the PDA with her other hand.

“Good point. Anri’s a tough girl, but she’s also very hard on herself… If we’re going to bring her into the fold, we need to do it gingerly.”

It was a sentiment that anyone familiar with Anri’s present state of mind would find tragically hollow.

Cosplay shop, Ikebukuro—at that moment

“I’m very sorry, that product is sold out for the day…”

“Oh, I see… Thank you for your help,” said Anri to the employee as she left the shop.

It had been a few hours since she’d interacted with Izaya, and only now was she regaining her composure. The thought of what would’ve happened if Karisawa hadn’t been there gave her the shivers. If it had just been her alone with Izaya, something awful would’ve happened to her by now.

Karisawa had listened to all the things bubbling up from fear and anxiety within Anri, and accepted it all. Anri found it strange that the other girl could be so kind and understanding and had asked her why.

The other girl had smiled gently and brushed her forehead against Anri’s.

“Grown women take the side of the cute. When you get to be my age, even cool things count as cute. It doesn’t matter if you’re human or not. It’s whether you laugh at the same things and cry at the same things.

“You’re a cute girl with a good smile, Anri, and you’re so sad about this business between you and your friends that you’re about to cry. So you’re fine, kid. I’ll still accept you for who you are, even if nobody else does.

“All this stuff about whether you’re human or not? Dotachin and Togupyon don’t care, either. And I bet Yumacchi would be even happier, actually. Listen, even I’m happy about that. Mikado and Kida will be fine with it. I bet they know how kind you are way, way, way better than we do.”

Despite being trapped in her own concern for Kadota’s condition, Karisawa spent a full hour on the couch in the hospital hallway talking her through her problems. Relief flooded Anri, as much as, if not more so than, when she spoke with Celty.

There was someone out there who knew her well and still accepted her. That was all it took for a great weight to be lifted off her mind.

“As far as Mikapuu goes, I’m going to get to a spot where I can use my phone, and I’ll connect to the Dollars’ board to look for info. So in return, can I ask you to run an errand for me?”

Karisawa went ahead and asked Anri for a favor, perhaps thinking that a bit of fresh air would help improve her mood.

“I bet that when Dotachin opens his eyes, it’d really cheer him up if all the girls were wearing cat ears.”

She had then handed Anri cash and a note with directions to the cosplay shop, where she was meant to buy some cat-ear headbands.

But the headbands were sold out. Since she said “for the day,” they must’ve just stocked up that morning. She considered looking at other stores, but Anri didn’t know anything about cosplay shops or where she should go, so she ended up simply wandering around the area.

It seemed like there were many businesses around here involving manga and anime, Anri thought, as she stared at the signs on her way.

Shiver.

A sudden gust of chill wind shot up her back.

Huh? What’s this…feeling? Is someone watching me?

The phrase to feel someone’s gaze was a very, very old one, but this was the first time that Anri had ever felt the sensation of knowing that someone was watching her.

Then again, it may have been more accurate to say that it was Saika that noticed it, not Anri. The voices of the swords in her mind abruptly began to stir, racing all throughout Anri’s being in what was either joyful welcome or absolute rejection.

Something’s there.

Someone’s there.

Someone with a connection to her, or possibly Saika, was watching her from very close by, the sensation told her.

Don’t look.

Don’t turn around, she had told herself.

Every cell in her body was screaming in warning, but Anri made her mistake.

She turned toward the gaze.

And then, when she saw the shadow approaching directly toward her, Anri thought, Is this really coincidence?

Or are she and I, and perhaps Mikado and Masaomi, all just trapped in the vortex of one giant event?

The eerie spiraling feeling left it very hard to chalk this up to happenstance alone.

Meanwhile, Haruna Niekawa, whose appearance alone had put this thought into Anri’s head, came to a stop a short distance away from Anri, a sick smile on her beautiful face, silky black hair swaying in the breeze.

On a sidewalk in the busy city, two girls stood in place as pedestrians streamed around them.

Anri couldn’t find any words to say. Haruna Niekawa quietly smiled and said in a voluptuous voice, “It’s been a while, Sonohara.”

It was the most Anri could do to say, “Miss…Niekawa.”

And so Haruna, one of Saika’s children, approached Anri empty-handed and whispered into her ear, “Will you come with me to that park over there?”

“Huh…?”

“I don’t mind starting right here…but I’m guessing you wouldn’t want so many people to see, would you?”

Anri instantly understood what it was that Niekawa wanted to start.

Because despite the pleasant tones of her voice, it clearly contained a competitive streak against Anri—and a boundless desire to kill.

Chat room

.

.

.

Kuru: At any rate, do you suppose this could be a step toward a world-changing revolution? The denizens of the cyber-seas seem to largely take it as a simple prank, but I can tell. This is not a prank. I’m certain it is the real thing.

Kuru: Many different pieces of footage have purported to be evidence of supernatural phenomena, but I believe the reason they seem so suspect is that all of them were only captured by a single camera!

Mai: That’s right.

Kuru: If you had a second camera, capturing the same moment from a completely different angle, showing the moment that a ghost or monster appeared, it would be so much more significant. In the same way that a single person’s eyewitness testimony can be written off as a trick of the eyes, any single-camera footage can be dismissed as edited!

Kuru: Which makes this particular case so valuable!

Kuru: They don’t show it directly on TV, and the corporate and news-owned websites place a mosaic over it—but on video and image sites and social media networks like Twittia, many different people are uploading their own videos and pictures!

Kuru: At this point, I believe we might as well say that it is all true!

Kuru: On this very day, “something” has appeared in Ikebukuro at last!

Mai: I’m scared.

Kuru: There is nothing to be afraid of. Together, we can stand up to any danger. And as long as we die together, I will be fulfilled, Mai.

Mai: I’m so happy.

Mai: Kiss.

Mai: Ouch.

Mai: I got pinched.

Setton has entered the chat.

Setton: Hello.

Setton: It’s been a while.

Setton: It looks like Saika…isn’t here.

Setton: I guess I should just send a text.

Kuru: Well, well, if it isn’t one of our forebears and guides into the great chat room, Setton. It is an honor to meet you once again.

Setton: You seem as excitable as ever.

Mai: Hello.

Setton: So, um, what happened?

Setton: Maybe I should scroll back through the log.

Kuru: Oh my. You must not be aware yet, Setton. Although the rumors only began to spread about the Internet in the last thirty minutes, so I suppose you cannot be blamed for not hearing… In fact, the ability of the news to disseminate this far in just thirty minutes speaks to the incredible power of Twittia, I suppose.

Mai: It’s scary.

Kuru: But at any rate, I would recommend turning on the news as a quicker means than scrolling through the backlog or Twittia.

Setton: The news?

Kuru: Yes, the noon news program should be starting soon. I expect that Daioh TV will have a special segment on it…

Setton: Well, I still don’t know what you’re talking about…

Setton: But I suppose I’ll check it out.

Kawagoe Highway—Shinra’s apartment

Celty was curious about what the girls were raving about in the chat room, so she took her laptop out to the living room where the TV was.

The other people had finished their sleep and begun to gather. Yumasaki had finished watching his summer vacation anime special and was channel surfing. When he noticed that Celty had come into the room, he smiled and asked, “You’re up now, Celty? Or have you been awake the whole time?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t get to sleep. Do you mind if I change the channel?”

“Um, how can I mind it? It’s your TV! Please feel free.”

“Thanks.”

She took the remote and changed the channel. Up to this point, things were still within the range of peacefulness. Although she was worried about Namie, as long as Seiji was paying attention, she wouldn’t try anything reckless.

So Celty turned the TV to the Daioh News channel without much trepidation.

However, the news she was about to witness immediately dragged her, and all the ordinary citizens of the city, into the realm of the surreal.

“I’m here outside the Ikebukuro Station east gate, at the scene of the incident.”

The image on the TV was of the familiar entrance to Ikebukuro Station. Only there were vinyl sheets put up over a portion of it, inserting a note of foreboding.

What’s this? Was there an attacker?

Given the times, Celty began to fear that someone she knew had been hurt.

Instantly, she learned that her fear was unfounded. On her laptop, which she’d set down on the table, Kuru had pasted a link. It was directed at an image board of some kind.

She clicked on the link right as the newscaster began speaking, and she noticed the chyron on the TV screen.

“It was right here in this crowded rotary, as though designed to affect the largest number of people possible, that around eleven o’clock this morning, someone threw a woman’s head into the crowd.”

Huh?

The chyron on the screen read: Madness in broad daylight! Woman’s head at Ikebukuro Station.

Whuh? She gawped and slowly lowered her gaze to the screen of the laptop. An image burned itself into the part of Celty’s shadow that governed her sense of sight and, from there, into her mind itself.

In the image, which appeared to have been taken by an ordinary phone camera, a woman’s severed head sat atop the asphalt.

Everyone in the room looked at one girl.

Mika Harima.

The severed head looked terrifyingly similar to her own face.

Celty was the only one who didn’t turn and look.

She understood the instant she saw the image.

It was a picture of her own head.

Her face, the object she’d been on that long, long quest to recover, was now being shown to the entire world through the Internet.

She crumpled, toppled to the floor—and fell unconscious, deaf to the voices of everyone present.