Durarara!! - Volume 9 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Fleabrain

Early August, night, Ikebukuro, in a park

“The…goddamn hell! Did that son of a bitch send you?!”

Along with this enraged statement, an illegally parked motorcycle was lifted high into the air.

There were no cranes or forklifts present, merely a man lifting over two hundred pounds of metal with absolute ease, using nothing other than his own muscles. Another young man fell to the ground in shock. The silhouette of the powerful man, backlit by the lights of the park, must have looked like a grim omen of death.

“N-no, wait, easy, easy, buh-buh-bud-buddy—,” the young man stammered, his teeth rattling.

Temples twitching, bike held aloft, Shizuo Heiwajima said, “What’d you say? Bloody? Don’t worry—you’re about to get bloody, all right…”

“Calm down, Shizuo. He’s honestly gonna die if you throw it at him. And that’s an expensive machine. It’s not a fair punishment for illegal parking,” said a resigned voice near the bike-wielding incarnation of death and violence.

This other man had distinctive dreadlocks, and behind him was a white woman with knockout proportions and a flat expression.

“It’s stupid for you to become a murderer just because the guy dropped his name. Isn’t that right?” he continued without much force

Despite that, Shizuo relented and lowered the motorcycle to the ground.

“…Yeah.”

His fury at the quaking youth was still there, though. He glared at his prey as if the act would allow him to clench the boy’s heart in his hands.

Tom Tanaka, the man with dreads and glasses, cut between the two and bowed to the rider quite anticlimactically. “Sorry about startling you like that.”

“Er, uh, wha—?” The sitting duck gaped, his body trembling as he struggled to understand. He looked like an ordinary college student, except that he had three cell phones, one in his shirt pocket and two on either hip. It was pretty clear he wasn’t leading a perfectly innocent life.

Tom’s brow furrowed. “But you’ve got your own problems, man. I have no idea what you thought you were doing, but you had to have done your research before crossing him, right? How could you possibly think that saying, ‘You know Izaya Orihara? You guys are good friends, huh?’ was a good idea? On top of that, you never ask a question to a stranger that way, because he’s gonna think you’re picking a fight! Got that?!”

“S-sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry!” the young man groveled.

Behind Tom, Shizuo was calming down, his breathing steady again. He glared at the kid.

“So…what was that about me and the fleabrain?”

“S-s-suh-suh-suhhy!”

He was so freaked out that he couldn’t even pronounce the word sorry. Only by averting his eyes from Shizuo was he able to regain enough composure to speak with understandable clarity.

“I, uh, I am not your enemy! If—if—if anything, we’ve got a score to settle with that Izaya guy, too… And we’re looking for him now!”

“What…?”

“Er, I mean, the leader of our group, it turns out that Izaya had messed with his girlfriend…s-so he’s goin’ crazy trying to track the guy down!”

“So, what’d you wanna ask me?”

Several minutes later, they were in a quiet spot deeper in the park for easier discussion.

“R-right, well, we’ve been…uh…looking for information on this Izaya Orihara asshole…but he’s real hard to figure out, and we have no idea where he is…”

“Hell, I wish I knew where to find him. Then I could pulverize his skull myself…”

The Caucasian woman, Vorona, chimed in flatly, “A proposal of curiosity since ancient times exists. Is Izaya Orihara a life-form classified as a hated and fated foe of Sir Shizuo?”

“No, Izaya Orihara is a fleabrain because he’s like a parasite. He sneaks up on you, and before you realize it, he sucks your blood. You gotta be careful that he doesn’t latch on to you.”

“Understanding is complete. Acceptance and acknowledgment have completed simultaneously,” she said, which was about the longest and strangest way anyone had ever said, “I see,” and then filed the definition of Izaya Orihara away in their mental dictionary.

As a matter of fact, when she had been running odd jobs with her partner Slon, she’d taken on a contract from Izaya to hurt Anri Sonohara—but Vorona was so disinterested in her clients that she either forgot his name and face or never knew them to begin with.

Thus, she registered the name Izaya Orihara under the nickname “Fleabrain,” not realizing her own odd connection to the man.

Meanwhile, the young man interjected, eager to please, “Y-yeah! Yeah, exactly! He’s a real piece of shit, this Izaya guy! The boss is super-pissed! He wants to kill him for stealin’ his girl!”

Tom promptly threw some cold water on that idea. “Listen, I get that he’s mad about losing his girlfriend, but would you mind not involving us in your murder fantasies or whatever? Shizuo already loses his composure enough just by hearing the guy’s name.”

“…Don’t worry. If I grind him into a bloody pulp, I’ll make sure to do it in a way that doesn’t cause trouble for you, or Vorona, or the rest of the company,” Shizuo assured him, quite serious.

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Tom snapped. “First of all, you can’t do that without ‘causing trouble’ for us, and like I keep telling you, there’s no reason to throw your life away over a total scoundrel like him!”

“…Listen, if the fleabrain’s going to kick the bucket somewhere that I can’t see him, that’s fine…”

To no one’s benefit, Vorona chimed in, “If I carry out the assassination, there’s a high confidence that the evidence will reach a negative amount. Multiple methods exist to exterminate the pest Izaya.”

Shizuo met this bloodcurdling suggestion with a raised eyebrow. “C’mon, you shouldn’t say stuff like that, even as a joke,” he said, ignoring the fact that he himself had just mentioned murdering Izaya multiple times.

He patted Vorona on the head and said, “I appreciate the sentiment, though. Thanks.”

“…”

Vorona looked up at him in silence, then averted her eyes.

Shizuo and Vorona kinda seem like they’re having…a moment? Tom thought, conflicted about the combination of friendly interaction and conversation topic. I don’t know if this qualifies as a good moment, but…I guess it is? Or am I wrong?

Even further out of the loop was the stranger, who decided to break the growing silence by bowing to Shizuo and returning the discussion to the topic at hand.

“Um…so…um…I don’t expect you know where to find him, but…if you’ve fought with Izaya Orihara, maybe you’d know some tics of his, or patterns, or something like a weakness that we could exploit?”

“Weakness? You don’t need a weakness. Just find that skinny-ass fleabrain and beat the crap out of him until he’s dead. But…like a flea, I suppose he’s really good at speeding away. The only one who could catch him was Shishizaki back in high school… That’s right, ever since high school… Ahhh, the way that filthy flea was always jumping and hopping around…!”

Anger welled up in Shizuo’s eyes as his reminiscing took him further into the past, muttering to himself.

“Um…uh-huh…,” said the young man, who sensed danger and tried to wrap up their conversation so he could withdraw.

* * *

Then another voice split the night, one totally at odds with Shizuo’s.

“Vooo-rooo-naaa! Good eveni-yaah!”

With an odd combination of greeting and combat shout, a slender figure leaped on Vorona from behind.

“…”

Vorona blocked the attacker’s leg in silence and threw the person to the ground with one flowing motion. However, in the instant the attacker touched the ground, Vorona’s arms were suddenly empty, the mystery figure flipping in the air to land upright.

“Tch! So much for my plan to squeeze Vorona from behind!” said Mairu, laughing.

Kururi trotted up behind her and quickly bowed to the group. “…Night…” [Good evening.]

“I considered a need to ask before exchanging evening greetings. Why did you leap upon me and attempt to grapple? It is possible I would eliminate you by force. That is danger.”

“It’s just a little physical closeness! You’re such a force of eroticism, I figure we ought to take inspiration from each other to up our games! And you’re so strong, you know? So I want to attack you to find out which of us is tougher. I’d be fine with taking you to the ground or being taken myself. Really, I just want to touch your skin to see how smooth it is. Can I just touch it? Please?”

“It is unclear what you are saying. I request you release an explanation,” Vorona said, confused.

Rather than answer her, Mairu waved to Shizuo. “Hey, Shizuo! Hi there! Sorry, I tried to waste dear Brother Iza today and failed!”

Right at that instant, the young man’s eye twitched. “Brother Eeza?”

He mulled over the meaning of this unfamiliar phrase, repeating it to himself—until a furious voice drowned out his own.

“Hey…why do you have three cell phones…?”

“Huh?”

The man turned to see Shizuo, his eyes flashing so dangerously you could actually tell through the sunglasses. He was so menacing that he could’ve been ready to attack at any moment.

“A guy walking around with three or four phones makes me think about that fleabrain… You aren’t getting up to some shady shit like him, are you? Actually, don’t answer that; I can just crush you to a pulp anyway…”

“W-wait, hang on…”

“If you don’t want that to happen, then disappear in the next three seconds…got that…?”

Just before Shizuo could start with one, the kid turned on his heel and sped out of the park like a rabbit.

The twins and Vorona looked extremely nonplussed. Tom, however, got the picture. He patted Shizuo kindly on the shoulder.

“See? That was nice. Sure, he probably thinks you’re crazy for snapping at him over having three phones, but at least he’ll keep a safe distance from you in the future.”

“…That’s not what I was doing. I honestly did get mad because it reminded me of that fleabrain,” Shizuo replied. He turned to Kururi and Mairu and warned them, “Don’t wander around the town for a while. Best not to advertise that you’re the fleabrain’s family.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“…Mystery…” [Why do you say that?]

Shizuo gritted his teeth in annoyance. “It seems like that moronic fleabrain is up to something again.”

Then he paused, unsure of whether to continue or not. He clucked his tongue. “Look, I don’t wanna say this to you, but if push comes to shove, he’d happily abandon you two to save his own skin, in my opinion. Sorry if you disagree with me there. But I’m worried about you. You need to be able to protect yourselves.”

For a moment, he worried that he was stepping outside of his comfort zone with that statement. The next moment, Kururi and Mairu each grabbed an arm.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he demanded.

Mairu cackled, and Kururi merely smiled. “So, you’re secretly really nice, huh, Shizuo?”

“…Respect…” [It’s wonderful.]

“I knew it! So is Yuuhei’s kindness actually something he got from you?”

“Knock it off! Don’t compare me to Kasuka. It’s not fair to him!” Shizuo snapped, both arms still held tight by the teenage girls.

“Requesting proximity from Sir Shizuo. Arm-related bonds diminish efficacy of work. It is impossible to understand why you undertake these actions,” said Vorona, trying to separate the girls from Shizuo.

Tom watched the humorous scene with a shake of his head and scratch of his cheek. “Things sure are lively over here.

“…Let’s just hope that nothing ends up happening.”

At that moment, Ikebukuro, building rooftop

“Nice to see you again, courier.”

Under a faded black sky, where the neon lights of the city erased any trace of the stars, Celty was shrouded in a darkness so deep that even the bright lights could not penetrate it. Standing opposite her and waving was Izaya.

“How’s Shinra doing? He was getting treatment with Nebula’s latest equipment, so I figure he’ll recover faster than if you’d taken him to Raira General Hospital. Or…depending on how the home recuperation is going, I guess that could be worse.”

“…Where did you hear all that?”

“Hey, I have my own information network. Feel free to imagine that I have spies within Nebula, if that will help you—but I doubt it will do you much good. I mean, just finding a spy isn’t going to change anything.”

It was the exact same Izaya whom Celty had always seen when he hired her to run jobs for him. And it was this fact that made her so annoyed.

Shinra claimed this man for a friend. And even though Shinra had been terribly hurt, and Izaya knew all about it, he was acting the same way he always did.

“If you were behind that attack on Shinra, then I think it’s quite useful to find your spies,” she wrote, channeling that frustration and suspicion. She showed the message to Izaya, but it had no effect on his attitude.

“Ooh, very scary. What did I tell you? I didn’t plot the attack on Shinra. I can’t imagine what benefit that would hold for me.”

“You seem like you would do anything because it ‘seemed fun.’”

“That is quite cruel. Do I really seem like such a hedonistic thrill seeker? I’m not as omnipotent or liberated as I would need to be to do any little thing that seems fun. Being a monster, you might find this hard to understand, but human beings live within many varied strictures. Total freedom is a luxury afforded only to those who are prepared to ride headlong to their miserable deaths. And I don’t want to die yet—simple as that,” he said, all glib pomposity.

This only amplified Celty’s irritation, which she poured into her PDA.

“…So Shinra got terribly injured, and you don’t feel a thing?”

“When I got stabbed and told Shinra about it, he said, ‘So long,’ and hung up the call. If I seem distant, it’s only because I’m matching his level of concern.”

“Damn… We were still worried about you…after that! Instead, you called the cops and set up traps, and… Besides, if you don’t like something being done to you, then don’t do it to others! And…and you got stabbed because you deserved it!”

“And Shinra didn’t?” he shot back.

Celty stood her ground. “I’m here to find out whether that’s true or not. You said you had information on the culprit? If you tell me you were lying, I really will truss you up and toss you to Shizuo.”

“I’ll lie to others and even to myself, but not when it comes to business. I wouldn’t have much of a business if I did that. You can think of lying as a kind of side hobby of mine.”

“Many people turn their hobbies into a job.”

“Good comeback. But let’s just get down to business, shall we?”

He straightened up from leaning against the rooftop fence and made his way toward Celty. But she trained her attention on the surroundings and warned, “Hang on.”

“What is it?”

“…Who are the people around us?”

She was speaking about the men elsewhere on the roof, lurking in the shadows of the building’s water tank, loitering against the walls, watching them. The sight of the bone-patterned jackets they were wearing jogged something in Celty’s memory.

“Hey, aren’t they from Dragon Zombie?”

Izaya clapped his hands. “Yes, brilliant! I’m surprised you remember them; they haven’t been riding for a while.”

Dragon Zombie was the name of a motorcycle gang that roamed far and wide through every corner of Tokyo. They often jostled with Jan-Jaka-Jan, the group that had Awakusu-kai backing, until they’d simply vanished from the streets not long ago.

Jan-Jaka-Jan had gone into hiding around the same time, which led Celty to suspect they were just laying low out of fear of that ferocious traffic cop. But the last thing she expected was to see them here on a rooftop, with nary a bike in sight.

“What are they doing here?”

He really is the mastermind behind Shinra’s attack after all, isn’t he? And now he’s brought some goons around to take care of me next…?

Her shadows writhed in alarm. If need be, Celty would plunge the entire rooftop into shadow.

Izaya waved a hand in benign denial. “Oh, don’t worry; you’re fine. No need for paranoia. These guys are both my transportation and my bodyguards, in a way.”

“Bodyguards…?”

“I got stabbed, didn’t I? I haven’t found the guy who stabbed me yet, but you know how people take things out on me, right? So I have no choice but to pay for personal protection. You know how they’re cracking down on bikers lately, don’t you?”

“I’ll admit you’re right about that,” Celty typed, shivering as she recalled her white-knuckle chase with Kinnosuke Kuzuhara yesterday. “But don’t act like you’re so innocent and people just have it out for you.”

“I was kidding. Even I understand that my actions and personality have rightfully earned me some enmity.”

“Have you considered trying to change your personality for the better?”

“If I feel like it,” Izaya said without interest.

Celty wasn’t particularly dedicated to correcting his ways, either. “Fine, I won’t pay attention to them. What do you need me to ferry?”

“Hang on, let’s do this in order. This will actually be a multiday job.”

“Not so fast. I have to take care of Shinra at home! I can’t just leave for several days!” she protested, but he shook his head like it was no problem.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to tie you down the whole time. It’ll last several days, but I only need a bit of time each day.”

“A bit at a time?”

“It’s simple. I just want you to be my assistant. There are some items of information I need to ascertain, and I need someone who can act freely, who isn’t tied down by their position or affiliation.”

“So ask your little Dragon Zombie friends.”

He wasn’t moved by this suggestion. “I need them to focus solely on my personal defense. My life is rather precious to me.”

“Then why are you asking a courier to do information gathering for you? That’s outside my line of business…,” she protested, but even Celty knew she had no choice but to accept.

She needed the information he promised to pay her—the culprit of Shinra’s attack—and she would just have to do what he asked of her. She could tie Izaya up with her shadows and threaten him, but she knew he wouldn’t give up his info, being blessed with an abnormal amount of willpower in that regard. She could only negotiate halfheartedly.

“I’ll give you my best if I accept, but you’d better not renege on your end of the deal by claiming it wasn’t up to your expectations.”

“I understand. You’ll have the information you want, so long as you don’t completely betray me or shirk your duties. Besides, what I want you to do really isn’t very far from your ordinary courier work. In a sense, I would want a courier to do it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, annoyed at the vagueness.

Izaya grinned like some mischievous scamp, patted Celty on the shoulder, then hopped up on top of the rooftop fence and sat on it.

Once she might have been horrified at the possibility that he could fall, but Celty chose not to coax him down. She simply waited for him to speak.

He looked down at her from his vantage point and clapped his hands.

“You see, the item I want you to ferry for me…

“…is information.”

One hour later, Tokyo, nightclub

It was your stereotypical nightclub, the kind you’d see in any Hollywood movie with a nightlife scene. The dark dance hall pulsed with sensual music, and an array of dazzling colored lights tore through the gloom. Up on the third floor, isolated from the pounding music and lights, was a private room—where a number of college students who seemed totally out of place were lounging.

The walls were a shade of blue that brought the city’s night sky to mind. In the middle was a white marble table, surrounded by soft black leather couches. The interior screamed VIP.

“Nice space, huh?” said a man, a dart in his hand.

On the wall was a well-used dartboard and not the digital kind. It provided the room with a kind of analog, old-fashioned class.

“Until the end of last year, the second floor of this place was a hangout spot for people in our business. Apparently, it got shut down around that point because the Awakusu-kai and the cops got wind of it.”

“Uh, doesn’t that make this a bad place to hang out?”

“No, look on the other side. They already took all the bad luck with them. Besides, my dad owns this club, so I can do what I want here. I told him I need a study room, and he said I can use it whenever I want, as long as no one’s reserved it.”

The young man, who looked like the sort of honor student who would never waste his time at a nightclub, hurled the dart at its board.

It stuck with a crisp thock, the only sound in the room for several seconds.

The bull’s-eye prompted no reaction from the young man. Perhaps he played some kind of sport, for despite his studious look, he was not wispy but actually somewhat muscular. He was the classic rich kid blessed with strength, looks, and attitude—the perfect owner for the picturesque room.

The silence was broken at last by the very young man who threw the dart.

“…And did Shizuo Heiwajima actually believe that made-up story about my girlfriend being toyed with?”

Another young man standing near the door—the very same one who had spoken to Shizuo in the park—put on an ingratiating simper and scratched the back of his head.

“Oh yeah, he bought it. He was every bit the monster that people say he is, but I guess he ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed! Plus, I did actually bring back some information about that Izaya Orihara guy! And honestly, while he might be an info broker, I don’t think he’s worth worrying yourself over, Mr. Shijima.”

“It was about the girl who appeared to be his sister…right?”

“That’s right! The kid with the glasses said ‘Brother Iza,’ loud and clear! And the other girl with her looked pretty similar, so maybe they’re all siblings.”

“Ahh, interesting. Sisters. That could certainly be fodder for a deal,” said the man named Shijima. He took a fresh dart and assumed the tossing position. “So where does she live?”

“Huh?”

The low-level member froze. It was a perfectly natural follow-up question, yet he had no answers to give to his boss.

“If those girls are not here now, then it must be because you trailed them and discovered where they live, at least. Correct?”

“Uh, well…this Shizuo guy was about ready to rage, so I kinda had to just bug outta there…”

“I see. That’s too bad. Well, I guess we can look into that tomorrow,” Shijima said, smiling. The other young man chuckled a bit to hide his shame.

Then Shijima looked closer at the other fellow and said, “Hmm…? Is there something stuck on your eyes?”

“What?”

“There’s a mark or something, right around your eyelids. Close your eyes for a second.”

“Uh, yes, sir.”

Obediently, he closed his eyes.

Less than a second later, something struck his nose.

“Dzuh?! Ah…aaagh!”

He opened his eyes, taken aback. Right in the middle of his viewpoint, stuck between the right and left eyes, was the blurred outline of two sticks. Actually, it was just the one but so close that he couldn’t focus it into a single image.

His initial impression was that he’d been attacked by some tiny lizard or perhaps a bee. He swung his hand at his nose to brush it away. But the instant he swiped the object sideways, gouging pain exploded in the middle of his face.

“Yiaah!”

Whatever it was that stuck in his nose fell out with the impact. The young man held his bleeding nose and looked down at the object on the ground.

“Wha…?”

Is that…a…dart…?

Understanding arrived at the same moment as a dark, looming figure.

“Sh…Shi…Shiji…ma? Aaaah! Nnnnng!”

Suddenly, Shijima, who’d been standing in the center of the room, was now right in front of him, jabbing a dart into the youth’s shoulder. The pain in both wounds resonated with each other, churning the insides of his brain. Pain throttled his body, preventing any kind of understanding from taking root.

“Wh-what?! What d-did! I—?!” he stammered, clutching his shoulder and backing away to huddle against the wall in the corner of the room. The reaction of the others was mixed, from fraught apprehension to cackling laughter.

“Are you trying to say, ‘What did I do?’” Shijima suggested, then answered the question himself. “It was what you didn’t do, obviously.”

He leaned down to pick up the dart on the floor, then promptly hurled it at the cowering man in the corner.

“Hyeeaugh?!” he shrieked, terror segueing into pain.

Shijima strode over, lifted his foot high, then drove it down hard, directly onto the dart sticking out of the man’s thigh.

“Gaaaah!! Rghrlrrzlkggg!”

The guttural shriek filled the room. But just as the soundproof walls prevented the music from the dance club from getting in there, so, too, did they keep his screams from getting out.

Tears were streaming down his face, racked with confusion and terror, while agony gripped his spine. Shijima smiled benignly down at him, still pressing on the dart with his foot, and said, “Shizuo Heiwajima, not the sharpest tool in the shed…? Are you sure you’re not thinking of yourself? I haven’t got a second to waste here. Not a second to waste. Not—a—sec—ond—to—waste!”

With each syllable, he pressed his weight down through his foot, eliciting moans from his victim like some kind of depraved, broken wind instrument.

“You ought to be thanking me. If I hadn’t warned you to close your eyes, you might’ve tried to dodge and ended up losing some of your eyesight.”

At last, Shijima removed his foot and turned away from the agonized man. The rich boy was done with his failure of a follower now and spoke to the rest of his flunkies instead.

“I can’t have you treating this like some kind of informal college club… Actually, I don’t mind that. But I’m not the problem here. The problem is that I’m the one who takes the brunt of Kumoi’s anger.”

Kumoi.

The name turned the room to ice.

Even when the dart of punishment had stuck in the young man’s nose, it hadn’t been this silent. But the sound of the name Kumoi hitting their eardrums quieted even the laughter of those who had enjoyed seeing all the blood.

The sound of the hapless youth groaning in the corner might have still been there, but the information didn’t reach their brains—such was the focus inspired by the name Kumoi.

“H-hey, Shijima, did you hear from Kumoi recently?” asked one of his friends, sitting on the leather sofa.

“Obviously,” Shijima said, his pleasant smile back. “After all, not only did we fail to get rid of the Awakusu-kai’s Akabayashi, we also fought some totally unrelated mobsters and made it into the paper. Take a guess…do you think Kumoi’s just going to let something like that slide?”

Although the benign expression never left Shijima’s face, a single drop of sweat ran down his cheek.

“We’ve brought shame upon Heaven’s Slave,” he said, undoing the shirt button on his right cuff. He tugged the sleeve up to his elbow.

“…”

The entire room was silent again. Some averted their eyes from the sight, while others looked closer, unable to believe what they were seeing.

There was a very long, strange red mark on his right arm.

From just below the wrist up to his shoulder ran a series of long parallel lines.

Almost like musical notation, thought one of the men, then realized, No, not almost.

It was musical notation, the five-line staff to hang notes upon.

Sure enough, here and there on the lines was an ugly red dot, some of which even contained the fine stem that marked them as eighth notes.

“Th-those cuts… How? Why?”

“Hmm? Oh, Kumoi made them himself.”

“With…a knife?”

The man probably had to ask, lest he be consumed by the surrealism of the scene. The word knife had popped up as his rational mind tried to latch on to something that would make sense of it all.

That’s right. It must be a knife wound. Yeah, like the kind of thing stupid punks do now and then. A sort of dare, like stubbing out a cigarette on your arm.

Yeah. Nothing else to it. I’ve seen worse on TV shows and in manga. And it beats getting your pinkie finger chopped down to size, right?

Rationalizations came and went through his mind. But the fresh wounds staring him in the face spoke much more eloquently of pain than his imagination could.

Better than actually losing an arm or a finger? Perhaps, but these were not just scratches. They were deep enough to reach muscle.

Even then, their brains worked hard to rationalize this, their imaginations telling them that “this punishment wasn’t that bad.”

Shijima simply shook his head, cutting off the blissful escape route of ignorance.

“This might be healing faster if that was the case,” he said and approached the dartboard with an easy nonchalance that no one else in the room shared at that moment. He pulled out three of the darts stuck there and rolled them around in his palm.

“He gouged out each line, one by one, with these darts.”

“…”

Both chills and sweat ran down their backs.

An act of composition, performed through the destruction of flesh, with a tool not designed for cutting. Just the thought of this brought a cold, hard lump to their bellies.

“Oh, but it was still way better than the time he drilled my teeth without anesthesia. Although, he did say I had to scream to the tune that he was carving on me. I tell you, Kumoi’s got a brilliant sense of humor,” Shijima said, laughing.

No one replied. The man named Kumoi was apparently their leader, but nearly all the punishment he meted out for failure fell upon his right-hand man, Shijima.

“You know what he said? We’re the shadow of the Dollars,” Shijima said, his words the only heat in the frozen scene. He turned to the dartboard again. “He said we’re fine being second place. All we have to be is a little shadow, hiding behind the mass of the Dollars… We just lack the next bit of strength we need to solidify ourselves for good.”

Thock. A dart landed cleanly on the bull’s-eye again.

“We steal Amphisbaena’s system entirely for Heaven’s Slave’s use.”

Thock. Another one struck the target. His eyes narrowed fanatically.

“That’s what Kumoi wants.”

Thock. The final dart hit home.

Shijima’s words were the only sound in the room after that. The sound of despair.

If only he didn’t look so incredibly happy as he said them.

“We no longer have an out.”

Chat room

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The chat room is currently empty.

The chat room is currently empty.

The chat room is currently empty.

Saika has entered the chat.

Saika: good evening

Saika: it’s nice to be here

CallowCadet has entered the chat.

CallowCadet: Greetings, my name is CallowCadet!

CallowCadet: Erm, this is my debut in this chat room.

CallowCadet: I found out about this place from Setton! It’s nice to meet you all!

Saika: nice to meet you

Saika: my name is saika

Saika: it’s a pleasure

Saika: so are you a friend of setton’s

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: It’s me, Anri.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: I just remembered that Celty invited me here.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: There’s been some stuff recently, and now all I can do is stare at my computer.

CallowCadet: Yeah, that about sums it up! I’m glad to be here!

<Private Mode> Saika: are you dr. kishitani

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Correct! I don’t suppose there’s anyone else Celty would invite anyway.

<Private Mode> Saika: are you feeling all right

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Oh, right. You heard from Celty, didn’t you?

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Well, at least I’m able to type on the computer.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: With a special desk that points to me, lying faceup on the bed.

<Private Mode> Saika: please take care

<Private Mode> Saika: i’ll pray for your recovery

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Thank you, I will take care. Don’t worry too much.

<Private Mode> Saika: thank you for your consideration

<Private Mode> Saika: so you learned how to use private mode right away

<Private Mode> Saika: that’s amazing

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: It’s not too hard to go by feel, being familiar with computers already.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: I would’ve liked to say hello to others, too, but you’re the only one here now, I take it?

<Private Mode> Saika: i’m sorry

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: You don’t need to apologize for anything, Anri… I mean, Saika.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: By the way, are you typing on a phone? That must be hard.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: By which I mean, you’ve been in lowercase the whole time.

<Private Mode> Saika: i’m sorry

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: I just told you not to apologize, lol.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: If I make you say sorry a million times, Celty will really let me hear it later.

<Private Mode> Saika: how is celty

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Oh, she’s doing fine! She’s still out and about, though.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: You know, when it comes to computer auto-correction and conversion and all of that,

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Why not ask Mikado for help?

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: I’m sure he knows all about that sort of thing.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: In fact, I don’t think anyone would complain if you invited him here to this chat.

<Private Mode> Saika: i’m sorry

<Private Mode> Saika: i’ve thought about that too

<Private Mode> Saika: but i don’t want ryuugamine to see the name saika

<Private Mode> Saika: i’m not ready for that yet

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Ah, I see. Well, I understand that feeling.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Mikado would be able to intuit that Saika was involved with the cursed blade incident.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: So it would be awkward for him to realize you’re using its name.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Well, you can take it at your own pace.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Unlike me, both you and Mikado are on the shy side.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: But as far as your status as the cursed sword, and how you choose to live…

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Or even how you wish to reveal the truth to Mikado…

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: I’m certainly here and willing to talk anytime you want.

<Private Mode> Saika: thank you

<Private Mode> Saika: that’s very kind of you

<Private Mode> Saika: you and celty are the only ones i can talk to about saika

<Private Mode> Saika: so i appreciate you being there

<Private Mode> Saika: but isn’t it a bother to you

<Private Mode> Saika: isn’t my presence going to cause trouble for you two

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Don’t let it bother you, I said!

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Listen, I’m only saying this because we’re in Private Mode…

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: The truth is, Celty thinks of you like a very close friend.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: And Celty’s friends are my friends.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: So I’ll hear you out—assuming I have the time.

<Private Mode> Saika: that’s great

<Private Mode> Saika: that makes me very happy

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Wow, you’re making me feel kind of self-conscious, lol.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Well, let’s consider this a brief parting of the ways.

<Private Mode> CallowCadet: Now removing Private Mode!

CallowCadet: I suppose I shall return and make a proper entrance when more people are here!

CallowCadet: Thank you for being the first to welcome me here, Saika!

Saika: thank you

Saika: see you later

CallowCadet: And you! So long…

CallowCadet has left the chat.

Saika: see you later

Saika: i will log out for now too

Saika: thank you

Saika: i hope to speak with everyone present too

Saika: i’ll do my best

Saika: good-bye

Saika has left the chat.

The chat room is currently empty.

The chat room is currently empty.

The chat room is currently empty.

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