Canon Notes 2
Oct. 20th, 2011 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanaka_taroVol. 3
Izaya/Masaomi/Namie conversation, part 2 - "How on earth does this have anything to do with him?! I never said a word to him about the Yellow Turbans. He's still himself, kind of like a kid but optimistic...he's enjoying every day of his life, unlike me."
"Huh, is that so? Are you jealous that he's always been able to enjoy his life in peace?"
"I said this had nothing to do with him......"
He had been waiting for that sentence to come up.
Masaomi was visibly starting to waver.
Izaya was not about to let go of him; instead, he sank his teeth in.
"What if it does?"
"Huh?"
"Ah, nothing. I see. Mikado-kun is pretty optimistic about life, and apparently enjoying it very much...despite the fact that he's the reason of this miserable state you're in."
Mikado, Masaomi and Anri reveal - "Kida-kun!"
Just as Anri revealed her true identity to Masaomi in order to protect him -
"Masaomi!! Sonohara-san!?"
Mikado, who had been sitting at the back of Celty's motorbike, shouted out to these two in bewilderment.
- Whatever you might make of the situation, one of them was holding a dangerous blade, and the other covered entirely in blood.
Before he could begin to understand any of this, his heart had compelled him to cry out their names.
Mikado jumped right off the motorbike and ran to Masaomi, who was covered in blood.
---
"She was right......this is indeed the last thing I want to see......."
Mikado muttered to himself as he saw what Masaomi looked like right now.
Why Masaomi had been attacked by Yellow Turbans, and why Anri was here with a katana in her hand -
He had a million questions to ask.
As did the other two.
The Yellow Turbans.
Dollars.
The Slashers.
These three images almost, almost surfaced in their respective minds - but were blown away the moment they looked into each other's eyes.
All the information that had been flowing between them -
All the suspicions they had towards each other -
Those no longer mattered.
Right now, all they wished was for each other to be safe and sound.
Vol. 4
Chapter 2 - "Now that the spring is here, REFRESH yourself!
A new life starts with new encounters in a new city!
Will you be able to encounter something fresh and new as you start your new life in Ikebukuro?
Some are already ahead of you......but if you haven't started yet, grab this column and earn your experience points in Ikebukuro for the true encounters the future has in store for you!"
♂♀
After skimming through the column, the boy grabbed the magazine and made for the cashier.
His name was Ryuugamine Mikado.
He had only just become a sophomore at Raira Academy, a private high school situated in the center of Ikebukuro.
It was already his second year living in Ikebukuro, but for some reason he was still looking for columns like the one mentioned above. In his schoolbag there were already three magazines similar to this one.
---
"So, what were you gonna ask us?"
"I...um...I know it's kind of awkward to ask you this sort of......"
Mikado exhaled deeply and paused for a moment before he could make himself continue.
"Please......teach us how to show others around Ikebukuro."
---
Mikado was running to catch up with Anri, who had left earlier than he did, when a voice called him from behind.
"......Excuse me! You're Ryuugamine-sempai, right?"
He turned his head to find a boy in a Raira uniform.
"Um...yeah, and you are...you just introduced yourself......Aoba-kun?"
"Yes! I'm Kuronuma Aoba, first-year!"
The boy had sparkling eyes and girly features. In addition, he was short enough to be mistaken for a middle school kid or even an elementary school one.
Mikado knew that his face wasn't the most mature-looking either, but the boy right in front of him looked even younger than he did at that age.
"I was really shocked when I heard you introduce yourself! I didn't expect to meet you here, Ryuugamine-sempai!"
The boy was talking in high spirits while Mikado was left perplexed.
- Who is he?
- That's weird...have we met somewhere before?
Mikado tried desperately to remember since it would be very rude to forget someone's face even if he was your kouhai. But he had no recollection whatsoever.
Aoba smiled softly at him as if he knew what Mikado was feeling bad about and said:
"Ahh, I'm sorry. I don't think sempai has seen me before or heard my name."
"Uh, I see. Um...so why were you shocked?"
It was a natural question on Mikado's part. The boy answered cheerfully:
"Because - uh....."
He closed his mouth as if to check nobody was nearby before he lowered his voice to say:
"Sempai......is in Dollars, right?"
"......Uhh!"
Mikado could only stare with his mouth hanging open as he heard what the boy had said.
"W - What do you mean?"
At that exact moment, Mikado's cell phone rang from inside his schoolbag.
Judging by the length of the ringtone it was a new text message.
"Uh. Finally."
The boy grinned pleasantly as he said.
Mikado pulled out his cell phone in haste - it was a text message sent to all Dollars members on the list.
"I'm recruiting at Raira Academy! Please keep me informed about how things are going at other schools!"
It was sent by one of the several hundreds of people on the mailing list.
As he saw the username "Young Leaf Mark"*, Mikado looked from the cell phone to the boy in front of him.
* "Aoba" is literally "green leaf" in Japanese.
"Is...that...you......?"
"'Young Leaf Mark' is me! I think I joined around No. 600 or so. But you know how the Dollars site was suspended after that spamming incident? That's why my name didn't show up......"
"W - Why do you think I'm one of Dollars?"
The boy gave him an innocent smile as he looked visibly unsettled and said:
"I don't have definite proof. But think about it...about a year ago, at Dollars' first gathering - sempai was arguing with the woman we were targeting, right? I remembered that ever since because it really got me interested!"
---
Hardly anyone in the gang knew who their leader was. The identity of the founder remained in the dark.
Yet -
The mysterious founder himself was shedding cold sweat right now at his kouhai's words.
"Uhh...uhhh...I...I think you got the wrong person..."
"But the text message...?"
"Ah...ahhh, t - that's right."
"I know, you want to keep it a secret, right? Don't worry, I'm great at keeping secrets! It's like what I do!"
Aoba watched him with eyes full of innocence and respect, which rendered Mikado stiff and incapable of thinking of an answer.
In fact, Mikado did get in trouble with a certain company a year ago.
"But how come Mikado-sempai was talking to the woman that night?......Is Mikado-sempai...some kind of big figure in Dollars?"
"No no no! There's no 'big figures' in Dollars! I'm...I'm just like everyone else!"
"Really? But still! It excites me so much to know that someone close to me is also in Dollars!"
His antics were as childish as his face was.
They probably would have looked like two brothers in middle school to anyone who did not know them. But they were both high school students.
---
It was a somewhat cold reply, but Aoba's smile was unwavered. In fact, he went on to ask Mikado for something in exchange.
"Got it! But I also have a favor to ask of you, sempai!"
"What is it?"
"I'm not that familiar with Ikebukuro. Could you show me around sometime?"
---
He talked to Anri about this right afterwards and they both came to the conclusion that they couldn't do it on their own. That was why they asked their friends - which ended up being Yumasaki and Karisawa - who knew the city better to help them out.
- Really, I wouldn't be having such a hard time if only Masaomi were here......
But Mikado was quick to erase that thought from his mind.
Kida Masaomi had always been his best friend, but he had already disappeared from Mikado and Anri's lives.
It looked like he was the central figure in "Yellow Turbans", the gang that pitted themselves against Dollars. After he and Mikado knew about each other's true identity, he disappeared. Mikado did not find this revelation as disturbing as Masaomi did, but thinking that maybe Masaomi had his reasons, he didn't try to dig further into his past.
- That's not good. I can't rely on Masaomi for every little thing like this one. Otherwise he'll have a reason to laugh at me all he wants the next time we meet.
With these thoughts in his mind, Mikado was still waiting for Masaomi to come back.
Waiting for the day to come when they would meet each other again and Anri would be with them.
---
"Do you want us to come with you?"
"Eh?"
"The places we're about to suggest that you visit are not all that easy to explain on paper. Wouldn't it be better if we just came with you? Also, we have no idea what your kouhai likes, so how about you let us meet him first and adjust the plan accordingly?"
"Um......"
Mikado couldn't think of a reply to that.
True, it was a wonderful suggestion, but would his completely normal kouhai be able to deal with these two?
They looked normal, but once they began to talk they sounded like ambassadors from the 2D universe - not the most endearing kind at that, either.
He had grown used to their antics, but he had no idea how Kuronuma Aoba would react.
- Anyway. It probably won't be that great a problem. Once they've talked with each other he'll see that these two are both good people.
Mikado, who had a sort of blind faith in the power of communication due to his mellow temper, nodded his head in silent agreement.
---
"It's scary to think that they still haven't caught 'Hollywood'..."
The boy was watching TV and muttering to himself in a cheap apartment close to the station.
Mikado planned on watching TV all day since he had nothing else to do. Now he squinting at the screen on which the news was airing.
The undisputed focus of every recent headline was the mysterious serial killings.
Although the nickname was not used on TV, the magazines and the online communities have long since been referring to the killer as "Hollywood".
The killings took place in Tokyo, but Mikado felt as if they were happening in a distant country the first time he heard about them on TV.
But once he got used to referring to the killer as "Hollywood" online, he began to talk to his chatroom friends about it and look up information webpages on the search for "Hollywood", he felt a definite fear for the bone-chilling killer as well as a tint of curiosity.
Who exactly is this mysterious killing monster?
The general public was more interested in knowing the true identity of the mysterious "Black Rider", but Mikado, who had known it already, was more interested in "Hollywood", whose identity still eluded everyone.
But news about "Hollywood" was too dark for his mood after just having seen Anri.
Mikado thought as he murmured with the remote control in his hand:
---
As he switched between channels he saw the report about how Hanejima Yuuhei's photo book sold over 20,000 copies in the first week. The young man whose incredibly good-looking face appeared on the screen was certainly someone he would feel ashamed to stand next to.
"That's so cool...20,000 copies, 3,000 yen each...that would be six million yen just in royalties even if he only gets 10%...and his new movie is being talked about way before its release. This guy is simply ultra-cool......"
He could beat him in nothing whatsoever.
Mikado sighed in resignation as he watched the handsome young man who looked like the perfect Superman on TV.
- Speaking of which...
- This Yuuhei guy kind of reminds me of someone I know......
Every time he saw this idol on screen, the same question would surface in his mind. After that Mikado continued to look for more pleasant news on TV.
---
The pitch-black shadow making its flight away from the White Motorbike appeared on the screen before Mikado's eyes.
"Celty-san......"
Mikado's mouth was hanging open at the unmistakable figure.
He turned his gaze from the TV towards the window.
He lived far away from where the scene was being shot, so there was no way that he could see her from afar.
Nevertheless, he thought vaguely that maybe he would be able to hear something if he tried hard enough - which was more or less impossible as well.
As he was about to try, Celty had conjured the black wings and begun to glide through the night like a Magic Thief.
"Is she gonna be...alright...? Should I try to do something for her with...Dollars?"
The boy was as pure as pure could be. As the screen switched back to the studio he began to feel genuinely concerned for the "monster" he would never have known if not for a twist of fate.
"But since it's Celty-san...she'll probably come up with something herself?"
Mikado logged onto a certain online chatroom as the thoughts of the Headless Rider, who was also a Dollars, lingered on his mind.
Somewhere in his heart he was also anxious about but nevertheless looking forward to the tour of Ikebukuro he was going to give the evening of the next day.
---
After the innocent-looking kouhai had thanked his sempais for their hospitality -
He raised a question with interest:
"Is Sonohara-sempai dating Ryuugamine-sempai?"
Time seemed to have stopped between the two.
But now that Mikado thought about it, it was something one would naturally assume if they had never seen them before.
Aoba had asked Mikado to show him around Ikebukuro, and it was only reasonable that he did not expect Anri to also show up. So the only conclusion would be that they were either boyfriend and girlfriend or something of the sort.
But Mikado was visibly embarrassed at Aoba's question. Anri also lowered her head, blushing.
Aoba, unsure whether to take that for a yes or no, tilted his head sideways and tried again:
"So you're not dating?"
"No...no no no...it's not like that...we're just...um...friends! We're friends!"
"I see~so Sonohara-sempai is still single? Is there any way I can make it into the waitlist?"
"What......?"
His kouhai had said something shocking with ease. Mikado couldn't help but look at him in awe.
- With such incredible ease......!
- And in a more natural manner than Masaomi would have managed, too!
Mikado felt his lips tremble. He tried to say something - but nothing came out.
Losing to his kouhai made him feel miserable, but he was also jealous of his kouhai's straightforward way of confessing to females he liked.
The kouhai, however, looked at his frozen sempai who had such thoughts racing on his mind and said in a troubled tone:
"U - Um, Ryuugamine-sempai......I was just kidding."
"Eh?"
"So don't look at me as if you're despairing about everything in the world...I would feel very troubled."
"......Am...am I looking at you like that?"
Mikado blushed harder out of shame and squinted at Anri's direction.
As expected of her, Anri kept her head low as the two of them talked.
They looked like two elementary students; but the one who looked most like an elementary student smiled and said to Mikado:
"I'm so glad! I thought sempai would be scary since sempai is in Dollars and everything...it's so nice to know that there are people like sempai in Dollars, too!"
"Really? I'm glad you feel that way......"
- Huh? Was that a compliment?
Mikado could only laugh drily to conceal his confusion since he couldn't tell if Aoba was simply being sarcastic.
Aoba, after seeing Mikado's reaction, asked with renewed curiosity:
"Um...so...the people who are going to come with us, are they in Dollars as well?"
"That's right...but don't worry, they're not scary."
- Well, they are at some level.
---
"Wait! Please stop!"
"Shut up!"
Mikado wanted to fight back, but the disparity in their physical strength was absolute. He was not a master of any martial art that would have given him some advantage, either.
He could think of no way to stop the two 180-cm men, and was sure that his cell phone would end up being robbed when -
"Hey~Mikado."
An even taller shadow appeared from behind the men's backs.
"!?"
"You...what are you playing at......"
It was a formidable-looking black man in a white T-shirt.
Mikado didn't realize immediately who that was because he was not in his usual Japanese cook clothes, but it didn't take long for him to figure out. He was sort of a man of legends in this neighborhood.
"Simon-san!"
"What's up? Fighting, is not good. Stomach would be hungry. Today, sushi is not open. So if you fight, you die from hungry~"
---
Mikado had no idea which TV series he picked up these lines from. His pronunciation was still weird, but it sounded reassuring nevertheless.
It was a typical "death flag" line, but when Simon was the one saying it, it felt like a death flag for the other party instead.
"B - But, Simon-san......"
"Can't fight when you're with a girl, thirty-six sceneries of Fugaku, you run away, OK, go go~"
"T - Thank you! I'll come have sushi with everyone next time!"
"Oh~thank you~then, I'll let you pay the real prices in return~"
Upon hearing the horribly and eerily wrong Japanese Mikado picked up his schoolbag and took Aoba and Anri's hands in his.
As they began to run along the Ikebukuro street, Mikado lowered his head to apologize to Anri and his kouhai:
"S - Sorry! I didn't mean to get you into trouble......!"
"No...actually...sempai was the only one in real trouble..."
Though what Aoba said made sense, Mikado still couldn't help but feel that in addition to giving him unnecessary shock, he had also exposed a very shameful side of himself in front of his kouhai.
The first kouhai he ever had in high school.
Did the respect in Aoba's eyes send him over the top? Was he being too cocky?
But there was no time for him to recall everything he did even if there was time to regret.
Chapter 5, part 1 - - Don't!
He hastened to tell himself that he should put others first.
- I should make sure to get Sonohara-san, Aoba-kun and those two girls over there out of this place first......
- But I can't just run away and leave the Dollars people and Celty-san to deal with this on their own either......!
He gritted his teeth trying to fight back his fear as he was reminded of the time when they had charged into the Yellow Turbans' meeting place - and of the time he had first met Celty.
- I might...die...but...I have to do something......
Aoba, who saw Mikado tighten his fists with a stern look on his face, talked to him in a surprised tone:
"Um...Ryuugamine-sempai, are you all right?"
"Eh? Ah...ah...ahhh, yeah, I'm good. Sorry, I'll at least try to get you......"
"No...it's not that...actually, forget about it..."
"?"
Mikado was confused for a moment at Aoba's ambiguous reply -
- before he turned his gaze towards the window again.
Something that looked like a bag could be seen in the side car Celty had apparently installed on her motorbike.
"Celty-san...now that you're wanted......"
For a split second.
In that fraction of a second the boy stared at Celty, and said something that sounded completely out of place.
"Will we ever be able to...see each other with light hearts again?"
Next Prologue - "Ryuugamine-sempai is interesting. Yeah, really interesting. Maybe he'll be even more interesting to have as a friend than Kida-sempai."
"What's your proof?" "Your old insanity's coming back - " "Heheh - "
"I told you we were attacked in a van by some bousouzoku, didn't I?"
"Speaking of which, weren't you the one who invited one of those gangs here, Izumii?"
"Don't call me by my old surname. That would make me think of the face of my brother."
"Must have been a hard time for you, having a brother with a different surname. But anyway, guess it's better to have a different surname from a brother at a reform school, isn't it?"
"My brother......made a complete mess of Blue Square before I could even blink my eye. Did he even realize how hard it was to form this gang? I knew he was useless, but I didn't know he was that useless......"
"And how about that Ryuugamine-sempai who sounds like he's a little more useful? Tell us."
"......Ah, sorry about that...anyway, things looked desperate for us in every way. I wouldn't have been surprised even if he cried...but Ryuugamine-sempai...was smiling as if he was enjoying it."
"Really?" "Is he a masochist?" "Heheh."
"Really, he's an interesting sempai. He must have a lot of love."
"Love?"
"He has more love for anything abnormal and manga-like than we do, than anyone else does...even if that spells danger. That's the kind of person he is. That was why...Ryuugamine-sempai founded Dollars."
Translations by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anni_fiesta
Izaya/Masaomi/Namie conversation, part 2 - "How on earth does this have anything to do with him?! I never said a word to him about the Yellow Turbans. He's still himself, kind of like a kid but optimistic...he's enjoying every day of his life, unlike me."
"Huh, is that so? Are you jealous that he's always been able to enjoy his life in peace?"
"I said this had nothing to do with him......"
He had been waiting for that sentence to come up.
Masaomi was visibly starting to waver.
Izaya was not about to let go of him; instead, he sank his teeth in.
"What if it does?"
"Huh?"
"Ah, nothing. I see. Mikado-kun is pretty optimistic about life, and apparently enjoying it very much...despite the fact that he's the reason of this miserable state you're in."
Mikado, Masaomi and Anri reveal - "Kida-kun!"
Just as Anri revealed her true identity to Masaomi in order to protect him -
"Masaomi!! Sonohara-san!?"
Mikado, who had been sitting at the back of Celty's motorbike, shouted out to these two in bewilderment.
- Whatever you might make of the situation, one of them was holding a dangerous blade, and the other covered entirely in blood.
Before he could begin to understand any of this, his heart had compelled him to cry out their names.
Mikado jumped right off the motorbike and ran to Masaomi, who was covered in blood.
---
"She was right......this is indeed the last thing I want to see......."
Mikado muttered to himself as he saw what Masaomi looked like right now.
Why Masaomi had been attacked by Yellow Turbans, and why Anri was here with a katana in her hand -
He had a million questions to ask.
As did the other two.
The Yellow Turbans.
Dollars.
The Slashers.
These three images almost, almost surfaced in their respective minds - but were blown away the moment they looked into each other's eyes.
All the information that had been flowing between them -
All the suspicions they had towards each other -
Those no longer mattered.
Right now, all they wished was for each other to be safe and sound.
Vol. 4
Chapter 2 - "Now that the spring is here, REFRESH yourself!
A new life starts with new encounters in a new city!
Will you be able to encounter something fresh and new as you start your new life in Ikebukuro?
Some are already ahead of you......but if you haven't started yet, grab this column and earn your experience points in Ikebukuro for the true encounters the future has in store for you!"
♂♀
After skimming through the column, the boy grabbed the magazine and made for the cashier.
His name was Ryuugamine Mikado.
He had only just become a sophomore at Raira Academy, a private high school situated in the center of Ikebukuro.
It was already his second year living in Ikebukuro, but for some reason he was still looking for columns like the one mentioned above. In his schoolbag there were already three magazines similar to this one.
---
"So, what were you gonna ask us?"
"I...um...I know it's kind of awkward to ask you this sort of......"
Mikado exhaled deeply and paused for a moment before he could make himself continue.
"Please......teach us how to show others around Ikebukuro."
---
Mikado was running to catch up with Anri, who had left earlier than he did, when a voice called him from behind.
"......Excuse me! You're Ryuugamine-sempai, right?"
He turned his head to find a boy in a Raira uniform.
"Um...yeah, and you are...you just introduced yourself......Aoba-kun?"
"Yes! I'm Kuronuma Aoba, first-year!"
The boy had sparkling eyes and girly features. In addition, he was short enough to be mistaken for a middle school kid or even an elementary school one.
Mikado knew that his face wasn't the most mature-looking either, but the boy right in front of him looked even younger than he did at that age.
"I was really shocked when I heard you introduce yourself! I didn't expect to meet you here, Ryuugamine-sempai!"
The boy was talking in high spirits while Mikado was left perplexed.
- Who is he?
- That's weird...have we met somewhere before?
Mikado tried desperately to remember since it would be very rude to forget someone's face even if he was your kouhai. But he had no recollection whatsoever.
Aoba smiled softly at him as if he knew what Mikado was feeling bad about and said:
"Ahh, I'm sorry. I don't think sempai has seen me before or heard my name."
"Uh, I see. Um...so why were you shocked?"
It was a natural question on Mikado's part. The boy answered cheerfully:
"Because - uh....."
He closed his mouth as if to check nobody was nearby before he lowered his voice to say:
"Sempai......is in Dollars, right?"
"......Uhh!"
Mikado could only stare with his mouth hanging open as he heard what the boy had said.
"W - What do you mean?"
At that exact moment, Mikado's cell phone rang from inside his schoolbag.
Judging by the length of the ringtone it was a new text message.
"Uh. Finally."
The boy grinned pleasantly as he said.
Mikado pulled out his cell phone in haste - it was a text message sent to all Dollars members on the list.
"I'm recruiting at Raira Academy! Please keep me informed about how things are going at other schools!"
It was sent by one of the several hundreds of people on the mailing list.
As he saw the username "Young Leaf Mark"*, Mikado looked from the cell phone to the boy in front of him.
* "Aoba" is literally "green leaf" in Japanese.
"Is...that...you......?"
"'Young Leaf Mark' is me! I think I joined around No. 600 or so. But you know how the Dollars site was suspended after that spamming incident? That's why my name didn't show up......"
"W - Why do you think I'm one of Dollars?"
The boy gave him an innocent smile as he looked visibly unsettled and said:
"I don't have definite proof. But think about it...about a year ago, at Dollars' first gathering - sempai was arguing with the woman we were targeting, right? I remembered that ever since because it really got me interested!"
---
Hardly anyone in the gang knew who their leader was. The identity of the founder remained in the dark.
Yet -
The mysterious founder himself was shedding cold sweat right now at his kouhai's words.
"Uhh...uhhh...I...I think you got the wrong person..."
"But the text message...?"
"Ah...ahhh, t - that's right."
"I know, you want to keep it a secret, right? Don't worry, I'm great at keeping secrets! It's like what I do!"
Aoba watched him with eyes full of innocence and respect, which rendered Mikado stiff and incapable of thinking of an answer.
In fact, Mikado did get in trouble with a certain company a year ago.
"But how come Mikado-sempai was talking to the woman that night?......Is Mikado-sempai...some kind of big figure in Dollars?"
"No no no! There's no 'big figures' in Dollars! I'm...I'm just like everyone else!"
"Really? But still! It excites me so much to know that someone close to me is also in Dollars!"
His antics were as childish as his face was.
They probably would have looked like two brothers in middle school to anyone who did not know them. But they were both high school students.
---
It was a somewhat cold reply, but Aoba's smile was unwavered. In fact, he went on to ask Mikado for something in exchange.
"Got it! But I also have a favor to ask of you, sempai!"
"What is it?"
"I'm not that familiar with Ikebukuro. Could you show me around sometime?"
---
He talked to Anri about this right afterwards and they both came to the conclusion that they couldn't do it on their own. That was why they asked their friends - which ended up being Yumasaki and Karisawa - who knew the city better to help them out.
- Really, I wouldn't be having such a hard time if only Masaomi were here......
But Mikado was quick to erase that thought from his mind.
Kida Masaomi had always been his best friend, but he had already disappeared from Mikado and Anri's lives.
It looked like he was the central figure in "Yellow Turbans", the gang that pitted themselves against Dollars. After he and Mikado knew about each other's true identity, he disappeared. Mikado did not find this revelation as disturbing as Masaomi did, but thinking that maybe Masaomi had his reasons, he didn't try to dig further into his past.
- That's not good. I can't rely on Masaomi for every little thing like this one. Otherwise he'll have a reason to laugh at me all he wants the next time we meet.
With these thoughts in his mind, Mikado was still waiting for Masaomi to come back.
Waiting for the day to come when they would meet each other again and Anri would be with them.
---
"Do you want us to come with you?"
"Eh?"
"The places we're about to suggest that you visit are not all that easy to explain on paper. Wouldn't it be better if we just came with you? Also, we have no idea what your kouhai likes, so how about you let us meet him first and adjust the plan accordingly?"
"Um......"
Mikado couldn't think of a reply to that.
True, it was a wonderful suggestion, but would his completely normal kouhai be able to deal with these two?
They looked normal, but once they began to talk they sounded like ambassadors from the 2D universe - not the most endearing kind at that, either.
He had grown used to their antics, but he had no idea how Kuronuma Aoba would react.
- Anyway. It probably won't be that great a problem. Once they've talked with each other he'll see that these two are both good people.
Mikado, who had a sort of blind faith in the power of communication due to his mellow temper, nodded his head in silent agreement.
---
"It's scary to think that they still haven't caught 'Hollywood'..."
The boy was watching TV and muttering to himself in a cheap apartment close to the station.
Mikado planned on watching TV all day since he had nothing else to do. Now he squinting at the screen on which the news was airing.
The undisputed focus of every recent headline was the mysterious serial killings.
Although the nickname was not used on TV, the magazines and the online communities have long since been referring to the killer as "Hollywood".
The killings took place in Tokyo, but Mikado felt as if they were happening in a distant country the first time he heard about them on TV.
But once he got used to referring to the killer as "Hollywood" online, he began to talk to his chatroom friends about it and look up information webpages on the search for "Hollywood", he felt a definite fear for the bone-chilling killer as well as a tint of curiosity.
Who exactly is this mysterious killing monster?
The general public was more interested in knowing the true identity of the mysterious "Black Rider", but Mikado, who had known it already, was more interested in "Hollywood", whose identity still eluded everyone.
But news about "Hollywood" was too dark for his mood after just having seen Anri.
Mikado thought as he murmured with the remote control in his hand:
---
As he switched between channels he saw the report about how Hanejima Yuuhei's photo book sold over 20,000 copies in the first week. The young man whose incredibly good-looking face appeared on the screen was certainly someone he would feel ashamed to stand next to.
"That's so cool...20,000 copies, 3,000 yen each...that would be six million yen just in royalties even if he only gets 10%...and his new movie is being talked about way before its release. This guy is simply ultra-cool......"
He could beat him in nothing whatsoever.
Mikado sighed in resignation as he watched the handsome young man who looked like the perfect Superman on TV.
- Speaking of which...
- This Yuuhei guy kind of reminds me of someone I know......
Every time he saw this idol on screen, the same question would surface in his mind. After that Mikado continued to look for more pleasant news on TV.
---
The pitch-black shadow making its flight away from the White Motorbike appeared on the screen before Mikado's eyes.
"Celty-san......"
Mikado's mouth was hanging open at the unmistakable figure.
He turned his gaze from the TV towards the window.
He lived far away from where the scene was being shot, so there was no way that he could see her from afar.
Nevertheless, he thought vaguely that maybe he would be able to hear something if he tried hard enough - which was more or less impossible as well.
As he was about to try, Celty had conjured the black wings and begun to glide through the night like a Magic Thief.
"Is she gonna be...alright...? Should I try to do something for her with...Dollars?"
The boy was as pure as pure could be. As the screen switched back to the studio he began to feel genuinely concerned for the "monster" he would never have known if not for a twist of fate.
"But since it's Celty-san...she'll probably come up with something herself?"
Mikado logged onto a certain online chatroom as the thoughts of the Headless Rider, who was also a Dollars, lingered on his mind.
Somewhere in his heart he was also anxious about but nevertheless looking forward to the tour of Ikebukuro he was going to give the evening of the next day.
---
After the innocent-looking kouhai had thanked his sempais for their hospitality -
He raised a question with interest:
"Is Sonohara-sempai dating Ryuugamine-sempai?"
Time seemed to have stopped between the two.
But now that Mikado thought about it, it was something one would naturally assume if they had never seen them before.
Aoba had asked Mikado to show him around Ikebukuro, and it was only reasonable that he did not expect Anri to also show up. So the only conclusion would be that they were either boyfriend and girlfriend or something of the sort.
But Mikado was visibly embarrassed at Aoba's question. Anri also lowered her head, blushing.
Aoba, unsure whether to take that for a yes or no, tilted his head sideways and tried again:
"So you're not dating?"
"No...no no no...it's not like that...we're just...um...friends! We're friends!"
"I see~so Sonohara-sempai is still single? Is there any way I can make it into the waitlist?"
"What......?"
His kouhai had said something shocking with ease. Mikado couldn't help but look at him in awe.
- With such incredible ease......!
- And in a more natural manner than Masaomi would have managed, too!
Mikado felt his lips tremble. He tried to say something - but nothing came out.
Losing to his kouhai made him feel miserable, but he was also jealous of his kouhai's straightforward way of confessing to females he liked.
The kouhai, however, looked at his frozen sempai who had such thoughts racing on his mind and said in a troubled tone:
"U - Um, Ryuugamine-sempai......I was just kidding."
"Eh?"
"So don't look at me as if you're despairing about everything in the world...I would feel very troubled."
"......Am...am I looking at you like that?"
Mikado blushed harder out of shame and squinted at Anri's direction.
As expected of her, Anri kept her head low as the two of them talked.
They looked like two elementary students; but the one who looked most like an elementary student smiled and said to Mikado:
"I'm so glad! I thought sempai would be scary since sempai is in Dollars and everything...it's so nice to know that there are people like sempai in Dollars, too!"
"Really? I'm glad you feel that way......"
- Huh? Was that a compliment?
Mikado could only laugh drily to conceal his confusion since he couldn't tell if Aoba was simply being sarcastic.
Aoba, after seeing Mikado's reaction, asked with renewed curiosity:
"Um...so...the people who are going to come with us, are they in Dollars as well?"
"That's right...but don't worry, they're not scary."
- Well, they are at some level.
---
"Wait! Please stop!"
"Shut up!"
Mikado wanted to fight back, but the disparity in their physical strength was absolute. He was not a master of any martial art that would have given him some advantage, either.
He could think of no way to stop the two 180-cm men, and was sure that his cell phone would end up being robbed when -
"Hey~Mikado."
An even taller shadow appeared from behind the men's backs.
"!?"
"You...what are you playing at......"
It was a formidable-looking black man in a white T-shirt.
Mikado didn't realize immediately who that was because he was not in his usual Japanese cook clothes, but it didn't take long for him to figure out. He was sort of a man of legends in this neighborhood.
"Simon-san!"
"What's up? Fighting, is not good. Stomach would be hungry. Today, sushi is not open. So if you fight, you die from hungry~"
---
Mikado had no idea which TV series he picked up these lines from. His pronunciation was still weird, but it sounded reassuring nevertheless.
It was a typical "death flag" line, but when Simon was the one saying it, it felt like a death flag for the other party instead.
"B - But, Simon-san......"
"Can't fight when you're with a girl, thirty-six sceneries of Fugaku, you run away, OK, go go~"
"T - Thank you! I'll come have sushi with everyone next time!"
"Oh~thank you~then, I'll let you pay the real prices in return~"
Upon hearing the horribly and eerily wrong Japanese Mikado picked up his schoolbag and took Aoba and Anri's hands in his.
As they began to run along the Ikebukuro street, Mikado lowered his head to apologize to Anri and his kouhai:
"S - Sorry! I didn't mean to get you into trouble......!"
"No...actually...sempai was the only one in real trouble..."
Though what Aoba said made sense, Mikado still couldn't help but feel that in addition to giving him unnecessary shock, he had also exposed a very shameful side of himself in front of his kouhai.
The first kouhai he ever had in high school.
Did the respect in Aoba's eyes send him over the top? Was he being too cocky?
But there was no time for him to recall everything he did even if there was time to regret.
Chapter 5, part 1 - - Don't!
He hastened to tell himself that he should put others first.
- I should make sure to get Sonohara-san, Aoba-kun and those two girls over there out of this place first......
- But I can't just run away and leave the Dollars people and Celty-san to deal with this on their own either......!
He gritted his teeth trying to fight back his fear as he was reminded of the time when they had charged into the Yellow Turbans' meeting place - and of the time he had first met Celty.
- I might...die...but...I have to do something......
Aoba, who saw Mikado tighten his fists with a stern look on his face, talked to him in a surprised tone:
"Um...Ryuugamine-sempai, are you all right?"
"Eh? Ah...ah...ahhh, yeah, I'm good. Sorry, I'll at least try to get you......"
"No...it's not that...actually, forget about it..."
"?"
Mikado was confused for a moment at Aoba's ambiguous reply -
- before he turned his gaze towards the window again.
Something that looked like a bag could be seen in the side car Celty had apparently installed on her motorbike.
"Celty-san...now that you're wanted......"
For a split second.
In that fraction of a second the boy stared at Celty, and said something that sounded completely out of place.
"Will we ever be able to...see each other with light hearts again?"
Next Prologue - "Ryuugamine-sempai is interesting. Yeah, really interesting. Maybe he'll be even more interesting to have as a friend than Kida-sempai."
"What's your proof?" "Your old insanity's coming back - " "Heheh - "
"I told you we were attacked in a van by some bousouzoku, didn't I?"
"Speaking of which, weren't you the one who invited one of those gangs here, Izumii?"
"Don't call me by my old surname. That would make me think of the face of my brother."
"Must have been a hard time for you, having a brother with a different surname. But anyway, guess it's better to have a different surname from a brother at a reform school, isn't it?"
"My brother......made a complete mess of Blue Square before I could even blink my eye. Did he even realize how hard it was to form this gang? I knew he was useless, but I didn't know he was that useless......"
"And how about that Ryuugamine-sempai who sounds like he's a little more useful? Tell us."
"......Ah, sorry about that...anyway, things looked desperate for us in every way. I wouldn't have been surprised even if he cried...but Ryuugamine-sempai...was smiling as if he was enjoying it."
"Really?" "Is he a masochist?" "Heheh."
"Really, he's an interesting sempai. He must have a lot of love."
"Love?"
"He has more love for anything abnormal and manga-like than we do, than anyone else does...even if that spells danger. That's the kind of person he is. That was why...Ryuugamine-sempai founded Dollars."
Translations by
anni_fiesta
