1. A Thought to Be Afraid Of
The faint, slow, and irregular tapping of a pen lightly impacted a short wooden table which stood in front of a sitting boy - a boy whose other hand lazily kept his head steady by the palm as his elbow planted itself firm on the table. The wooden surface was populated with two short stacks of assorted papers, a notebook, and two plates of sushi at each end of the table which were…unorthodox to say the very least.
The sun had set over the bustling horizon of Ikebukuro, the edge of which twinkled with city lights as far as the eye could see. Twilight had begun to set in shortly after, its beautiful shade of bluish-purple haze gracing the skies and dimming the buildings below until the lights behind all the windows began to slowly shine through the glass. Their gentle glow gradually illuminated the infant nightfall as the sun drifted further and further away from the land. To the boy's subtle dismay, the majesty of these few moments never lasted very long; Even if it could only be enjoyed for a few short minutes, it remained his favorite time of day.
Mikado Ryuugamine was a boy of recently acquired simple taste. His renewed sense of adventure at the hands of his arrival in Tokyo seamlessly fused itself into his daily life over time until its constant feeling of excitement almost became the norm, and its original rebellious charm all but faded away. A year has passed since the Yellow Scarves were disbanded, leaving the city in a state of peaceful complacency and subsequently returning Mikado to the happy, calm (and in his case, productive) life of a typical high schooler. He and his close friend Anri Sonohara lived this life every day as class representatives, working to guarantee their peers a voice to be heard outside of the classroom. The boy was content with the role he played in his community; He lived every day to the fullest, helping to push Ikebukuro's youth forward into a bright future.
There he sat on this beautiful evening, admiring the scene from just behind a window inside Russia Sushi, a friendly café where all were welcome to try a bold, new take on traditional Japanese cuisine. Well, 'bold' as in weird, and 'new' as in generally unheard of and…imaginative. The boy expected Anri to walk in at any moment now to enjoy the meal he ordered for the two of them and to work on some class rep business they had both planned to do that night. Namely, the students of their class all submitted a short paragraph depicting their opinion of the school proposing to tear down and move a tribute garden in order to build a new swimming pool for the team. Those submissions were what made up the two short stacks of papers on the table in front of Mikado, and he and Anri's job was to go through them and fabricate a general class consensus on the subject to use as a statement deliverable to the school board.
Mikado reached for his cup of hot blueberry tea, bringing it up to his face with both hands before blowing on it and taking a sip. As his vision became blocked by the inner wall of the tea mug, he heard the little bell attached to the front door of the sushi café ring, quickly filling the nearly-unpopulated back dining room with a short yet resonating 'ding' sound. He looked up from his sip in response to the noise, and his eyes met those of none other than his dear friend Anri, who made her way to the table with a shy smile and sat down across from the raven-haired boy.
"Hey, Anri!" Mikado greeted cheerfully with a genuine smile, his head following Anri's as she sat down, getting on the boy's level. "I ordered your favorite for you."
"Wh-thanks so much Mikado, you didn't have to do that…" Anri replied with a small blush as she unpacked her things to begin working.
"It's really no problem at all! You got it for me last time anyways." the boy replied, flicking his hand behind him and smiling to indicate the simplicity of the favor.
Mikado took another sip of his tea before looking back down to his work, intent on getting it all done in one sitting so that they both could have a free day the next day. At the wake of a few silent moments however, it became evident that Anri did not seem nearly as determined today. The boy put his pen down and looked up at her, feeling as though he had sensed her mood even right as she walked through the door just a few moments ago. To Mikado, her continued irregular silence confirmed his hypothesis; At the surface, Anri's motivation to get this stuff done was, at the surface, pretty much nonexistent.
"Is something the matter, Anri?" he asked, concernedly. "You haven't touched your food and barely picked up your pen…"
"N-No, Mikado," she said, bringing her head up to face him, "Nothing's wrong, it's just…"
Anri paused, taking some time to look into the boy's eyes and to choose her next words carefully. She involuntarily let a short sigh escape her lungs. "Do you ever get tired of this stuff?"
Mikado let out somewhat of a surprised grunt, clearly unexpectant of the forwardness in the question he was asked.
"U-um…what do you mean?" he asked as he quizzically tilted his head to the side.
Anri looked at him for a moment longer, "I just mean…is this what you really want to do every day, Mikado? I feel like the monotony is never-ending."
The boy looked upon her, patiently and intently listening as she shrugged before continuing her thought.
"A year ago, when you first got here, everything was so…different. And in a good way, I think. Don't you agree? The lives we led back then were so exciting…but now I feel like that's all disappeared, and it just makes me a little sad is all."
Mikado absorbed her words while letting his pensive eyes fall from Anri down to his distorted reflection in the placid blueberry tea which was left in the ceramic mug he had. There was a moment of silence before he looked back up at her.
"Well hey, I know that the textbook definition of exciting isn't doing paperwork for school, but neither is being at the forefront of a gang war, Anri. You know?" he replied.
"Yeah, I know that," she replied, "but even so…as weird as this may sound, I do miss it a little bit. We all grew really close during that whole thing."
Mikado felt his discouraged eyelids partially fall over his gaze at her response. It was at this moment he was reminded that he used to feel the same longing sometimes, he really did. He couldn't lie that in the beginning weeks which followed the end of the war between the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves, there in fact were mornings where he would wake up and absolutely detest the boring day he was probably about to face…
But that was back then.
"We did all grow close, Anri. But that time is over now. Right now, I think we should just focus on making Ikebukuro a better place by doing the things we're already doing, even if it is in a small way. That's the idea that's kept me going ever since the war ended-if there isn't a boulder to move, sweep the dust that was below it" the boy finished as he looked back up to find that Anri never broke eye contact with him. She looked into his eyes as she absently and subtly began to shake her head.
"Hm," she disappointedly grunted, "The Mikado I know would've hunted down the next boulder" she said.
Mikado blinked at that, letting out a breath as he felt the sensation of a small fire burning inside of himself for the first time in a very long while.
Anri hushed for a moment as she leaned in to whisper to the boy.
"Also…have you been enjoying your time away from the chat room, Mikado?" she asked, which set the boy defenselessly agape. "You haven't checked in on the Dollars' in months...don't you miss everyone?" Anri implored, "At all?"
On his quickly tiring face, Mikado gradually grew a mixed look of guilt and sadness with a subtle hint of despair as his lips parted ever so slightly. He wanted to respond to that, he really did…but he just couldn't find the right words to do so in that moment.
Anri kept her gaze fixed on him as she quietly exhaled through pursed lips, leaning back to her original position in at the other end of the table before taking her eyes off the boy to think for a moment. She scrolled her eyes back up to look at Mikado after a short while, who had let his own head tilt downward in deep thought. Seeing him like this made Anri feel kind of awful, that this was what the topic of their conversation was doing to her friend.
"Ok Mikado, let's just forget the Dollars for a second," Anri said, looking back at Mikado, who hadn't moved a muscle in his trance, "Have you ever given thought to the idea that someone could be trying to reach you, specifically, through the chat?"
Mikado blinked, and his eyes twitched a little bit before growing slightly wider for a split second and then returning to normal shortly afterward. He took a short breath before raising his head to look back at Anri's concerned face.
"That's…" the boy whispered near-distraughtly as he quickly found himself unable to hold eye contact with his friend, "That's something that I'm honestly scared to think about, Anri."
The girl took a moment to observe and evaluate Mikado's reaction, and as it sank in, the reason for his apparent anguish became ever clearer to her with each passing second. She reached out across the table and caringly took his hand into her's. Feeling her touch, Mikado visibly calmed down a bit as he exhaled. Finally looking up at her, and she softly to him, Anri spoke her next words just as tenderly.
"He's still out there, Mikado. And he's still your friend."
In the dark of the night, all that could be heard was the roar of Shooter's ferocious engine as Celty ripped down the highway headed southeast on Ikebukuro's Metropolitan Expressway. Weaving through cars with scalpel-like precision, she speedily traversed the long stretch of road paying little mind to the lights of the other travelers' vehicles which flew past her with each passing second. Purpose pulsed through her veins with haste as she raced toward the exit which would lead to her's and Shinra's residence. She finally reached the bustling city streets after heading down the exit ramp, checking all directions for police as she continued onward. As a person of high interest to them, Celty never wanted to give them the opportunity to follow her home, for Shinra's sake. Being stalked or even potentially evicted by Ikebukuro's finest is the last thing they would need.
First visual impressions of her surroundings indicated no police, but a lot of citizens on a few separate corners and sidewalks, all of whom couldn't act fast enough to whip out their phone cameras to catch a glimpse of the Black Rider. Celty sped past them all, reaching her target destination after a few blocks going west.
She pulled into her usual parking place and headed up the steel elevator to her home, getting off and reaching for her keys once she reached the appropriate floor. She walked across the wooden floorboards to the front door which had a single light in the upper left-hand corner of its frame. She grasped the doorknob and jiggled the keys into it before turning them and letting herself in, feeling the cool blast of the air conditioning hit her instantly as she continued inside. It was the beginning of the summer, and the city was starting to feel the heat of the season which came upon them with next to no warning whatsoever.
Walking inside, the Black Rider removed her helmet, hearing the front door click shut behind her. She placed the yellow headpiece on the kitchen counter which appeared on her right as she proceeded deeper into the apartment. She looked over into the living room, spotting Shinra out on the balcony behind the closed sliding glass doors. Celty took her phone out as she made her way across the room toward those doors, and Shinra turned around casually from staring out at the city when he heard them open, watching Celty walk out onto the balcony with him. He spared no hesitation in smiling at her at first, then as she closed the door behind her, the living room behind them went quiet and Shinra's initial grin gradually dropped for a moment when a serious Celty brought her phone up to his face for him to read the contents of the screen.
The lifeless room on the other side of the glass barrier was silent; The small space was still all except for the television in the background which played the news through the tin-like sound of the speakers:
We're now getting confirmed reports that a 21-year-old man by the name of Horada, best known by his past affiliation with the "Yellow Scarves" street gang, has vanished from his cell in Ikebukuro's old Sugamo Prison, located under the Sunshine 60 building. Horada was arrested last year on multiple counts of assault, along with the attempted murder of Shizuo Heiwajima. As such, Horada is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous at this time. We will keep you updated with further information as we receive it, and if you spot this fugitive, you are strongly encouraged to immediately contact the Ikebukuro Police Department with any information you may gather.
I'm Ayumi Akaogi, Tokyo Broadcasting System.
The children playing with their friends at Ikebukuro Park could be heard whining in the distance as the beginning of the night set in, and their parents told them it was time to go home. Their faint sounds caught the attention of the raven-haired boy, whose footsteps began to gradually slow to a complete halt. There he stood, listening to them for a moment with his hands buried in his pockets and his eyes listless with the fatigue of confusion and doubt. He blinked as he let the smallest of a smile make its way onto his face at the sight; For a moment, he could swear that he saw his child-self over there too, playing with his friends in the fields like he used to, long ago. Or…friend, rather.
Mikado felt his smile fade away almost instantly when a pair of people who seemed to be co-workers clad in suits and carrying briefcases walked past him a few yards to his right, catching the boy's attention as he heard them talking about stock prices and other adult-level business concepts that the boy hated to realize he understood completely. After they passed, he looked back over to the patch of grass the children had been playing on, seeing nothing left but a few lingering parents walking away with their offspring. Finally breaking from his trance at the sight, he resumed walking the path to his destination once again.
He honestly couldn't fathom whether he was happy that he heard what Anri had to say back at Russia Sushi, or if a part of him almost daringly hated her for it. He had been walking home for nearly 15 minutes and was already starting to reluctantly realize that she was right. About every bit of it.
Maybe the only thing Mikado really hated was his own inability to see the truth for himself.
He left the countryside with the hopes of leaving his old self behind and starting a new life, in a new city, where almost nobody knew his name. To go wherever the wind took him was the spirit of freedom which brought him to Ikebukuro…and now, that had all but faded away and it pierced his heart deeper every time he thought about it.
And the worst part? It only took a year.
Finally approaching his door, the boy brought his hand out of his right pocket, holding the blue key to the doorknob. The darkness on the other side of the wall suddenly lit up through the crack of the door thanks to the streetlight outside which aimed almost directly at his building. Lazily strolling inside the relatively blank room, Mikado dropped his bookbag next to the door and slid it over to the corner of the room with his foot before taking his shoes off and proceeding inside, phone in hand.
To his surprise, before even bringing it up to his face to look at it, he felt the phone lightly vibrate in a couple of quick pulses. Intrigued, he looked at the notification on the lock screen, finding that it was from Anri. He regretted the uncontrollable pang of what he could only pinpoint as a feeling of mild disappointment which shot through his mind when he saw it was from her. Sliding the notification bubble to the right, his phone unlocked into the texting application to see:
[Think on it, Mikado. It's worth a try.]
He looked at the text for a moment longer, the soft glow of the device illuminating his face. After closing his eyes, he grunted despondently, lowering his phone and looking over to the mattress which sat at the side of the small room, then to the computer which was powered off and set up right next to it. With a dour look on his face, the boy clicked his phone screen off from his side, and carelessly tossed it onto the mattress, watching it land face-down on the plush surface before retreating to the bathroom where he would wash the day from his weary face.
Just like every other night.
