This fic loosely takes place after the events of Durarara! X2 (or whichever chapter that season corresponds to in the light novels). Enjoy!

PROLOGUE: THE CULTURE

"To hell with Ikebukuro!" spat Chikage Rokujo, head of the Toramaru biker gang, as he knocked back a drink. "I've had enough of this madness. It's nothing but trouble, I tell you! Everyone's a goddamn psychopath with no respect for anything. They got middle schoolers leading gangs over there! Demons, headless riders, super-strength… Never again. Never again!"

Non, his girlfriend, nodded along faithfully (but without really listening). She and the rest of his harem had gathered with several top members of his gang in an Ikebukuro dive bar to discuss their plans for the future. Chikage had been complaining about the way things were for a couple of days prior, and she sensed that the Toramaru gang was about to make another big move into uncharted territory.

"I'm not saying we couldn't take it eventually, don't get me wrong." continued Chikage. "With the progress we've been making? Easy. The Dollars are a joke, and they'd fall eventually if we kept pressuring them, with their pathetic 'leader'. Easy. The next time I see Shizuo, I'll pound him into dust, no problem. Easy. And that Izaya guy? All bark, no bite. EASY." Non poured him another drink, and he smashed it back with ease.

"But here's the thing, right? Who would even want to take Ikebukuro? There's nothing there, I swear! It's the worst neighbourhood in Tokyo, hell, in the world! It's just a pile of department stores and city centers! There's no culture to it, that's the thing. Now that we've resolved our little business over there, I don't see why we've been sticking around all this time. Not when we could have been moving on to more important stuff."

Tora-1, Chikage's second-in-command, shifted in his seat nervously. He wore the same hat, shades, and coat as the other rank-and-file members of Toramaru, making him almost indistinguishable from any other member of the gang. No one had ever seen his true face. In fact, some would swear to you that Tora-1 wasn't even a single person, but a title, which would shift to whichever faceless member of the gang Chikage decided was Toro-1 at any given moment. Whatever the case was, his role was to act as a delicate counterbalance to Chikage's wild, impulsive nature. It was… a difficult job, to say the least.

"So, boss," Tora-1 said, "If we're withdrawing from Ikebukuro from the time being, are we gonna head back to Saitama?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" bellowed Chikage, jumping up on the table. "Our problem, as I see it, was that we were thinking too small. What's the point of trying to fight the Dollars over some dumb office buildings, when we've come to Tokyo? TOKYO. You know how important this place is?" He grabbed the bottle of whiskey he'd been pouring from and held it high.

"I say we go EVEN HARDER! We have the whole of Tokyo to choose from for our next conquest, so what's the point of starting small? That just means it'll take longer to get to the good stuff!"

"So.. where are we headed to next, then, Chikage?" asked Non. Chikage smiled mysteriously at her, then upended the bottle and began to effortlessly chug it. Non watched him do it, with a slightly concerned expression on her face.

Chikage finished the bottle and threw to one of his subordinates. Pointing a finger into the air for dramatic effect, he looked at Non and smirked.

"We're heading to the CENTER of the culture. Where else but Shibuya?" He swayed slightly. "AS OF TODAY, I, CHIKAGE ROKUJO OF THE TORAMARU BIKER GANG OF SAITAMA, DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT SHIBUYA WILL BE MINE BY THE END OF THE YEAR. SO THERE! HAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHA…." Laughter trailing off, Chikage finally lost control of his balance and fell backwards onto Tora-1, squashing his second-in-command. Tora-1 let out a small whimper of pain.

Non sighed. "Shibuya? You couldn't have picked anywhere else? That place is legendary. It's gotta be a hundred times crazier than Ikebukuro."

Chikage opened one eye to look at her, a smile still on his face. "Exactly, my dear. Which is why I have to have it. Think of Ikebukuro as a warm-up. We handled that fine, now didn't we? He thrust his finger into the air again, narrowly missing Tora-1's nose.

"After Shibuya, Tokyo!" He yelled. "And after Tokyo… the world!"

CHAPTER ONE: ROLL DEEP

Rokujo didn't waste time. Just a day after he made his proclamation, the entire Toramaru gang gathered, bikes and all, in an Ikebukuro parking garage. At the front of the assembly, on a gleaming red bike, sat Chikage himself, with Non (and the other girls) at his side.

"Good morning, all! Glad to see you could drag your asses out of bed to join me today. I'm truly flattered." he began. "As you all know, we're gathered here today to take the next step in the Toramaru Takeover of Tokyo! By the end of today, everyone in Shibuya will know our names. They'll tremble in fear when they hear the sound of our bikes. We'll have command of the most important part of the city. We'll own the culture. We'll be the culture. It's going to be glorious."

"Now as you know I can't stand pathetic wimps who take things slowly and cautiously, so we're gonna do this the way it should be done, and go all out from the start." He motioned to Tora-1, who unfolded a huge map of the district. "We're striking deep at the heart of Shibuya, and the best way to do that is to get attention real fast. So our first move will be to roll up to the Scramble Crossing, cause a little bit of trouble, get some eyes on us, then react from there. I reckon we'll get a rise out of someone, like one of their excuses for a 'gang'. By sundown, we'll have a real good established hold on the area."

Chikage looked at each and every one of his members. "We've built something special here. Saitama is already ours. Now? It's time to go even further." Chikage ran to his bike and hopped on. Raising a fist in the air, he shouted a battlecry, which was answered by the gang in full.

"TO SHIBUYA! LET'S SHOW THEM THE POWER OF TORAMARU!"

"RIGHT, BOSS! TORAMARU FOREVER!"

-one hour later-

"AAAAAH THIS WAS A BAD IDEA" yelled Chikage as he sprinted across the lobby of the 109 building, dodging bits of zombie flesh flying through the air.

-thirty minutes earlier-

"Honestly? This might be the best idea I've ever had!" proclaimed Chikage, sipping a latte on the second floor of the Scramble Crossing Starbucks. He lounged with his legs up on the balcony, 10 or so of his girls chilling around him (naturally, being a gentleman of the highest caliber, he had bought them each a drink of their choice… which had put a bit of a dent in his wallet). He watched the chaos below him unfold with pride, as his gang rode through traffic and through red lights, delivering glorious havoc on the bustling city center. By Chikage's orders, they refrained from actually attacking anyone, but their very presence was enough to scare the hell out of the tourists, office-workers, and shoppers going about their day, who screamed and scattered as the motorcycles drove up onto the sidewalks. Tora-1 sat in the middle of the crossing, giving instructions (which were largely ignored).

He threw an arm around Non's shoulder, who was sitting next to him, a macchiato in her hands. "My dear Non, this is what I give you." he said. "By tonight we'll be the most infamous gang to ever ride on Shibuya's streets."

"Right. Except, you know, this is the easy part." Sienna, Chikage's first girlfriend, spoke up. They weren't really a thing anymore, but had remained good friends over the years. Chikage would probably try to tell you otherwise, but he wasn't fooling anyone. "Shibuya's home to some wild shit, Rokujo. And they've probably seen what we've just done… and they're probably seconds away from showing up here, too."

"You're absolutely right, Sienna!" Chikage said. "And that's when it gets REAL good." He slurped up the last of his drink and tossed it over his shoulder. "And now… we wait."

He didn't have long.

The second his crumpled-up cup touched the floor of the shop, a massive explosion rocked Shibuya. Chikage, already slightly-off balance, toppled over backwards with a yelp. The girls, recovering from the aftershock, jumped up to the massive window overlooking the Crossing to see what had happened.

The Toramaru Biker Gang lay in shambles. Wisps of pink smoke, no doubt from the blast earlier, slowly wafted into the sky and dissipated. Most of the gang lay groaning on the ground, having been thrown from their bikes. The bikes in question were in even worse shape, with tires punctured, metal twisted, and gasoline burning. Sienna, Non, and the rest of the girls looked out in shock over the wreckage.

"Wha…? What happened?" said Chikage, scrambling back to his feet. He hopped up to the window to see for himself. "Oh… yikes…"

"Yikes? That's all you got to say?" said Sienna. "I totally just warned you about this! Now look what happened!"

Chikage looked at her. And grinned. "Are you kidding?" he said. "This is fantastic! Once we beat whoever did this into the dust for disrespecting the Toramaru gang's integrity, we'll instantly be legends around here!"

"So… you probably want to talk to them, then." Non pointed at the sky. At the center of the Crossing, a single figure stood, floating, in the air.

"Aha! Excellent deduction, my dear Non!" said Chikage, pleased. "If they're floating, they've gotta be some kind of super-powered freak! And the only kind of person who could do anything to my guys would have to be on some kinda magic shit, anyway! So I'll just smash their face in, and we'll be able to pick right back up with no trouble at all! This'll be easy!"

He jumped up and sprinted back down the stairs, cackling, as the girls watched him with vaguely bemused expressions on their faces.

-seconds later-

Chikage skidded through the Starbucks lobby, dodging the terrified tourists inside. Stopping only to pay a quick compliment to the cute barista he had seen earlier, he threw open the massive double doors and dashed outside, struggling to pull his kabutowari (truncheon? knife? the best of both worlds!) from his hoodie pocket.

As he got closer to the figure in the air (who, on closer inspection, was a girl), he noticed how utterly strange she looked. The figure was wearing clothes that defied description. The clashing tones, insane patterns, and nonsensical layers added up to a costume that made Chikage's eyes sting a little as he tried to take it in. The girl had busied herself with blasting any members of Toramaru that had begun to crawl around in pain with pink beams of energy, a bored expression on her face.

"So this is it… the power of the culture." Chikage said through gritted teeth as his eyes adjusted to the alien sight before him. "This fashion… this energy… There's no doubt. This girl's gotta be the most powerful person in Shibuya." Sprinting full speed towards her, he finally managed to free his weapon from his coat pocket.

The girl saw the Chikage running towards her, the usual crazed smile of glee on his face, and sighed inwardly. "such a bother…" she said, under her breath, and began to float away.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY!" yelled Chikage. "You just think you can screw with the Toramaru Biker Gang and get away like that?" He waved his kabutowari threateningly at her. "No way! I'll be your opponent! I, Chikage Rokujo, the leader of the Toramaru Bikers, am here to get revenge for my fallen men, and claim Shibuya as our territory once and for all! Now FACE ME!"

The girl looked down at him and raised an eyebrow. "and what exactly do you think you're going to do? throw that thing at me? i can fly, you know."

Chikage went pale. "Augh! I was hoping I'd be able to stall you long enough to think of something...! You've seen through my trap…" Sweating, he fiddled with the brim of his straw hat. "Shibuya… is truly a fearsome district..."

The girl closed her eyes in exasperation, completely done with Chikage's bullshit. "i think i've seen enough, here. i'm going." she said, and floated a little higher.

"NO! No, don't go!" said Chikage. "I have to fight you! Don't you care about defending Shibuya at all? Where's your civic pride?"

The girl stopped her ascent. Turning back to Chikage, she now looked pissed. "and what," she said, glaring down at Chikage, "exactly, makes you think we're from shibuya?"

Chikage looked confused. "I dunno, the clothes? The crazy magical powers? Where else could you be from but Tokyo's ultimate center of the culture?"

The girl somehow managed to get even angrier. "the culture? THE CULTURE?" she said. "the culture isn't from shibuya! this place co-opts the culture. it flattens it, commodifies it, turns it into a shadow of its former self so it can be mass-produced and sold to clueless foreigners all over the world! there's no culture to be found in shibuya, straw hat man."

She crossed her arms, a slightly haughty expression on her face. "we're from the real center of tokyo's culture. i am mari, and i'm from harajuku. where the fashion is homemade and creativity runs free!"

Chikage scratched his head. "So… if you're not from Shibuya… why did you bust up my gang like that?"

Mari, the magical girl, suddenly grew solemn. "we have a bone to pick with shibuya." she began. "they've been stealing our ideas for years for their massive high-end fashion stores. There was really nothing we could do to stop them, so we had to tolerate it... but recently, they've totally overstepped their bounds. they've set up fast fashion shops all over harajuku, destroying the natural creative fashion centers existing in the area. you don't see people designing their own stuff anymore - they're just mindless sheep, running around in the newest fall uniqlo drops. the spirit of harajuku fashion will completely die out if we don't do something!"

She continued: "i came here to find whoever was in charge of shibuya's culture center, so i could get revenge for our own district. when i finally got here, i guess i was so angry about what they've done to us, i just sort of assumed you all were from shibuya. sorry about the mess i made of your guys..."

Chikage had listened to her tale closely, and he nodded his head in understanding. "Damn." he said. "That really sucks. Sorry about Harajuku." But then he looked back up at her. The old grin was back on his face.

"So, I think I get it now!" he shouted, grabbing his kabutowari off the ground and pointing it at her. "You're trying to get back at Shibuya, and you won't stop for anything. But, my dear, you're gonna have to get in line! I've already decided, I'm gonna control Shibuya, and nothing's gonna stop us. You want to fight the guys in charge that bad? You're going to have to go through ME first!"

Mari sighed once more. "this really isn't going to go well for you, you know."

Chikage dropped into his fighting pose. "We'll see about that, lady! Now let's go!"

Mari slowly lifted a hand at Chikage. "have it your way then, red guy…" she said. Clearly fed up with his shit, she opened it and fired a massive, pink, dangerously kawaii beam of energy that sped at Chikage, leaving red, bubbly, lethal hearts that bounced in its wake.

Chikage's eyes widened, and he dove out of the way just before it hit him. It smashed into the ground, leaving a huge, smoking crater.

"Not bad!" he yelled from over his shoulder, crawling behind a car for cover. "Now just wait for my counter-attack! It's coming, I swear!"

"you- you know what'll happen if i shoot that thing, right…? hey! dude!" Mari, facepalming, decided to wait for him to come out from under the car. She didn't want to actually kill the poor guy, after all.

Chikage crouched behind the car, planning his next move. He was busy attempting to figure out how fast he could shimmy up the nearest lamppost when he realized his phone was ringing. Taking it out, he saw the caller ID: Non.

"You holding it down back there, Non?" Chikage said, bringing the phone up to his ear. "Need another drink? Just tell the barista I'll be back in five minutes, no problem."

Non's voice was shrill on the other end. "Rocchi, you goddamn idiot!" she yelled. "Don't you know who you're dealing with?"

Chikage winced and held it a little farther away from his ear. "I mean… she's like the Headless Rider, I guess." he said. "Just… some sort of demon. She's a little light on the blood/darkness motifs, I suppose, but hey, that's the kind of forward-thinking innovation Harajuku's known for, right?"

"No, no!" Non said. "That's a Magical Girl! She's way too strong for you, Rocchi! You gotta get outta there, now!"

Chikage frowned. "Magical girl? Like the stuff in manga? Come on, that shit's… made up…" He sighed. "You know what? With the stuff I've seen in Ikebukuro? I'll buy it."

Kiyomin's voice (another one of his girlfriends) cut in. "Rocchi," she said, "Me and Kana saw her in a fashion mag a couple months ago. That's Mari, the owner of a cutting-edge fashion shop called PARK. She's actually pretty famous among the Harajuku crowd. I didn't know she was a magical girl… but honestly, who isn't these days?"

"Excellent." said Chikage. "So she's a magical girl, a fashionista, and really goddamn pissed at me right now? Easy." His grip on his kabutowari tightened in anticipation. "I'm really sorry to leave you ladies hanging, but I've simply gotta go. It's time to put my master plan to work."

Chikage closed the connection as his girlfriends all loudly yelled at him for being an idiot, and looked up at the sky. "Alright, Miss Magical Girl," he said, "Sitting tight up there? Let's see how you handle getting grounded!"

Back up in the sky, Mari was growing tired of the situation fast. To clarify, she had been tired of the situation from the beginning, and her annoyance had now reached formerly untold levels of pissed-off-ness never before seen in Shibuya. Deciding to finish things once and for all, she engaged the psychic connection she shared with her other two friends, Rito and Kotoko.

"hey, kotoko… yeah, I'm just dealing with one guy now… i don't wanna kill him, just fly over to the other side of the car and scare him out. really? thanks! see you then!" She hung up (mentally), and began to turn back to Chikage's hiding spot.

"alright - straw dude. red guy. this is your last warning. just come out and i won't shoot stuff at you, promise. you don't want to- AAAAAA"

Mari screamed and froze in mid-air, her eyes on the car Chikage had been hiding behind - which was now hurtling through the air at full throttle, directly at her. Panicking, Mari threw her hands up and let off a massive blast of energy, which hit the car head on. The vehicle exploded directly onto Mari, enveloping her in smoke.

She emerged from the smoke cloud a couple seconds later, singed slightly but unharmed. "a-augh, my clothes!" she exclaimed. "this'll take days to fix!"

"That's not ALL you'll have to fix, lady!" Mari, caught off guard, heard a voice behind her. Turning around, she saw Chikage above her, who had climbed the lamppost near them in 0.5 seconds and leaped off to reach her. In the air, he was now poised to knock her out of the sky. "Like the car? Figured I'd kick it over, give you a closer look. Good distraction, huh?"

Chikage turned his kabutowari so its blunt edge faced Mari, and brought it over his head. Finally in range, he lifted it a little higher. Mari closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do. She braced herself for the impact, and-

Nothing?

She opened an cautious eye. She was fine. Looking down, she saw Chikage helping a barely-conscious Tora-1 to his feet.

"Yo, you okay in there, dude?" asked Chikage. "Can't have you tapping out on me, man. The fun's only just begun!"

"Sir…!" said a tearful Tora-1. "But what about… the enemy?"

Chikage grinned. "Oh come on, man, who do you think you're talking to? Opponent or not, she's a lady, you know? The day I hit a member of the fairer sex... is the day I die. Plus, she's actually pretty alright." He shouted up to Mari: "Isn't that right, Miss Mari?"

Mari blushed. "you're just lucky i went easy on you. i'd kick your ass any day. and my friends weren't even here, too!"

"Friends? I- AUGH!" Chikage's thought was cut off as he was hit by another massive, heart-shaped bubble of energy from the side.

"kotoko! he's okay, we totally stopped fighting. no need for that!" spluttered Mari. Kotoko, the girl in question, had just arrived to help her.

"oh, right. sorry, mari. glad to know you could end things peacefully, ha ha…" Kotoko said sheepishly.

Chikage surfaced from the dust. "It's okay, ladies! Not… a bad attack, I'll give you that, but nothing I can't handle." He looked down at Tora-1. "It might have been too much for my guy over here, though. Oh well!"

"Rocchi!" Chikage's harem ran out to meet him, and Non and Kana grabbed his arms protectively. "Are you okay?" asked Kiyomin, distressed. Chikage quickly reassured them that he was totally fine… as he let go of Tora-1, who fell sadly back to the ground.

"Well!" said Chikage. "Glad we could figure this out, huh?" He extended his hand for Mari to shake. She took hold shyly, and the fight was officially over.

"Wait…" said Sienna. "Don't you both… still have to fight each other? You both sort of want the same thing, right?"

Chikage shrugged. "Eh, we can figure it out later… after we've taken this district down!" The two girls agreed.

Their problems resolved for the time being, Chikage, his harem, and the two girls he had just met relaxed. Mari and Kotoko began to help Chikage's men up, repairing their bikes with their handy magical girl repairing love magic, as Chikage looked on with his girls by his side. Everything had finally calmed down.

And then the zombies arrived.