Kazue Awakens

~The following day~

~May 7, 2010~

Outside of the Animate café in Ikebukuro, Atsuko was sitting on a black chair at one of the outdoor tables; she was also drinking a cappuccino from a small white coffee/tea cup. Her eyes were closed and she was wearing a new outfit for summer's blazing heat—and the fact that it was arriving in Ikebukuro soon.

The outfit included an orange tube top with ruffles that formed a ruffled upside down triangle over most of her chest (just not the sides), long white pants that went down to her ankles, and orange-yellow ankle boots that had straps instead of covering her whole feet.

But it wasn't until long before something changed within the white-haired woman. Well, reawakened.

Suddenly, a man—who was 29 and had been staring at her chest—walked up to her with a lewd grin. A minute or so later, he stopped beside the table Atsuko was at, and the deadly conversation began. "Ne. What's a beautiful young woman like yourself doing here by herself? How'd you like to have some fun with me?"

Without opening her eyes, Atsuko took another half-sip before responding. "Just enjoying some coffee. Now get away before I call the police."

The man cocked his right eyebrow and annoyingly tilted his head to his right. "Aah? Keisatsu o yobu? And how do you know I was gonna do anything to you?"

Atsuko opened her eyes and narrowed them toward the man. "It'd be wise for you to shut up. I'm very serious."

The man's irritated expression then became a smirk; he didn't believe a word Atsuko was saying. "Oh, yeah? And what are going to do about it? Shout 'Assault!' until you can escape from here or something? Let me tell you this, you bitch. No one's gonna help you out even if you did shout for help. And you know why? Because everyone's too scared here in Ikebukuro to help someone like yourself from getting' raped by someone like me, and that's because they value their lives more than someone else's. They fear that they'll be targeted and hunted down next for what they've done. So don't you think that it'd be better if you didn't call the police? I'll give you one more chance to redeem yourself and have sex with me. Trust me; you'll enjoy every moment of it." With that said, he swiftly grabbed the cup from Atsuko's right hand and threw on the ground.

Atsuko stood up. "You don't get it, do you? I was going to spare you from getting sent to jail, mostly the hospital. And this is how you repay me? By throwing my coffee on the ground when I wasn't even finished with it?"

"O-oi! L-let's just have some fun, okay?"

"Too late."

Suddenly, a white smoke cloud appeared all around Atsuko's body, and the area around her. After five seconds, the smoke cleared up—well, most of it. Atsuko didn't look the same—she was different. Very different.

Now, she had snow white wavy hair, but it didn't go all the way down to her feet (instead, it went past her knees), amethyst purple eyes, longer bangs, a long, red dress that had two parts to it—the top and the skirt of the dress—with long sleeves, ruffles, and a red hat with orange-yellow flowers on it on the front.

She looked like a snow white beauty, but had a livid expression on her face. Then, she walked over to the man and punched him in the stomach with her right hand, knocking him out. After that, she folded her arms, still having her irate expression on her face with furrowed eyebrows, but no worry lines anywhere. Her voice was different in sound and tone (think of Rie Tanaka's nice voice to her angry anime character badass voice, and Karen Strassman's Mio Takano voice to her Soifon one). "Shouldn't have done that, dumbass. That's why you never mess with Atsuko or her coffee." She took out Atsuko's cell phone , dialed a number, and put it close to her right side (Atsuko's right ear, which is slightly seen if she/Kazue tilt their heads towards their right). "Anyway, I better call Kinnosuke and tell him to pick this libertine (seriously people, you all should work on your diction and stop reading too fast) up."

A few minutes later, Kinnosuke Kuzuhara (some—if not most—of you people know that the renewed police force in the Durarara! series are faster than normal police) arrived on his motorbike and turned towards Kazue. "Yo. This is the first time we've actually met, isn't it?"

"When Atsuko isn't around? I guess so."

"So, you're one of her split personalities, aren't you? It's rare for a split personality to surface like this. Taking over the original person's body and consciousness is one thing, but transforming into someone else? Well, that's another thing. You seem to have all the knowledge Roberts-san has by dialing my number using her phone. You already know who I am, so it's time for me to know who you are."

Having her arms folded and her eyes averted, Kazue let out a "Hmph," and the white smoke cloud appeared again (really, it just looks like fog, people), then disappeared as Atsuko stood before the police officer with closed eyes and a smile. "Ara, ara, Kazue. It's not nice to ignore others."

"Roberts-san, who exactly was that?" Kinnosuke asked.

With opened eyes, Atsuko replied with, "That was Kazue, my first-born split personality; she is also known as the 'Raging/Red Personality,' and tends to come out whenever I'm vexed by someone. Well, now that I'm not holding them back anymore, that is."

"Them? I see. But what reason was there for you to hold your split personalities back? I'm very grateful you did so, though."

The white-haired woman narrowed her eyes, having furrowed eyebrows, but no worry lines anywhere on her face. "As I told you before, I was vexed by someone's arrival in this city. It was quite unpleasant as it happened a few days ago. Three, to be exact. Not only did they put my life in danger, but they also put Shizuo's life at risk."

With those words said, Kinnosuke Kuzuhara knew there was something different about the woman named Atsuko Roberts. She was irritated and annoyed, just like Ikebukuro's strongest man, Shizuo Heiwajima, but in a way that didn't make her lash out at someone. It was as if she wanted to take the person's life who she had mentioned seconds ago. He also knew that everything would change around Atsuko Roberts and Shizuo Heiwajima from that point on, but he would not say anything further.

…..

"Oi, Shizuo, is it really okay not to ask Atsuko why she left the agency?" Tom asked as he glanced over at Shizuo.

"… I don't know…" came an inaudible reply from the blond man. "Maybe I should've asked her."

Vorona, who was between the two grown men, was somewhat perplexed. She had not known who Atsuko was—well, she and Slon (Slon only appears in chapter 13 of Keys To Immortal Beings ~Durarara Begins!~ since he was captured afterward) had kidnapped her (in Shizuo's case, they "adultnapped" Atsuko), but didn't know anything about her besides her appearance.

"Atsuko?" Vorona bewilderingly asked. "Who is this Atsuko of which you speak of, Tom-sempai?"

The bespectacled man glanced at his second bodyguard and blinked. "Ah, sou ka… You're new here, so you don't know much about the previous and current employees. How should I say this… Well, Atsuko's—she's a freelancer. Actually, she was always a freelancer; even now, she's still one. I'm not sure if I should even tell you much about her—" Tom paused, glancing at Shizuo as he began to tell Vorona. The blond caught his gaze and simply grunted, and turned his head forward. Then the bespectacled man turned back to Vorona and grinned. "—but she was a previous employee at the agency. However, she resigned the same day you joined, just a few minutes before you did. Shizuo and I don't know what caused her to turn her resignation letter in, but something seemed to have vexed her from the look on her face." Then, though Shizuo could intensely feel it, Tom seemed to have a certain gleam in his eyes (Shizuo's not looking at Tom; he's just looking forward). "Oh, and Atsuko is Shizuo's girlfriend."

Well that struck the blond; it seemed as if an arrow struck him through his heart (yeah, that "arrow striking the character" does happen (oh, Tom, why do you do this to Shizuo?)).

"I see," Vorona enthusiastically replied as they kept walking.

Then, a vein appeared as he turned to Tom; it was about to pop from the throbbing that began when it appeared. "Tom, Atsuko's not my girlfriend. We're not even dating!"

A mischievous grin suddenly appeared on the bespectacled man's face as he glanced at Shizuo. "Well, well! What do we have here? Ikebukuro's strongest man is still single? Maybe it's because he hasn't realized (why do authors always spell realize wrong? I'm gonna kick everyone who spells words incorrectly into next week like there's no tomorrow, and I'm not kidding here people!) his feelings for the lovely Atsuko Roberts yet~! Ahaha! Shizuo, you crack me up, dude!"

"Shut up, Tom! When did I ever say I was in love with Atsuko? I don't even love her! We're just friends!"

"Really~? Now that's a shocker. I can't believe you don't even know—actually, I can't believe you haven't noticed what people are saying about you two and what's been in the news and papers, dude!"

"? What people are saying about me and Atsuko…? What do you mean?"

Tom sighed. It was a typical reply from Shizuo, and it had happened for over five years. "Oi, Shizuo! You really don't know? Remember that event over a month ago? You know, the 'Find Ikebukuro's Number One Couple' thing? Yeah, well, since that happened, everyone's known and referred to you two as 'Ikebukuro's Number One Couple.' And the drama series after that? Yeah, now there's no doubt in their minds and hearts that you two are literally going out. Most of them still do while others want Atsuko for themselves."

Shizuo's eyes slightly widened behind his blue sunglasses. "What? They're actually saying that about us?"

"Yeah, man. It's all over the city."

"… Ugh…"

Vorona blinked and glanced at the both of them, starting from Shizuo to Tom, and back and forth. "? What is this fuss about?"

"Tom glanced at her and smiled. "Nothing, nothing. You don't really need to know, Vorona. After all, you're too young."

As usual—but without Atsuko—things were the same again. Well, not quite, but still… Even with Vorona, who was now walking with them to wherever they were headed, it was… somewhat the same. Though, now the bonds between them (Atsuko, Shizuo, and Tom) were changing—no. They've already changed.

Right now, everything was set for destruction. Though they (Shizuo, Tom, and Vorona) did not know it, nothing would ever be the same.

…..

Meanwhile, in the other world (I've already known the other's world's name for years, but I won't reveal it so easily since it's a world I've created for myself, and all my stories that I create are for me, not anyone else in general), Anna, who now had sapphire-colored hair, and was wearing a long blue tube dress that went down past her knees (she also looks more like her older cousin Karen now),was standing on Gemstone Island. Then, she turned her head up and stared at the sky.

"Kazue's reawakened, and so have the others," she noted. "Looks like it's time to go back to Ikebukuro. And… When the time comes, I just hope it won't be too late not only for us, but also for Atsuko and Shizuo."