THURSDAY, EVENING
Aoba believed himself to be very resourceful. Especially tonight.
He was hiding in the bushes with a cellphone clasped in his right hand. A while ago he accepted a phone call from another one of his cellphones and was now happily listening to what was going on at the other side of the line. The other cellphone was placed in Anri Sonohara's room beforehand, where he sneaked it in through the window that she so carelessly left open.
"Don't be sad, we'll figure something out!" Erika Karisawa's voice said from the phone.
"But what right do I have to interfere?" Anri Sonohara said in a small voice. "If Mikado likes Kuronuma-kun, I wish them happiness…"
Imbecile, Aoba thought. He didn't understand people who refused what they wanted. That said, it was nice for him that she was an imbecile. Less hassle to deal with.
Anri Sonohara's misery irritated him. Aoba didn't believe in what the love songs sang about, and he considered any kind of attachment to another human being to be thoroughly egoistic. Anri served as proof of that. At first, she didn't care for Mikado enough to make an attempt to conquer him, instead all she did was act like a princess who liked having a loyal puppy following her around. But now that she suddenly lost her admirer, her sense of self-worth was hurt. He didn't see any love in that. Just a grandiose ego and desire to get back the person who was her primary way to boost it.
"Maybe you're right… Surely you'll find someone who deserves you better… Anri-chan, are you crying?!"
Sobs could be heard at the other end. Aoba shook his head, irritated.
"Anri-chan, continue hoping for the best! Rely on me, and we'll open his eyes…"
Scum, Aoba defined Erika Karisawa. Her noble desire to help Sonohara wasn't nice for him. It could create a lot of hassle, and it was so fundamentally stupid, at that! "We'll open his eyes". Aoba has opened his eyes already to the fact that he can have a relationship with someone who desires him, rather than serve his Ice Queen like a slave.
"Calm down, Anri-chan. Let's think. If there's anyone else whom this Kuronuma likes?"
"I don't know… Really… I don't know much about him…"
"And is there anyone who likes him?"
"What's the point? Even if there is, the problem is that Mikado likes him… I was so stupid when I hoped that eventually…"
"Quiet, girl, I told you to hope for the best! He's just confused. And Kuronuma proved to be quick, unfortunately. But don't allow your spirit to be shattered. Smile!"
A forced laughter laden with sobs sounded through the phone, and Aoba stared at it incredulously. For all he knew, Sonohara was being forcefully tickled. What kind of tactless idiot do you have to be to match this Erika girl…
"Stop it! Please!" Sonohara said in a quivering voice. "I remembered who else likes him… There are two girls at our school, they're Izaya Orihara's sisters…"
"Do you know of a way to contact them?"
Silence followed. Aoba was listening intently for any hint of what they were doing, but couldn't make anything out. Then footsteps could be heard, as if someone left the room.
"Oh please, manga gods, may the sisters fail!" Karisawa whispered. "All hail Mikaoba! Then maybe I'll have my chance, too…"
Imbecile, Aoba redefined her back. "Mikaoba!" How dare she give their bond a name, ewww, and she even put Mikado's name in front of his for some reason. Why not "Aomika"? That sounded better. He clasped the phone angrily. A reasonable person who likes Sonohara wouldn't ever attempt to help her get back with Mikado. It's her own fault she has to pray to gods for her own help to fail. What a moron.
This was yet another proof to Aoba that his hate for human beings was justified. There it was, human nature. One girl was crying over losing a slave whom she treated like crap all this time, as if he was a loyal puppy who has to run to her at the snap of her fingers. Now she wanted to get back to that awful status quo in order to elevate her own self-esteem, even though she still couldn't care less for her admirer. She couldn't care less that Mikado wasn't happy as a puppy. The other girl was yet another slave at the throne of her Ice Queen, ready to hypocritically help her just to have the scraps of her attention. Even though she wanted a lot more, she was fine with receiving the breadcrumbs. That was so pathetic. As far as Aoba was concerned, the two girls weren't worth anything but his derision.
The room was silent for a long time, and Aoba turned off the phone. Apparently Sonohara would walk Karisawa out soon, and that was his chance to get to the window unnoticed and grab his second phone back. He sighed. Human nature was such an unsightly thing, after all.
His own included.
It was dark in the room, but a small space was engulfed in the bright light from Mikado's laptop. Mikado sat thoughtfully in that light and watched the screen. He entered the Dollars chat but kept silent. Setton and Chrome, whom he suspected to be Izaya-san, were currently online among other chat users.
He was mulling over Aoba's strange words about staying true to himself and how awesome that was. They irritated him greatly. Mikado dreamed of breaking his limits, about evolving, discovering new sides to his personality. Right now only Blue Squares gave him that freedom. Mikado believed that if he never met them, his life would be miserable. Yet all people close to him were against him for that – Kida-kun, Celty-san… Everyone wanted him to continue being that eternal Mikado, a spineless shy boy with an angel's heart. But that wasn't fair. Mikado never wanted to be who he was, he merely was who he was, against his own desires. He clenched his fists. How could Aoba in his right mind ever come up with an idea that it was awesome?
However, Mikado had enough power of reason left in him to realize that his reactions were emotional outbursts. If he were to think clearly, he'd have to admit that Aoba had very sensible reasons to envy him. Judging by what he told him about himself, Aoba was a chameleon without a real personality. Or he believed himself to be like this by mistake. Therefore he harbored a desire to have a real, genuine self, unchanging and resistant to the pull of external circumstances. If only he knew how Mikado suffered from having such a strictly defined self…
Just like they say, the grass was always greener on the other side. Mikado and Aoba would have traded places with each other in a heartbeat.
Intuitively Mikado felt that there was something wrong with his personality. It became too rigid and fixed lately, it felt like prison to him. He grew to believe it was fake and artificial, a limited personality that couldn't hold all the urges of his soul. Yet people around reacted so harshly and judgmental to his attempt to push out of his boundaries. Masaomi was the worst. How did he even come up with that crazy plan? He called back his old gang with one single cruel purpose: destroy Mikado's attempts to evolve! After all, the Blue Squares served as a vehicle of Mikado's change. If they were to be ruined, Mikado's freedom would perish along with them.
He picked up his smartphone and eyed recent messages from the sharks. The cleansing went well today. Yoshikiri and Mitsukuri sported new bruises, Neko got a bloodied nose, but the others didn't suffer any consequences. Mikado's heart felt warm and fuzzy, it was nice to be a part of the group that accepted him for what he was and whichever sides of personality he chose to show in their presence.
His laptop went into sleep mode and Mikado touched it to wake it back up. Apparently he was thinking for too long. Setton left the chat already, but Chrome was still online. Mikado opened a private chat with Setton and typed in:
"Setton-san, our last conversation was foul, and I really want to get back on good terms with you. Please let me explain. Aoba and I don't merely use each other soullessly, I think I have a crush on him. You're right that he can't be trusted, he behaves so erratically: one minute he pays attention to me, another he gets distracted. I don't know how to push him into the right direction. You've been so happily in love for a long time, I wondered if you would be so kind as to give me some advice from a more experienced adult. Message me when you get back online."
Mikado covered his face with his hands to avoid looking at what he just typed up. So shamelessly open. Mikado already regretted typing "a crush". At first he wanted to type "I like him", but he knew it wouldn't sound clear enough. There were many ways of liking people, after all. The idea of having a crush on Aoba horrified Mikado, though. He hoped it would never come to that.
Naturally, it was way too crazy to ask for Celty-san's, he did it only because he really needed it. But not from Celty-san, from Izaya-san. As a person who understood Izaya-san he realized that asking him for help directly would be a deed worth the Fool of the Year prize. And as a person who knew a lot about IT he realized that a chat admin can read private messages. He didn't doubt that Izaya-san abused his privileges daily.
Mikado left the chat to stop seeing his own words. He felt better knowing that from now on, he had big chances of Izaya-san assisting him, one way or another. After all, he loved humans and hated everything that was less than human. Like Anri… Mikado never talked to her about it, but he'd seen enough to draw some conclusions. Izaya-san couldn't help but butt in other people's business, and he was very likely to want to disturb Anri's life. They were almost an unofficial couple, so he'd love to help Mikado, just to see that couple torn apart.
An SMS sound signaled the delivery of a new message. "Good night, Mikado! Have many sweet dreams today :)", the message said, with a picture of a drowsy kitten attached. The sender was named Anri.
Mikado stared at the letters in stunned silence. She'd never sent him cute random messages before.
