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"Last one."

Tamina recoiled at the snapping sound the daunting staple removing instrument Dr. Kishitani wielded made. She winced with the mild discomfort that followed from him finagling the last staple out of her head, but immediately after that it was over, to her relief.

"All done." Shinra tossed the the tool onto a metal tray on the coffee table, then took his small pen light from his pocket and examined the area one final time. "Looks good. All healed. Quite a scar, but your hair conceals it so you might wanna consider that if you ever go for the bald look."
Tamina breathed a soft laugh with that. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You might be tender in that area for a while. It's common though. Especially with one of Shizuo's blows." He chuckled, removing his gloves and collecting the rest of his tools.

"You've known Shizuo a long time, huh?" Tamina asked, fixing her hair and sitting back against the couch.

"Oh yeah. Since we were kids." Shinra replied.

"Has he always been..." She trailed off, unsure how to put it.

"A complete lunatic?" Shinra finished for her. Despite Tamina's disapproving look he continued. "Yup. Ever since I've known him at least. Once he gets worked up there's no off switch. Just complete annihilation."

Tamina gave a nod at that, eyes falling to her lap while Shinra continued to clean up. She absent mindedly picked at her nails while she thought. Despite what he'd shown, Shizuo had assured her that he didn't mean to be a violent person. And considering her building affection for him, she desperately wanted to believe that.

"Speaking of getting Shizuo worked up," Shinra began again in a much different tone. "Do you mind if I ask you about something, Miss Takeda?"

Tamina was surpised, blinking curiously, but nodded right away. "Of course."

"Izaya Orihara..." Shinra started. He studied the uncomfortable shift in Tamina's face. He couldn't quite place it. Somewhat pained. Possibly irate? Certainly provoked. He went on. "I've known him for a while too."

"Unfortunate." Tamina commented, turning her gaze away.

Shinra shrugged at that. "You give him too much credit. He's easy enough to crack if you try." He finally finished up his tidying and pulled over a stool from the kitchen area, perching himself on it. "How did you and Izaya become acquainted?"

"Is there a reason we have to talk about Izaya?" Tamina asked uncomfortably.

Shinra wore an eerie smile but spoke in a warning tone. "Because if I find out you're just one of his little pawns trying to play Shizuo I might have to ever so carefully slice your pretty face right off."

There was a long silence. Tamina stared in a mild horror, hoping the young doctor would follow with his usual goofiness or a 'Just kidding! Just kidding!'. But he didn't. He just held the smile and stared right back at her, patiently waiting for her answer.

"Well," Tamina finally began nervously. "I'm not..."

"Great!" Shinra said, slapping his knees as he got up, his usual friendliness seemingly back.

Tamina involuntarily jumped when he did and watched with a new wariness as he circled around the dining area into the kitchen. "I'm gonna make some tea, want some?" He asked.

Tamina just nodded.

At her shock Shinra gave a laugh as he went about preparing tea. "Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to startle you that much. I can just be protective of my friends. I don't have many." He told her.

He seemed so warm and approachable again. Tamina was surprised to say the least. At least Shizuo had a loyal friend... "I met Izaya in a chatroom some time ago." She decided to confess. "I was having trouble in an abusive home and he claimed he had a sister in grade school that was terminally ill..."

Shinra let out an audible breath and gave a disapproving shake of the head, but didn't seem overly shocked by the statement. "Sounds like Izaya."

"We kind of bonded over that and became really close." There was a brief pause as if Tamina realized something. "I thought we did, at least." She corrected.

"Let me guess," Shinra said, bringing over the tea. "Izaya comes into the picture. Chaos ensues."

"Something like that." She admitted, taking the cup he offered as he sat next to her on the couch. "But, my life wasn't much better before that... And I ended up here." She took a sip. "It's weird. I feel like because of him, I might finally be where I'm supposed to be. Does that make sense?"

"Do you feel like you owe Izaya something for that?" Shinra asked, nursing his own cup.

"No." She said right away. In a certain sense she was grateful, but he'd put her through hell to get to this point. She assured herself she didn't owe him anything for that.

Shinra seemed to be thinking as he drank his tea. "Like I said, I've known Izaya for a long time. Long enough to know when he's acting out of the ordinary."

Tamina skeptically arched a brow at that. "Ordinary, huh?"

"Okay, exceedingly out of the ordinary." Shinra corrected. "Can I give you some advice?" When Tamina nodded he went on. "If you're serious about Shizuo, you need to stay away from Izaya. At all costs. It'll end in disaster, no matter what. I promise you." There was a brief pause as Shinra set his cup down on the coffee table. "That being said, I think Izaya likes you just as much as Shizuo does."

Tamina wasn't sure what to say to that. Shizuo's affection was certainly more obvious and what one might consider 'affection' from Izaya's end was certainly a stretch of the word. They each couldn't possibly have the same kind of feelings for her.

Tamina opened her mouth to question Shinra further but was startled when he suddenly burst. "Celty!" He bolted up from his spot enthusiastically.

Tamina looked to the living room door and saw the Headless Rider in her yellow neko helmet peeking in cautiously. She remembered the last time she'd seen Celty and immediately realized she was probably trying to avoid scaring her again. Tamina stood off the couch and quickly circled around to greet her. "Celty, I'm so sorry about the last time I was here." She started to apologize right away.

Celty flailed her arms and quickly pulled out her phone to quickly type a message. "No! No! I'm the one who's sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"No, Celty." Tamina assured her. "What I did was beyond rude. Please forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive!" Celty typed.

"Well," Tamina said. "I hope we can be better friends. I feel like I already know you so well from online."

"Definitely! You're always welcome here! How's your head?"

"All better it seems." She told her.

"Just yanked all the staples out myself!" Shinra chimed in. "Now where's my kiss?" He came in to embrace Celty who immediately stiffened and manifested some shadows to coil around Shinra and push him away.


Tamina spent a short while at Shinra and Celty's apartment getting to know her new friends. Once the initial eeriness faded she was surprised at how completely normal the couple was. Conversations became more fluid and the subjects and tones were so familiar. Tamina hadn't meant to see Celty as something other than human. And even though she technically wasn't, in all the best ways, she was. More than most people, in fact.

She left their apartment with promises of visiting again soon with the van gang. When she reached the ground floor her phone began to ring. Once she located it and checked the ID she smiled softly and answered. "Hey you."

She could hear the smile in Shizuo's voice on the other end. "Hey."

"Still at work?" She asked as she walked along the side walk.

"Just on break." He replied.

She smiled at that. Calling her on his lunch break? He was too cute. They were pretty friendly with texting at this point and they'd had a few phone conversations before but it was still fresh. She was surprised at how the little things could excite her.

"What are you up to?" He asked.

"I actually just got my staples removed." She told him.

"That's great. So you're all better?"

"Mhm. If you wanted to have that date after the girls' entrance ceremony this week..." She said, a giddy hinting in her tone.

"Sure!" He replied, overly eager.

She laughed at his enthusiasm, pausing as she waited for a street light to change. She was about to speak again when a car pulled up next to her a little too close for comfort. Her attention was drawn to it and the rear door opened. Her brow became tight as the raven haired man inside wore his usual cocky grin, patting the seat inside for her.

"Can I... call you back?" She asked Shizuo and she stared daggers at Izaya.

"Oh, yeah, Sure." Shizuo said. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye" She said and hastily hung up. "What?" She demanded irately.

"Get in, that's what." Izaya said rather cheerfully.

"I don't think so." She said and moved to begin walking again.

"Didn't you say you needed my help with your little problem?" He called to her.

She halted, inwardly groaning. Damn him. With great reluctance she turned back and climbed into the car, shutting the door behind her. They were underway immediately after. "Kururi and Mairu's entrance ceremony is this week." She said, eyes fixed out the window.

"Enjoy." He replied with little interest.

Her head snapped around. "You're not going?"

"Why would I?" He asked placing his elbow against the door and propping his head on his fist.

"Because they're your little sisters." She told him, the irritation in her voice building.

"Yeah, no thanks." He said simply.
She scoffed. "If you don't give a damn about them why do you pay me so much to look after them?"

"The way those two are, how long do you think it'll be before they're getting into mischief and Raira is looking for someone to call? I'm essentially paying you to be their emergency contact instead of me. I'm too busy for their nonsense. That's all."

"Alright, you can let me off at the next light." She told him curtly, turning away and readying herself for a swift exit at the next traffic stop.

"You might want to hear this before you go." Izaya started, causing her to look back. "Turns out your very well regarded step father is leading quite the double life. This, I'm sure you knew to some degree. But the rabbit hole runs a bit deeper than we thought." He tossed an folder onto the seat between them,

Tamina shifted uncomfortably as it nudged her, hesitant to examine it's contents.

"Everything I dug up. There are several chatroom's he visits frequently with a number of user names. I can always track him by the IP address though. I had Namie bait him a few times and he's certainly a predator. I'd like to note that some of our personas were quite young." Izaya went on.

Tamina felt the familiar heaviness in her chest. The one she'd gradually buried since the last time she'd seen Izaya. "So now what?" She asked him, looking out the window again.

"If it were me, I'd probably take a more aggressive approach." He began, causing her to move anxiously again. He smirked at this. "But I know you too well. You're reluctant to really hurt anyone, regardless of how much they've hurt you. You wanna take the high road. Do it the right way."

Tamina rolled her eyes. She still hated when he did that. When he acted like he knew her inside and out. "And...?" She said, skepticism heavy in her voice.

"You wanna talk to these girls..." He replied.

Tamina was silent for a short while. Maybe she could get through to one of them. Maybe they wanted to be helped. At least one of these girls had to be waiting for someone to reach out to them... Indeed, that was the best solution she could come up with for the moment. It was with that that she realized underneath all the built resentment and tension, he did know her.

He broke her thoughts, gesturing to the envelope between them again. "You'll find that information here as well."

"Thank you." She replied softly, unsure of what else to say.

"You're welcome" He said simply.

With the distraction of her heavy thoughts she hadn't even realized where they were. A quick check out the window and she realized they were pulling up to her apartment. When the car came to a stop in front of the building she looked to him curiously. "That's it?" She asked, clearly unsure. He was usually more mischievous and things with him were rarely as they seemed.

"What?" He asked. "I can't just give you a ride home?"

She was surprised to say the least. He'd been almost...helpful lately... It was rather unlike him and past experience had her favoring caution and skepticism. "Thanks." She said quietly, grabbing the folder and reaching for the door handle.

Suddenly she felt him scoot over and press into her. She turned back and he came closer, gently pushing her back against the door. "And a kiss." He said, his face closing the distance between them.

Tamina could feel her body heating up in an all too familiar way. His handsome face was so close and she could feel his breath on her. He made her ache and her body nearly betrayed her, head lulling to the side and inching closer to meet him. At the last moment though, she came to her senses. His lips stopped just a hair away from hers when her hand quickly came to his chest to halt him.

She pressed back further against the door to gain more space and meet his gaze. The look on his face wasn't one she'd seen before. His usual cheerful facade was completely absent and there was a dark irritation in his eyes. It caused her heart to sink and nerves to jump all at once. She awkwardly fumbled with the door handle and pushed out of the car. "Sorry, I have to..." She didn't even finish her words before she shut the door behind her and hurried inside her building.


The apartment was empty and quiet. Tamina lay back against her bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn't quite place how she felt. Part of her was somewhat proud. She had told herself she would resist Izaya the next time she saw him, no matter what. Despite her efforts in the past, he was always able to overcome her senses. But that wasn't the case today. There should also be a sense of triumph, she knew. The kind you might get when you can finally turn down a bad habit. This feeling was noticeable absent though. Instead, she felt almost guilty. This was a huge red flag in her mind.

She tried to shake it off, sitting up to finally open the folder she'd carelessly tossed on her bed. She peeled it open and shuffled through its contents. The first few pages seemed to be printed text and chatroom conversations. She quickly tossed them to the side, reluctant to read them. Then she found pictures of the familiar girls. On the back of the prints there were names, basic information, email addresses and phone numbers. She found herself surprised at the details he'd managed to obtain but reminded herself that this was Izaya's profession.

After some heavy deliberation and soul searching, Tamina decided to make contact. The first number she called went to voice mail. She hung up before the tone. What kind of message could she leave on such a subject? She decided to press on, calling the next number.

"Hello?" The girl on the other line picked up.

"Good afternoon. Miss..." Tamina breifly paused, scanning the paper in front of her for a name. "Chiba..! How are you?"

"Fine thanks.." The girl replied, clearly unsure. "How can I help you?"

"I just had a few questions for you, regarding your swim team." Tamina explained.

"Okay..." The girl said, still unconvinced.

"You see..." Tamina began hesitantly. "I have some concerns about your couch. Mr. Monsuta-" There was a sudden disconnect on the other line. "Hello?" Tamina asked. "Hello?" She checked the screen and realized the call had indeed been ended.

Silently, she looked through the papers and began to call the next girl. According to the information Izaya had dug up, this girls was top of her class and on her way to a scholarship for her impressive swimming career. Tamina waited patiently as the phone dialed out over and over.

"Hello?" The girls voice came on the other end.

"Good afternoon Miss Sazuki."

"Good afternoon." The girl replied politely. "May I ask who's calling?"

"My name is Tamina Takeda. I'm sorry, you don't know me, but I felt like I should reach out to you." Tamina tried to speak quickly, feeling her window of opportunity closing.

"Is this a prank call?" The girl on the other end asked.

"I have some questions about your swim coach, Toshiro Monsuta." Tamina blurted.

There was a long silence on the other end. Tamina began to think this girl had hung up as well but she finally answered. "What do you want to know?"

"I know it's crazy to have someone call you randomly like this, but I just wanted to help. I know what kind of person he is." Tamina could feel her heart beat picking up with her nerves.

"I appreciate your concern, but I don't need help." The girl replied.

Tamina was taken by surprise. This girl didn't need her help? How could that be? "Maybe I'm not being clear... I was in a similar situation with him and-"

"No," The girl interrupted. "I completely understand, and I do appreciate it but I'm fine."

"You don't have to deal with this." Tamina urged her, a little more desperately then she meant to. "I can help. If you and I and some of the other girls exposed him-"

The girl cut her off again. "Listen," She sounded irritated now. "My swimming career is very important to me. I can't do anything that would jeopardize that. You know who he is, right? His reputation? He's the guy next store. The star defense attorney of Shibuya. When something like this happens people never say 'Wow, that man did that?' They say, 'Wow, why would that girl say that?' I'm not trying to ruin my reputation and possibly life by going public with this. I only have to deal with it for a year."

Now Tamina was silent. It was as if she was listening to her fourteen year old self. It was true. A man as well regarded as him would never be suspected of being a predator. Even if she could make a case against him it would likely fall apart given his profession and resources. And this girl was smart enough to know that too.

"Miss Takida, or Takido, or whatever. Again, thank you for the concern but I'd appreciate it if you didn't drag me into this." The girl said with a tone a finality and the line went dead shortly after.

Tamina tossed her phone onto the bed. Her brow was tight as she looked over the other girls, fanning their pictures out on her bed. Only the second girl she'd spoken to and she felt completely defeated. It was a huge risk, going after someone like her step father. If this girl knew it, the others likely did too. Hell, he had probably made that clear. They all probably wanted to just get through it and move on with their lives because they felt powerless to stop it.. Just go on and let the vicious cycle continue. Tamina's heart sank when she came to a realization. That's exactly what she had done...

She jumped when her bedroom door was pushed open and Kururi peaked in. "I'm home." She said.

Tamina quickly shoved everything back into the folder and wiped a tear that had threatened to breach her eyelid. "Hey!" She choked out, trying to gain some composure. "Where's Mairu?"

Kururi eyed her suspiciously. "At her dojo. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Tamina said cheerfully, climbing off her bed. "Let me make you something to eat."


"-the second such case this month. The killer, dubbed "Hollywood" by local media, followed the same MO, this time appearing in a Merman like costume..."

Tamina stared intently at the news report. Her eyes were fixed on the flickering TV in the dark room while Kururi lay across the couch with her head in her lap. Kururi peeked an eye open when the stroking of her hair stopped and reached up to lightly tap her distracted care givers hand.

Tamina blinked when her attention was drawn back then resumed stroking Kururi's hair. The quiet twin settled, resting her eyes again. Tamina let out a soft chuckle. These two were becoming so spoiled, but she knew she had no one to blame but herself. Still, she enjoyed it.

The news continued on and Tamina became lost in thought with Kururi resting in her lap. She thought about the twins and how much they meant to her, even after such a short time. With bitterness, her thoughts shifted to her step father and the girls she had spoken to today. It pained her to think they felt like they had no way out. She could try making contact with the others later but the discouraging conversations she had earlier left her reluctant.

Tamina glanced down at the young brunette in her lap. She swiped her hair behind her ear, tenderly running her fingers along the side of her face. Though she grew up with no siblings, she knew sisterly love had to feel something like this. She'd do anything for these girls. It was this thought that caused her to cling to her current predicament, despite the pain it caused.

"Kururi?" She found herself breaking the silence.

"Mmm?" Kururi replied in a lazy hum.

"I know it hasn't been long, but I love you both." She confessed.

"We know..." Kururi replied softly.

"If someone hurt you..." Tamina trailed off, the thought stinging her more than she expected.

"No one can hurt us." Kururi assured her, her tone unchanged.

Tamina knew that was likely. They were better equip and skilled to deal with this crazy world than most. Certainy more than she was. Still, comfort didn't come. Tamina still felt lost. "If someone was hurting me," She began, unsure of her words. "What would you do?" She asked.

Kururi seemed to think on it for a moment, but just a moment. "Kill them." She said bluntly, eyes never leaving the TV.

Tamina sat in a soft silence. "Just, kill them?"

"Yup." Kururi gave a nod. "Because we love you too."

Tamina's eyes shifted back to the TV, the news filling the white noise of the room. "That simple, huh?"

"Mhm." Kururi confirmed.


Tamina found herself sitting on her bed in silence again in the late evening hours. The folder lay next to her. She glanced over and peeled open the cover, scanning over one of the printed chatroom conversations.

'Good evening'

'Hello.'

'How old are you?'

'Thirteen.'

Tamina grimaced, scanning down a bit further, skipping over a few lines.

'What are you wearing?'

'My night clothes.'

'Are you wearing panties?'

Tamina shoved the folder shut. She flopped back against her bed, eyes tightly shut. What the hell was she supposed to do? She didn't know what caused her to reach for her phone or to dial the number that she did.

"It's been a while since you called me this late." Izaya's voice came from the other end with an obvious grin.

"Earlier," Tamina began, ignoring him completely. "When you said I don't want to hurt people that have hurt me... Do you think that makes me more human, or less?"

She couldn't imagine how widely Izaya was grinning on the other end. "Who's to say? The 'humanly' thing to do is so subjective..." He replied.

"What do you think?" She asked in a more sincere tone than he expected.

"I think..." Izaya found himself answering slowly. "You're just the right amount of human."

There was a pause as Tamina pondered on that. He was somewhat of an expert on the matter. Was she right or was she wrong? Was there truly some kind of medium that a human had to balance to be considered strictly good or bad?

"I'm guessing things didn't go too well?" Izaya asked.

"None of the girls I contacted wanted my help." She replied softly. "Why wouldn't they want help?"

"Did you?" Izaya asked right away. Tamina opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off. "Why didn't you talk to your mother about it for so long?"

"He had a good reputation, and I was afraid she wouldn't believe me..." She said.

"Seems like as good a reason as any..." Izaya confirmed.

"But-" Tamina started defensively.

"And when you did tell her," Izaya cut her off. "What did she say?"

There was another long silence. Tamina could hear her mothers voice clearly. 'You can't just go making accusations like that.'

"As I recall, she wasn't entirely supportive." Izaya finally spoke. "Now that I think about it, she seemed more concerned about his reputation and career rather than your safety. You think any of these girls' families would be any more receptive, given who Mr. Monsuta is? "

Tamina was quiet on the other end. There was a whirlwind of emotions happening inside her. The only thing she knew for certain was that she had to stop this, no matter what. She couldn't just move on. She wouldn't be a coward again.

"You said you would take a more aggressive approach." She finally said.

"I would." Izaya said simply.

"Can you help me?" Tamina asked. There was a pause on the other end, so she decided to be more clear. "Can you help me resolve this? Aggressively?"

Izaya was smiling wildly on the other end. "Yes. I can."


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