Interlude #4: Dollars Internet Chat
Monta: And now, there's nothing
Tanaka Tarou: Nothing? What?
Monta: No explosions, no yelling, no crying people kneeling beside broken vending machines, no unlit cigarettes littering the ground...
Bakyura: Seriously? Maji desu ka?
Tanaka Tarou: Chotto matte. Wait, was it that noisy around where you live?
Monta: Yes. Round my complex the commotion is very thick. Lots of scammers, loan runners, yakuza flunkies, you know the type. They make trouble... Cheap rent space tho'
Celty had to agree. Shizuo was usually in that area of town, and now it had been unusually quiet of late. As if they expected a crackdown at any moment, or they were seizing the opportunity to do shady business again, unchecked...
Bakyura: First the information broker's disappeared, now the strongest man in Ikebukuro?
—How will the city function?
Monta: Very well without them, I would assume.
Setton: Too well.
Monta: There's always a price to pay. :-/
Ouch, that hurt. Monta was right. The price had been her transporter job. Celty wasn't particularly in need of money, but she did like keeping busy at night. It helped, because as an immortal, she could never sleep. Like humans, she still thought that the house felt creepy at night, with just her and Shinra. She couldn't watch TV, which she would have liked to pass the time with, because he was such a light sleeper.
But maybe that was a small price to pay for peace.
Supiikaa: You know, Tom looks like he's about to kick a hole in someone's van. It's quite strange :-) The strongest man in Ikebukuro is supposed to be the one who loses his temper.
Monta: He wouldn't! Really? Tom?
Supiikaa: He would. He has a bone to pick with Kadota's gang.
Bakyura: The ex-Blue Squares?
Tanaka Tarou: Yes, they're daradara right now.
Bakyura: Ah, sou, sou. Dollars. Daarazu. I thought I saw them helping that ... never mind.
Huh. Who'd have thought. Maybe the chance to do good, and not be in danger, appealed to their sensibilities. I know they did some scary stuff for the Blue Squares.
Celty thought ruefully, there's lot of people who lose their tempers in Ikebukuro, but their efforts and feelings seem so pathetic compared to Shizuo's extraordinary fits of passion that people forget the other scandals that go on so regularly.
Supiikaa: Anyway, Tom seems to think that spending time with Walker and Erika poisoned his best business partner with otaku fetishism, or something, and that's why he's suddenly gone delinquent.
Monta: ...Yeah, right...
Bakyura: I could believe that.
Tanaka Tarou: You would.
Bakyura: Anyway, but why?
Setton: Why does Tom do anything? He needs a job. It could just be the pachinko junkies skipping out as usual. That's enough to make any loan collector perennially upset. Did you hear about the red lunchbox prank?
Tom probably has to act fierce now that Shizuo's not there to scare the serial debtors. Maybe that means he looks angry? Or is he just upset about Shizuo and is taking it out on them?
Tanaka Tarou: No, never heard that story. Hey, where is the strongest man in Ikebukuro anyway?
Monta: This is all speculation, so...ahem. ^,^
Tanaka Tarou: Oh, uh, okay. So, what next?
Setton: ...
Bakyura: Radiation symbols...art...and stuff? Inspirational, of course ~ !
I wonder if the government will stand for that. But it does sound like a fine Dollars good deed, if we can think of something...
Setton: Sounds good. When should we start?
Bakyura: You mean where?
—On the Kadota gang's door, of course. I think it would make a good replacement for the anime girl. Who's with me? Come on, it'll be a wonderful walking billboard of hope, love, and peace... :-P What's not to like?
Monta: Um, guys, I think making an enemy of Togusa is a bad idea. He's the driver of the van after all.
—Just fair warning: (It would be just like him to go and complain constantly but then get too fond of that door and explode once it's beenhelpfully replaced... You know he likes moe things, right?)
—I speak from experience. The "cool and collected" thing is an act.
—Not to mention, prank vandalism is still vandalism.
Setton: *Good point!*
Bakyura: We could make a radiation-symbol version bunny girl
Now this is just ridiculous. I'll come back and volunteer again when they're serious.
Tanaka Tarou: Er...
—No.
Thanks, kiddo.
Bakyura: And give it to Saika.
Tanaka Tarou: ***!***
Bakyura: BEST IDEA EVAAARRRRR!
Tanaka Tarou: *headdesk* Please, no... Bakyura... you're killin' me...
Monta: The sad thing is that I think I actually know who and what you're talking about. *facepalm* Good night.
Setton: Good night!
Perhaps seriously discussing anything involving radiation is a lost cause. The older generations panic straight-up, and the young'uns (Celty snickered at herself, using such a phrase—technically she was hundreds of years old, but she never felt old) constantly make jokes. I think we all need a serious tension reliever, but none of us are sober enough to think of an appropriate one.
Celty mused for awhile. I'll have to think on this. I still really like the idea.
Author's Note: Inspiration for the Dollars' haphazard "radiation symbol / art to inspire the populace plan" came from an episode of PBS's Frontline, "The Atomic Artists." Google it, since this site won't allow me to embed the link.
That video is about what real people in Japan did artistically with the atomic/tsunami disaster in April 2011. Interesting, isn't it? I rather think those artists should be honorary Dollars, even if I don't completely agree with their end goals.