Characters: Ren Tsuruga, Kasuka Heiwajima (Yuuhei Hanejima), Shinra Kishitani, Yukihito Yashiro, Kyoko Mogami, President Lory Takarada, Shizuo Heiwajima, Izaya Orihara, Section Head Takenori Sawara + unnamed Durarara! characters: Mikado Ryuugamine, Anri Sonohara, Mika Harima, Seiji Yagiri, Celty Sturluson, Simon Brezhnev

Chapter Seven: In Which Various Pasts are Exposed, Tsuruga-san Watches Ikebukuro Local TV, and the President Gives Tsuruga a Good Kick in the Romantic Direction

At long last, Tsuruga could sit down and watch the DVD Kasuka had slipped him as there weren't any acting jobs scheduled for a while. Yashiro-san regimented when Tsuruga's breaks occurred just as tightly as the rest of his schedule, but he did not insist on what he did during them other than the intentionally vague requirement that he "rest and eat."

Tsuruga took the remote, clicked play, and started watching.

Local television? It was definitely home-recorded... Kasuka was such a private person. Did it not occur to him to ask for an extra copy from the studio he worked for?

Tsuruga got up to make popcorn. He knew how these things went. The point of the video would not be quick to come clear...

He came back when he saw that Kasuka's face was on screen, and a famous newscaster's voice explained that he was returning to show off his hometown of Ikebukuro. From there, Kasuka took over, explaining that his first order of business was "Love Love Star Chance Find the #1 couple in Ikebukuro"...and if they wanted to, that couple would appear in one of his movies...

Tsuruga stifled a groan. That, um, had to be the, er, fluffy permed-blond assistant TV director's decision... Tsuruga had forgotten his name. To be more precise, he clean wiped it out of his memory. Tsuruga too remembered when he had served his time under that man's thumb. At that point all he wanted was to survive the experience. The assistant TV director was a good friend of Lory's, and had similar delusions of love and grandeur, which completely explained why he was on staff at LoveMe, but his grip on reality was so light as to be nonexistent. The TV director produced meaningless crap for the local channels that could be used even when nothing particularly momentous was going on, or when negotiations for an investigation into somewhere had broken down before the segment could be aired. Nobody said TV was LoveMe's strong point—its real strong point was producing solid actors and building their careers. TV was used as a crude tool.

Come on, ganbare...

But it didn't get any better. Good grief, Kasuka was actually acting happy, and projecting an appropriate level of energy as sincerely as he could. It wasn't perfect, but he was in complete control and honestly, what newscaster doesn't come off as personally divided at times? Still, nobody would guess that he personally detested this job. And that was better than Tsuruga had ever done in his position... Hm, was that when he mastered the expression Kyoko called his 'lying gentlemanly smile'? Could have been.

Shut up, thoughts. They'd gotten to the point already.

Let's see—a fairly normal young pair, the crazy-obsessed in love couple—HEY, WAS THAT A SCAR AROUND HER NECK?!—scratch that, a stalker and her stalkee... Then there was a friendly older couple who had just been engaged, perhaps in their mid-thirties—

Kasuka launches into a short, fairly typical anecdote about his first date. He was quite clearly setting the stage for the boyfriend and girlfriend standing right in front of him (the camera, focussing on him at first, pulled out to reveal them). They were quite surprised to be interrupted in the middle of apparently deep thoughts. When asked questions, the girl did not reply, but the boy was startled into talking and dug himself into one hole after another and talked himself out of each one. He was rather sweet and philosophical. The girl suddenly got interested in the middle of this, and started blushing and became embarrassed. The boy noticed and lost his cool again...

It was all rather curious and amusing, but then a man holding out a serrated knife appeared in the middle of the crowd, and yelled, "Yuuhei Hanejima!" Having gotten everyone's attention, he growled in a voice as guttural and dirty as a clogged sewer, "give me back my girlfriend...give her back...!"

Kasuka tilted his head back and narrowed his eyes at the knife. Judging it. Like he knew something...suspected something...

"DIIIIIIIEEEEEE!" the man shouted, and charged with the fury of a wild beast, knife poised to plunge straight into Kasuka's chest.

Tsuruga jumped so badly he fumbled the remote and the video kept moving forward while Tsuruga scrabbled to find it again. Fumbling the buttons, after a confusing series of mistakes he finally paused it. Man alive. Kasuka never even hinted. Was an attempt on his life so trivial? A death threat on any actor's life? Why hadn't he heard of it? Of course these things happened to the famous, but why—?

They must have covered it up, Tsuruga thought grumpily. But even now that he knew what was going on, Tsuruga had to rewind the tape several times to catch the next part.

The boy jumped protectively in front of the girl, whose eyes are inexplicably glowing red. It was unnecessary because the knife was aimed to miss them completely on its way to stab Kasuka in the chest. The knife was just about to make impact when a red-and-white sign ripped through the air, and the man suddenly wasn't there any more. The camera pans, and you can see that the sign slammed the man with the knife to the pavement and, still sliding across the concrete, dragged the man to a stop barely six feet away from Kasuka. Dead?

Kasuka didn't even blink, although his head swiveled to look at the man and then to look somewhere past the camera, into the distance, his expression unreadable.

Even that idiot TV director wouldn't do something this dangerous and stupid on purpose, or knowing that something was going on that could harm his actors. Besides, he's an insufferable romantic, not a thrillers freak.

The boy mutters, and the audio picks it up although it's barely audible, "Was the man who threw that Shizuo-san? It would have to be...there isn't anyone else, huh?..."

Oh. So that was Shizuo.

Well...but the show must go on. After a very short commecial break, a new headline springs up: "Bizarre! Tokyo Mystery Spot Flying Vending Machines". In the buildings a little ways past Kasuka, there appears to be an explosion, a smattering of — street signs? — hanging out of the next building's side like needles stuck in a pincushion. A red box (presumably a vending machine) flew out of the cloud towards a black-clad figure who used the street signs as springboards to dodge the flying projectiles... And there's another flying white box...

While Kasuka was ad-lib style narrating on the fly, the boy and the girl stood gobsmacked to one side, and a black man in a white sushi-shop uniform held out a sign decorated with roses. It was outrageous. He had been seizing opportunities use Kasuka's camera team to illicitly advertise throughout the program. The man dressed in black drops to the ground somewhere behind Kasuka (even when the tape is stopped, he's moving too fast for Tsuruga to make out his face), and the other figure in a bartender's uniform with a blond mop of hair landed on the sushi-shop worker's shoulders before leaping to the pavement. The man in black (Izaya?) sprinted towards the nearest alley away from the crowd and the bartender (Shizuo?) took off in pursuit.

In heavily accented Japanese, the sushi-shop worker calls after them, "Fighting is bad! You'll get hungry!" and waves the rose-decorated sign. As if this happens all the time. He is completely casual about it.

So that pair must be well known.

Tsuruga sighed. Kasuka's narration was making less and less sense, but nobody watching would care. The events themselves didn't make sense. This episode is just too bizarre.

A couple of explosions and a lot of street signs later (are there really that many on the streets?), another mysterious figure appears. Somebody hysterically shrieks, "Black Rider!" But it's only a woman in a black suit on a black motorcycle and a yellow cat helmet. The sushi-shop worker gets ahold of the camera, and just like that the spectacle is over.

That was...quick.

Next is a "Ikebukuro's Best Restaurants with Hanejima Yuuhei." The place is actually a cultural monstrosity known as Russian Sushi...so, somewhat normal...except the sushi-shop worker keeps holding up handwritten advertisements on cheap paper... Even in this day and age, there are still people who just don't understand the purpose of TV?!

Before you know it, it's back to Ikebukuro - the skies of the city, anyway - with a new headline: "Ghost on live broadcast! What is the black shadow!? Evil spirits in Ikebukuro!"

Tsuruga couldn't believe that Kasuka was still treating this seriously. He just had to be cracking up inside. It was almost unnatural how perfectly Kasuka stuck to his "reporter" role. Of course he was skillfully talking in circles around the event, and Tsuruga noted that he never worked up to a satisfying and plausible conclusion about what caused the incident...

The next segment, "Protect the city's peace! Close Up! Big City 24 Hours Police Big Success!" covered the police force pursuing a someone in black on a motorcycle. Contrary to what was advertised, the police did not seem to be having much success. Kasuka's tone was completely suitable: horrified, amazed, eager to see the end... Oh, I remember. I bet that's the "Black Rider" again.

That segment wound down slowly—the police admitted that they had lost the tail of their suspect—and that was the end of the broadcast. It was a most entertaining, throughly unbelievable two hours of television, and it was bizarre.

Tsuruga called Yashiro. Perhaps if he had a second opinion, he'd know what to think about it. Yashiro quickly grasped the situation and came right over.

They watched it a second time. Tsuruga wasn't as avidly glued to the TV this time (he withdrew to the kitchen to make dinner), but Yashiro didn't move from the couch; he was given to making remarks as he watched and so Tsuruga replied on occasion.

Finally it ended. Rather than stop the tape, Yashiro got up and walked into the kitchen, shaking his head. "Well...Ren, I don't know what to say."

"Do you believe it?"

"I don't want to, but I do."

Tsuruga sighed. "I thought so. That was my feeling as well."

Yashiro pressed his lips together. "Ren, could you tell me again why you were watching this?"

"Kasuka wanted me to. He wanted me to understand something about his brother, Shizuo. Did you catch the comment of the boy in the city square—?"

"Yeah...yes...I heard."

"He has a true rival with Izaya Orihara, the other young man who joined LoveMe."

"Confusing."

"Yes, very. Kasuka thought this would clarify the relationship somehow."

"I don't see how—"

The TV screen, which had been turned on but left running on black, came back to life.

"Hello." A young man wearing a white lab coat, glasses, and a small smile peered out at them. His hair was very straight, and stuck out in all directions at the bottom, like a lizard's frill, because of its own weight. "Ah, toriaezu...for the time being, I'll introduce myself, I guess? Heiwajima-chan, er, Kasuka—Heiwa—Yuu—Yuuhei—Wa—wazawaza... Kasuka-kun, oh, why oh why do you have so many names?!"

Another face broke into the video. The camera refocused. The face was Kasuka's, though his expression was not quite as bland as usual. "This is my friend Shinra Kishitani. Pay no attention to him; I've just borrowed his video camera."

"Your name, your name," Shinra hissed, fuzzy in the background.

"Ah, yes. My name is Kasuka Heiwajima, otherwise known as Yuuhei Hanejima by the general public. But if you're viewing this, you should know that." His eyes slid towards Shinra. "This particular television segment probably won't be kept for future use, after it was initially broadcast. We had an inkling that this would be the case even before it happened. So I had to borrow Shinra-kun's recorder."

"You can't believe how annoying it was to sit here and watch while Celty went out and tried to get herself killed on local television," Shinra muttered, clapping Kasuka on the back. "I told her not to do that!"

Kasuka didn't flinch, although his expression tightened with annoyance. Tsuruga remembered that he didn't like physical contact unless it was strictly required by the script. Even then he couldn't always do it unless he'd gone out with the actor in question for a few drinks before filming started. It was something of a handicap, and a major reason why Kasuka's characters were usually celibate. Luckily most everyone was considerate because of the effort involved, for now, but Lory Takarada had been working on that particular weakness of his for a long time. "Yes."

Shinra remembered something important. "Ah, what Kasuka-san isn't telling you is why the episode might have been taken off the air. To be perfectly clear, we knew that the man with the knife might make an appearance. He wrote the death threat online, and I quote, 'I am going to kill you. I know a girl whose life he ruined. I'll make him pay for what he did.' " Shinra made a face. "If it actually happened, then Kasuka might not have another chance to get the tape of this incident, and honestly this ought to be a happy memory since it's the first time Kasuka has returned to his hometown since his debut...oh...four years ago?"

Kasuka nodded confirmation.

Oh, so maybe that's why he was able to "pretend" to be happy so easily... He was really was glad, not about the show, but just glad to be home.

"So he wanted to keep it. What Kasuka-kun's also not telling you is that he's survived something like ten written intentions of death, only three of which ever made an appearance, and only one of which he was ever endangered by."

"This one," Kasuka said casually, by way of confirmation.

"Yes, the one in Ikebukuro, the home range of one Shizuo Heiwajima, the strongest and most loyal brother there—"

"Shut up." Kasuka elbowed Shinra, who started coughing.

"Yes, your lordship," Shinra croaked, and made a flourishing bow.

Kasuka actually scowled. "Stop that." He turned back to the camera. "I wanted a record of my brother—of what he is. Unfortunately, after viewing the footage for myself, I think it cannot sufficiently speak for itself."

"You got that in one. I think—" Shinra leaned forward and Kasuka efficiently elbowed him again. Shinra hurriedly got up and out of range. "Aw, man, you're really being mean..." he whined from off-screen.

Kasuka sighed with relief. "In front of the video camera by myself, I can speak however I want. It's a miracle I actually got into LME like this, huh?" He laughed a little ruefully. "I've never told the newspapers, but Lory approached me; he went on my YouTube videos alone. Peculiar. I don't think I could have made it if I had to go through audition. If you know me at all it must be strange to see me this animated, I guess."

Tsuruga nodded silently. Kasuka wasn't acting in a way that he had ever seen in him before, and he was speaking in front of and even teasing Shinra, which meant that they must be close.

Kasuka jerked his head at his partner. "Meanwhile, Shinra-kun has a good heart, but he is overdramatic and he talks too much."

"WHAT!?"

Kasuka ignored him. "I believe that's why he's the only one my brother ever suffered to take with him when he went to watch me in the movie theaters. He's the only one whose arm he wouldn't feel guilty about breaking when he got to the scary parts." Kasuka's face was completely deadpan.

Shinra stepped into the screen with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Sou desu yo ne..." He straightened, eyes widening, and pointed to Kasuka in amazement. "That's true! You could be right, Kasuka-kun. How did you guess? Un, un. He definitely had it in him." Shinra closed his eyes and nodded confidently, almost proudly, reviewing his memories. Then he opened his eyes, put his coffee down, leaned towards the camera, and whispered, "He only broke my arm that once, though. Not at the theaters, though." He drew back and said to Kasuka, "Are you sure I was the only one he invited to go with him to the movie theaters?"

"..." Kasuka thought. "Yes."

"Hm, sou, puzzling that. He just offered one day—I think he was ecstatic that he could hold a job for so long, and he was in his first flush of money, so it was while he was working as a bartender—and I was a poor university student in pre-med, of course I couldn't turn him down, and I like watching Yuuhei Heiwajima as much as the next guy—"

Kasuka coughed meaningfully. Shinra picked up his coffee and obediently moved to the corner of the room, not facing the camera, only occasionally glancing back to see what Kasuka was doing.

"Please ignore him. If I gave this to you then I want you to know who my brother Shizuo really is. Maybe you've crossed paths with him. Maybe you haven't yet. Maybe you have questions about his past that you don't think you can ask him. Perhaps you are going to work with him. Maybe there's something you need that I haven't foreseen." He shrugged. "For some reason. So I shall tell you."

"Firstly...I love my brother, and he loves me with all of his heart, and especially, all of his strength. Hence what happened to the man with the knife."

"Secondly, my brother Shizuo is the strongest man in Ikebukuro. By a considerable margin. Specifically, Shizuo had his bones broken until they healed so strong that they just couldn't break anymore. He has a condition where his muscles release all of the power they have without the usual stops, and when he was young the strain was too much for his bones. Now that they bones are strong enough to allow the muscles to work at full capacity, Shizuo has a bad habit of throwing vending machines and street signs when he is angry. He could easily break a man with his hands but he usually doesn't."

"Usually?" Shinra objected from the corner of shame. He sipped his coffee.

Kasuka leaned back, talking to Shinra. "With his current job, I can't imagine that he hasn't." He sighed heavily. "He won't tell me much. I'm trying to be honest."

"Oh yeah, there was that guy who—"

"Shinra. You're not helping."

"Sorry. I do treat most of his—" Kasuka gave Shinra a significant look, and no more sound came out. Mutinously, he exaggeratedly mouthed his emphasis: They get treated.

"Thank! You," Kasuka said, under his breath, quite aggrieved, and turned back to the camera. "Umm—"

"Thirdly," Shinra prompted.

"Thirdly, he has a hard time controlling himself..."

This time Shinra was pained. "Kasuka, that's true but I don't think that was what you meant to say next—"

"Yes, you're right, I lost my train of thought. Keep quiet, okay?" He took a moment to think. "Fourthly, and what I meant to say, is that he has an unmistakeable rivalry with Izaya Orihara. That's the guy in the black, in the video, whom he was chasing and throwing street debris at."

"I could tell you about that," said Shinra, somewhat tensely.

"Oh, go ahead," Kasuka said, frustrated. He jerked his seat back pointedly, opening his arms wide.

Shinra came closer. "We don't know how it started. They were both my friends, sort of, so I'm the best one to explain. We were in high school together. To my everlasting chagrin...I'm the one who introduced them."

"Nobody could've anticipated it," Kasuka muttered.

"Then why do I still feel like I had something to do with it, something they never told me about?" Shinra hissed, and Kasuka opened his mouth to say, 'your imagination,' but Shinra steamrolled right over him. "Yes, well, they certainly did their very damnedest to kill each other." Shinra took a deep breath, staring sightlessly at the wall, not even trying to look at the camera. "Izaya was clever. He often sent, you know, substitutes to subdue Shizuo. They had all kinds of excuses; Izaya was getting practice at manipulating people. And just to defend himself, Shizuo cut a bloody swath through all of them. He got to be an unstoppable fighter. So from then on, whenever they clapped eyes on each other, Shizuo went in pursuit of Izaya, and Izaya has always escaped. Usually Izaya starts it, but what does it matter? Sometimes Shizuo forgets to wait for provocation and just pelts after him." Shinra's face fell, and his voice lost its volume. "It always...it makes me feel sick to think of it. Like the floor is about to drop out from under me..."

"I know," said Kasuka in a low voice. "It never ends. They're too evenly matched. Unless one of them breaks a hip in a fall or something, and then it'll be..." he trailed off.

Shinra nodded and bit his lip.

They looked at the camera, equally grim, at exactly the same time.

At last, Kasuka spoke again. "There are two things you should learn from this. One, do not get between Shizuo and myself. Second, do not get between Shizuo and his predator-prey, Izaya Orihara, or vice versa."

Shinra broke in. "Of the two...Izaya is the easier to cross without even realizing it. Izaya is a schemer, and his favorite non-business-related target is Shizuo. Izaya owns an information brokerage, by the way." He sipped his coffee, looking unhappy. "He's always got a scheme going. The only advice I can give you when dealing with him...is not to ever become reliant on him, and try not to react in ways that he has trained himself to expect. Sometimes I wonder why I..." His voice dropped off. "Heaven knows I can't get rid of either of them."

Kasuka nodded silently.

Shinra spread his hands. "So here's the deal. If Shizuo starts acting strangely, the most likely explanation is that Izaya put something over his head, and Shizuo is trying to think his way out of it. Izaya is a skilled manipulator. It's true that Izaya knows how to trick him, but the truth is that a lot of times Shizuo takes the bait on purpose. Whatever he does after that is his own choice."

Kasuka broke in. "Shizuo told me that he can't save people from Izaya's meddling if he doesn't go down the same hole Izaya dug for them, because he can't outthink Izaya from the outset: he has to follow Izaya's twisted reasoning for a while before he can counter it and make his escape, not always unscathed."

"Unfortunately, because of that very reason, Izaya loves to torment Shizuo for his own amusement because he can't completely predict what Shizuo will do next." Shinra pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I know, that all sounded very confusing. Okay. Pretend that Shizuo is a lab rat, and he likes cheese. Izaya is always putting the lab rat through these mazes. Shizuo knows it's a maze; he doesn't like it, but he still wants the cheese. Izaya gets to see Shizuo's performance. He lets Shizuo have the cheese, for the time being. Now, if Shizuo gets a look at Izaya the lab rat scientist, he will try to bite him." Shinra closed his eyes. "Shizuo's particular brand of cheese, in this case, is peace. I know it doesn't look like that—Shizuo himself disturbs the peace, after all—but he wants to protect the peace of Ikebukuro in the long-term sense. Izaya is perfectly capable of trying to start a war, so he's partially justified."

"Other news sources that day claim that four, perhaps five factions of people ready to fight arrived in that city square after we stopped filming there. It was about the time when Simon turned off the camera. It almost turned into a bloodbath. According to Shizuo, the motives of all of those factions can be traced back to Izaya, such as the man with the knife, and possibly even so far as my return to Ikebukuro through LME," said Kasuka. "Izaya's always been quick to confess his deeds when confronted by Shizuo."

Shinra said, "The sad thing is that Shizuo won't be getting peace as long as Izaya is there in Ikebukuro. Shizuo basically halts every plan of his, but Izaya can always stir up more trouble elsewhere."

"Exactly. A perpetual cycle of problems." Kasuka cleared his throat. "That said... Shizuo is the one of the most loyal people you will ever meet in your entire life. If he likes you, he has your back. He doesn't care about the damage. He'll protect you." Kasuka was absolutely certain. He had good reason to be.

"Here's a tip. He has a bad habit of judging people if he gets within speaking distance of hearing somebody's sorry love story. He never could stand that," Shinra offered whimsically. "Especially after high school."

Kasuka shot him a look. "What Shinra-kun meant to say is that he's sincere and very passionate about his beliefs."

"Mmphf. Political correctness."

"He also hasn't been able to hold a job since Izaya framed him while he was still working as a bartender."

"He still wears those outfits you gave him for that," Shinra cut at him, slyly.

"Alas, consistency was a forlorn wish, it seems, but not one I have given up," Kasuka sighed dramatically.

"Great, now you've just ruined his salaryman prospects," Shinra said, and then muttered, "You'd think he could do something with his college education..."

"I tried, I tried, I really did..."

"There's very little you can do when you're only in this side of the city in person only once every couple years!"

"I know, but every time I come back there's been a major change!" Kasuka looked frustrated. "I can't keep up! And even when I am there...we barely talk!"

"He loves you so much." Shinra clamped a hand on Kasuka's shoulder, which seemed to help him focus.

"I know. Me too." Kasuka closed his eyes. "Look. What we're trying to say here...and making a mess of...is that Shizuo has a big heart."

"We are?"

"Well, he does. He just doesn't know it. He has more compassion than he knows what to do with; more nobility and honor than Izaya has in his funny bone—"

Shinra made a face as if he would like to disagree but didn't object.

"—more anger than he knows how to deflect; and more strength than he can control. The fact that he is at the mercy of his instincts will continue to cause him distress until he learns to make his peace with his strength. It bothers him." Kasuka sighed, and gestured. "So please, forgive him. As his younger brother, he worries me a lot. With my work, there's not much I can do. He needs help to conquer the obstacles in front of him. He needs friends who try to understand him, and stand by him, because in the end he's just your average guy who makes mistakes. We've tried to be brutally honest in telling you that there are plenty of reasons why it might be better to steer clear of him. So now that you know what you are getting into, I am formally asking you to be someone to help him through it."

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" they both yelled, backs ramrod straight, and bowed to the camera.

The video ended.

Yashiro-san covered his eyes with his hands. "That certainly clarified things."

"Life enemies," Tsuruga groaned. "What am I going to tell Kyoko?"

"The truth."

"Why are they here together?"

"For unfathomable reasons, it seems," said Yashiro. "So Izaya has something over Shizuo's head?"

"That doesn't sound good."

Yashiro was forced to agree. "Do you believe Kasuka?"

"Beyond a doubt. He's the most honest guy I know, off the set." Tsuruga raked his hand through his hair. He laughed briefly. "Then again he never says much of anything, so why would he lie? Still, I think he's right. His plea is real. Kyoko called the other day to tell me that she talked to Heiwajima Shizuo and told me that he wasn't a bad guy, that Maria-chan helped her talk to him and that she wasn't afraid of him."

"Good for Maria-chan." Yashiro sighed and sat back. "Then it comes down to Izaya, doesn't it?"

"It certainly seems that way."

The next day, Tsuruga called Kyoko to meet him at work.

"Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Tsuruga-san."

"Ohaiyo. Mogami-san, how has work been lately?"

She smiled tentatively. "It's been fine. Izaya hasn't come near us."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Maybe because Shizuo-kun works with us."

Tsuruga sputtered a laugh. "That would do it. I think. Should I call off the investigation?"

Kyoko pressed her lips together. Then she shook her head. "I'm sure of Shizuo-kun. But I still don't trust Izaya, and I'd like to know why. You remember. Shizuo-kun never actually did anything, or even said much, to me. Izaya, on the other hand..."

"Is too much of a threat."

"That makes me sound terrible and paranoid and overly cautious, but yes. Why are you asking? Did you find out anything untoward about Shizuo-kun?"

Tsuruga avoided her eyes. "Yes. No. He's fine. I decided— Urgh. I can't lie, can I?" A faint worried line appeared on Kyoko's brow, and Tsuruga hurried to correct himself. "Sorry. Now that makes me sound suspicious, doesn't it? You know that Shizuo-kun is very strong."

Kyoko crossed her arms, and let her balance sway to and fro. "Yes. Strong enough to throw a vending machine, and strong enough to survive being run over by a truck."

Tsuruga winced. "I wish I didn't know."

"Me, too." Kyoko brooded. "But stunt people have to be strong, though, don't they?" Kyoko said distantly. "President Takarada told me that he's thinking about sending him to stuntman school, and afterwards, apprenticing him. At his own expense, no less."

Tsuruga blinked. "That's...very generous of him." In fact, although the President was generous in all instances, he had never heard of Lory going out quite so far on a limb for anyone.

"I know. It's a better deal than I got. Not that I'm ungrateful, or anything." Kyoko looked a bit embarrassed. "It is better for me this way in the long run. I'm earning my way slowly...it's just, it's hard. So. What did you learn?"

"Other than that...be careful of his relationship with Izaya. It's volatile. And no one knows why they are like that." Tsuruga shifted his stance a little. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Eh? Sure, that would be fine. Are you tired?"

Tsuruga shrugged. Typical, thought Kyoko. Tsuruga led them both to a small bench at the end of the stairwell.

Tsuruga told her, "I'm glad you're friends with Shizuo-kun. It seems that he needs them."

"Really? But he's such a nice guy. He should have tons of friends. All the OLs, I mean, the office ladies and the receptionists here like him. It's depressing. They'll probably get all jealous of me, like they did over Sho..." Kyoko sighed and muttered agressively, "And he's also a blond, to boot." Her expression soured. She really didn't relish being put in that position again. True, now she had Moko so she wouldn't be alone in the friendship department, but what if she wanted to make another friend and they were already envious of Shizuo or something...?

"People aren't fair, are they?"

Kyoko looked at him. "No, they really aren't." She wondered what he was leading up to.

But he wasn't leading up to anything, just commiserating. Tsuruga suddenly had a thought. "Hey, Kyoko. This is a very rude question to ask, but if you will permit me...?" Kyoko nodded, and Tsuruga continued. "Didn't your experience with Fuwa put you off men at all? I'd have thought...it's just, it's a stereoptype that someone who gets jilted develops a complex and refuses to have anything to do with men at all, and yet..."

"No." Kyoko's brow furrowed in thought. "I guess not. I mean, everyone is so different. I couldn't begin to generalize, that would be stupid. I was scared of you at first, but you weren't so bad after all. And Sawara-san, Takarada-sama, the various directors I've met...they're decent." She sniffed. "Even Sho. In the beginning. I wouldn't have...not if..." She was just about to cry.

This is no good, Tsuruga thought with dread. Sneaking a glance at everyone else, he leaned forward and clasped Kyoko's hands. Yes, there was Moko-chan coming to work; she glared at him as she passed them on the stairwell. Luckily Kyoko didn't notice. He focused on their hands; Kyoko's fingers were tight and trembling in his grip. "Kyoko-chan."

"Eh?" She hiccuped, and her shoulders shook and her hands involuntarily jerked a little in his grip.

Did she always do that? It was endearing. He found himself smiling a little, the first genuine smile in a while, and quickly had to hide it.

"You've known Sho Fuwa for a long time, haven't you?"

She nodded, sniffing again. Her voice peaked at a high, strained squeak. "Since I was a kid. Sho's parents took care of me...most of the time... My mother..." She shook her head. "Sho's parents took care of a ryokan. I learned everything from them."

"So that's why you are so formal all the time."

"I suppose." Kyoko was bleak. "They wanted me and Sho together. But they probably didn't w-want us to do it the way we d-did it..."

"What do you mean?"

"They wanted me to take over the inn. But Sho didn't want the ryokan. He wanted to break into music. They were sorry they indulged him so much as a child, then. And in the end I chose Sho over their dreams. I don't know what they think of me now. At the time I didn't realize that they were training me to take over. I can't think what would have happened if I'd known..." She looked at her lap. "When I finally figured it out, it was the night after I twisted my ankle and took that stupid dare to act a better Cinderella than that other girl. If you remember."

Tsuruga remembered she had been acting strange. Strange in a way that wasn't unusual, actually, now that he knew her better. So this was what she had been thinking about. "Might...might they be worried about you?" Tsuruga asked tentatively.

Kyoko shrugged tiredly. "They were never that affectionate. I don't know. It's possible, I guess. But what could I say to them now? Even if they took me back, I don't want the ryokan. I'm going to be an actor."

Tsuruga stroked the top of her hands with his thumbs. She squeezed her hands in response. Somewhat embolded, Tsuruga asked again, "What was Sho like? When he was young and you still thought he was nice?"

"Stupid. Idiotic. Silly. Always ordering me around. He listened to me even if he didn't understand what I was saying. I knew what he liked. I could make him smile. He was well-intentioned even though he never really understood what it was I needed. Or really tried to." She moaned. "I was so stupid. He never loved me, he just took me for granted. He was so selfish. Why didn't I realize earlier that he was no good for me?"

To that, Tsuruga had no response.

Of course it was just then that President Lory Takarada took the opportunity to swoop down on them like a hawk that has spotted its prey. That particular metaphor was apt because he was covered in feathers—brown ones, nothing gaudy, although Tsuruga wouldn't have been surprised. He wondered if he was cosplaying something. It was unlike Lory to wear costumes that didn't have a focused theme, and involved a lot of people...

Lory always had to have the first and the last word. "Good morning, Tsuruga-san!"

"Good morning, President."

They looked at Kyoko, who was staring at her hands, which were still held by Tsuruga. It was too late to drop them. They had been seen. "Oh!" She gave a little start and looked back at them. "Ah. Good morning, President." She smiled brightly, pretending not to notice anything wrong.

Tsuruga winced. She could hardly be more transparent. Inside, she was probably completely embarrassed and mentally beating herself up for not acting like a proper, respectable, modest Japanese girl. She was still this innocent. Tsuruga had been trying to distract her from it...

The President, for his part, was positively smug. "Tsuruga my boy, you are doing an excellent job of working your way back onto the tabloids. Keep up the good work!"

Kyoko blinked at him, not quite sure if she had heard what he had said.

By way of explanation, Lory said, "Tsuruga-san has been such a good boy over the years that there hasn't been any speculation at all on who his next girlfriends might be. Not enough evidence, you see. The reporters will be rabid when they hear that—"

Tsuruga broke in loudly. "What the President means to say is that I haven't been romantic enough in my younger years and so no one will expect me to have a—"

"You're only twenty-one, Tsuruga-san. So naïve. That kind of speculation doesn't end until you hit your late sixties."

"Likely as not I will not be acting in my late sixties," Tsuruga objected, chuckling nervously and hoping to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters.

"Then you should resign yourself to the fact that the tabloids will have a vested interest in you for the entirety of your career! Be so kind as to stay full in the public eye, would you? Stairwells have eyes." Lory winked.

"At least there aren't any ears," Tsuruga muttered.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lory Takarada laughed. "What were you talking about? Pish-posh." Having given his message, such as it was, he flounced away.

And all this just to raise Tsuruga's hackles.

Whatever Kyoko had gotten out of this, it was confused. "Tsuruga-san! Don't worry! I'll protect your reputation!" Kyoko pumped her fists.

Tsuruga's jaw dropped. I forgot, again, how impervious she is... Now how would he convince her otherwise? Better be direct. And literal.

"Mogami-san, that is not what I want you to do," Tsuruga-san said firmly. "The President told me that he thinks it's suspicious and concerning that I haven't had any romantic relationships. He thinks it'll affect my acting. Do you remember when I froze up doing Katsuki? If I end up on a few tabloids that would make him happy. Honestly, he's overreacting!" It's his ridiculously overblown way of encouraging us, but I don't think it will help my suit if I tell her that. I wish he'd ignore us. So Tsuruga thought, and he continued, "We were just holding hands, no bloody-minded reporter is going to be interested in that. Anyway, your reputation is more important than mine. Now, where were we...?"

"You're not a Casanova, right." Kyoko frowned. "Um... Before that, I don't remember."

Probably a good thing. "Then let's change the subject," Tsuruga said, and did.

Shizuo had seen the whole thing from his post on the floor just above. "Takarada-sama, that was very confusing, sir," said Shizuo, leaning on his mop. He rested his head on his hands on the point of the handle.

"He's the kind of guy who needs both the brakes and the gas on going full blast before can loosen up and be able to go anywhere." Lory shrugged. "If you'd seen Tsuruga's history as I have..."

"Ah. Yes, his file didn't exactly have enough information on it, did he?" Shizuo's face twisted bizarrely in a way that looked vaguely disturbing.

Lory picked it up immediately. "Quit that or I will rent out your services to some cheapskate horror movie."

The expression disappeared and Shizuo had a bit of trouble balancing while leaning on the mop handle. "I'm fine with that. I'm already a monster," Shizuo pointed out, as it it was completely natural to think such a thing.

Lory had just been joking. Lory was unexpectedly saddened by that admission, although he did not find it particularly astonishing—especially in light of Shizuo's behavior after he pushed Lory into the pool. "On second thought, I need to send you to boot camp."

Shizuo let go of the broom handle and stood back upright. "What? I am not going anywhere near the military, thank you very much!" The mop handle clattered to the floor. Shizuo leaned over to pick it up.

"Tashikani, they'd never let you leave, would they?" Lory said, a bit sadly. "Too strong."

"Probably." Shizuo straightened. "Yuuhei made me promise that was one job I'd never take up."

Lory nodded. "He's probably right. I'm glad you listen to your brother."

Shizuo jerked a little and looked away, embarassed.

"It's not military, Shizuo. It's for stunt people. They teach you the basics, and at the end of it, if an experienced stunt person likes your skills, they will take you on as their apprentice. At that point you will have an almost guaranteed job for five years at our agency."

"Five...years?" Shizuo nearly dropped the mop handle again. His face radiated with hope.

Lory nodded. "It's unusual, I know, so why would anyone look for it? But stunt work is difficult and the apprentices need some stability that usually isn't there at the beginning. Stunt men need to build their own careers, too."

"Wow."

"I know. That's why LME is the best agency around!" Lory said with his customary exuberance.

"It's just such a risk, though..." Shizuo looked at the floor and toyed with the mop in his hands.

"Shizuo-kun, let me worry about the business," Lory Takarada chided.

Immediately reminded that he had gone too far, Shizuo snapped to attention. "Yes, of course, President."

"Do your best. Ganbare!" Lory pumped one fist demonstratively.

"Hai!" Shizuo began once again to mop feverishly.