At the apartment complex of Uthan...
Stefana was upstairs, when Emily found herself again in her form of boredom.
Why is there nothing exciting happening in the city? Why haven't the aliens invaded the earth yet? Why has a meteorite who is passing our wonderful, but tiny Earth, not awaken our superpowers or why is the world still in his pre-apocalyptic state?
The television was even more boring than the last time and the radio was as average as always.
Can something spark my interest please, I don't know what to do now. Otherwise I will lose the concentration that I need to stay awake.
Her mouth started to widen, to prepare for an enormous yawn, when the entrance of the building opened. Her hunger for distracting drove her to the door of Yvan's apartment and with an umbrella in her hand, she was ready to peer with the door opened slightly.
Wait, that's him!
She witnessed how the charming skull-face was dragged to his apartment by what seemed to be an older colleague of him. Through the front windows, she spotted the red and blue striped cars from the police, could he be incognito?
"It's fine, I can walk," the queen jelly voice of the gentleman was trying to convince his older friend that he was mobile.
"I don't think so, you were kidnapped and bound with ropes. I will bring you to your bed, then we can talk more about the whole calamity where you were in."
She hear the voice of a relying mentor, a person who has experience in many battles and was aware of all the secrets and dangers in this magical world. How odd this may sound, this was the fantasy that was formed in her mind, in less than a minute of time.
"I am fine, if I may be honest, I am grateful for this event." Uthan tried to protest, without success.
"(…)"
The older man in police uniform was silent for a while, he couldn't process the smile that was on Uthan's face.
"You don't have to lie about it, just say that it was a horrible accident that they have dragged you into this. We Dutch don't like if you are sweetening up the truth, so just say what you feel."
"I have no regret in take the place of that Japanese actress, I have done the thing that I always wanted to do, so you won't hear me complaining about the state of my body."
Emily's eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm, while her own body gave her own body an overdose of hormones.
"You must have taken a lot of hits, so I won't be optimistic about your body condition," Gerard observed. Normally, his thoughts and deductions were spot on, but his rationality only worked in the realm of the mundane, not in the supernatural aspect of life.
"They seemed to leave me alone, when I was under narcosis. However, it's Ruri who was the real target of the kidnapping. I figured that out later at the warehouse."
"That won't make any difference now, you are hurt, your legs and arms must hurt with that body of yours," the veteran of the police said to the rookie, who has now experience in the field. Gerard's voice was honest and caused a small silence from Uthan's side.
"So, what's the point?"
Uthan's optimistic comment made Gerard sighing, while he opened the door of his pupil's home.
"Don't be careless, like you did when they tried to kidnap her. These gangsters are the real deal, they are too scary for you to encounter them head on."
"These man around the girl?" Uthan wanted to be sure about which group Gerard was talking about. He himself had also doubt about one of the two groups, but the other didn't seem that strong or dangerous to him.
"The Rotters, nah. They are like insects, they like to annoy people by tickling them and provoke reactions. They aren't that deep into the underground, a small street gang, nothing to worry about. Angel's Rescue at the other hand…"
The man faced a dilemma and observed the interested eyes of his newbie. It was better to not tell him about them, that was his decision for now.
"…don't pay attention to them. They are the complete filth of this city and his harbour."
The door of the gentleman closed, leaving Emily with enough time to collect all the puzzle pieces and figuring out the whole picture.
His colleague is a police agent, I definitely saw that uniform correctly. So, he's an undercover cop who has protected an Japanese actress and idol. What a brave and charming gentleman is he. Eeeheeh!
After she closed the door, the daughter of her best paying client started to cry out of horror. It reminded her of her duty and started to shift her attention towards the child.
Probably a nightmare, I'll tell her another bed time story about a charming prince. These stories tends to work on her, I myself never enjoyed the fairy tales. My father is still feeling embarrassed for lulling me into sleep with his favourite nonsensical action movie.
She shook her head and refilled her mind with a new set of fantasies, varying from sci-fi and cyberpunk, to grand epic fantasies and foreign tales of coolness.
With the current problem of creating a bed time story, she turned to her own experiences, the things she has seen and the things she has heard.
No, it would be a ninja who rescues a helpless shrine maid. That's sound great and the best thing about that bed time story is that it's based on real life and will introduce Stefana to a new culture. I could try to co-operate koi's and yokai's in this epic adventure, she would probably love this kind of fiction.
At a bar, somewhere in the city...
"You are looking happy, what's happened to our complaining kroegtijger?" Edwin's tone was uplifting and got the intention of a joke.
Yvan and he didn't expected that she would appear tonight at the bar, but reality proved otherwise. The day was almost ended officially, only an hour left and a new day would began. Only two regular guests got the permission to spend some cash on a lovely drink.
"Do you want me to have misery all the time or what? I am not a masochist or anything, I don't like being moody for all of my life," her comment with the sharp tongue signalled that everything was fine with her.
However, while she wasn't mentally in the mood, her eyes were physically exhausted due to this day, which was a long a hectic one.
To gain some energy, she grabbed an apple out of her hand bag together with the knife in her right hand.
"Like I said, life isn't always easy, but even I admit that there are things that will make your life better."
"I guess alcohol is one of them, especially for your kind of people. I am happy with a few extra euros, so don't hesitate to donate to this poor foreign bartender," Edwin joked and proceeded with dry the glasses, while she was busy with peeling her fully red apple.
Yvan kept himself quiet, he wanted to distract his mind with a small drink, but he couldn't get his guard down when she was hanging at the bar too. The whole discussion about the supernatural and the extra-ordinary had set his brain stuck on the topic of encountering it and now, his intuition told him that he sensed something odd from her, something familiar, but also different.
"It's not that simple, life and happiness are complex topics and many kroegtijgers before me have failed to face the mightiness of this world. However…"
She grabbed her purse and tossed a few coins on the bar.
"…at least, you can give me an excellent glass of gin."
Ah, what a delight, she hasn't changed that much, she is still the same old veteran of the bar. Even when she has been here for only three weeks now.
A glass was being filled with liquid gold for a woman like her, while the front door of the bar was slowly opened.
The cold wind of tonight was flowing into the bar. Yvan didn't paid attention to it at all, because his body wasn't trembling from the fresh air. Astrid felt the disturbance of the warm bar and turned her head immediately to the door, which warmed her automatically when she saw a girl in the entrance.
"Ah, it's you, the person who you're looking for has already seen you," Edwin greeted the teenager.
The girl slowly detached herself from the two people behind her, supposedly her parents, and walked towards the two veterans at the bar.
"You don't have to be scared of me, I won't kill or abuse you," Yvan said with a friendly smile, when he saw that the girl stopped a few meters from them.
I know that he looks a bit intimidating, but that doesn't mean that he lives up to his appearance. Is she really distrustful of him or what's has happened with them before the whole debacle with Astrid?
The blond haired was hesitant and seemed to not able to step forward anymore due to fear. The situation became silent, with Yvan the taking the initiative.
"That's fine, I will leave the bar for a time. Edwin, can I go upstairs to provide these ladies some privacy?" he requested and walked without any suspicion to Edwin's living space.
"Can I ask why you are here?" Astrid's caring words seemed to ease the conversation for the girl, causing her to speak what she wanted to say.
"I, I want to thank you both," she said stuttering, "I would also like to help, or at least compensate for the trouble that I have caused to you two."
I am not aware what that trouble might have been, but I don't think she caused any trouble for me. Astrid is responsible for that interesting conversation with the ripened rebel that I had, however, I wouldn't consider that as a problem. I would have given the permission any way to such a treasure of a human.
His wondering thoughts, caused a surprise when Astrid's hand pose was demanding a specific object from him.
"Can I get a pen and some paper please?" she asked and her postured suggested that she was expecting that Edwin had a these things somewhere and that he would give them to her.
"Sure," he responded with the tone of a loyal butler.
Well, I am not protesting, she seems to have a better grasp of me than myself sometimes.
He handed over a small simple notebook plus a pen to her, where after she waved to the girl, who still kept some distance from the duo.
She tore a piece of paper and started to notate a ten digit long number on it and gave it the girl.
"I want to talk with you a bit, but not now. I need to explain and apologize for my side of that chaos. I am guilty too, so I want to tell it to you from my perspective," she whispered in the Denise's ear.
"Which means, just call me if you have time to talk about that whole calamity."
Denise thanked them for the second time and return after that to her parents at the door. For a short moment, Astrid's eyes met theirs and saw two grateful smiles towards, where after they left the place with their daughter.
"Yvan, she's gone!" Edwin shouted upwards and got the response of heavy foots on wooden steps.
He had diverted his eyes and missed the small scene where Astrid paid her drinks in cash and left the bar.
People are ordinary, strange, extra-ordinary or even supernatural. However, from my point of view, they can get along with each other in peace and harmony.
"I see, both of them are gone," Yvan remarked and saw the surprise on Edwin's face. With a little sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment to make his own decision.
"Well, in that case, I will go too. I predict that you want some sleep after two private conversations."
A money bill appeared on the table as the result of his choice and he waved to Edwin.
"If I am honest, I can understand why you are treasuring her that much. She's quite a beautiful lady."
The door was closed, leaving Edwin completely alone in his bar. While he was washing the two glasses that were left behind, he wasn't able to retrieve the wide smile on his face.
She is indeed, a lovely and by definition a remarkable person.
In a three stars hotel with hotel rooms for duo's…
"Seiji, have you heard of yesterday's night?"
It's not that difficult to figure out whose voice it was. With only three distinct fellow travellers, Seiji can chose between a toxic and cold voice with a sharp tongue, the jolly laughter of a middle age man or the almost bombastic voice of a hyper energetic stalker.
"I only heard some sirens, there were no gunshots," Seiji contributed to question with his own observations.
However, Mika has done her first day of research her in the city and because she didn't had any glue to start with, she has collected every rumour and news report that might be interesting for her.
"There was two kidnappings and these hostages were freed in the same night, but people say that it wasn't the police who did it!" Mika played without knowing it as the lady from the news. However, her fast paced voice wasn't the best for telling these rumours and news messages in an easy way.
"Who did it then?" Seiji's calm demeanour was as water towards Mika's fire.
"For as far the rumours goes, they are speculating that it might be an-"
"Why do you only pick up the most horrible and action packed news? How many hours have you wasted by filtering the news sources?"
She knows that that is extremely rude to interrupt someone, but she is far too gone, to think that it isn't respectful, even towards your archnemesis.
"Because these articles are interesting to us, they contain the drama and misery that we consume. A life isn't interesting without it's failures and-"
"We don't need your wasteful lectures."
This time is was Shingen who got interfered by the woman with the ice speech and permafrost eyes. Seiji's eyes stared to Mika who continued with her report and was going to tell some more interesting facts about the current state of this world.
"Because that isn't true, Yuuhei Hanejima and Ruri Hijiribe are also in the city. They are both playing in a detective movie that is in the making over here."
That fact wasn't surprising towards Namie, who had her own confidential sources over here, companies who had agreements with Yagiri-Pharmaceuticals.
"So, that's why my client was apologizing to me. He was apologizing for him," Shingen said to himself, however, it was loud enough for everyone to hear his thoughts.
He seemed to feel sorry for that guy, but if I am judging on his explanation, then he has the reason to give that person an upper-cut.
The room became silent, while Shingen looked toward the other three with an unidentifiable face, due to his mask.
"It appears that there are things that even our information grabbing stalker doesn't know," the sarcastic comment of the Ice Queen was breaking the silence and got followed with a clever counter from the so-called stalker.
"Or our possessing poisonous sister with her secret sources."
Well, that means that there are things that only the mighty and mysterious white doctor knows. I kind of like that feeling of being a superhero or supervillain, depending on the circumstances of this world.
The rivalry was noticeable, while Mika knew that she had the ultimate advantage on him.
"If I can remember it, there was a news report that the Japanese actor, Kujiramiga Fushigati, is in the hospital due to an assault. He got punched multiple times and has broken almost all of his bones," Seiji responded. He had heard of the incident, but couldn't connect that news together with Shingen's commentary.
"His smirky face is for people to get the urge to punch him in the face. His personality and behaviour only accelerate the tendency to beat him up," Namie said, her expression wasn't changed in the slightest, she felt no regret for an arrogant actor like Fushigati-sama.
"Miss Yagiri, it seems that you got interest in another man. At least, it is a bit more healthier then your current obsession," Shingen joked and seemingly enjoyed the overly toxic reaction from her.
"I will rip your head off to see what kind of ugly face you actually have under that white mask of yours. Seiji is still the only one for me."
The man where she spoke of had already left the room. Mika still sat there with a big smile on her face, enjoying the discussion between the other two for a certain reason.
"I will leave you two together, I have some other things to do."
While she closed the door, she was already thinking about another rumour that she had heard and which she didn't tell to the other three. She knew that she will have time enough after this to be with Seiji, so she decided to go on an investigation.
An investigation about a female superhero, who made her appearance in the same event as the assassin…
The next day, at Yvan's apartment...
The sun was shining through the open window in Yvan's bed room, while it highlighted his naked chest. The wind filled the room with fresh and cold air, which got in contact with almost his whole body, due to the bed blanket that was pushed aside.
His breath was slow but its capacity was enormous in seize and he was lucky that he didn't snore.
That was a odd, but enjoyable night at Edwin's bar. It's funny, his bar solely works due to mouth-to-mouth communication, it hasn't even a legal name. However, he's a good man and he doesn't have the urge to make huge profit out of people. And it is lovely to hear that Astrid is getting some non-business acquaintances.
The door of his chamber was slowly getting opened with all the strength that the visitor had. Yvan could hear the energetic foot steps coming to him, which made him enjoy life to the fullest.
"Daddy!" his daughter greeted him as enthusiastic as always. With an energetic attitude she jumped, where after a weight of twenty-seven kilo landed on his chest.
"I see that my little darling is already awake and fully dressed. I am glad to see you on this beautiful Sunday morning, but please, get off my stomach."
It wasn't a demand or command, but a simple request from his side. The landing didn't hurt him, in fact, he enjoyed these small burst of recklessness of his own daughter, but it wasn't ideal to step out bed with a seven year old girl on your belly.
She fell next to him on his king sized bed and when she was off the bed completely, she was already running through the living room towards the kitchen.
After a short five minutes, his heavy footsteps were resonating with the old classy oak floor and filled the room with the low sound of feet.
"It's always a feast to spend a whole day with you, but don't feel sad if my body is a bit slow. My youth is long gone and my wild years as an adult too."
Stefana had already covered the table and was eagerly waiting for permission.
"Can I get a slice of bread with chocolate sprinkles?" her voice was categorized in the alt-soprano section and was the proudly owner of an energetic and almost nuclear vibe that was clearly noticeable.
"It's Sunday, so we can slack off a bit," he admitted and buttered their slices of bread.
She couldn't sit still and for most people it was annoying. However, Yvan wasn't bothered by it, because it was better to let her leak some of her nuclear energy, which would result in a more normal bed time for her in the evening.
"Daddy, have you planned something today?" she asked when he was enjoying his cup of tea. It was a drink that could calm him down, when business wasn't going as how he had planned it. It was considered holy by him, together with the unique and exclusive gin of Edwin. He would even believe that it will slow down aging and can ease curses.
You are right, I have planned something with you. A life lesson if you are eager to know the whole truth.
"Yes, but you need to wait for it. I want to take my time first before we will start with it."
After an hour of warming up for the planned activity, he started by heating the hot air oven and gathering the right ingredients.
"What are you doing?" she asked with wonder and only received a smile from him, no answers.
"Just take a seat and sit down, I want to talk with you about life and some other things related to it," Yvan promised and putted a large plastic bowl on the wooden table in the kitchen.
"Do you remember the three ways for getting a cookie?" he continued with a honest smile and witnessed how she answered his question almost accurate.
"I can accept that I can't reach it and never will reach it. I don't like that option, but it you say that it is true then so be it.
Or I can work hard enough to obtain that cookie, by growing taller and or stronger. I hope that I will be as strong as you one day, but I need to work and train for that to happen.
Or I can wait for the cookie to come to me. Maybe you will hand me one cookie over and then I will grab it with both of my hands."
Yvan was gladly accept to her silly and overly optimistic challenge and started to confess about the things that he has said to her.
"That's right, however, as you might can guess, I haven't chosen one of these options, because there is an extra way to get your cookie."
He observed her eyes, who were becoming bigger and bigger due to the excitement that was filling her body. It almost caused an overload of energy in herself.
"I chose for the fourth option, which is making my own cookies. I have forced my own path in life and I want you to do the same, so today, we are going to bake chocolate chips cookies. Home-made ones are the best ones, don't you think?" he told to her and give her a little blink, a little spark that would ignite the power and spirit in her young body.
"Yeah! Cookies!", she shouted with all her might and immediately followed the instructions that Yvan gave to her.
The butter, the flour, the sugar and the chocolate chips were assembled, mixed and laid on the oven plate, ready to be baked.
"Now it is time to wait, a small twenty minutes," Yvan concluded the instructions and from the core of his heart, he looked with grateful eyes to his own daughter.
I am thankful to God and Life itself for having such a wonderful child, a barely contained nuclear reactor even mightier than Chernobyl's one and I will make all the decisions in my life with her in the background of my own thoughts. I can only bless life from this point on.
*A note from the fan-author Headphone Headache:
Just a small afterword to finish the whole story.
You may have seen that this is only the beginning, the labeling indicates more volumes and I can guarantee, that I got more ideas than time to write it in one go. So, I will give a small indicator of how much I want to write:
Four Volumes, yep you have read it right. Especially for Uthan Calem I got something juicy and harsh planned for him and for the next arc, there will be a conclusion to one of the side character's story. I have also something planned for Yvan in the future, who will get connected to Durarara! cast with a good reason.
I will close this story with a small love letter to Ryohgo Narita:
Durarara! has sold me on two fronts: I adore the absurdity of all the characters and the way how all the madness is developed through the story. The Narita-verse can be inspirition for more absurd, but entertaining, stories and I want to celebrate the amazing mess that this universe can provide.
Your niche fan-fic authour,
Headphone Headache