Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! or any of the alternatives.
Tsukishima stared at the dark brown blotches in a mix of shock and sadness. Each spot used to be fresh blood, most likely Roppi's. There was enough to cover the page. In a way, I can sense the pain coming from this page. Something horrible must have happened. There's so much blood here.
"Roppi-san… D-D-Did it h-h-hurt?"
"At first, yes. But it was easier to bear as time went on." He kept flipping through the book page by page. The amount of blood has started to decrease and showed some of the actual paper, but it was still a lot to make Tsuki feel sad. The amount on the page started to clear some room to have small messages written in red pen. They were just one word responses, but the words are not pleasant. Hate, Blood, Anger, Dirty, Tainted, Human, the list goes on and on. There were other words, but these word were more of names. Some of those names were recurring ones, like Izaya, Sakuraya, and Pricefield.
I guess the names mean that that person made Roppi-san upset that day. If I remember, Izaya is his older cousin who is an information broker and often hires Celty-chan on occasion. He is dangerous and manipulative and Shizuo-san really does not like him. Now Sakuraya, I do know someone with that name, but he's all the way back home and goes by a different name. It's not a common name though, so it would be weird to see someone else with that name. But I've never heard of the last reoccurring ones. It sounds like a foreign last name. I wonder who they are.
Roppi continues flipping pages. One of them did not have blood, but a single word. Ikebukuro.
Oh, that's interesting. Wait, does that mean he's not from here? I thought he said he lived here most of his life. Could it be that he moved in hopes to get away from whatever problem had happened? I'm seeing a lot of the words Slasher, Yellow Scarves, Dollars and mistake in the later ones. So I was right about the Slasher having an effect on him. I guess nothing got better when he moved. But who are the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars? They sound like one of those color gangs I've heard about.
The last page did not have any writing in it.
Maybe because he was going to fill it in that day we met. Wait, that would make some sense. His wrists were bleeding as if they were freshly cuts. And he fell off a building. What happened that day? I want to know. Can I help at all? Well, one thing at a time Tsuki. We don't want to make him think you're clingy. I should confirm about the Slasher part first.
"R-Roppi-san, w-what is the S-S-Slasher? I-I see th-that word a-a lot and s-someone mentioned then t-to me."
"They are a bunch of slaves to someone they call Mother. Not much is known about them, but they usually will cut or attack a person in some messed up version of love. They all had this huge gathering not long ago and started attacking Shizuo one day. Something about loving him or something… I don't know. Anyway, they can be ordinary people living ordinary lives, but they all have red eyes when when they are in this brainwashed state. I guess you can see my distaste for them, huh?"
"Y-Y-Yeah. B-B-But I don't th-think you are one of them." The raven looked in his direction. "Roppi-san, y-y-you seem v-v-very strong willed, a-a-and very i-indep-pendent. I w-wish I could b-be like th-that." Roppi stared at his face before looking back at the book.
"There's something that makes you not think I am, isn't there? No need to hide it, say it." Well, I figured just saying the good wouldn't be convincing…
"W-W-Well uhh…" Tsukishima looked at the raven's forearm.
"My cuts huh, well what about them?"
"Well… the S-Sl-Slasher cut f-f-for love, r-r-right?" Roppi nodded. "Well, y-you cut y-y-yourself, Roppi-san. That d-doesn't mean y-you l-love yourself. I-It's the opposite actually." Roppi blinked at the remark. He then lets out a sigh and a small smile.
"I'm glad someone else sees that. It does get annoying when everyone makes assumptions." Tsuki nods in agreement. "So Tsukishima, now that you've seen this, what's your decision now? Do you still like be around me? Or have I completely disgusted you?" The raven was so calm when saying that, but his gaze was fixed to the bloody pages.
"M-My ch-choice has not ch-changed Roppi-san. I still l-liked to be you f-fr-friend." Tsuki was telling the truth as he was ever since they started this talk.
These bloody pages are what helps calm him down as I can see. I still don't know why you have to do it Roppi-san, but it seems to be something deeper buried in your heart. I really want to help brighten his days a little bit. But first I need to stop stuttering. Once I accomplish that, it will be just a bit easier to talk to him and help.
Hachimenroppi was shocked at his answer. He closes the book and holds it against his chest.
"Well you've seen my side, perhaps I should know something about you. Then perhaps I can reciprocate those feelings."
This time Tsuki was shocked. He wants to know my past too? Well I guess that's fair, but what to share? Umm… He pondered for a little bit before he came up with one.
"W-W-Well… I-I don't know h-how this will c-c-compare to y-your s-st-stor-ry Roppi-san, b-b-but here it goes. I have t-t-two older brothers. They were sp-special a-and gifted. My oldest br-brother Tsugaru w-was an exceptional writer and cl-classical violinist. M-My s-s-second oldest brother Delic is a D-DJ a-and just r-r-recently h-had a label sign for him and his p-partner. Even before w-when we were a-all in s-school, th-they were p-popular st-students; Tsugaru w-was a st-str-straight A student a-and Delic h-had v-v-very good s-social skills. And then there's me. I-I'm not g-good at a-anything. I st-stutter almost e-every conversation, I-I'm only a d-decent st-student, I-I'm directionally ch-ch-challenged whenever I-I'm n-not somewhere f-familiar, a-and I never st-stood out in a p-p-positive light. S-S-So most people would c-c-compare me to them, a-and often em p-p-put down b-because I'm not like them. I was a-alone almost all th-the time." He placed his hands behind him to lean back again to stare at his ceiling. A small smile crept onto his face for a little bit.
"But luckily, I-I wasn't t-t-totally alone. My brothers aren't mean; they w-were actually encouraging and s-supported. And I did have one c-cl-close friend. We've been friends for a while. It was thanks t-to him that I st-started not caring a-about what others th-thought of me." Tsuki's face then dropped. "But… recently, something happened to him and he left me… a-and once again, I'm was alone. I felt like m-my strength just d-disappeared. I c-couldn't face the p-p-people who judged me b-because they know who I am and their pestering continued. That's why I came here to I-Ikebukuro, t-to be in a place where no one knows me. Maybe, start over and be my own person to find my own strength to be more confident in my actions."
Tsukishima looked to see how Hachimenroppi was doing and saw the raven with a slightly ajar mouth and wide eyes. "Roppi-san? Are you alright?" Did I do something wrong?!
"You… you stopped stuttering."
He recalls everything he had said and also just noticed. He did stop. Wow, that was faster than anyone else I know. Well step one out of the way. Now to see if he still wants to be my friend.
"I-I guess I've gotten comfortable with you now. I still have a ways to go before I can truly stop though. Well Roppi-san, how do you feel now about me?"
"Well, I can see that you aren't trying to be like everyone else and say you are perfect and has lived a blissful life. Nor are you trying to say that your life was completely horrible because of something trivial. You seem to be honest when talking about your downsides and low points. It's rare to find people like you, truly honest to a fault. So… I'll be your companion."
"Really?" Did I hear that right! Will he really be my friend?
"Yeah. Now don't make me take it back, alright?"
"Uh… of course." I'm glad, he is letting me be a part of his life. I better not blow it this time. He seems like someone who needs a friend. Well then again, so am I. Baby steps for now, let's make sure he is comfortable being with me for a bit before I try to learn more about him. "A-Anyway, how about some sushi as a start of our friendship? You were curious about how the sake tasted right?" He got up to grabbed the plastic container from his desk and took the lid off. He rejoined his new friend and they had a piece of sushi.
"Hmm... Not bad really, It's actually pretty good. It's a little sweeter than otoro," Roppi commented.
"Yeah it is. Want some more?"
"Naw, I'm all set." The both sat on the bed as Tsuki continues his dinner in almost silence. "Umm… So… what do friends typically do?"
"Eh? Well… I guess they just find something in common with each other's free time and I guess have an engaging conversation…" I did say I didn't have many friends, so it's hard for me know what they really would do. It typically differs between them. "Um… yeah I'm not the best person to ask."
"Well me neither."
"I guess we have that in common."
"Yeah… Well, actually…" Roppi's gazed went back to the floor in front of him he looks slightly confused again. "...aren't you gonna ask though?"
"Hmm? About what."
"About my cuts, or the book. Surely you have questions about them. Didn't you say you want to learn why I have them?" The blonde glanced down at the sketchbook which was still held close to the other's chest, but then looked back at his face with a gentle smile.
"I do, but you also said you would tell me when you felt like it. I do have patience and I am willing to wait until you're ready. And if in the end you don't want to tell me at all, I don't mind either. It is a personal matter, right? So you shouldn't be forced to open up just because I asked you to." They were both quiet for a moment, but the raven relaxed his hold on the book and his face softens.
"Thank you Tsukishima,"
"You are free to call me Tsuki you know Roppi-san. I am calling you by a nickname after all."
"Tsuki… yeah you're right, it is easier."
"Agreed. Although, I did notice some of those color gang names in there. Could you tell me a little bit about them? You don't have to say why they are in there, just what they are."
Hachimenroppi explains more of the current street events to his new friend as best he could: the recently violent Yellow Scarves, the eradicated Blue Squares, the invisible Dollars, and even some of the ones that aren't so common or threatening. Tsuki listened intently, make a mental note of not involving with anyone like them. He explained that there is currently a lot of tension between the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves. Something about looking for the Slasher and the Black Rider. By the time Tsuki understood this new information, it was almost 7 and Roppi decided that he should head home.
"Will you be fine on your own?" Tsuki asked as the other slips his shoes back on.
"Yeah. Besides if you came with me, you'd get lost again right?"
"Err… right…"
"It's a big place, so getting lost is easy. But it should be easier after a while. Although… " Roppi took his red flip-phone out of his pocket. "Maybe it's a good idea to have me as a contact in case you do get lost and Shizuo isn't an option ."
"Oh, um, yeah. But won't you be busy with work or anything?" The raven face darkened a little. Did I say something wrong again?
"Don't worry about that." They exchanged their numbers and Tsuki notices that the other only had two contacts, Izaya and Brats. I wonder who are Brats. But wow, only two contacts… It could be that he remembers the numbers too, but even I would keep them there just in case. Like other family members like his parents. Maybe it goes with the whole misanthrope thing. Though if he is one, why would he allow me to be his friend? "But even though you shouldn't worry about calling me if you're lost, don't contact me so very often for anything else. Just if you are in an emergency. I trust that I can hold you to that."
"Of course. Well, safe travels home Roppi-san." They waved each other off and Tsuki walked over around to see if there were any chores to be done. The dishes had finished drying so he goes ahead and puts them away and makes sure everything seemed to be neat and clean. Shizuo did prefer to rooms to be clean in case he had unexpected guest. This wasn't too much of a problem since Tsuki was the same with some of his stuff. Seeing that there was no chores to do, he headed to his room to do his night routine before going to bed. He took a quick shower and pulled on his usual sleeping attire, which is just a loose grey tee shirt and dark red sweatpants. For a while he would stare close to the mirror to look at himself.
Red eyes huh. That's all everyone would go by for the Slasher. And because of that, they accuse Roppi-san. I can understand why he would hate people because of that to be honest. After all…" He took off his glasses and grabbed his contact lenses case. After popping out his colored contacts he stared close into the mirror at his own pair of ruby eyes. I never liked having them at first either. Everyone made fun of me for them, calling me evil or diseased. That's why I hid them from the world, dulling down the bright red into something darker. But the way you have them, you actually make them look beautiful. It suits you very much…
Wait what am I saying?!
Tsuki splashed some cold water on his face and shook the thought out of his mind. Where did that come from? I mean yes he makes them look good, but well… I honestly think he looks nice. I did call him cute a couple of times in my head too. Slow down Tsukishima, you only just became friends. I still don't know much about him. He continues to look at his eyes. Perhaps, I should take my contacts off every once in awhile, or should I even show them to him? Hmm… He clean his lenses and finishes getting ready for night time. The few people who knows he wears colored contacts often times question why he doesn't just get prescribed ones so that he doesn't need glasses. But he just cannot see himself not wearing them and it feels way too out of place. He just likes his face better with them on. Besides, my vision isn't very good and the contact prescription would be very heavy colored ones. Once he gets out of the bathroom, Shizuo comes in grumbling to himself; his clothes were slightly disarranged and sun glasses in hand.
"Welcome home Shizuo-san."
"Oh, hi Tsuki." He took off his shoes and loosens his tie and shirt. There was already a lit cigarette in his mouth that was almost burnt out. Probably wasn't the first one he had after work. I guess he had a rough day.
"Did something happen today?"
"Nothing major, just some guys got really pissed about paying up."
"That's not good. I guess you got mad again."
"Yeah…" He sheepishly scratched the back of his head and walked into the kitchen to see what he had prepared for dinner this morning. But as he opened the door, his face became confused. "Tsuki… did you eat yet?" Shoot, I forgot about that. But it's hard to lie to Shizuo-san.
"Oh… yeah… I ran into Roppi-san today. He and I were at this place called um… Russia Sushi I think, and I picked something up because the guy outside saw me come in and I didn't want to be rude."
"Ah I see. What were you doing with him?"
"Just talked. I wanted to know if he was still mad at me. Luckily he wasn't." I mean it's not lying. But I'm not giving him all of the details. Shizuo smiled and looked back at the fridge.
"Well that's good. But are you sure that's enough? The plates aren't always really big."
"Yeah I'm sure. If you want, you can have my portion too."
"Naw, I'll just leave it for you tomorrow." The older man took his plate from fridge and popped it into the microwave and a gallon of milk to pour himself a glass. He offered Tsuki some, but he refused. Tossing out his bud and leaning against the countertop, he continued their conversation. "Anyway, how's school? Not too hard I'm hoping." Tsuki sat in the dinner table chair and smiled at him.
"It was good. So far nothing I can't do yet."
"Well that's good. Any friends yet?"
"Umm… no, not yet."
"I see…" Shizuo looked down at the floor as if he was worried about something. The microwave dinged and the older grabbed his dinner before joining the other at the table. "Do people know you're a Heiwajima at all?"
"I don't think so…" What was that all about… Wait, could it be that? "Shizuo-san, you shouldn't worry about people not liking me because we share the same last name. It's just… hard to open up to people after…"
"I gotcha there. But I can't help it. I can't always control my rage and sometimes I worry about hurting the people closest to me, even indirectly for just being friends or related to me. I even told my brother to take an alias so no one associates me with him. I guess this is the reason I didn't want to take you in at first. I honestly thought Kasuka would have been the better choice."
"I know. But since he's off to America to star in another movie, it didn't feel right to just be in his apartment without him there. But actually, I always thought you were better to live with anyway."
"Hmm?"
"Well… since everything that's happened at home, I really just need someone close to at least have my back. It was already hard for me to make friends in the first place, but it's even more so after everyone knows me as Tsugaru and Delic's introverted kid brother. I just wanted to be in a place where only family knows who truly I am; where I can just be myself for a little bit and hopefully grow more independent. And maybe one day, get rid of my lack of self confidence and stuttering all together. You happen to know a lot more about that than anyone else I know. You were afraid of your insecurities, but you grew with them and then embraced them. I hope that someday, I can be like you, to walk down a street with confidence with my actions." Shizuo stretched out his hand and placed it on top of Tsuki's own. He looked up to see the other smiling at him.
"Well put Tsuki. You really do have a way with words. Are you sure you don't want to be an author?"
"Well I am trying to be a specific type of author."
"You'll do fine. And I'm sure you can get to where you want to be." Shizuo can be very caring and dedicated when he wants to be.
"Thank you Shizuo-san. You know, I am surprised you don't have a girlfriend by how gentle you can be." Shizuo became flustered at his sudden remark.
"Yeah well, not everyone knows about that."
"True, but that shouldn't stop you from having a crush right?" Shizuo cleared his throat and took a sip of milk, glancing away from him.
"Don't you have work to do Tsuki?" The spectacled blonde giggled at his cousin's reaction.
"I'm just teasing, but yeah, I should probably get some papers filled out. I'm planning on working at the mailroom in between classes."
"Alright, don't pick up more than you can handle."
Tsukishima got up and headed to his room to get his work done. He takes out his laptop to do some quick assignments and sent out a few emails. By the time it was ten, he was done and opens the browser into a chat room.
Psy has entered the chat
Setton: Oh hi Psy, how are you today?
TarouTanaka: Hi Psy
Kanra: Helloooooo! (*^▽^*)/
Psy: Hey guy, Im pretty good.
Psy: What are we talking about tonight?
Setton: Well we only just logged on so I don't know either.
Virus has entered the chat
Saika has entered the chat
Kanra: VI CHAN! \(OvO)/
Virus: Geez shut up, and you totally forget about Saika.
Saika: It's okay, I'm used to it.
Setton: No, don't say that Saika-chan.
TarouTanaka: Kanra that's mean
Kanra: Fine im srry
Virus: Say it like you mean it.
Kanra: Fine, I am very sorry Saika-chan.
Psy: XD
Tsuki liked his new online friends too. Celty recommended it to him when he said he was completely new to the place. He wasn't new to online chat rooms, he joined some of them in the past to help him gain some communication skills and feel less lonely. However, he just couldn't talk with his old friends at the moment. Luckily, everyone on this server is nice to him, but he also likes one-on-one conversations; especially with the online chat newbie, Virus. They had an icebreaker and learned about each other very much. Virus claims that he was recently unemployed, liked the shades of red, and he likes reading classics. And it was pretty much a given that he knows Kanra very well; most likely not in a good way by the way he puts it. He isn't sure how much of this information is true, but he is nice company.
Setton: It's nice you see you're still with us Virus-kun.
Virus: Yeah, I'm actually surprised myself.
Virus: But then again, Kanra wouldn't leave me alone if I just suddenly stopped coming this early.
Kanra: Hey i want u to have fun, not b cooped up in your room
Virus: Shut up.
Kanra: Pun Meanie
Setton: Well now that everyone's here, what shall we discuss today.
Psy: Well…
Psy: I was wondering about everyone's opinion about the Slasher.
Hello Everyone! So happy to get this chapter finished. We finally learn a little bit of both Roppi's and Tsuki's backstory, Tsuki more so. This is only scraping the surface of what I have in store for them. I do picture Shizuo being really calm when he is with family because he doesn't want to hurt them. As for more about Roppi-kun's backstory, more will be revealed in other chapters.
When this chapter goes up it will be February 14, aka Valentine's Day. If you have a significant other, good for you and enjoy the time you spend with each other. If you are single then I hope this chapter update makes it eventful. As for me, I'm married to my homework and enjoying some sushi myself. Also those who have been reading sin the release of So Monstrous Yet So Humanand had noticed that my name is different, you have observant eyes. I've used that name for so long that I thought a change was needed.
Thank you all for your reviews and support; I am glad everyone is enjoying this story. Happy Valentine's and have a good rest of your day.