Shinra was at something of a loss.
"And who is that?"
"If you want to get ahead in this game of ours then I advise you to find out. Checkmate."
Aoba moved his dark king across the chess board.
"You can't really lose if you play against yourself, Aoba."
Aoba twirled the piece between his fingers, holding it against the wide expanse of blue sky. He looked almost noble.
"I wonder about that."
"You can't really lose either."
"Now that I can't agree with."
There was something more to Aoba's words but Shinra was not in the mood for exploring it at the moment.
"A new duelist, fancy that."
Aoba tossed his queen in the air and caught in mid-air.
"More than one, actually. A whole new faction."
Shinra's eyebrows arched over the frames of his glasses. He stared at the campus from the vantage point of the high balcony. It looked precisely as it did when he had left it. Even the forest camouflaging the arena was the same.
"Changes, huh. That may be just what we all need."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing much."
The stars wheeled their silent way above them and shone coldly through the see through roof.
"Psyche, it's your turn to play."
"Does it matter? Since it's a stalemate."
"Not quite. The cogs are turning now."
"Yes."
"Such a beautiful night. Come here."
Izaya placed his glasses on the nearby table and moved forward. The lenses caught a glimmer of light before darkness descended. Sealing him in.
Shinra took a tour of the campus. The conversation with Aoba resounded in his awareness but all he could see was precisely the same Orihara Academy he had left. For those who never left the confines of the school the lack of change might seem too normal to even register or it could be that they became immune to accumulative change if it happened by subtle enough degrees. But Shinra was in a different position, his perspective was perhaps broader and surely more comprehensive.
All around preparations for the Spring Rose Festival unfolded in a bustle of activity. Shinra watched these, nodding and smiling at a few students who greeted him. He decided to visit this Heiwajima Shizuo.
It was very easy to find him. Shinra needed only to ask and sure enough he was shown to Shizuo's dorm. He waited for a couple of minutes and sure enough a someone Shinra was not familiar with arrived with Orihara on tow. Of all elements that were so changeless the Rose Bride seemed to be the one that exemplified immutability so Shinra was very curious to see if Aoba's theory also applied to Orihara Izaya.
"Shizuo-kun, I believe?"
"Yeah. Not again, not one of those."
Shizuo sighed as he spotted the ring on Shinra's finger. Erika came bouncing off a corner and jumped into the scene.
"Shinra, you're back! Great! You'll vote for my script, right? Right? You totally must!"
"I haven't even read any of the scripts yet. Hello, I'm Kishitani Shinra. Nice to meet you."
Shizuo looked him up and down before taking and shaking his hand. Shinra could tell just by the grip that Shizuo could crush his hand and he noticed how Shizuo stepped so as to block Orihara.
"Welcome back, Shinra-san."
"No worries, Shizuo. Shinra is cool. A bit kooky but cool."
"If you say so."
The revolution that Shinra sought was not for his own sake. It just so happened that the girl he loved was bent on getting something back and while he did not believe she needed it at all, he was willing to go the extra mile. With some luck she would come to see how right he was. Either way Shinra wanted to soothe her constant stress and if that meant having to fight a few duels and snatch Orihara Izaya then he could do just that. But as some of the other duelists were beginning to realize, there was such a thing as timing to take into consideration. So he was going to make sure he played his cards right.
Shinra's role in the Student Council allowed him to have a whole apartment for himself and for his girlfriend.
"Celty, what do you think about this place? Pretty neat, isn't it?"
"Are you sure about this? I mean-"
"No problems. It'll be fine."
Shinra would make sure that it was so.