Title: Things that change for better or for worse
Chapter 32: The Return of Daily Change
By: Sissy

Disclaimer: DRRR shall never belong to me otherwise there'd be more yaoi.
Warning: Some OOC-ness.

Anri felt a chill cover her whole body. All she could think about was that conversation she read yesterday and wondered what kind of repercussions it would have. It had been deleted so Anri had no way of knowing how many people had read it, aside from Masaomi and Celty. She got a rather irked call from Shizuo, demanding the woman to take away the annoying host. There was no way of knowing how much damage the blond had done at the moment but she could only assume it wasn't anything good.

"Why aren't they out yet?" Aoba asked, pinned under Kururi's whole body in the backseat. He had wanted to go do the greeting as well but Kururi wouldn't let him. Her possessive streak shocked even Anri.

"Soon." Kururi murmured and nuzzled Aoba as if he were a teddy bear.

"There they are." Anri got out of the rental car and so did Aoba and Kururi. In front of them, pushed by Shizuo and accompanied by a nurse, came Mikado. There was a bright and sincere smile on his face that made Aoba pout as it wasn't meant for him. "Hello, Ryugamine-kun."

Mikado was surprised and smiled at his friend. "Well, this is a surprise. But doesn't this remind you of the first day I was back?" They both laughed and Aoba quickly intervened. "We're also here!"

"Quiet." Kururi pulled him back when he had tried to run up to Mikado.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for your hard work, Aoba-kun. Sonohara-san mentioned you helped move the few things I had." Mikado gave Aoba his oral reward, sending the boy into a blissful state. Kururi placed her arm around his possessively and Shizuo clicked his tongue as he began to help Mikado stand. Though he was given the okay to leave, Mikado still have to be in a small cast for a while before his leg was fully functional again.

Carefully, Anri and Shizuo watched over Mikado as he made his way to the car. Once he was in, Shizuo took the back seat and Kururi pulled Aoba inside as well. Anri took the driver's seat again and drove off. They were silent during the ride back until Anri's phone began to ring. She passed it over to Mikado, for safety reasons, and quickly heard the, [ANRI-CHAN!]

"Masaomi? Why are you screaming?" Mikado was confused, leaving the other surprised.

[Mikado? You're starting your new life with the wrong foot if you're answering a lady's cellphone!] He laughed but Mikado didn't find it funny. Neither did the rest as he was still loud enough to be heard inside the car. [Oh, but never mind that. Where are you guys?]

"Just left the hospital. Sonohara-san is driving us to Shizuo-san's place." Mikado felt a bit flustered about saying that and so did Shizuo. Aoba pouted at the whole comment while Kururi poked his cheek.

[Ah, I see. Well, can you swing by Sunshine for a quick moment and appease the goddess here? She caught me and won't let me go until she speaks to you. I mean, Saki managed to calm her down but she wants a word with you. And no! I won't give you my phone! Just wait 'till he gets here!] Those last lines were meant for someone else, Mikado could clearly tell before the line went dead. Confused by the whole ordeal, he passed along the message to Anri about what Masaomi asked.

Although she had a confused face, Anri agreed nonetheless. It wasn't as if they were in a hurry to go anywhere but she found it odd that Masaomi would ask such a weird thing out of them. Aoba relaxed himself in the back seat with Kururi as Mikado turned on the radio. Shizuo watched the road outside until he saw the Sunshine building in the far away distance. The others did as well, noting how eerily dark it looked from afar.

Anri suddenly began to slow her driving, catching the attention of Mikado. "Why are you slowing down, Sonohara-san?"

"I don't want to go there." In a very out of character fashion, Anri had declared softly. Aoba and Kururi had suddenly shared her sentiments while Shizuo began to tap his foot with the floor, looking very nervously at said floor.

"What's going on?" Mikado looked at the three in the back confused. He wanted an explanation but no one was giving it to him. However, Aoba found a bit of courage to speak and told Anri, "Just go and let's get this over with." With a nod, Anri upped the speed a bit and very soon, Mikado saw what everyone was terrified of.

Clad in a fully deep black armor and ridding her signature headless horse, was Celty Sturluson the Dullahan in all of her might and glory. There was a black carriage behind her where Mikado could see an unmoving Kishitani Shinra. Saki stood a couple of feet to the side, right next to Masaomi, who hung upside down inside Celty's shadows. There was a small crowd who didn't dare get into a twelve feet radius of the famed Dullahan.

"Is she angry at me?" Mikado could feel the pressure coming from his old friend. He realized this is why everyone seemed nervous. Taking a deep breath, he opened his door and slowly got out.

"You should go too, Shizuo-san." Anri suddenly spoke and Kururi concurred, pushing the blond bouncer a bit. "I believe this is due to what Ryugamine-kun wrote yesterday. Still, I can't believe she came here so fast." That last line was simply murmured but Kururi had thought the same.

After a small pause, Shizuo got out and quickly made his way next to Mikado, matching his pace with the injured male's one. There was an unnerving silence, as if he were walking to his death. Somehow, he thought that the fear everyone felt was due to the fact that Celty had apparently nearly destroyed two cities by getting even with Izaya once before. And yet, even while he thought about this, Mikado found himself contemplating on how none of those stories managed to reach his ears during his time abroad. He chucked it up to his allies over there keeping some information from him. Assuming it was part of his training, Mikado realized he had taken the final step towards Celty.

Now that he was closer, Mikado could see that the previously well-known underground doctor was unconscious. Also the most important thing, which was the news that Anri had delivered to him those weeks back when he had first arrived. It was the same face he knew well and he mentally slapped himself since the whole surgery was for the purpose of tricking that obsessed person. Mikado reminded himself of where he was when he saw Celty climb down.

"So? Why wasn't I told of this first?" It was strange to hear the voice coming from a head that wasn't attached to anything but both males thought it pleasantly suited her. "Shizuo, aren't I your friend?"

"This wasn't something I could easily say back then. And we weren't able to talk things out until recently. Also…" Shizuo stopped when he saw the shocked face that Celty had. It was as if she was having an epiphany.

"Back then? H-how long has this been going on? What could have happened? Wait, Mikado left and then…" There was a loud gasp and Celty remained motionless for a few seconds. Mikado tried to speak but was cut off by her scream. "You abused of Mikado?"

Masaomi was the first to laugh loudly, having already said the same thing before. Mikado groaned lightly, wondering why everyone thought so badly of Shizuo, who simply wondered how Celty had so little faith in him. He somewhat decided it was because Mikado seemed the most meek of the two and he knew his faults well so he couldn't entirely blame her but this was simply ridiculous.

"Who abused who?" Shinra's sudden voice called the attention of everyone else. He looked around and saw everything in the area. Standing up, he stretched himself. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing that we got here so soon, but Celty, you didn't need to take it so fast. Your horse is tired, isn't he? Also, I'm pretty sure Mikado-kun wouldn't just run away because Shizuo did something to him. You should know that well by now."

Trying to hide his blush, Mikado looked away. Shizuo, in turn, kept quiet and glanced the other way. "Uh… So… I got that wrong…? Then…Mikado is the one who…?" Celty looked terribly confused and didn't seem like she knew what to do. It seemed as though she was still processing all the information given to her. Then, quite suddenly, she looked angry and screamed, "But why didn't you two talk about it with anyone? Why did you have to keep quiet about this for six years?"

The crowd watched the shadows move with her anger and Masaomi quickly fell to the floor. He looked happy to have been let go at last. "I worried and I worried and I worried! And what did it give me? Two idiot friends who can't rely on anyone but themselves! I was this close to looking for you in America, Mikado! But Shinra said to give you some space, so I did. I regret this now."

"I did think you had something to do with it but I chose to let you fix your own problems, Shizuo. That might've been a mistake on my part. I agree with Celty that it's dumb that neither of you spoke to anyone about this but you can't change the past. So…" As Shinra spoke, he got down of the carriage and walked over to Shizuo. When he placed his hands on Shizuo's shoulders, he smiled. "I guess congratulations are in order."

The shadows completely retreated and the air felt clear again. Celty came over as well and hugged Mikado as tightly as she could with her free arm. "I'm so happy it was you Shizuo chose. But don't ever hide things from me again, alright?" As confused as he was, Mikado could only nod as slowly as possible. Recalling an earlier conversation with Izaya, he realized that the people on his side were a lot more than he could ever imagine. It slightly scared him a little.

To Be Continued…