A/N: This is the day where I am horribly cruel to Izaya. And it feels good. XD
A surprise birthday gift for my friend. I told her that I would write her a DRRR and DeSu2 crossover oneshot as a present, but then I thought: Why not follow-up with a new chapter for Gameplay? And so here it is. It's been really long since the last update, I'm really sorry about that.
Thank you all for supporting Gameplay! It means a lot to me! :D
Disclaimer: The Durarara! novel translations are by anni_fiesta. Excerpts from Volumes 3 and 9 are in this chapter.
April 19, 2013
Crystal Fortress, 6F
It was an immensely tiring battle, for the most part. The flea's speedy pounce had caught them unawares at first, giving it the advantage of going first and sweeping them off their feet hard with its legs.
After its first strike, the abnormally large insect let loose an even nastier stench which made the four Persona-users ill and susceptible to its Anima Freeze spell, rendering them drained of their energy and painfully vulnerable to all of the creature's following attacks.
Thinking back about it, their victory was probably a miracle, all things considered. "Probably", because if it hadn't been the insect's Tempest Slash missing Yukiko, the raven might not have been able to take the opportunity to use the last of her Soul Power for a Prayer. With everyone regaining their strength and their wounds perfectly healed, as well as the aid of Yosuke's Masukukaja and Rise's timely support, the tables were turned in their favour.
So now, for just a short moment, the room that was segregated from the flames was filled with the sound of pants coming from four evidently exhausted teenagers standing around a flea-like monster. It had fallen to the ground on its side, having suffered the full brunt of a Mind Charged Agidyne - among other skills - followed by a group attack and Chie and Yukiko's Twin Dragons combination. A few of its legs were twitching, and its mouth part extended and retracted like as if it were gasping for air. Its circular blue eyes, however, remained wide and still, staring into space.
Then, with a final twitch of one of its hind legs, the creature's eyes dulled before its entire body melted into a thick, shadowy aura that dispersed into the air, taking along with it the stench that the flea had given off.
"How's...that...?" Yosuke managed to say, panting with a triumphant smile on his face.
The four Persona-users waited in anticipation for the Shadow's voice, which kept perfectly quiet. It felt like the Shadow was observing them, like a scientist would his subjects, and trying to make sense of his findings. Then, without any notice, a gate appeared in the wall directly in front of them before it parted from the ground.
Souji and his teammates merely stared at it in surprise, and continued waiting for the Shadow to make any sort of comment, but all they got was silence as opposed to the usual chatter.
"Um..." Yukiko started. "Is he...mad at us or something?"
Yosuke snorted. "For winning the game? If he is, then he's more of a sore loser than I thought."
"Who cares? We got the prize, so let's just go already," Chie said, looking over her shoulder and all around her for any signs of other flea-like Shadows they might've had missed.
"Ohh, someone's eager to leave," Yosuke teased, giving Chie. Chie, in turn, shot him a death glare, as if daring him to say any more. At that, Yosuke chuckled nervously and raised both hands in surrender.
"Oh, right, we didn't get a chance to say this earlier, but...thank you, Rise-chan. If it hadn't been for your help, we might have spent a long time fighting that Shadow," said Yukiko as she tilted her head towards the ceiling.
Inwardly thanking Amagi for the convenient change in topic - whether it was intentional or not was not his concern at the moment - Yosuke added, "Y-yeah, you really saved us back there. But, man... What the heck happened to you? Did you get blocked out again?"
"It's...complicated," Rise replied. "I'll tell you guys the details once all this is over, but basically, yeah, I got blocked out. Oh, and no need for thanks, Yukiko-senpai. It's my responsibility, after all.
"Now, c'mon! No more wasting time. We've still got a ways to go, but I know we can do it!"
At the sound of the idol's cheer, a sign of normalcy of their lives, smiles of relief found their ways to Souji and the others' faces. With their spirits uplifted and their prior weariness now forgotten, they ran forward through the opened gate and into the corridor that was once dominated by raging fires.
"Didn't I tell you I was stabbed? I haven't found the one who did it yet. Look, don't people tend to hate me when I only meant well? That's why I paid them to be my guards. ...The crackdown on bousouzoku gangs is kind of severe recently, you see."
[I agree, but...]
The words that belonged to somebody whom they presumed to have no voice surfaced in their minds. It was like remembering or visualising someone slowly typing the Japanese characters into the screen of an electronic device.
And in this manner, the next few words were "typed out" before their eyes:
[But I'm pretty sure you don't usually mean well.]
The voice then replied.
"I was just kidding. With my job and my personality I more than deserve all the hate I get. That's something even I would readily understand."
[If you understand, can't you at least try to change your personality for a bit?]
"If I ever feel like it, sure."
Spoken with such insincerity.
It was like hearing someone converse with himself in the most nonchalant tone they ever heard in their lives.
On the top floor of an expensive-looking apartment somewhere on the Kawagoe Highway
"Celtyyyy, I'm home~!" a bespectacled, brown-haired man in his mid-twenties announced, stretching his free arm out as he opened the door to his apartment.
[Ah, welcome back. How did it go?]
Shinra brightened even more at the sight of his beloved's message for him. "Well, they were happy to see me, of course, but I think they're even happier with their results from this research trip. The first thing they said to me was that they couldn't wait to return to the lab, and then they really took the cab there even with all their luggage and equipment, so in the end, I came back by myself." He shrugged, looking as if he had expected it. "Oh, but Father said he might be dropping by later to drop off his and Emilia-san's luggage, so we should expect to get a call from him when he does."
[I see. You must be tired. Have a good rest for tonight. I'll go pick the luggage up when Shingen arrives.]
"Ohh Celty, how kind you are! I want to embrace and hold you in bed right now!"
[Don't say something so embarrassing.] Celty replied, but Shinra could tell from the expression on her face, which was non-existent to other people, that she was pleased to hear that from him.
Still beaming as brightly as ever, Shinra hurriedly closed the door to join Celty on the couch. When he saw that she made no gesture to acknowledge his presence next to her and instead turned back to face an empty television screen, however, his face fell slightly.
"Souji-kun and the others haven't returned?" Shinra asked gently, even though he knew the answer to that question.
Celty's neck shook, causing the shadow trailing from it to meander along with it. [...They've been in there for more than eight hours. What if...what if something happened to them?]
"I'm sure they're fine, Celty. They seem to know what they're doing. Maybe they usually take several hours to complete a rescue."
[But they're just kids in some unknown world. It...it doesn't feel right to leave them alone there.]
"Celty," Shinra said soothingly, inching closer towards his loved one. He held out his hand and tenderly placed it over Celty's. "I understand your concerns, but Souji-kun and his friends have been doing this for a year, haven't they? I believe they know how to take care of themselves, so let's try to have a little more faith in them. Who knows? They might show up unscathed at any moment now."
Instinctively Celty's fingers hovered over her PDA, but as she considered Shinra's words, she withdrew her hand. Then, once it looked like she had made up her mind about how to respond, she proceeded to tap on the screen.
[You're right. I made myself worry over what might be nothing.] A pause. [Thank you, Shinra. You always say the things that I need to hear.]
"What's most important is for you to feel at ease, Celty," Shinra replied, his fingers curling around his beloved's.
While Shinra wouldn't deny that he was curious to know what Celty had initially wanted to tell him, he didn't want to risk making her feel any more uncomfortable than she already was about the recent happenings. Though Shinra opened his heart to her, he understood that Celty had to have her own privacy as well, and so he decided to leave the whole thing aside until the day came where Celty felt ready. Whether they would eventually come back to it at all didn't matter. As long as Celty was comfortable and happy, Shinra would do anything for her.
That was how their relationship had always been, after all, and it would continue to be that way: developing slowly but surely, taking one baby step at a time with each other by their side.
Celty seemed to chuckle at the touch, the feeling of Shinra's fingers interlocking with her own. Then, with a small poof of smoke from the stem of her neck, she shifted closer until their shoulders met, and rested her neck against Shinra's shoulder, content and blissful even as heavy rain pelted their windows and thunders bellowed.
Shinra, in turn, tilted his head until he felt Celty's shadow stroking his hair. The smile on his face widened at the tickling sensation, and he closed his eyes, wishing he could fall asleep the way he was now - sitting next to Celty on the couch, holding her hand, feeling the touch of their bodies leaning into each other.
"You know," Shinra spoke, sounding almost distant as he drifted off to sleep, "seeing you worry about Souji-kun and the others like this, Celty... I think you'd make the perfect mother for our children in the fut-owowowow, that hurts, Celty, ow, ow!"
A string of words spoken in an entirely foreign language.
A voice that most of them were unfamiliar with.
But somewhere in that jumble of alien words, they could hear the name clearly.
"Orihara Izaya".
That name was mentioned a number of times.
And the only other thing they could understand from the long speech-
-was the sudden roar of laughter.
The voice laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed...
It was as if he were laughing at the most ridiculous of jokes ever to exist.
Yet at the same time, it was as if...
...he were laughing at the sorriest creature he had ever laid his eyes upon.
Crystal Fortress, 8F
The laughter that belonged to the unknown man continued resonating throughout the floor even as they made their way to the stairs. Walking down the corridors, which were narrow and made entirely of stone, only served to amplify that seemingly endless laughter.
At random points in time, the same voice would mention something, but as it was spoken in a language unfamiliar to most of them, it was almost as good as falling on deaf ears if not for the fact that it was rather unsettling. With no way of understanding what was being said, the team focused on moving on, eliminating all Shadows in their way.
But the same could not be said for one of them, who understood the one-sided conversation perfectly.
Shirogane Naoto casted her eyes downward, and murmured, "...Orihara-san..."
Tatsumi's frown deepened as he walked alongside her. "Yeah. I heard his name." A pause. "The language this guy is using... Is that Russian?"
Naoto nodded silently.
Kanji resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck. "I figured. You mentioned that Orihara-san knew that language when you were talking about the whole thing." He looked at their surroundings. "Doesn't sound like him talkin', though. Must be a Russian sayin' something about him and he happened to be listening... Maybe."
Naoto simply kept her head low, partly because she did not feel like responding to Tatsumi-kun's guess, but mostly because she did not want him to know that she had, in fact, understood the language. She knew she was being unfair by keeping yet another secret from him, but if he were to learn of what the Russian was saying, it would be unfair to Orihara-san as well. There had to be a reason why this fortress was echoing something that had been spoken in a tongue unfamiliar to most Japanese, after all.
But at the same time, Naoto wouldn't deny that there was another reason as to why she was keeping this fact a secret.
To Naoto, Russian was not just a language she had happened to learn, or was in the process of learning. Not like Japanese, which was mandatory, or English, which was mostly for the convenience of clients who were more comfortable with using it. No, Russian was, in hindsight, of no use to her at all. It was a redundant and purposeless pursuit, and Naoto couldn't even recall the exact reason why she had decided to take it up in the end. What she did know, however, was that it was a pursuit that somehow still held a special meaning to her despite her view on its practicality - or lack thereof, rather.
In a way, it served as a reminder of the relationship she once had with Orihara-san before his identity as Nakura the administrator of the online suicide groups came into the picture.
...No. Not "Orihara-san", but "Sakazaki-san". It was the name that was given to both her grandfather and her when he first introduced himself to them; the name of a person Naoto had usually spoken of so fondly before she met the same man again under completely different circumstances years after her first meeting with Sakazaki-san.
But when Naoto thought about it, it was meaningless to refer to another person with different names, she understood. It was like calling her teammates by the names of their Personas - or, worse still, Seta-senpai by the names of the vast quantity of Personas he possessed - even though said Personas were part of them
In the same manner, it might be difficult to associate Orihara-san with the Sakazaki-san of Naoto's memories, but that did not change the fact Sakazaki-san was a persona born from Orihara-san's own psyche.
Venturing through the fortress, therefore, was like delving deeper into the mind of the man Naoto had once admired - and that was what made this mission particularly uncomfortable for her.
And the more Naoto progressed and heard what was being said about Orihara-san, the more she realised just how little she thought she had understood about him.
'...Orihara-san,' the detective thought sadly to herself. 'Just what are you so afraid of?'
She received a fading roar of laughter as her only answer.
"Even if it's Hel, as long as I exist, that's all that matters."
"…Well, of course, I aim to go to Valhalla."
"Ne, Namie, let's go to Heaven together."
"-How ironic. You keep telling everyone how much you love humans, yet you're looking for hope in the world after death."
"Actually it's the other way around. I love humans, and that's why I want to keep watching them forever."
...
"...This place..."
"Is this...Valhalla?"
"It's beautiful here..."
"And I can watch my lovely humans from here... For all eternity."
"...Haha."
"At last..."
"I've arrived at Valhalla at last."
Crystal Fortress, 9F
"...This guy's thoughts are all over the place," Yosuke said, breaking the silence that enveloped the first corridor of the ninth floor the team had entered.
It was slightly different from the other corridors from the first to eighth floors. The usual drop in the temperature aside, the corridors of the ninth were no longer lined with torches but gaps in the stone, acting as windows to the world beyond the fortress. Tiny flakes of snow and mild gusts of wind drifted into the fortress via these windows, making the corridor colder, and therefore harder, to run through.
At Yosuke's question, Yukiko asked, "And that's not a good sign, right?"
"No, it's definitely not," Rise replied. "And if he thinks this Valhalla is Heaven, and that the TV world is Valhalla... Oh no, Senpai, we have to hurry!"
"We'll do our best," Souji said firmly.
The four of them pressed on without stopping.
Along a street in Ikebukuro, Tokyo
"It's been hard on you two, as usual. Go back home and get a good night's rest."
"Understood." "Alright."
The replies came simultaneously.
In response to them, Tanaka Tom gave a nod, and then he waved at his two bodyguards as they left in the opposite direction together.
Shizuo and Vorona walked in comfortable silence, passing by small shops and humble cafés that had already closed for the day. Only 24-hour shops like convenience stores were still open, seeing their usual long queues as customers from many walks of life came to buy a late-night snack or food for tomorrow's breakfast. Few cars drove past the pair, who walked alongside each other with their umbrellas in hand. They made quiet splashes as their feet stepped across the pavement which had been soaked with rainwater.
When they reached the junction where they normally parted ways, Shizuo was about to bid the day's farewell to his kouhai but the Russian did not budge despite recognising the gesture. He stared at her blankly. "...Uh. Y'know, you don't have to follow me around. I'll be fine on my own."
"Affirmative and negative, Senpai. Capable of unbreakable defense, Senpai is. But the enemy, unknown and cunning. The possibility of their inhumanity, approximately seventy percent. To help Senpai fight off this enemy is my aim. Protection, side-benefit. Though Senpai's safety is paramount, of course," Vorona replied, completely emotionless.
Shizuo didn't say anything to that. Instead, he raised his free hand and, as gently as he could, patted the blonde on her head who did not flinch - and even seemed to relax - at the familiar touch. "Thanks, Vorona," he said, after a moment. "But I don't want you to get involved. Whoever it is is targeting me, not you. This is my own problem to deal with. You understand, right?"
"...I see. If Senpai is more comfortable with that, then follow you I shall not. However, if the enemy approaches Senpai, please contact, no hesitation. I will aid in the elimination of enemy, for certain."
Shizuo gave a small smile. "I'll keep that in mind."
Vorona nodded. "Then I shall take my leave, Senpai. Do take due care."
The Russian kept her piercing blue eyes on Shizuo for just a split second longer, and then she turned and walked away.
Once he was sure that Vorona was completely out of sight, Shizuo continued on his way home, keeping a hand in his pocket while holding up an umbrella in the other. As he slowly walked along the pavement in the heavy rain, he returned to his own thoughts, something he hadn't done all day due to the distraction that work and the twins had provided.
'...Oh right. Kururi and Mairu.'
Shizuo grumbled something incoherent under his breath.
He wasn't pissed at them, though. Not exactly. It was just that with all the weirdness going on, Shizuo's patience was constantly being challenged, so having to handle the twins was irksome, to say the least. Especially since they absolutely refused to back down from their search until Shizuo - very reluctantly - passed them an autographed photo of Kasuka. It sent them back to school straight away, to Shizuo's relief. It was a good thing, too; it would have been bad if they got caught in the storm while looking for the flea.
On that note, Shizuo remembered that Celty had sent him a text some time in the late afternoon, saying that the kids they met had gone into the TV. Shizuo didn't know how to respond when he saw that. Part of him was still frustrated from the weirdness, but at the same time, another part of him was...relieved. He couldn't explain it but he certainly did feel relieved knowing that there were people who bothered to go save someone he hated.
Shizuo didn't understand why himself. He had been hoping for Izaya's death all along, after all. Sure, Shizuo wanted to kill the flea with his own hands, but when he thought about it, it didn't really matter - he just wanted Izaya dead. Or at least stop messing around with the people in Ikebukuro. So why was he even the slightest bit relieved?
It was a strange feeling. And that added to the weirdness of everything. Which made Shizuo even more frustrated.
He remembered he had sent back a reply - Thanks for letting me know. - in spite of it all, though. He hadn't received anything else after that, but he figured that the kids had probably already managed to find Izaya and brought him back for Shinra to look at, so Celty was probably too busy with that many people in the apartment to notify Shizuo of what had happened.
It was the best possibility he could think of; after all, it wasn't like the kids could stay in the TV for that long. They said it themselves.
Shizuo shrugged. There wasn't any point in thinking about all this when it only served to confuse him even further. He'd just wait for Celty's text, he decided.
So when Shizuo reached his apartment, he didn't think about the matter as he headed for the bathtub and took a shower. Didn't think as he went into the kitchen and grabbed the opened carton of milk in the fridge. Didn't think as he poured the silk white liquid into a glass and casually stepped out of the kitchen while drinking the milk.
And when the television screen in his living room sprung to life at the stroke of midnight, Shizuo didn't know what to think.
Even when the series of images died away, Shizuo remained perfectly still, staring wide-eyed at the screen with a half-empty glass in his hand, his mind as blank as the colour of the milk he just drank.
"...No way," he muttered, shaking his head. "Musta been seeing things... Time to go to bed, go to bed..."
But the images, which were fresh in Shizuo's mind, kept the blond from falling asleep. With both hands behind his head, Shizuo stared dazedly at the ceiling, and remained in that position for quite some time; he didn't know how long exactly.
It wasn't until he heard his phone ring that Shizuo snapped out of his stupor.
Stiffly, Shizuo picked his phone up from the table next to his bed. Without looking at the caller ID, he pressed the "receive call" button and then held the phone to his ear.
"...Yeah?"
"Shizuo-kun?"
Shizuo tensed upon recognition of the voice. "What is it, Shinra?"
"...I don't know if this is a piece of bad or good news, but I thought you should know since you're involved in a way. Ahaha, but knowing how things are like with you and Izaya, it's probably both at the same time. Really, the both of you keep giving me so much trouble. I can't ever have any peace with Celty with you two around. Especially Izaya. I mean, seriously, getting himself caught up in this and-"
"Just spit it out already."
There was silence at the other end of the line for a moment until Shinra broke it, "They found him. Izaya, I meant."
"Oh. That's all? Can I put down the phone now?"
"I wasn't finished, Shizuo-kun. Yes, Souji-kun and the others did manage to find and bring Izaya back, but that doesn't mean his life is out of danger just yet." Shizuo could hear the doctor shift his spectacles as he hesitated. "Izaya has been in a semi-conscious state ever since he was brought in. I've checked his vitals and they're all normal. No wound indicating of any sort of concussion either. But he still hasn't been responding well to any of our questions. Just a few incoherent mumbles or groans, even when nobody is speaking to him."
Shizuo rolled his eyes. "It's just the flea being a flea, Shinra. Next thing you know, he's gonna jump up and laugh in your faces like the annoying bastard he is."
'You can never trust a person like Izaya, after all.'
That was the impression Shizuo got of the other man ever since their first meeting in high school.
But instead of agreeing with Shizuo like what he always did, Shinra said, "You don't understand. I assessed him personally - there's really something wrong about his condition. He's showing obvious signs of a serious concussion, but there aren't any wounds on his body at all, let alone his head. He's delirious, to say the least. But what I'm more concerned about is something else.
"I'll be honest with you, Shizuo-kun. Izaya isn't faring too well. His heart rate, blood pressure and SpO2 are dropping as we speak. I'm doing all I can to keep his vitals up, but until I can find the reason for his condition, there's nothing much I can do. I'm afraid Souji-kun and his friends' efforts may all be for naught in the end."
Shizuo's eyes widened. "You mean...?"
"It's exactly what I mean, Shizuo-kun." Shinra sighed. "Izaya is dying. And I don't know why."