A/N: I was about to plunge straight into the true "meat" of this arc, but then I realised if I did that, a lot of things wouldn't make sense, so this chapter is necessary plot filler. From the next chapter onwards, we'll be on a rollercoaster ride in terms of plot progress, I promise!
As always, thank you all for your support! :)
April 27, 2013
By the time Psyche had troughed through the dreadful details of what exactly happened on the day those kids had gone to save Izaya, Satonaka and Amagi were already a little pale while Seta was trying to support Hanamura who nearly collapsed to the floor.
"...I feel so violated," the brunet said. He sounded scared and pissed off and like he was gonna hurl all at the same time.
Shizuo couldn't blame him. The kid had every right to feel that way. Even though Shizuo himself still couldn't get over what the bastard Shadow did to him, part of him was actually relieved that it was only a kiss and not a giant flea literally sticking its mouthpiece into his skin and sucking up his blood. There was something disturbingly invasive about that.
To make things worse, it turned out that the flea - the one that looked like a real flea - was an extension of the flea himself. Like an avatar or something, as Psyche had put it. Shizuo simply saw it as a weaker version of the real thing. It had to be. Otherwise why was there a need for the kids' blood if just physical contact was usually good enough for scanning for information?
"Ugh, I know what you mean." The girl named Kujikawa shook her head. "I didn't get my blood sucked or anything, but Orihara-san's Shadow managed to block me out with some kind of illusion right from the beginning. I guess that means he's got full data on me, too."
"Wha- Are you serious? But how do you know for sure? I thought he needs to have some sort of physical contact to..."
Kujikawa fidgeted before she answered Satonaka, "Well, it's a little complicated, but basically it's because of how my Persona and Orihara-san's Shadow work. Remember what Psyche-san said? That Orihara-san's Shadow has the same kind of abilities that Kanzeon has?
"That's the thing - usual Shadows can't do anything against Kanzeon's abilities. But if we're talking about a strong Shadow that can do what Kanzeon does, then it's possible that it can peek at Kanzeon's weaknesses and even mess up with Kanzeon's radar. Since they're so similar and all."
"Ohh I see. Like some kind of radio jamming. Or sound waves cancelling each other out," said Hanamura, who had regained his composure.
"Destructive interference," Shirogane murmured, nodding. "That certainly is an apt way to describe it. Though in this situation, I suppose radio jamming is a more accurate analogy."
Shizuo hadn't heard of those terms before, but he wasn't interested in knowing further, neither was he intending to ask for the difference between them.
Kujikawa and Satonaka looked like they shared the same sentiments. "Seriously, guys, physics? As if I needed some kind of reminder about my high school days. Can we just stick to simple Japanese, please?" Satonaka groaned.
Shirogane looked apologetic. Hanamura, however, was not.
"What? How have you not heard about radio jamming before? I mean, destructive interference I can understand, but seriously, radio jamming doesn't sound familiar to you?"
"Well I'm sor-ry for not knowing things that you do. What, are you pretending to be a lousy teacher or something?"
"Oi what do you mean-"
"Yo Senpais, is this really the time to be arguing?" Tatsumi said, interrupting Hanamura and ultimately bringing an end to the ongoing quarrel. The two seniors murmured their apologies while still retaining their mild glares at each other.
"A-anyway," Psyche spoke, appearing unsure if it was alright for him to. "Icchan did all of that to get detailed data on you guys. I'm not really sure why he wanted it, but Hibi-kun would know. He must be waiting for us."
"In that case, we should hurry," Seta said. "The longer Orihara-san is inside the TV, the more danger he's in."
"And this time, I'm coming along."
Everyone turned to face Shizuo, worry and surprise evident in their faces. Even Shizuo himself didn't know why he had done that exactly. It just seemed like the most obvious thing to say, for some reason.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Amagi said, treading carefully. "The TV world is extremely dangerous for people who don't have a Persona."
Teddie tilted his head. "I thought Shadows don't attack people if they don't have one unless the fog's lifted on the other side."
"But if we're all going to be together, then the Shadows will just keep coming towards us. The only way we can guarantee they won't go after Heiwajima-san is if we go our separate ways and leave him alone. Which is insane, if you ask me," Kujikawa said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Plus, don't forget, there's always that risk of his Shadow popping up," Hanamura pointed out.
[What?!] Shinra and Shizuo seemed stunned at the new piece of information while Celty continued to type ferociously. [Shizuo, you can't! Having those Shadow creatures coming after you is bad enough, but now this? It's too dangerous. No matter what you say, I won't agree to it!]
"...But that's assuming whatever's in there can act as strong enough a trigger," Shinra spoke, after overcoming the initial surprise. "And, see, Shizuo-kun is honest to a fault, so…"
"Hah? As if you're any better," Shizuo scoffed, taking no offense.
Celty flinched, and then she looked at the ground.
"A-ahh! I didn't mean to make you feel bad, Celty! Celty, forgive me, please!"
[No, no. It's not Shinra's fault. I should have realised it myself...] Then she turned to Shizuo and typed out an apology for him, to which Shizuo blinked, confounded.
"Why are you apologising?" Shizuo asked. If anything, he should be the one who felt bad here, making Celty worry like that.
Celty hesitated for a moment before typing her reply. [For not thinking things through before I said anything.] She admitted, which only served to add to Shizuo's confusion.
But at the same time, he was also a little...happy? Relieved? Shizuo wasn't entirely sure what this feeling was, but he did know he wasn't as upset about the risk of his Shadow appearing as everyone else was.
(Was it that bad of a thing? All Shizuo understood about Shadows was that they were annoying as hell and were prone to extreme mood swings and came from people's thoughts.)
Seta sighed. "Even still, the risk is far too great."
"I don't care, I'm coming along," Shizuo repeated, putting emphasis on each and every word with a pause in-between. He wasn't sure why he was so determined to go; it was more like, the more everyone wanted to keep him safe, the more resolved he was to oppose them.
His life was his own, after all. And besides, he hadn't done anything for them in return this entire time. It was high time he paid them back for all that they had done for him.
Shizuo wasn't certain if he would be of help if he tagged along; all he knew, without a doubt, was that if he didn't, then he would just be doing nothing again. It didn't have to be some kind of big gesture - he just wanted to do something.
And deep down, a part of Shizuo felt that maybe, just maybe, his strength could finally come in handy again for a situation like this.
The detective named Shirogane looked at him intently before facing the rest of her team. "In that case, I believe we have no reason to turn Heiwajima-san down, Senpai."
Her fellow peers stared at her with widened eyes. Shizuo himself was surprised that she would agree.
Shirogane continued, nodding to herself, "This decision is his own to make, after all. I'm sure Psyche-san agrees as well."
"Yup, Nao-chan's right," the pink-eyed copy of Izaya said. "Sou-chan, I know all of you have Shizuo-kun's best interests in mind, but Shizuo-kun has the right to know everything now. The Forest, Hibi-kun and the others, what Icchan's planning... All of it. Especially since Icchan has him involved in this now."
Then the raven turned in Shizuo's direction, giving him a reassuring smile, as if to say he was on his side. Not knowing how else to respond to that, Shizuo simply nodded with an intelligible grunt, which made the smile widen slightly.
Seta, however, still didn't seem convinced. "Even then, the risks involved are..."
"Oh I'll keep him safe! I promise!" Psyche volunteered, raising both of his arms and waving them in the air. "So all of you don't have to worry. Just go out there and do your thing!"
The leader of the Investigation Team didn't reply at first, but when he saw that Psyche and Shizuo were not about to waver in their decisions, he sighed and conceded. Gradually, his teammates gave their agreements, as reluctant as they might've had been.
It was obvious that nobody thought it was a good idea, even Shirogane didn't seem so keen in spite of what she had said earlier, but Shizuo was determined to make it work somehow. It was the least he could do after making that kind of a request.
After the kids gave their hesitant consent, Shizuo felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and flipped the cover open.
I still don't think you should go, Shizuo.
While he was slightly baffled as to why Celty chose to text him directly instead of just showing him the screen of her PDA like she always did, Shizuo chose not to question it and went along with her.
Sorry for making you wor-
He paused.
This wasn't something he ought to send over a text message.
If he wanted to apologise, he would make damn sure to do it in person. Especially since it was his close friend he wanted to apologise to.
So, keeping those thoughts in mind, Shizuo deleted away his drafted reply and typed in another message in its place:
I'll be fine. Don't worry.
He sent it without any second thoughts.
At almost the same time, Shinra spoke, with the same cheerful, almost sickening - to Shizuo, at least - smile he usually wore when facing and treating his patients, "Oh hey! Then can I tag along too?"
[How can I not wNO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.]
"Woah that was a fast response! Wait were you in the middle of texting someone, Celty?"
[THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT I TOLD YOU BEFORE. WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO WHAT THE OTHERS JUST SAID.]
"Ehhh, I thought we agreed that we're going to keep things the way they are, Celty. Plus this might be the only chance I have to see the TV world for myself. There's something about Shadows and Personas that I just have to figure out, and I know I can't do that if I never get the chance to see the world they come from, Celty. And Psyche-kun will keep Shizuo-kun safe, right? Then it shouldn't be too much of a problem if I go along since Psyche-kun can protect me as well," Shinra explained soothingly and honestly.
The whole idea didn't seem to sit well with both the kids and Celty, who looked like they were all geared up to protest, until Psyche, brimming with enthusiasm, said, "Yup! It's an A-OK for me!"
[Why are you agreeing with him?! You're only going to encourage him further!]
Psyche, unfazed by Celty's reaction, simply beamed and replied, "Because Hibi-kun told me to bring Shin-chan along, too."
"...Eh?" Shinra, just like everyone else, didn't anticipate that. "He said so?"
"Yeah, Hibi-kun needs to tell Shin-chan something personally."
Celty fidgeted. [Urk... In that case, then I'd better-]
"No, Cel-chan can't come." The smile completely disappeared from Psyche's face and turned into a small frown. "Cel-chan, I know where you're coming from, but Hibi-kun said it's too dangerous for you. I can cover Shin-chan and Shizuo-kun while Sou-chan and the others focus on the Shadows, but I'm not strong enough to do any more."
[Then... Then what about "Hibi-kun"? And... And "Rocchan" and "Saku-chan"? Didn't you say earlier that they have Personas like you do?] The Dullahan paused, and then quickly added: [I just can't rest at ease if Shinra goes alone.]
"Celty..." Shinra smiled wryly, looking like he knew exactly the reason for Celty's worry. Shizuo could tell he was wavering; Celty had that kind of effect on him.
Psyche shook his head forlornly. "It's complicated, Cel-chan. I'm sorry. I know you really wanna go, but we have our reasons."
"...What kind of a half-assed explanation is that?" Shizuo muttered.
Psyche pouted. "Well then, ask Hibi-kun yourself when we get there! We don't have much time! Cel-chan can't go, and that's that!" With a huff, he folded his arms and turned away, acting like some brat who decided by himself that his word was final. Shizuo's eyebrow twitched slightly.
Shinra was about to retort when Celty tapped his shoulder and showed him, as well as everyone else, the screen of her PDA. [It's fine, Shinra. There's no use in arguing with him right now.]
"But Celty..."
[No, it's okay. Really. If we keep this up, we'd be impeding Souji-kun and the others.] She made sure not to show this particular message to the kids, only to Shinra and Shizuo who were within the closest range of her. Then she erased it and typed out another, this time making sure that only Shinra had a chance to read it by inching closer towards him.
In response, Shizuo stepped away, knowing that it was not his place to find out what Celty wanted to tell Shinra. He had a pretty good idea what it was, though, when he saw how Shinra almost got all weepy and immediately pulled Celty into a tight hug, giving her a peck on where her cheek was supposed to be.
At least he got to see the kids' reaction to the display of affection - their blank stares, Teddie's excited whistle, and Psyche's bubbly giggle and bright red cheeks.
"Alright, are we all ready, then?" the raven asked, still looking a little drunk from watching Shinra and Celty. Shizuo and Shinra, along with the Investigation Team, nodded as they gave their affirmation. "Okay then. Let's go!"
So with that, Psyche became the first to take the dive straight into the television screen, disappearing behind the ripples.
Seta was the next to walk up to the television set, but unlike the pink-eyed raven who went before him, Seta didn't enter the screen. Instead, he told the rest of his team to get a move on first, explaining that he wanted to make sure Shinra and Shizuo could enter smoothly.
While waiting for his turn, Shizuo briefly wondered about Celty's earlier text message to him, and why she couldn't just show the screen to him directly. Shinra mentioned she was in the middle of texting someone - could that message be...?
Suddenly Shizuo felt a familiar buzz in his palm and immediately checked his mobile.
Don't do anything reckless.
Before he could reply, another text came in:
The both of you.
Shizuo didn't quite know what to make of it until he finally managed to understand what Celty was trying to do all this while. Quickly, he punched in the keys of his phone and sent his reply:
I won't. And I'll make sure your idiot doesn't too. But Celty, uh... You knew all along you wouldn't be able to go, didn't you? That's why you texted me directly to ask me to help keep an eye on him. And you didn't want Shinra to know about this. Right?
Before Celty could reply, Shizuo made sure to send another quick text to follow-up.
Though I'm pretty sure that guy has already figured it out by now.
He could hear Celty typing rapidly on her PDA.
I can't say I knew, but... I had a feeling this would happen. If it wasn't for Shinra, I wouldn't want to go either.
Shizuo raised an eyebrow at that before he moved on to the rest of the message body.
And yes, I thought so. But it's not just for Shinra, Shizuo. I want you to stay safe, too. And also... I have a separate request to make.
While Seta was busy making sure the path to the other world was open for Shinra to enter, Shizuo took this chance to glance through the last bit of the text.
I know this is probably strange and selfish of me, but... Please save Izaya.
Under normal circumstances, Shizuo would immediately spring up and question her, but he held back the knee-jerk urge to do so and, instead, turned to face her with a stiff but reassuring wave of his hand before he followed after Shinra into the world unknown.
The first thing Shizuo realised after taking the plunge was that it was the weirdest sensation he had ever experienced.
If he had to try to explain it, he would say it felt like trying to crawl into a big pile of jelly.
A nonsensical analogy, but that was the whole point - it didn't make sense. In the first place, things like being able to physically enter a television screen and finding an entire world inside it shouldn't make sense, so using an analogy that didn't was the best way to describe it.
Either way, it was weird.
Probably the next thing on Shizuo's growing list of strangeness that had been coming up lately was how damn foggy and cold it was in this other world.
Not that Shizuo was expecting anything normal, but then again he hadn't been expecting anything, really. There wasn't anything much to go by to have a rough idea of how this place was like aside from the Shadow things, so Shizuo didn't have much of an impression of it to expect anything, though he did have the idea that it was literally crawling with those black blobs so he was a little taken aback to see how...clean the area was.
"Clean" in the sense that there wasn't much of those blobs he had been anticipating, but also in the sense that the whole place was ridiculously white with what looked and felt like snow.
"Achoo!" Shinra, whom he had landed next to, sneezed. With a soft sniff, Shinra commented, "Wow, is this how the TV world actually looks like? I have to say, it's not what I thought it would be."
'...Shinra thinks so too, huh?' Shizuo mused, mildly curious about what the doctor had in mind about the place.
"Not...exactly, no," Hanamura responded, shifting his orange-framed glasses - what were they for, actually? Shizuo had forgotten to ask. "Last time we came here, this place looked like some kind of weird and dirty wasteland, but now it's just...a wasteland covered in snow."
"Yeah, I can see that," Shizuo replied. Funny how he could tell even though the fog was so damn thick.
In fact he was so preoccupied with trying to figure that out that he didn't realise the hidden meaning behind what he just said.
"O-oh man, we totally forgot! You guys can't see!" Satonaka exclaimed.
"...We can't?" Shinra sounded just as confused about that statement as Shizuo was feeling.
"What, you mean you can see what's around ya in this kinda fog?" Tatsumi sounded sceptical. "Yo Teds, you got any spares for them?"
"Two spares, coming right up!" the voice that distinctly belonged to the blond kid said, before Shinra or Shizuo could reply. Right after that there was these loud squeaks getting louder with every second before Shizuo felt the usual light weight of his shades resting on the bridge of his nose disappearing and reappearing at almost the same time.
Shizuo didn't know how but his vision cleared up instantly.
"What the..."
"Hmm, so these are what your spectacles are for," Shinra hummed. True enough, when Shizuo turned to check, he saw - with extreme clarity - the aforementioned glasses in place of Shinra's usual pair.
...Only.
...There was something terribly wrong about it.
Something Shizuo thought he ought to inform Shinra about but he found that there was no need to.
It was just a snort at first. Not a quiet one, no, which made Shizuo wonder if the entire thing was intentional from the beginning. Then it turned into an uncontrolled roar of hyena-like laughter as the Amagi girl bent over and wrapped an arm over her stomach while slapping her knee with the other.
"I-I'm... I'm s-s-sorry, hee-hee...!"
...She was starting to sound like she was wheezing.
"Hahaha! Aw man, if only our phones worked in here. We'd be able to take a commemorative photo or something!"
That was probably one of the worst suggestions Shizuo had ever heard. And it pissed him off, but not enough to make his temper flare too much, thankfully. He didn't have any clue what kind of effect his abnormal strength had on this world, especially on people that were in this world together with him.
With a half-amused, half-annoyed look on his face, Shinra adjusted his glasses and turned to face Shizuo, who was, as expected, wearing the exact same eyewear.
"We look ridiculous, don't we?" the doctor said, now playing with the fake moustache below the disproportionate nose that the glasses were equipped with.
"I think you guys look great, though," Psyche said with all seriousness, wearing a cheeky grin in spite of it.
"...You don't say," Shizuo grunted back, doing everything in his power to resist the urge to slam the goofy spectacles to the ground for him to step and crush on. The only reason Shizuo hadn't done that yet was because there was no other way to see through the fog, so it was either he kept the glasses on and looked stupid or took them off and be rendered blind.
Shinra sighed. "I was so upset when Celty can't come with us, but now I'm relieved because I don't want my darling seeing me like this."
"You're not making any sense," Shizuo replied. He couldn't fathom why Shinra would be that bothered about how he looked to Celty. Didn't Celty love him for the person he was and not how he looked?
"It doesn't have to." Shinra smiled. "Anyway is this really all that you have, Teddie-kun? ...Assuming you're Teddie-kun, that is."
At Shinra's question, Shizuo directed his attention to the oval-like suit standing in front of him. It had large, black eyes, a tiny nose, part of its head was blue with some kind of golden outline, and the body itself was wearing a red and white suit. The kind that looked like something a clown at the circus usually wore. But all that aside, it didn't look anything remotely like a bear except for the ears; why the heck did he keep calling himself one, then?
The bulky suit bowed. It was probably nodding, Shizuo figured. "Yup, that's all I have with me right now," the same, slightly high-pitched voice came from the suit. There was no doubt it was the blond, blue-eyed kid named Teddie. "You guys decided to come along at such short notice! There's no way I had enough time to make more for you."
"...Can't be helped, then." Shizuo shrugged. He was the one who wanted to come, so he'll just have to deal with it.
Tatsumi frowned. Unlike most of his peers, he didn't find the whole thing the least bit funny. The same went for Shirogane, who mostly looked like she pitied them.
"Hey," Tatsumi said, "why can't you just make changes to theirs? Y'know, like what you did to mine?"
"Oh! That's a bear-y brilliant idea, Kanji! Why didn't I think of that?" Teddie wriggled his fingers. "Okay! It's time for these amazing paws of mine to whip up some new glasses for our two guest party members!"
"Do we have enough time, though?" Amagi said, having recovered from her laughter as if nothing happened.
"No worries, Yuki-chan! It's been some time, but this is a lot easier than making something from scratch like I did for everyone else. I might need a bit of time if I have to make two, though..."
"Well one of you can take mine, then," Tatsumi offered, already holding out a pair of frameless spectacles with clear, transparent lens, unlike the shades he was currently wearing. "Should save some time, since Teddie can work on just one pair. 'Sides, I've already got a good one on me right now. S'corrective lens, though."
"In that case, I'll take it. Much appreciated, Kanji-kun." After receiving the pair of glasses from Tatsumi, Shinra wasted no time in putting it on and returning the ridiculous-looking one to Teddie. His eyes narrowed at first, but after a moment they returned to their usual state. "Hmm, it's a little blur, but still, good enough for me.
"So all that's left is Shizuo-kun's own, huh?" Shinra continued to say, watching Teddie starting to get busy with his work on modifying Shizuo's shades.
"Yup! It shouldn't take too long, I think."
Seta nodded, probably to show his understanding or approval - Shizuo couldn't tell which - and then placed a large, black bag down on the snow. He instructed the rest of his team to take this time to get themselves prepared and waited for their acknowledgement before he headed off in the northwest direction, picking some clothes from the bag beforehand.
"...What's that kid doing?" Shizuo wondered aloud when he saw Seta suddenly stopping in his tracks and staying perfectly still.
"Hmm?" Satonaka mumbled distractedly. For some reason, she, along with her friends, were wrapping themselves up in coats and scarves and other winter apparel that they had seemingly gotten from out of nowhere. "Oh, that. He does that sometimes. We're not really sure what he's doing either, but he usually comes out of that state armed with new strategies to use. It's just Seta-kun's way of getting prepared, too, I guess."
"So that guy just goes to a corner and...think?"
Kujikawa shrugged while adjusting her scarf. "We don't really know. Senpai never told us. The full details of what's going on, anyway."
Shizuo considered those words.
It was pretty ironic, now that he thought about it. Here in front of was a bunch of teenagers who had such a close relationship with each other, and the leader of this group was obviously hiding something from the others and yet they were perfectly okay with it.
Shizuo couldn't tell for certain if they had realised this, so he chose to remain silent and didn't ask any more about the topic he himself had brought up.
In the settling silence, Shizuo's mind was on the verge of drifting off, deep in his own thoughts, until he caught sight of Psyche moving off in another direction after whispering something in Hanamura's ear.
"And where's he heading to?" the blond spoke, not expecting anyone to give a definite answer.
"Uh," Hanamura started, "he said he's gonna take this time to try and get a feel of where to go from here. Using his headphones. Oh, and to check if any of his friends are around."
"...I see."
Shizuo's eyes narrowed. Intimidated by the change in expression, Hanamura quickly picked up his set of winter clothing that he had gotten from the black bag and scurried away.
But it wasn't like Shizuo doubted what Hanamura had said. What Shizuo doubted, was what Psyche had said to Hanamura.
'It stinks,' Shizuo realised, his nose scrunching up in disdain. 'Something about what the Hana kid said reeks of the shitty flea.'
And there could only be one possible answer:
The person who looked so much like Izaya.
The same person who was apparently a physical manifestation of one part of the flea's personality.
Clenching his fists, Shizuo was about to make a turn to follow Psyche's tracks and demand answers from him, but he was interrupted by Teddie's excited yell of "I did it! I'm done! Here you go, Shizuo sir, it's hot from the oven!"
So in the end, Shizuo, restraining himself, simply let out a sigh before he thanked the supposed bear and exchanged the eye wear.
"Looks like we're good to go," Hanamura said, tugging at the thick, light blue collar of a layer of clothing beneath his red coat. "We just need to wait for Souji and Psyche-san to come back, and then we can set off."
While the rest of the Investigation Team nodded, Shizuo's frown only deepened at the mention of the flea-lookalike's name.
"Hmm? Is something wrong, Shizuo-kun?" Shinra asked, making sure the Investigation Team couldn't hear him.
"...There's something fishy about that flea," Shizuo decided to say, responding just as quietly.
"'Flea'...? Oh, you mean Psyche-kun. Yeah? What about him is fishy?"
"I don't really know," Shizuo said with all honesty. "Something about him smells. And it's not the good kind of smell." His nose instinctively twitched as if to emphasise what he just said.
Shinra chuckled lightly. "Let me guess, it reminds you of Izaya?"
"Guy's got the rotten flea's odour all over him," Shizuo confirmed with a nod. "Never realised it till now. Maybe it's because we're in this messed up world. I couldn't smell anything bad when I was with the flea's Shadow either."
"Oh?" Shinra looked intrigued. Shizuo didn't understand what was so interesting about what he just said.
"Then maybe it really is because Psyche-kun and Shadow-san aren't from the world we came from," Shinra suggested. "But, Shizuo-kun, have you ever considered that it is precisely because Psyche-kun is a part of Izaya that he smells familiar to you?"
"Hah? Of course I thought about that. All I'm saying, is that the white flea's up to no good. If he's suddenly smelling like Izaya, then-"
"Sorry to make you guys wait!"
'...Well, speak of the devil,' Shinra mused as he, along with everyone else, turned in the direction of Psyche's voice and watched the pink-eyed man in the white coat dash across the snow towards them.
Shizuo's expression darkened with suspicion at just the mere sight of the man, who now had his headphones covering his ears. The neon pink cord attached to the set was glowing with a dim, yet somehow bright, aura.
"Psyche-san," Shirogane acknowledged curtly. "I assume you have found the way to our destination?"
"Yup, yup!" Psyche responded, catching his breath while beaming all the same. Somehow, the happier he looked, the more it got on Shizuo's nerves - just like what always happened with Izaya. "Eh? Sou-chan's still not done yet?"
"He's probably still staring into space-oh, here he comes."
Kujikawa quickly changed what she had intended to say when she, together with the rest of the large group, noticed Seta – already wearing his own winter clothing – walking to re-join them.
"Sorry," he said. "Seems like we're all ready. Let's head off, then."
"Right. Okay, everyone," Psyche said, preparing to run off, "follow me!"