55. "So you think your dream was what again?" Shizuo asks as he steps back into the room, carrying three steaming mugs. Coffee mugs, she notes with a bemused smile, and mismatched ones at that. Somehow that suits him in its own quirky, cute way. It reminds her of the funny, plastic cups she, Ayako, and Masako bought for SPR so long ago.

She holds out her hands as he gingerly passes her a creamy-white one painted with a lime green frog, careful not to burn herself, and takes a tentative sip. It's a little weaker than she prefers, she can't help but think with some disappointment. She would've let the leaves steep longer. But it's warm and it smells wonderful.

"Good?"

She smiles. "Yes, thank you."

Shizuo heaves a visible sigh of relief at that and sits down across from her, setting one cup out for himself, and a third before the empty seat at the end of the table. When she doesn't answer his initial question, he takes an experimental sip himself and frowns.

Mai sets her cup down. "It wasn't Kururi's memories I saw. If I were to guess, the death I felt was the memories of one of our stabber's previous victims."

Shizuo raises an eyebrow. "What? You mean a legit hitman is running around 'Bukuro?"

"It's possible." Lacing her fingers together, she stares down into her cup and watches her wavering reflection. After all, that was once Simon's vocation. A shiver creeps down her spine as she recalls the slew of bloody nightmares that followed her first encounter with the Russian, the memories of victims who didn't survive their first encounters. Those were old memories, though. She frowns. As old as….

"That fleabag mentioned something to me last night." Shizuo states, almost offhandedly. "Said some asshole called Yadogiri's behind this."

"Yadogiri?" Mai quickly runs through the list of every prominent figure from the yakuza and every color gang she's ever heard of in Tokyo. Not the Dollars, not the Yellow Scarves or the Blue Squares, not the Awakusu, and so on. She shakes her head. "Never heard of-hold on, isn't he the president of that talent agency? Shining?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

Shining….Shining Corporation. It's president Yadogiri. Izaya. That dream….that memory. Kururi….what reason could Yadogiri have to hurt Kururi. No, what reason did Izaya give him to hurt Kururi. No excuse. Monstrous. Monstrous….monstrous….the memory of the previous victim. Kururi's attacker….Opasnost'….Opasnost'!

-0-0-0-

Author's Notes:

Ghost Hunt is owned by Fuyumi Ono and Shiho Inada.

Durarara! is owned by Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Akiyo Satorigi.