Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! Ryogo Narita does.
Very special thanks to Mizutheduckarts for drawing the wonderful cover artwork for the story. Check out her Instagram at www dot instagram dot com/theduckarts/, and her Twitter at twitter dot com/Mizutheduckarts
The Case of Saika
The Life of Kasumi Kinomoto
Busy. Bustling. Crowded. Energetic. Those are the words to describe Tokyo.
Every morning, its roads, streets, bridges, bus stops and train stations would be packed with millions of its residents, completely oblivious of the world around them as their only thought is reaching their school and workplace in time. Once there, the students spend the rest of the day studying and preparing for their next examination paper so they may grow up to become respectable members of society one day, while the adults who are now in the workforce are working tirelessly in their jobs to not only get their next pay cheque, but also doing their part to help boost the economy and show the world what their country can really be. And when night falls, their hard work would be rewarded as its residents would rush to get a table at their favourite bar or restaurant to have a well-deserved drink and delicious meal.
Being one of the largest cities in the world, it is certainly not easy to live and work in a competitive urban society such as Tokyo. But to most of its residents, they still view this city as their home, and they would not want it any other way.
Such is the case of one middle-aged man who is driving his car through the usual expressway that will lead him back to his apartment. After working inside his office for ten hours and having a nice dinner with his co-workers, the man cannot wait to go back home, see his family again, and rest with his wife on their warm and comfy bed. As he drives his car up on an expressway, he converses with his wife through the phone while his eyes are still fixated on the road.
"Is Satoshi asleep yet?" The man asked.
"He just went to bed, sleeping like a baby after studying at his desk for two hours." His wife replied with a chuckle.
"That's good. I'm at the expressway now, so I'll probably reach home within fifteen minutes. See you later, sweetheart."
"Okay. Drive safe. Bye."
"Bye." The man said one last time before he momentarily takes his eyes off the road to press the red button on his car's touchscreen to hang up his phone.
However, as soon as he looks back to his front, the man gasps and widens his eyes upon seeing a person standing just a few hundred meters away from him. He quickly stomps on the brake, bringing his car to a screeching halt.
But it was too late.
Just as his car stopped, there was suddenly a loud bang at the front bumper, followed by a sickening crack on the front window, then the rolling sounds over the roof and trunk, and finally it all ends with a thud on the road behind him.
As he slowly lifts his head up, the man breathed heavily as he examines the damage on the front window of his car, as well as the blood stains all over it. Trying to get a hold of whatever ounce of strength he still had in his trembling body, he slowly gets out of his vehicle and closes the door as he turns around. And when he turns his head to his left, the man looked as white as a sheet upon seeing the motionless body of a human being lying at the end of a trail of blood that leads to the back of his car.
"W-W-What have I done?" The man stuttered. As if some amount of life has return to him, the man runs over to the body and kneels beside it. He looked down in horror. Although he could not see her face, he can tell it was a teenage girl whose long black hair flows down to the back of her waist. Probably a student judging by the dark blue uniform, long black skirt, and plain black leather shoes that she wore. Poor thing. A girl who has a promising future ahead of her had her life unnecessarily taken away by a reckless driver.
"I'm sorry. I-I-I am so sorry…" The man stuttered again, this time with tears of sorrow and regret pouring from his eyes. He stands back up and looks around the expressway, noticing that there are no other cars in sight. He quickly turns around and gets out his smartphone from his pocket to call an ambulance. And when he is done with that, he will call the police to surrender himself. It is the best he can do to atone for his sins and carelessness.
After pressing the right numbers, the man sniffled and takes a gulp as he places the phone beside his ear. He waited for his phone to reach the nearest hospital from his location until he finally heard a calm voice.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"Yes? Is this the hospital? I'm currently at-HUUGGHH!"
The man gave a loud gasp as he drops his phone onto the road. With his arms now hanging limply at his sides, he lowers his head and trembles in terror as he sees the bloodied blade of a katana sticking out from the centre of his chest. The man coughs out a huge amount of blood before he finds himself being lifted in the air and feeling his body sliding back to the hilt of the katana. He slowly turns his head and looks over his right shoulder to take a good look at his assailant.
His eyes widened upon seeing the teenage girl whom he thought he had killed now standing right behind him with a wide, malicious smile.
"Hayato Toda?" The girl asked before her eyes glow red and her teeth breaks out into a sick grin. As she grabs and pulls his grey hair, the man rolls his eyes back and delivers a long shriek of horror until the last thing he felt was the snap of his neck.
When the sun shines brightly above Tokyo again at 6 in the morning, its millions of residents once again woke up from their beds at the break of dawn and prepare themselves for another day of school or work. But not for a certain young woman with shoulder-length red hair as she snores and lies peacefully at the bottom of a bunk bed. With her face snuggled against her pillow, her body laid underneath the warmth of her blanket, and a blissful smile plastered across her face, nothing will ever force this sleepy redhead to get up from her comfy bed on a nice and peaceful morning.
"Hello, Tokyo. Today is the second of April 2024, and it is now 15 minutes after 6 am across the Land of the Rising Sun." A tall and slender young woman announced as she sat beside the sleepy redhead on an office chair with her hands between her thighs. She has yellowish-green eyes, long orange hair that flows down to the back of her waist and is currently dressed in a pink long-sleeved suit with a white-collar shirt underneath, a white skirt, and a black pantyhose. "I, Shirley Fenette, your favourite native Englishwoman DJ, would like to say to all residents of Tokyo…Ohayōgozaimasu." As she gave a solemn bow to the door, she picks up a pan and wooden spoon from the floor before sitting back up. And as she slowly turns to Kasumi, her cheerful smile distorts into a scowl. "Or as they say back in England…Wakey-wakey, Kasumi Kinomoto! Rise and shine!"
Shirley now repeatedly clangs the wooden spoon against the pan, causing Kasumi to finally snap open her dark blue eyes and squeals in shock as she sits upright on her bed and removes the blanket off her to reveal her white tank top and blue shorts.
Now fully awaken from her slumber, Kasumi gets down on the floor and performs seventy push-ups to begin her day. Shirley stands in front of her with her arms folded and her eyes narrowed.
"Good Lord…seventy push-ups…why the increase?" Kasumi asked between gasps while doing her exercise.
"Because it is absolutely unacceptable that you have not been able to wake up by the intended time for the last three days." Shirley said sternly.
"Hey…I can't help it…That new Netflix film…was just so engaging!" Kasumi replied wearily.
"Quiet! You got forty-five more to go! Hurry up!" Shirley barked. Kasumi groans as she did what she was told to do.
After finishing her daily exercise, Kasumi quickly grabs her clothes from the wardrobe, rushes out of the bedroom and heads to the shower. Shirley waited beside the bathroom door while occasionally looking down at her smartphone. She soon hears that the sound of water splashing onto the bathroom floor had stopped, and it took another two minutes for Kasumi to step out of the room with her shoulder-length red hair now neatly combed and dressed in her usual sleeveless white jacket with a blue tube top underneath it, a dark brown choker with a shiny round-shaped diamond around her neck, black arm pads, a dark brown belt with a silver square buckle around her waist, and blue jeans. Shirley stops the timer on her smartphone and shows it to Kasumi.
"Five minutes and nine seconds. You can do better, Kasumi." Shirley remarked.
"Ugh, give me a break, Shirley." Kasumi rolls her eyes. "At least it's not six."
"Did you brush your teeth?" Shirley asked, putting her phone back into her pocket.
"I sure do." Kasumi replied as she now walks over to the dining area in front of her where she sees a young woman with short bob cut black hair and glasses placing two bowls of rice onto the table. The woman also wears a long-sleeved black sweater and black pants.
"Good morning, Anri." Kasumi greeted, approaching the woman who casually grabs the shinai placed against the dining table in front of her. "What's for break-"
"En garde!" Anri suddenly cried as she whirls about and holds up the shinai in front of Kasumi. As she thrusts the shinai at the redhead, Kasumi quickly dodges it by sliding to her left and grabs her bo staff from the weapon rack next to the wall. She turns back to Anri and quickly blocks a flurry of diagonal and horizontal strikes from her. Anri delivers another horizontal swing of her shinai at Kasumi, who quickly ducks down, whirls around and swings her staff diagonally at the left side of her head. Anri quickly holds up her shinai at an angle to block Kasumi's staff and the two women stare boldly at each other. "I've taught you well."
"If your knockers aren't in the way, you could have landed a hit on me." Kasumi smirked. Anri chuckled as the two women lower their weapons and place them back into the rack.
"My knockers are the least of your worries." Anri adjusts her glasses before gesturing Kasumi to the dining table. "Anyways, today's breakfast is rice with pork, tofu, ginger and seaweed slices."
"Perfect." Kasumi said as she claps and rubs her hands. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, causing Anri to perk up.
"Coming!" Anri cried happily as she scampers over to the main door. She opens it up, revealing a young man with short black hair, greyish-blue eyes and wears a black suit with a white shirt underneath, a dark blue tie, black pants, black socks, and dark brown leather shoes.
"Good morning, Anri!" The man greeted with a warm smile as he holds up his hand.
"Good morning, Mikado!" Anri replied cheerfully before the two give each other a quick kiss on the lips. "Come on in. We are just about to eat."
"Great." Mikado said, removing his shoes before stepping inside. Anri closes the door for him before they both walk over to the dining table where Kasumi and Shirley are already sitting beside each other. "Good morning, Kasumi. Good morning, Shirley."
"Good morning, Mikado!" They both responded. Mikado and Anri sit down at the other side of the table and the four occupants close their eyes and place their hands together.
"Itadakimasu!" All of them cheered in unison before they begin eating their food.
"Mm, your food tastes great, Anri. Your cooking is getting better every day." Mikado commented.
"Arigatou, Mikado." Anri smiled at him with her cheeks blushing. "Next time, I'll cooked some gyoza dumplings for us too so you can let me know what you think of it."
"I look forward to it." Mikado said. Kasumi sighs blissfully as she and Shirley watch the couple showing their admiration for each other.
"Oh Anri Sonohara. I still vividly remember how much of a shy, timid, and quiet girl you are back in senior high. Look how far you have come." Kasumi said with a smirk.
"And I still would have been if you hadn't walk up to me and Shirley one day and become our friend." Anri said, smiling back at her.
"Anri told me all about it. She used to have trouble communicating with others, while Shirley chose to avoid making friends because she was hurt by the negativity surrounding her. So, it feels like fate that a random stranger would just waltz right into their lives and say 'Hey there! Let's be friends, shall we?'" Mikado said to Kasumi.
"More like destiny." Kasumi replied.
"There's a difference?" Mikado asked in confusion.
Kasumi nods her head and explains, "As the old lady who runs the Shinto shrine that I worked at said, 'Fate is a part of life you choose to succumb to. Destiny is a part of life you choose to make it happen.'. I could have accepted my fate of being the world's most hated person for the rest of my life. Instead, I choose to make it my destiny to make up with everyone and help others who suffer the same pain that I've endured. I wasn't a perfect person. Because me and my mother endured a lot of hardship after my father walked out on us, the experience affected me emotionally, and my behaviour towards everyone, even those who are deeply concerned for me, completely changed. Believing I have no one who is truly close to me, I ended up joining a gang, and they forced me to do something that got us violating the law."
"That's awful." Mikado commented.
"Because I ended up hurting everyone around me even more, I ran away from home, planning to never show myself again. However, I ended up stumbling across the Shinto shrine that I now worked at, and the kind old lady who runs the place took good care of me. I learnt that she and her family suffered a lot more than I do. Yet despite her age, she remains so happy and energetic because she knows life must go on for them no matter what happened. That is when I realize that I can have the will to move on from the past and start over as well. I may have screwed up, but I cannot give up hope." Kasumi finished solemnly.
There was a moment of silence at the dining table until Kasumi skipped a beat when Shirley places her hand on her shoulder and leans her head close to hers.
"So eventually, she reconciled with her mother, return to school, and you know what happens next." Shirley said to Mikado cheerfully. Kasumi chuckled as she gently pushes her friend aside.
"That is a fascinating story." Mikado smiled at Kasumi. "This old lady you worked for really saved your life. Maybe I could pay a visit to your shrine one day."
"Cool, but not right now though. The shrine is currently closed for renovations since Monday last week after the ceiling of its braided cord shop fell." Kasumi said.
"Oh? So, if the shrine is closed, what are you doing right now?" Mikado asked.
"Working as a babysitter." Kasumi replied.
"Speaking of babysitting, what time does your client want you to arrive at their home?" Shirley asked sternly, causing Kasumi to gasp. She suddenly grabs Anri's arm and pulls it closer to her to look down at her watch. She widens her eyes in horror upon seeing the time.
"It's 6:50 already?! I must be there by forty minutes!" Kasumi cried before she hurriedly finishes eating the rest of her meal. Anri, Shirley and Mikado sigh at her before they casually continue eating their food as well. Kasumi gobbles everything up within less than a minute and places the now empty bowl and cutlery down on the table when she is done.
"Gochisosama!" Kasumi cried, placing her hands together in front of her forehead before she gets up, turns around and rushes back into the bedroom. After putting on her plain black gloves, Kasumi picks up her red backpack from the floor and carries it on her back. She steps out of the room and walks over to the main door just as Anri, Shirley and Mikado finish their breakfast as well.
"Where does your client live? If the street is along the journey, I could give you a ride there." Mikado said to Kasumi as she grabs the doorknob.
"No, it's okay. I can just drive there myself. I don't want you guys to get caught in the morning jam. See you later, bye!" Kasumi waved her hand goodbye to her friends as she opens the door.
"Bye!" Anri, Shirley and Mikado waved back at her.
"And remember!" Shirley cried to her. "Meet us at-"
"Just message me the time and address!" Kasumi yelled back as she steps out of their home and closes the door. Shirley lets out a sigh again before she turns back to Anri and Mikado, and the three smile at each other.
After putting on her brown high-heel boots, Kasumi makes her way down to the basement carpark underneath their apartment building. She quickly gets inside her black car and places her smartphone onto the mount in front of her. After typing the coordinates of her client's address on her phone, she starts up the engine of her vehicle and grabs the steering wheel. She drives her way out of the carpark and goes up the ramp to leave her apartment building.
Kasumi carefully drives through the busy streets of Toshima, making a few turns and switching a few lanes along the way. She eventually arrives at an intersection, and she stops her car right behind the pedestrian crossing when she sees the traffic light turn red.
As she waited, Kasumi takes a good look at the buildings and scenery around her, seeing that she is currently right in the heart of one of Tokyo's most famous districts, Ikebukuro.
Ikebukuro is one of the largest commercial and entertainment districts in Tokyo, and as a resident who lived in Toshima ward for almost all her life, Kasumi knows this place full well. Currently, it may look like any other district filled with commuters and students hurriedly making their way to work and school, and shopkeepers opening their stores to start doing business and earn cash. But by night, that is when the district will show its true personality. It is certainly one of the liveliest parts of Tokyo, but it is also one that is shrouded with wonder and mystery.
When Kasumi looks back at the pedestrian crossing, she observes the various people who are making their way to the other side of the road, such as the small group of well-dressed students who are happily conversing with each other as they walk to school, which made her reminisce the joys of youth. She also sees a young man in a suit helping an elderly woman cross the road unharmed, giving some peace to Kasumi's mind that there still exist a lot of good and humble folks living in this city. Finally, she sees a woman crossing the road while trying to comfort her wailing baby daughter whom she carried in front of her chest with a baby wrap carrier. Kasumi elicits a sigh as she wonders if she could ever get married and bear a child of her own one day. Even Anri was able to break out of her shell and find a romantic partner after all.
Eventually, all the pedestrians have gotten out of the road. When she sees the traffic light turn green, Kasumi releases the brake and resumes her journey.
It would take another thirty minutes for her to leave the boundaries of the special wards of Tokyo and arrive at her destination, which is a small apartment building located in the Western Tokyo city of Mitaka. The building is only two stories tall, with four housing units built next to each other in each floor, and a single metal staircase that leads to the upper floor.
After parking her car in one of the empty lots just outside the building, Kasumi rushes up the stairs and goes over to the unit at the far-right end of the metal corridor. She presses the doorbell, and a couple open the door for her a minute later.
"Good morning!" Kasumi greeted with a bow. "I'm the babysitter you hired."
"Thank Goodness you've arrived in time." The woman said in relief.
"Come inside." Her husband said, gesturing Kasumi to step inside their home.
After entering their home, the couple introduced Kasumi to their children, who are both currently sitting on the sofa in the living area. One of them is a small boy dressed in his yellow hat and elementary school uniform and mindlessly kicking his legs up in the air, while the other is a baby girl biting onto her rattle. The woman hands Kasumi a few pieces of paper that she wrote on the night before, detailing all the things she is required to do while she is away to pay her parents a visit and her husband is busy at work, such as when to pick their son up from school, what to cook for their children for breakfast and lunch, and how to clean their rooms and laundry. Kasumi spends half a minute looking through the papers before she nods her head to the couple and reassures them that she can handle the job. The couple then order their son to come along with them as they are ready to take him to school. After dragging their son along with them, the couple and Kasumi bid farewell to each other before they close the door behind them.
For the next five hours, Kasumi did exactly what she was told to do. She made a bowl of porridge for the baby girl to eat, wash the cutlery and dishes at the kitchen sink, tidy the beds, clean the bathroom, vacuum the floors, do the laundry, and occasionally rock the baby girl or feed her with a warm bottle of milk whenever she cried. Thanks to her job as a shrine maiden which requires her to clean the shrine's grounds and furniture every day, Kasumi is able to perform her chores without any difficulty or anxiety.
By the time she finished removing all the wet laundry from the washing machine and putting them in a basket, Kasumi looks at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall and realizes that school is about to end in twenty minutes. After placing the baby in a car seat, Kasumi carries her up with it and locks the door to the house before heading down to her car. She made sure the baby is sitting at the back of her car safe and secure before she gets into the driver seat and makes her way to the elementary school.
When she arrived, Kasumi picks the boy up from the school gate and drags him to her car. The boy repeatedly questioned her where his mother is all throughout the journey from the entrance of his school to the way back home.
Upon returning home, Kasumi began cooking lunch for the children. She made another bowl of porridge for the baby girl and a plate of rice with spinach, broccoli, and carrot slices for the boy. While Kasumi is busy feeding the baby, the boy constantly slams his fists on the table, yelling at her that he does not want to eat his vegetables. After giving another spoonful of porridge to the baby, Kasumi yells back at the boy and takes away his food since he refuses to eat it. The boy retaliates by repeatedly punching Kasumi at the left side of her lower torso with his fists, much to her annoyance.
The three of them later sat at the living area, with the boy sitting on one side of the sofa and laughing cheerfully at the cartoon he is watching on TV, while Kasumi sat beside him with the baby on her lap, and she ate a ham and egg bun which she had brought along and kept inside her backpack to serve as her lunch. When she finished eating it, Kasumi grabs the remote from the table in front of them to turn off the TV. The boy yells angrily at Kasumi, who chides back at him to go take a shower and do his homework.
As she sits on the sofa and rocks the baby in her arms to sleep, Kasumi watches the boy steps out of the bathroom, now dressed in a new set of clothes, and storms off into his room. After closing the door behind him, Kasumi glances at the baby who had fallen asleep, and she carries her to the parents' bedroom. She walks over to the basket placed on the carpet in front of the large double bed. Kasumi gently places the baby inside the basket and puts the blanket over her body without waking her up. As she continues sleeping soundly, Kasumi lets out a sigh before she slowly backs away and quietly leaves the room.
Kasumi heads back to the kitchen and brings the basket of wet laundry to the balcony. She spent ten minutes hanging every wet clothing and underwear onto the racks, and when she is done, she lets out another sigh as she wipes off the sweat from her forehead.
When she steps inside the boy's room however, Kasumi yells angrily at him when she sees him playing with his toys instead. She puts away every toy back into the boxes while the boy constantly swings his fists down onto the back of her shoulders as she does. Kasumi eventually manages to calm the boy down and they both sat together at the study table where she helps him with his homework. The boy writes down everything she taught him with a pout on his face.
The boy manages to finish his homework an hour later, and Kasumi groans wearily as she stretches out her arms. But just when she thought she can take a break, she overhears the baby wailing inside the parents' bedroom. Kasumi rushes back to the baby and takes her out to the kitchen and dining area, where she sets her down in the highchair while she prepares another bottle of milk for her.
As the baby continues crying, Kasumi quickly fills up the bottle with milk powder and holds it under the purifier to pour some water into it. But just after she finished stirring it and closes the cap on top of the bottle, the boy walks over to her and pulls her jacket, demanding her to get him some cookies to eat. Kasumi tells him to let her go and attend to his baby sister first, but the boy responded by yelling louder and yanking her jacket harder. Kasumi yelps and grabs the boy's hands, trying to pry them off her favourite jacket while telling him to let go once more as she fears he will rip it.
Finally, the parents arrived back home by 5:30 pm. When she hears the doorbell, Kasumi goes over to the door and opens it for the couple, who are both bemused by the dull and glazed look she now sports on her face.
"My job is done." Kasumi said dully as she steps aside to let the parents see that both their son and baby daughter are sleeping soundly on the sofa and inside the basket respectively at the living area.
Kasumi kept her tired expression when she arrived at the apartment of an old friend forty minutes later. The old lady, whose grey hair is tied to a short ponytail and wears glasses, bright green traditional Japanese robes and a darker green sash wrapped around her lower torso, chortled in amusement upon seeing the look on her maiden's face.
"Feeling the pressure of raising a child, Kinomoto-chan?" The old lady asked cheerfully as she stood at the doorway of her home.
"Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger, Miyamizu-sama." Kasumi replied with a wan smile before handing her a paper bag. "Here. It's a bag of dango rice dumplings I bought from a candy store in Mitaka. Thought you might be curious to know how food in Western Tokyo taste like."
"Arigatou." Hitoha Miyamizu said warmly as she takes the bag from her hand and glances at the contents inside it. When she looks back up at Kasumi however, her smile disappears when she notices her worried frown. "Are you alright, Kinomoto-chan?"
"Well, I guess I still feel a little worried for you. Your elder granddaughter has moved out of your home to live with her husband, and your younger granddaughter is still studying in America. Do you ever feel lonely living all by yourself?" Kasumi asked in concern.
"Sometimes." Hitoha chuckled. "Mitsuha asked me the same question too before she moved out. But I'll be fine. I was able to run my family shrine all by myself before you arrive there six years ago."
"Oh right. I kinda forgot about that." Kasumi said as she sheepishly rubs the back of her neck.
"Don't worry about me. It's time I allow my grandchildren to live the way they want anyway. After all, we live in a world where your hometown can suddenly be destroyed by a comet. But no matter how much things have changed, what is still more important is for all of us to live our lives to the fullest without pain, anger, and anxiety holding us back." Hitoha said as she adjusts her glasses. "Always remember that, Kinomoto-chan."
Kasumi simply smiled and bows down to her. "I understand, Miyamizu-sama."
Hitoha bows her head back and asked, "Now then, do you have anything else to attend to?"
"Oh right!" Kasumi widens her eyes and gets out her smartphone to look at the time. "I have to meet up with my friends for dinner by 7 pm!"
"Then don't just stand there. Get moving." Hitoha chuckled.
"Right. Goodbye, Miyamizu-sama! Thanks for the advice!" Kasumi said as she turns and waves her hand at the elderly woman while running down the corridor.
"Goodbye, Kinomoto-chan! And thanks for the visit as always!" Hitoha said cheerfully, waving her hand back as she watches her leave.
After driving her car back to her apartment building, Kasumi takes a taxi ride to the restaurant that Shirley messaged her to come for dinner hours ago. When she arrived there, she sees Anri, Shirley and Mikado already standing outside the restaurant waiting for her. Her friends reassured her that she isn't late, and they all walk inside together.
The four friends sat together at one of the tables and a brown-haired woman in a black suit approaches them with their menus. They take about a minute to read through the menus before giving their orders to the woman.
"And we want some extra gravy and mayonnaise to go along with our French fries please." Shirley said to the woman who writes it all down on her notepad.
"You got it. Thank you so much for having your dinner here with us." The woman bowed to them.
"No problem at all, Okudera-san." Kasumi smiled at her. Miki Okudera winks an eye at her before she turns around and walks to the kitchen. The four friends look back at each other.
"So, during work today, I was wondering if we can all go for karaoke this Thursday night." Anri said.
"Ah yes, it's been a while since we went there, hasn't it? Alright, why not?" Shirley smiled.
"And please don't just sing English songs again, Shirley." Kasumi said to her dryly.
"Of course I won't!" Shirley pouted while nudging Kasumi's arm, causing her, Anri and Mikado to laugh.
"What about you, Mikado? Want to come?" Anri asked as she and Mikado turn their heads to each other.
"Sorry guys. I'll pass." Mikado said apologetically as he rubs the back of his neck. "This Thursday, my boss assigned me to do overnight duty at the office."
"Sheesh, your higher-ups are evil by making some of you guys work into the late-night hours." Kasumi said with a frown.
"Well, that's what happens when you choose to work in one of Japan's largest pharmaceutical companies." Mikado shrugged.
"It is your destiny." Anri joked, causing everyone at the dining table to laugh again.
After dinner, Mikado drove Kasumi, Shirley and Anri back to their apartment building in Toshima. The three women step out of the car and wave goodbye to Mikado as they stood at the pavement. Mikado smiled and waved back at them before driving off.
After stepping into their home, Kasumi, Shirley and Anri head into their bedroom to grab their shirts and shorts from the wardrobes. They later take turns to use the bathroom to have a shower, change their clothes and brush their teeth. They dump the clothes they wore earlier today into the washing machine at the kitchen, and Shirley helped pour the detergent and powder in before she closes the lid and presses the button to let it spin.
The three girls spent the next two hours watching television programs at their living area until the washing machine stops operating. Shirley gets all the wet laundry out of the machine and the three women help hang them on the racks at the balcony of their home.
When they are done, they turn off the television and go inside their bedroom. They walk over to the desk placed at the other end of the room where Shirley and Anri plug their cables into their phones, and the latter also removes her glasses and places them carefully inside a case.
As Shirley and Anri head off to their beds, Kasumi is about to plug her own cable into her smartphone until it suddenly rang. She sees on the screen of her phone that she has received a new message from a friend of hers.
Bacura: Hi there. Are you awake?
Kasumi puts down her cable and unlocks her phone to converse with him.
Raiden: I am. What's up?
She waited half a minute for a response.
Bacura: Well, I'm feeling a little lonely and I'm totally free tomorrow. Would you like to hang out with me? :)
Kasumi smirked as she replies to him.
Raiden: I don't have any work tomorrow. So yeah, why not?
She waited for another twenty seconds.
Bacura: Arigatou! ^^ Meet me at our usual spot at the Ikebukuro Bridge at 11 am. See ya! :D
Raiden: See ya.
After posting her last reply, Kasumi turns off her phone, activates the silent mode and plugs her cable into it. She walks over to the bottom of the bunk bed, lies herself down and gets underneath the sheets. Kasumi turns her head to her left to see Shirley lying on her bed at the left side of the room.
"Good night, Shirley." Kasumi said.
Shirley rolls over to her right and replied, "Good night, Kasumi."
Kasumi now looks up and said to Anri who lies on the bed above hers, "Good night, Anri."
"Good night, Kasumi. Good night, Shirley." Anri said, staring at the ceiling.
"Good night, Anri. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Shirley added. The three women chuckle before Shirley extends her arm and turns off the lamp on the desk beside her. The room turns pitch-black, and the three women drift off to sleep.
An hour ago, inside a small two-storey white house located in the residential area of Kita ward, there is a young woman with violet eyes and medium length maroon hair sitting lazily in front of her laptop while watching a movie and eating a bag of potato chips. After another long and boring day of work at the local hair saloon, she deserves to do absolutely nothing else for the rest of the night. But while she was in the middle of watching an exciting car chase, she heard the doorbell ring, making her turn to the door of her room and wonder who would come to their home at this hour.
"Suzu? Who is that?" The woman could hear her father calling out to her from his workroom.
"How would I know?" Suzu replied in annoyance.
"Can you go to the door and see who it is?"
"Why should I?"
"Because that's an order. Now go!"
As the doorbell rang again, Suzu turns back to her laptop and sees one of the villains' cars explode in flames. Knowing she has missed an exciting part of the movie, Suzu throws her head back and growls in anger and frustration.
"Fine!" She yelled irritably as she places the bag of chips down on her desk and pauses the movie. She gets up from her chair, storms out of her room, and grumbles as she walks down the staircase. "It's always do this, and do that. I'm 23 now. I'm not a maid, God dammit."
When she arrives at the main door, Suzu peered through the peephole, noticing a man with wavy dark brown hair, and dressed in a plain white long-sleeved collar shirt, black pants, a dark brown belt with a silver buckle, and dark brown leather shoes, standing behind the tall metal fence that is installed in front of the porch. She opens the door and asks in confusion, "Can I help you?"
"Hello there!" The man smiled at Suzu as he casually waves his hand at her. "Is this the Tsukiyama household?"
"Y-yeah…" Suzu replied uneasily. "Who are you?"
"Where are my manners?" The man chuckled as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "My name is Takashi Nasujima, and I'm a friend of Kyouta Tsukiyama. Is he inside?"
"Suzu! Who is it?" The woman looked over her left shoulder upon hearing her father calling out to her.
"Give a minute, please." Suzu said to Takashi as she turns back to him.
"No problem." Takashi nods his head. Suzu closes the door and locks it before she turns around and walks back up to the second floor. She arrived at her father's workroom and opens the door to see him typing a document on his flat-screen computer.
"Father, it appears to be someone who knows you." Suzu replied nervously to him.
"Is that so?" Kyouta asked with his eyes still glued to his computer. "What is his name?"
"Takashi Nasujima." Suzu replied. Kyouta froze upon hearing the name. He slowly turns his head to his daughter, making her feel anxious. "F-F-Father?"
"Suzu, please do what I say. Tell him that your father has no idea of a man named Takashi Nasujima, and that he probably visited the wrong Tsukiyama household. Understand?" Kyouta said flatly.
Suzu stared wordlessly at Kyouta for a few seconds. She has no idea what is going on and why the man's presence has alarmed her father. Nevertheless, she nods her head to him and obliged.
"Yes, father." Suzu said. She makes a right turn and-
"I knew your father wouldn't let me in."
Suzu gasped in horror upon seeing Takashi now standing in front of her after somehow managing to get inside her home. She screamed only for a brief moment before Takashi grabs the left side of her head and slams her against the door to her room to knock her unconscious.
Kyouta yelps as he gets up from his chair and stares at the doorway of his workroom, where he sees his daughter collapse onto the floor outside, and Takashi now stepping in and walking towards him, still keeping a calm smile on his face. As the middle-aged man backs away, he quickly pulls out the right drawer under his computer desk to reveal a black pistol, along with a few magazines and some bullet rounds. Kyouta grabs the pistol, aims it at Takashi's face, and pulls the trigger. But nothing happened.
"What?" Kyouta said incredulously as he looks down at the bottom of his pistol to see that it is empty.
"Come now, Tsukiyama…" As Takashi spoke, Kyouta looks up and sees him holding up a magazine. "Is this how you treat a co-worker?"
Kyouta frantically reaches out for another magazine in his drawer. But Takashi quickly runs over, grabs his shoulders, and pushes him away from it. When Kyouta faces him, Takashi briefly holds up the magazine in his hand and brings it down onto his forehead with the force of a sledgehammer to knock him out.
Suzu groans as she groggily opens her eyes and regains her consciousness. As she slowly lifts her head up, the first thing she sees when her vision became clearer was Takashi standing in front of her father's bookshelves and pulling out a book from it. She tries to move her body, but when she does, she looks down and realized that her lower body has been tied to her chair that was taken from her room by ropes. Her arms are placed behind the chair, and her thighs, ankles and wrists are tied together as well.
"Suzu." She heard her father whisper. Suzu turns to her left and sees Kyouta tied in similar fashion to his own office chair.
"Nice to hear you two awake." Takashi said mockingly. Suzu and her father turn back to him as he opens the book to reveal that it is actually a storage case in disguise, with a key card and a piece of paper placed inside it.
"Nasujima…" Kyouta said coldly with his eyes narrowed as he and his daughter watch Takashi examines the contents inside the case.
"Why so tense?" Takashi closes the case before turning around and smiling calmly at Kyouta. "You never sounded like that when you agreed with the rest of the board to fire me."
"I get it." Kyouta said. "You're doing this to me and my daughter because you want revenge, right? For what we did to you?!"
"I do hate the entire board of directors for what happened to me." Takashi said as his smile flips into a frown. "But you…of all people…" He places his right hand on the left side of his chest. "Broke my heart the most. You were my friend…my mentor…and when I needed you the most…you chose to stab me in the back."
"I had no choice! If the company goes down after the failure you pulled off, so will the future of me and my family!" Kyouta yelled.
Takashi sighs heavily before staring blankly into space. "Ah yes…a failure…a daft failure…that is how this city views me as after I was let go." He scoffed. "I used to think this was a wonderful city. But now…everyone here despises me."
"Then why don't you move out of here?! You could have moved back to Fukui and start afresh there, you idiot!" Kyouta scolded.
"And what if I did?" Takashi glares back at Kyouta before slowly approaching him and Suzu. The young woman whimpered as their assailant moves closer to them. "You just don't get it, do you? I've always dreamt of living and working here since I was a kid. But now that my future in this city has been tainted, even if I go back to my hometown, I'll just be reminded of my failure everyday as the television, radio, Internet, and people in the streets kept saying…" As he now stands in front of them, Takashi waves his hand across the air as he continued, "'Come visit Tokyo, a city of joy and wonder.', 'Boy, I would love to see Tokyo one day.', or…'Mommy, daddy, when I grow up, I want to live and work in Tokyo!'" He blows out another heavy sigh. "Even years from now, even if I manage to find something new to do, I will never forget what my original dream was. What you did to me. What everyone took away from me. What every rotten person in that company truly saw me as. AND HOW THIS CORRUPT CITY KEPT DRAGGING MY FACE THROUGH THE MUD SINCE THAT DAY!" Takashi's eyes grew wide as he screamed right in front of them, causing Suzu to squeal and sob as she turned her head away while her father could only stare back at his former co-worker dumbfounded. Takashi continues glaring at Kyouta until his grimace instantly turns back into a warm smile. He shrugged and continued, "But eventually, I realize something. I do still love this city. I really do. It's just that…Tokyo is unfortunately a place where if you fail once, people will look down on you for the rest of your life. That has to change."
"And how exactly are you going to solve that problem?" Kyouta asked.
"I'll restart this city…with this." Takashi holds up the storage case in his left hand, causing Kyouta to drop his jaw.
"Takashi…do you have any idea of what you are trying to do?! Tens of millions of innocent people will die!" Kyouta shouted in horror.
"And who are you to stop me?" Takashi asked. "You're no longer my boss. And I won't let anyone chastise me." He draws out Kyouta's pistol from his pocket with his other hand and aims it at Suzu, causing her father to gasp in shock.
"NOOOO!" Suzu screamed in terror as tears form in her eyes.
"Never again." Takashi said coldly.
"Takashi, if you want to kill anyone, kill me. My daughter has absolutely nothing to do with any of this." Kyouta pleaded as Suzu now sobs uncontrollably for her dear life. Takashi chuckled before he twirls the pistol around and inserts it into his pocket.
"Don't worry. I won't kill either of you." Takashi said. He turns and walks over to the door. "She will."
As Takashi opens the door and makes his way out of the Tsukiyama household, the teenage girl in dark blue uniform breaks through the glass window at the left side of the workroom and lands in front of Kyouta and Suzu. The father and daughter widen their eyes and drop their jaws as the teenage girl slowly rises and pushes away the strands of hair that were dangling in front of her eyes. She turns to Kyouta and Suzu and smiled maliciously as she draws out the hilt of her katana from underneath her left sleeve. As the girl holds up her left arm and slowly draws out her katana, Kyouta and Suzu began crying and trembling in terror.
"Noooo, noooo, noooo, noooo…" Suzu bawled as her tears flow down her cheeks like tiny rivers, wanting nothing more but to stay alive. The girl paid no attention to her helpless cries as she momentarily holds the katana in front of her and pulls it back over her right shoulder. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"
"WAIT! STOP!" Kyouta screamed with his eyes wide.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Suzu lets out one final blood-curdling scream before the girl swings her katana horizontally to deliver the fatal blow.
Sovereign: I hope you all enjoy reading the first chapter of this story. Let me know what you guys think and read and review!
Kasumi Kinomoto is an OC of mine. I know some people have problems with OCs in stories, but I hope you will give her a chance. If you are interested to know more about her, you can also feel free to check out my Your Name oneshot Acceptance, which takes place before this story.
Shirley Fenette is from Code Geass, while Hitoha Miyamizu and Miki Okudera are from Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. And Tsukiyama is a minor character who appears in episode 2 of Durarara!x2 Shou. Because her first name is never mentioned, I decided to name her Suzu Tsukiyama.