There was a legend of a demon sword known as Saika that existed in Shinjuku long ago. The demon blade’s nature was to love humans, and it was said it had appeared in modern time when it was discovered by American military forces on the black market some time after World War II took place. A strange legend left behind depicted the sword was sealed by a sentient bamboo spear after they had a deathmatch, and it had vanished into the void once more. However, there were people knowledgeable of ‘situations beyond the norm,’ starting with the Headless Rider, and viewed its existence as common knowledge.
The demon blade, Saika, was a being disregarded by modern science and the laws of physics just like the Headless Rider was that had a female personality and lived off a human host. She would pour out words of love in mass to those who used her and instructed them to, ‘love humans and produce more children.’ Those people would be taken over by the demon blade, brainwashed by its words, and would try to pass on the troth of love to other human beings.
Hearing that alone may give the impression the demon blade was harmless enough, except the issue was how the blade Saika expressed its love through physical contact. Its blade slicing into someone’s flesh and spilling their blood was how it ultimately expressed its love. Saika perceived the act as similar to having sexual intercourse. And that action infected the victim with the curse of its words of love, making them revere the wielder of the sword as their ‘mother’ and be puppeteered under their will.
Those cut were called ‘children,’ and a ‘child’ could wield scissors or kitchen knives as a medium to murmur words of love to others. Anyone cut by ‘children’ would produce ‘grandchildren,’ and the ‘mother’ was capable of spreading the curse (love) to the world at large by using that linkage under their sole wish.
However, among the children and grandchildren, there were sometimes people who could escape their mother’s control through sheer power of will. Or rather, even if they had Saika dwell within them, there were some who rejected the curse for some reason or another, whether that would be a rare force of will, a unique mental fortitude, or if the wielder was inhuman. Anyone with a human conscious that wielded Saika could be a threat in modern society, but in the present moment none of the owners of Saika in Ikebukuro had any ill intention or ambition to do harm.
For Anri Sonohara, she coexisted with Saika and had a remarkably unique case where she retained her own personality. Saika was a demon blade that lived off of humans and sung its love to the world - the very sin that its name derived from. The girl envied the demon blade and accepted it, and likewise she leeched off of Saika, allowing them to continue living in the world with this strange balance.
Except she had also gotten involved in meaningless trouble multiple times because she was with Saika. And sure enough, Anri was unable to even guess whether predicament brought to her this time was due to Saika or another matter.
♂♀
Anri realized what had happened when she went to the storehouse to restock the empty shelves after getting up early and having breakfast. The storage area was built behind the building that served as both a store and a home. The padlock was broken and the shelves and boxes were ransacked as though someone scrambled through them in search of something. Everything had been drawn out as the contents were scattered around on the ground.
Anri was relieved that nothing got destroyed or damaged, but she decided to call the police, realizing the state of the storage room could not be caused by an earthquake, after a few moments of hesitation.
She wavered not because she did anything wrong. Anri did not imagine the police would go after Saika, who laid dormant in her body. Her hesitation came from a slightly otherworldly reason.
Since the safe and her certificate of title was in the residential home, there were nothing but general merchandise in here. Estranged from the world, she simply thought she would just bother the police if she reported a small incident as this, given nothing big was damaged or stolen. It was not like she did not consider the rumors that would come out over the incident, but she realized she could not leave the situation as is, believing the robber may try to break into another home nearby if she did nothing.
And so, she reported to the police. The police cars had not been outside the building since her parents had died. Anri got asked numerous questions, but one in particular made her realize: she had no idea what had been stolen.
What was originally in the storage room after her parents’ deaths were items left unsorted, their value unknown. Although Anri had slowly gone through them and put prices on them, she had not finished registering all of items. And with the inside of the storage house in disarray as well as anything big was kept safe, it was difficult to evaluate the casualties.
“Hmm...I see. Please contact us when you know exactly what was taken. I believe the culprit might have taken small items that they believed would be good, unsure of their real value...but there is also the possibility they left without taking anything. There are people who would prefer not to steal anything to avoid getting charged for theft as well as breaking-and-entering.”
They had found new footprints besides Anri’s at the crime scene, and they had asked her if there was anyone else who would use the storage house, but it was primarily Anri. When she was preparing to open the shop, her high school classmates Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida as well as some acquaintances, Kadota and Erika, had helped out, but no one else had set foot into the place since then. They also found fingerprints on the padlock that were not Anri’s, but they had to put it through the database and investigate further to find a match.
Once the formal investigation was done, the police left in a hurry. Since a dangerous criminal was not involved and the general damage was left unclear, this case did not rank high on their priorities. Regardless, Anri was grateful that nearly ten officers came to investigate the scene and saw them take their leave, bowing politely in front of the shop.
Just then, she heard a voice from behind her.
“Hold on, did something happen? Sonohara-senpai.”
When she turned around, a boy with green hair stood there. He was Kuon Kotonami - one of the new students at Raira Academy who became a regular a few months ago.
“Yes. A robber broke in…”
Anri answered plainly, as though the incident happened to someone else.
“Wha-!? Are you alright!?”
“I don’t really know what was stolen...Ah...I’m sorry. I believe it will take me more time to open the shop.”
“Ah! No, no, don’t worry about it! I saw a post on the Ikebukuro network that mentioned there were police cars out in front of an antique shop nearby, and I came over wondering if it was your place!”
After he blurted out his straight-forward, inconsiderate reason for coming, Kuon then added.
“Still, I didn’t expect a cat burglar… They must have thought you’d have some big treasure like oban and koban coins or ceramics from the Edo era like what you see on antique appraisal shows since it’s an antique shop.”
“...”
“Oh geez, I didn’t mean to say you don’t have valuable stuff! Sorry.”
“Ah, it’s alright…”
Anri’s silence was not particularly due to being upset with Kuon’s comment. It was because he hit the mark.
The police had also questioned if she had an idea who the culprit could be, and she did have one ever since she discovered there was a robber. But she could not tell who it was to the police. There was no other reason for why except that it was related to Saika. After all, there was a strange man who wanted Saika yesterday evening.
“...I want to purchase Saika. As for payment...I have 5,000,000 yen for it.”
The exchange they had half a day ago replayed in Anri’s mind.
“And if you prefer, I’d settle with you even cutting me to make a child.”
“Saika...What is that?”
Anri tried to feign innocence, but the man with bandages wrapped around his face smiled wryly.
“You don’t need to play dumb. You should know that I’m not just window shopping if I came with that much information on it…”
“Where did you hear-...?”
“An acquaintance of mine was a child, and they broke free from their mother’s control. You don’t need to know more than that, right?”
“...!”
“...I suppose you don’t feel like selling it based off the look you’re giving me. Guess I should drop it then.”
Anri unconsciously spoke up as the young male went to leave.
“Please wait. Shouldn’t having you acquaintance cut you have the same-...”
“They’re gone. And they weren’t even half sane to begin with. Actually, I saw two of them, but either one was nuts.”
The man placed a hand on the door and remarked, turning around to face her.
“...I’ll be honest, I think you’re amazing to have a normal life as you do even though you have that power at your disposal. I’m not being sarcastic; I really do respect you.”
Recalling the young man who had left as mysterious as when he had appeared, Anri suspected he had something to do with the robbery. But the question remained: what was he trying to accomplish by committing a crime? Especially considering he had given up and went home.
He could have just threatened me by mentioning Saika. If he did, I may have cut him with Saika...But he did say he didn’t mind becoming a child…
If he was well-familiar with Saika, then he should fully be aware the blade would not be found even if he trashed the storage house in search for it.
But if he knew Saika could branch off to make more blades…
The more she thought on it, the more bagged down she felt, so Anri decided to turn her mind off of Saika for now. She first decided to consult with her guardian and her friends, starting with Mikado, to let them know what had happened.
Anri called her guardian first - roughly at the same time Kuon had sent a message to his friends in Snake Hands.
At the fence of a park a little ways from the storefront
There were two silhouettes that watched the activity at Sonohara Hall.
“...I didn’t expect my destination would be the same as yours. What a surprise.”
‘...Me too...That, um, you’re acquaintances with Anri-chan…’
“Hm. I more or less knew you were. I heard a girl looking like Anri dropped by Kishitani-sensei’s place a couple times a year or two ago. And then there’s the whole Mikado Ryuugamine deal.”
‘Sorry…’
Based from the information she got when she reunited with her head at the Dollars event, she more or less learned of the connection Akabayashi and Anri had. But since Anri did not seem to know Akabayashi was a yakuza member, she could not talk with Akabayashi in her presence.
“I feel guilty hiding things from her, but she still believes I’m a crab wholesaler. Once that shop gets more on track, I’ll talk to her and keep my distance more. If people were to learn there’s a yakuza member backing her, they may suspect her without cause.”
Akabayashi smiled bitterly. Celty replied, nodding in complete agreement.
‘It’s alright. She won’t hear it from me.’
“Thank you, courier-san.”
There was movement in front of the shop as they conversed. A van Celty recognized parked out front, and she saw two familiar faces come out from inside it.
That’s...Yahiro-kun!? And...umm...the driver guy for Kadota and his friends. The Ruri fan?
Ah, that’s right. Yahiro must have gotten the message too.
The doors to Sonohara Hall opened for them as they rushed out of the van. But the one who greeted them in was not Anri but Kuon. After the police had left, he seemed to have swung by out of curiosity and stayed in the shop.
He’s as nosy as ever.
Celty, knowing Kuon’s nature, imagined he was trying to get anything on the robber for an article.
Just as she considered to stop him before he caused trouble for Anri, Akabayashi muttered next to her, voice devoid of emotion.
“I feel like I’ve seen that green-haired kid before.”
‘...!? Oh, it’s alright! Anri-chan has Mikado-kun! Besides, despite his appearance, that green-haired boy isn’t a scoundrel, probably.’
“That said, Mikado-kun worries me too, you know? I am at least somewhat relieved that he has completely drew out of the underground though. But that wasn’t what I was getting at…”
Akabayashi fidgeted on his cell phone as he spoke and brought up a video on the screen.
“He’s probably this kid, right?”
On it was footage Celty had seen on the internet numerous times before. It was taken afar and was blurry, but the scene was a boy picking a fight with Shizuo Heiwajima to save a green haired boy.
…
“Based off your reaction just now, you do know that green-haired kid…”
Huh? Did I just dig a hole for myself!?
A chill went through Celty. Akabayashi placed a hand on her shoulder and smirked with a sharp glint in his eye.
“I would appreciate it if you would explain everything to me from the beginning, courier-san.”
♂♀
At about the same time, in front of Kishimojindo Temple, Ikebukuro
“Hey, Shijima-san, Shijima-san! Is Kishimojindo a Shinto shrine? Or a Buddhist shrine? Which is it?”
An innocent voice unfitting to the owner’s tall figure echoed over the stone paving at the Kishimojindo shrine.
“Worshiping a god means it’s a Shinto shrine, right? But this place seems to be different from normal Shinto shrines I know of.”
Although tall, the brown skinned boy still had young facial traits. The person he was asking questions to was a man covered in bandages walking a few paces ahead of him.
“...Kishimonji is a goddess protecting Buddhism. So this is a Buddhist shrine.”
“But there are a ton of torii. My dad said if there are torii it’s a Shinto shrine, and if there aren’t any it’s a Buddhist shrine!”
“...The torii over there are part of the Takeyoshi Inari shrine to honor Inari-sama. Apparently they built a Buddhist shrine to honor Kishimojin on the land formerly known as the Inari forest.”
“So that’s it!”
After the dark-skinned boy nodded in awe, he chuckled to himself.
“...What’s so funny?”
“It’s funny a scoundrel like yourself would add the sama suffix to a god’s name.”
“...You’ll be punished if you phrase it otherwise.”
The man named Shijima had a small blush form under his cold eyes, embarrassed the other pointed that out. Unaware of the expression Shijima made, the boy walking behind him uttered words that should not be spoken out in a public space like this with an innocent smile.
“I believe you deserve to be punished for distributing drugs around here, Shijima-san.”
Shijima’s eyes narrowed as he replied.
“I’ve already received my punishment.”
He muttered to himself, his cold gaze filled with self-derision.
“But if I consider the things I’ve done, I guess I haven’t been punished enough as I’m still alive and moving about.”
Hiroto Shijima. He was born as a descendant of the Shijima Group - a great enterprise with huge authority in real estate. While he had a modest life, he had the tendency to look down on those around him and had spent his school life in boredom. That was until a man named Kumoi invited him to join a mutual aid association for legal drugs, interested in his assets and personal connections.
Kumoi was a strange man. He was not intimidating or charismatic, but his directions were strangely precise, surprising Shijima and the other members in the association. He reminded him of a top-notch game player controlling the board from a different perspective, creating more routes to sell drugs. And even after Kumoi had disappeared, Shijima kept chasing his shadow.
They shifted from selling legal drugs to illegal ones, and even as they made enemies with the Awakusu Group in the end, still he stepped further into the darkness instead of quitting.
“I was jealous of Kumoi-san even as I admired him. I wanted to stand in a higher position than Kumoi-san.”
Shijima continued to talk about his past indifferently after they exited the Kishimojin grounds, unconcerned of their surroundings.
“So I used Kumoi-san’s name to make the organization bigger, even planning to get rid of Kumoi-san if needed. But then Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group and Izaya Orihara put an end to all that. I didn’t intend to make light of him, but that Orihara guy was more dangerous than Kumoi-san.”
“Izaya Orihara. I heard that name before.”
“No one has seen him in Ikebukuro in two years. The last time I saw him he had a knife in his stomach and was on the verge of death. ...Anyway, I don’t really care if he’s alive or dead.”
“That’s unexpected of you. You’re pretty pessimistic, so I thought you resented him.”
“I do. But not Izaya Orihara. I resent society itself. ...No, maybe it’d be better to say the city Ikebukuro.”
“How come?”
“...Because they didn’t see me.”
“?”
The dark-skinned boy cocked his head to the side, smile still etched on his face.Shijima added indifferently.
“After Heavens Slave was destroyed, I got used by Izaya Orihara, Jinnai Yodogiri and Nasujima. I felt like I was used as an indispensable tool. So I gave into despair, and I considered trying to drag the boss of the Dollars down with me.”
“I heard about the Dollars before. But I haven’t heard of their end.”
“...Yeah, I made a mistake. The Dollars, Izaya Orihara, Yodogiri...and even the Headless Rider. To the people in this city, I was seen as someone dispensable. I was reminded I was just worthless trash no one would even take notice of.”
Shijima grit his teeth, hidden behind the bandages, recalling what had happened back then.
He had been close to the center of the incident, having gotten involved with the Dollars and the Slasher. But in the end, did he pay the price for the evil he had done?
The answer was no. He was simply left alone, and it ended without him doing anything. He did not get any form of punishment. The urban legend that had seized him, Nasujima who had showed him the irregular power that was Saika, Izaya Orihara who had been fighting the monster Shizuo Heiwajima to the death nearby, and bizarre creatures and gangs that overran the city, the color gangs, the Awakusu Group, and even the police did not do a single thing to him.
The moment he realized the truth others would consider to be fortunate, Shijima noticed the pride he thought had been crushed was not even partially destroyed. He was nothing more than a nobody among the masses of people. The sensation that he was unimportant against the large, turbid wave of truth and illusion the city Ikebukuro was engulfed by dominated his mind.
The small villain despaired. Not because he was lumped together with the people he had looked down upon until now. Believing he was nobody more than anyone else had taken away all his hope. And he could not even take someone down with him. That the man Hiroto Shijima was nothing more than a loser.
“I just want revenge. I don’t have any grand ambitions or solid plan for the future. I’m a bit biased towards the balance of the city, and all I want is the day to get back on the city. But I imagine the percentage of my head being lopped off is high before I can do that.”
After he had talked about himself he partially was deprecate to, Shijima asked the brown-skinned boy walking behind him.
“Are you okay with it, Jami? If you tag along with Earthworm and I, you’ll end up with a terrible fate.”
The boy named Jami responded with a nonchalant expression.
“I don’t really care. I knew from the start you were a tiny person.”
He then added, eyes slightly narrowing.
“I can’t go up against big shots. I enjoy hanging out with you though. I can knock myself out and not think of anything about it.”
“I’ll pick out plenty of guys for you to fight. I believe that’ll help overturn the city down the line.”
“But today’s target is a woman, right? I don’t like attacking or hitting women. Hey, can we not do that? That’s not cool to do no matter how much of a nobody you are, Shijima-san.”
“...Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”
Shijima frowned and turned to face the boy named Jami for the first time. When he did, he saw Jami was not walking on the street but on top of the fence alongside the road.
“What are you doing?”
“Practicing my balance! It’s quite fun. Should I try dancing up here?”
“Don’t do anything that makes you stand out.”
“As if a mummy-looking guy with bandages wrapped around his face can talk.”
Jami, while muttering complaints, nonetheless jumped back down to the ground.
“I think you stand out way more than I do.”
“I’m fine with that.”
After he made sure Jami began to walk on the path properly this time, Shijima faced forward once more and resumed their conversation.
“Anyway, I said we’re just going to check on a woman we should be weary of. I didn’t say we had to fight her...Well, to make it easy for you to comprehend, I suppose the fastest way would be her bearing hostility towards us…”
“Comprehend what now?”
Jami tilted his head to the side, confused. Jami replied.
“I’m saying there are beings who are beyond human understanding all over Ikebukuro.”
Shijima smiled fearlessly and went to turn a corner.
“...”
However, his body made a 180 just as he was about to take the corner and began to return the way they came, grabbing Jami by the shoulder.
“Eh? What is it? What’s wrong, Shijima-san?”
Shijima explained in a small voice as they turned back the way they came.
“Right now it doesn’t look good. I saw a pair we can’t come across.”
“?”
Jami quietly went to the corner and observed the scene ahead of him silently. There were two silhouettes conversing, hidden away at another corner. One was a man wearing tinted glasses and had a cane. The other was the Headless Rider he had seen in videos before.
“Whoa.”
Jami whistled and rushed back to Shijima, jumping in joy.
“Hey, hey! That’s the Headless Rider, right!? I know because I’ve seen it before in real life! I wonder if it’s really not human!”
“Yeah, it’s not human. What the hell is it doing here, walking around the city in broad daylight?”
Shijima expressed dispassionately, but after grinding his teeth a bit he strung together.
“The problem is the guy the Headless Rider is with.”
“Ah, the old man with the cane?”
“...He’s Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group. He’s the guy who ruined Heavens Slave I was a part of.”
“Ahh, so he’s a yakuza member! That’s okay. I’m not afraid of guns.”
Jami expressed which could only be perceived as overconfidence, but Shijima did not remark on that point and instead corrected him in another area.
“...Akabayashi doesn’t use guns. The terrifying aspect of him is a little different from most.”
Shijima quickened his pace, glancing back over his shoulder.
“Let’s pull out today. Picking a fight with Akabayashi who despises drugs is the first sign of bad luck. If he recognizes my face, he may beat me to death the moment he sees me.”
“I can go up against the yakuza, you know?”
“Yeah. You’re strong, so you’ll be fine. But I’m not like you; I’m weak. If the Headless Rider keeps you occupied when I attack, I have no means to win right now. And it’d be the same vice versa. The Headless Rider may not care about me, but it has no reason to let me go either. ...That said, do you want to have a fight soon?”
Shijima sighed. Jami nodded with an innocent smile.
“Yeah!”
“...Then maybe we should change our schedule a bit.”
Shijima spoke the name, annoyed, while dropping his cold gaze to the ground.
“Then how about we go see...Shizuo Heiwajima, who you’ve been dying to meet?”
♂♀
Hm?
Celty turned around, sensing something off, but no one was on the road.
“What’s wrong, courier-san?”
‘Ah, nothing. Sorry, pay no mind to it.’
What was that just now? I felt a strange presence.
She was curious, but it was not enough to ignore Akabayashi, so she decided to let it go for now.
“So you’re hanging out with high schoolers who are getting into trouble again.”
‘Not quite. They’re not making weird teams like back then with Mikado-kun...I do think being a Jack of all trades for high schoolers is pretty dangerous, but they probably would have crossed the bridge into dangerous territory even without my involvement. So I figured it would be better to be able to stop them when needed…’
“I do get how you feel. I know you’re not the type to hurt or stop high schoolers by force. But for me, I don’t want them getting close to Anri-chan too much and bring their problems with them. I’d appreciate it if you’d be on the lookout for at least that.”
‘Yeah, I’ll do as much as I can.’
Ah, I feel like I just accepted an extremely insane request. But if I said that, Akabayashi-san would become the most dangerous here…
“Don’t look so upset. I know I’m the most troublesome misfit out there. Doing as much as you can is reasonable to me.”
Is he an esper!? What the heck!? Can people from the Awakusu Group see the face I don’t have!?
‘I also consider Anri-chan as a friend. I don’t want to drag a friend into anything dangerous.’
“...Is that so? Then I can’t have you undertake much dangerous jobs from now on like transporting explosives or someone’s organs.”
‘Have the items I’ve transported until now for you been those!?’
“No. I was joking.”
Akabayashi chuckled.
Celty slumped in relief as Akabayashi turned to face Sohohara Hall and added plainly.
“I transport anything of that nature myself.”
…
Celty let the comment slide, believing it was a joke, and decided to look over at Sonohara Hall wordlessly.
“Still, I suppose I can’t show my face in front of high schoolers. I’ll go when they leave the stop.”
‘Alright. Then I’ll go at a different time. It’d be weird if we both see her at the same time.’
After leaving Akabayashi, Celty returned to where Shooter was and searched for the presence she had sensed while riding him slowly around the area.
Hmm, that odd presence from earlier is gone.
She thought back on the strange being she had felt earlier.
It wasn’t a type of fairy, but it didn’t feel like a normal human either… It felt similar to Kujiragi, but it was a little different from her…
Celty looked around the area, recalling the woman who had a mix of human and inhumane blood and was her former rival in love. As she was doing so, she noticed a presence approaching her and turned her focus towards it.
That’s right; Kujiragi’s aura felt like this.
……W-wait what?
Ahead where Celty’s attention was pulled, a calm and collected, bespectacled woman was on the sidewalk. The woman had been involved in the chaos in Ikebukuro a while ago and had also tried to snatch Shinra from her - Kasane Kujiragi.
‘Ku-Kujiragi…?’
If Celty had a head, her mouth would be gaping open in shock. Celty shook. Kujiragi bowed systematically with an expressionless look.
“...It has been awhile, Celty-san.”
And then even as she raised her head her expression remained unchanged, and Kujiragi asked diplomatically in a way to stir up Celty’s emotions.
“I am glad to see you are well. And how is Shinra Kishitani-san doing?”
♂♀
In the shop Sonohara Hall
“Then you don’t know what was stolen?”
Anri nodded to Himeka Tatsugami’s question, conflicted.
“Yes...If it was an item I had logged since I opened the shop, I would know… But the products left in the storehouse have not been touched since my father ran the shop…”
“So maybe there is some amazing treasure tucked away back there. Like an antique left behind from a family member the last owner didn’t know about, or a treasure map…”
“Kotonami-kun, read the situation.”
“Ow-ow-ow. Stop, you’re going to make the holes in my ears bigger!”
Yahiro spoke to Anri in place of Kuon, who was having his ears pulled by Himeka behind him.
“Anyway, I am glad to hear that you are alright.”
Seeing Yahiro’s slightly relieved expression, Anri gently smiled at him.
“Thank you. I’m sorry I made regular customers such as yourselves to needlessly worry over me…”
Anri looked over at the three once more as she said this.
Himeka, Yahiro, and Kuon all had a common trait of being unable to show their feelings on their faces, but Anri recognized their differences. Yahiro was simply not accustomed to express his emotions. He would look troubled when something was bothering him and smile when he was happy, but even then he appeared to be inexperienced in expressing those emotions. In Himeka’s case, she was the type of person with an incredibly strong mental fortitude. Although she did not get agitated easily, she would rarely smile or look surprised. In Kuon’s case, he had an abundance of expressions, but he gave Anri the impression that he overdid it to hide his true feelings.
Kotonami-kun is like Kida-kun, and Tatsugami-san is similar to Saki-chan.
As she recalled her close friends, she suddenly remembered another ‘expressionless’ person.
Kujiragi-san is stone-faced as well...but I feel she’s different somehow. Why is she so robotic? I can only tell she’s happy by going off her word choice though…
♂♀
On a street in Ikebukuro
‘What do you expect with, “how’s Shinra-san?” Do you think I’d tell you!?’
“No, I am an enemy to you, so I do not anticipate an answer. But I can state I asked without any intention to provoke you, as my question on how Shinra Kishitani-san was doing was out of pure interest.”
‘No, no, no! You actually have the gall to come up to me!? I thought you wouldn’t set foot in Ikebukuro again after everything!’
Celty got off Shooter and sauntered up to Kujiragi, seizing her by the collar and shoving her smartphone screen to her face. However, the other woman did not show any fear and responded in an aloof tone, warding off her anger.
“The opportunities for me to visit Ikebukuro have certainly decreased, but I do come by to carry out business deals at Sonohara Hall or to do costume fittings with Glasses Boys - the Double Shotgun.”
‘Glasses...what now?’
Kujiragi recited the name of the group she had mentioned articulately for the bewildered Celty.
“...Glasses Boys - the Double Shotgun. They are a sublime group organized by lady Eternal de Charmante that is devoted to escape the husks which contained our self and descend into a new persona.”
‘What on earth are you talking about!? Just when I thought you intended to sell me out, you got into drugs instead!? ...And hold on. Eternal who?’
“Lady Eternal de Charmante.”
Celty pondered over the royal-like name that sounded like it had came from a video game.
I’ve heard of that name before...Where was it from…? I believe it was on a video site…
After thinking over it for a few moments, her friend wearing all black came to her mind.
‘Isn’t that Karisawa’s handle name!?’
“It is. It also serves as lady Erika Karisawa’s cosplayer name. On that note, my cosplayer name is ‘School Girl Cat.’ School is written in katakana, and the characters for ‘girl’ and ‘cat’ are read together as ‘nyan nyan,’ so please advice. It is not ‘cat girl’ but ‘girl cat.’”
Kujiragi explained as she took out the card for the cosplayer circle.
Celty took the card and typed while trembling in anger.
‘I really could care less! Ahh, this is so ridiculous that I can’t wrap my head around it! And you’re not at the age to be a schoolgirl to begin with! Though I guess there are those that go back to school at an older age!’
“Please do not misunderstand. Lady Erika Karisawa who had given me this name said ‘school’ did not stand for ‘a school.’ It derived from the words ‘honest’ and ‘cool.’ Originally it was written with the kanji for ‘principle’ and the English word ‘cool,’ and was read as Su-cool.”
‘I really do not care!’
After Celty typed her response out as though yelling, she showed Kujiragi the next few sentences she had written in rage.
‘Ah damn! I was just thinking it was all a ruse since last evening, but how is it the only people who act like proper adults around me are the Awakusu-Group!?’
“So anyway, how is Shinra Kishitani-san?”
‘Listen to what I’m saying!’
For the next solid minute, the two women engaged in combat, Celty using her shadows to try and bind her opponent while Kujiragi used her inhumane abilities and mysterious tools to evade her attacks. But upon noticing a crowd of spectators begin to form, Celty’s shoulders heaved as though taking in a deep breath before suggesting.
‘...Anyway, how about we relocate?’
“Understood. I did not come here today to fight you. Besides, I am wanted by the Awakusu Group… I saw you earlier, but I could not reveal myself while Mizuki Akabayashi was present.”
Seeing Kujiragi put away the numerous gadgets somewhere, Celty turned her smartphone towards her, exasperated.
‘...So you have enough self-awareness to realize you’re being hunted down.’
♂♀
Sonohara Hall
Togusa, who had tagged along with Yahiro, saw the high schoolers discussing something in a corner of the shop and quietly approached Anri to speak with her.
“Hey, miss. They don’t know about that, right? About the katana.”
Togusa asked in a low voice. Anri gave a slight nod.
“Yes, I don’t believe...they know. I don’t think Mikado-kun had talked about it either…”
“Ah, I see. They know Karisawa and Yumasaki though, so if they spill the beans, I’m sorry. But they can read the situation, so I don’t imagine they will.”
“I was surprised to learn you’re acquaintances with Yahiro-kun as well, Togusa-san.”
“...Ah, you remembered my name.”
Togusa, who had thought he was just remembered as ‘the driver,’ felt human warmth for the first time in a while.
“?”
“Ah, sorry, it’s nothing. Anyway, the other two don’t know her well, but Yahiro is friends with Celty, and I see him like a little brother, so I’ve looked after him.”
“Yes, I can see it.”
“What? You knew about it?”
Togusa shrugged, but Anri smiled silently in response.
Anri had heard about Yahiro from Mikado and heard there was a big possibility he knew Celty, but upon hearing that he was also friends with Togusa and Karisawa, Anri was shocked once again of how small the world was.
Maybe he had sensed her thoughts, Togusa stated.
“Anyway, if something happens, sir Kadota, Karisawa, and Yumasaki will all rush over here. If there’s anything we can do, just say the word.”
“...! Thank you…”
On one hand Anri thought it was inexcusable to make so many people worry, but on the other she was happy she was living in the same city as the kind hearted people who keep her on their minds. There was a period of time she had believed Saika’s curse would only bring misfortune in her life, but when strife came she happened to meet very kind people starting with Celty. Anri was grateful to have met them and was convinced she had to return a favor to them and Saika. Even as the words of love rang through her head as always.
Just then, the high schoolers who had been discussing something until then approached her.
“Sonohara-senpai, is there anything you want us to help you with?”
“Eh?”
Anri’s eyes widened in surprise at Kuon’s question.
“You’ve sold things to us for cheap because we’re your juniors, right? We actually do expressman-like work as a part-time job. So to return the favor, please have us do something. We can make this especially free for the occasion, and we can even stand guard outside the shop tonight if you want.”
“Kuon, I think it’s rude to phrase it like you’re selling a favor…”
Yahiro quickly went to stop Kuon and took over what he was saying.
“Umm, sorry. It also frightens me knowing there’s a thief somewhere in this city, and I was wondering if we could help you catch the criminal..”
“Ah...No, you don’t have to. It’s alright. I’m leaving it to the police to take care of…”
Anri turned down their offer, not wanting to get high schoolers involved, but the green-haired boy with piercings chimed in, desperately suppressing a smile but his eyes gleaming as though they spotted prey of their interest.
“But isn’t it more terrifying that nothing might have been taken? If they have a goal in mind, then they may come back, you know? Ow-ow-ow! My ears! The holes in them!”
“Why would you say something to alarm her…?”
Yahiro and Himeka both pulled at both of Kuon’s ears.
Beside them, Togusa sighed and whispered into Anri’s ear.
“Ahh...you see, I’d say Yahiro is about the same type of person as Celty or is the type to get into other people’s affairs, so they might try to do something even if you tell them otherwise like a vigilante committee. I think they’ll be satisfied doing any small task you give them.”
“But...Hmm.”
Even so, she could not let them go searching for a thief. After Anri pondered for a few moments, she decided to task the expressmen group Snake Hands with a job.
“Then how about this...could you help me clean up the storehouse?”
♂♀
On a road in front of the shop
Akabayashi cocked his head after observing the activity in the vicinity for a couple of minutes.
“Hm? The students still haven’t come out…”
Just then, he received a phone call. When he looked at the screen, he saw it was from a member of Jan-Jaka-Jan - a gang working for him.
“Yes, it’s me. ...Ah, yeah…...Okay.”
After they exchanged a couple of words, he gave them further instructions before hanging up. He then tapped his cane against his shoulder and sighed while looking up at the sky.
“I see...So the guys in Heavens Slave teamed up with those foreign visitors.”
He considered laughing, but in the next moment Akabayashi’s eyes narrowed and he whispered.
“Your gramps and dad won’t be able to cover you much longer, Hiroto Shijima-kun.”
♂♀
A certain place in Ikebukuro
Just as Akabayashi muttered those words-
“That’s Shizuo Heiwajima.”
Hiroto Shijima was near the very personification of violence which no amount of authority could protect him from.
“He’s the blond one wearing sunglasses.”
Shijima pointed to the duo who just exited a building with his chin. Jami whistled.
“Wow, he really does look like a bartender! How come?”
“As if I’d know. Maybe he just likes bartender clothes.”
“Alright, I’m gonna go pick a fight with him.”
“Ah, hey, we should observe them a bit-...”
Seeing Jami take off without heeding him, Shijima clicked his tongue.
“Damn, guess I won’t be able to use him for a while...Hope he doesn’t die, at any rate.”
While Shijima sighed in one regard, he held a slight interest in another. If the monster Snake Hands could put up a decent fight against Shizuo, then how well could Jami fight Shizuo?
Shijima shrugged, unable to predict it off of evaluations, and thought back to when he first met Jami.
♂♀
A few months ago
Somewhere in the city at an underground casino.
“...So you can’t use it? Saika’s power.”
“I can’t. The thing in me...what would you call it? Anyway, I don’t have any memory of when I was controlled. It’s frustrating, but I guess we’ll have to look for the woman who cut me, that Niekawa girl.”
“Why would I? The real Saika is apparently in this city. We’ll find it eventually.”
The two conversing with each other were Shijima and the leader of his former enemy organization Amphisbaena - Earthworm. Earthworm had been under the control of Saika and was manipulated by someone else, and by the time she was released from their control she had lost everything. She was found by Shijima when she was wandering along the roadside, and she teamed up with him, partially for protection, which lead them to the present.
Although they did not have as large of support as they did back then, Earthworm used her knowledge to open up another illegal underground casino in a different part of Ikebukuro. They did not use IC chips like before, and instead acquired new clients through the internet for more betting.
Shijima, having decided it was about time for gangs nearby to be looking for them, dropped by the casino to give Earthworm instructions, but as they were discussing Saika they heard something shatter from the casino room.
“We asked to bring out the person responsible, and yet you treat us like this too? You do know what that means, right?”
He was apparently one step behind, and a few members of a local gang barged inside the place. The most intelligent-looking man of the group quietly threatened the card dealer with five other intimidating men accompanying him.
“Well look here. I expected after opening our doors two to three times this would happen, but news traveled faster than I anticipated.”
Earthworm sighed in annoyance, watching the activity in the casino room from the mirror.
“Can you do something about them?”
“If they all don’t have guns. But if there are others waiting outside, that could be an issue.”
“I see… Well, since you’re the one responsible, I’ll leave this to you… Hm?”
Earthworm shrugged in response, and as she went to confirm the situation outside with her subordinates Shijima noticed something abnormal in the corner of the casino. A man had won at a roulette table in a dark corner of the place when he abruptly took a strange course of action. The man briskly walked up to the frightening men, while the other customers watched the scene at a distance in fear. The man then struck one of the men against the back of the head with a wine bottle he had acquired at some point. There was a dull thud, and the threatening man collapsed without a moment to yell.
Shijima caught sight of the action. He knew at a glance that the man was not just being reckless. It was because the man had moved into half of the men’s blindspot and struck them with the wine bottle before they took notice of him. When the men turned around, hearing the noise, they were promptly knocked unconscious, having been hit in the temple, chin, and nose with the wine bottle.
“!? What the he-...”
The intellectual man, who had sensed the abnormality, was punched right between the eyes by the attacker before he could even see their face.
“...Gargh…”
The man collapsed, foam forming at the mouth and his upper body seizing.
The dealer and clients watched dumbfounded as the other man walked over to the woman beside Earthworm and asked as though nothing had happened.
“Hey miss, do you have orange juice?”
The man held out the very bottle he used to knock out the six men, smiling innocently like a young child.
“I’m underage, so I can’t have alcohol!”
♂♀
“The possibility he’s stronger than Shizuo Heiwajima is…?”
In just a few seconds, six men who lived with violence had been knocked out. Shijima thought of the percentage rate Jami would have against him, recalling his valor when he had first met him.
But he smiled wryly, hanging his head at the obvious conclusion.
“He doesn’t have a chance.”
He then looked up again and went to check on what happened to the new martial legend he had acquired, Jami. However, Jami had vanished in the next second.
“...?”
In Shijima’s field of vision, he saw Shizuo Heiwajima turn around in his direction. Feeling like he was being looked at, he was weary, wondering what had happened when someone had grabbed his shoulder.
“...!”
The first person who came to mind was Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group, and he had spun around swiftly, nervous he was going to be there.
“Ahhh, ahhh!”
But it was Jami, pale and trembling in fear.
“...?”
Shijima did not understand. Why was he behind him? When he had vanished, had he actually been sent flying back here in a moment’s notice? If he had picked a fight with Shizuo Heiwajima, then that was plausible.
But he did not have any bruises on his face or had his clothes dirtied up. Shijima tilted his head in wonder when Jami pulled at the hem of his clothes, still pale and trembling with an innocent smile on his face.
“N-n-n-not good, not good, not good. He is seriously bad news, Shijima-san.”
“...Did you already get hit?”
He did not see any wounds on his face, so maybe he did take a punch that caused him to form trauma instantaneously. He voiced the question on his mind, but Jami merely shook his head left and right while smiling.
“Oh no, no, no. If I got hit that would have been the end of me, Shijima-san. Whoa, that was close. Just what is that? It doesn’t seem to be on the same page as a monster or a human. That guy’s like in that category of ‘something’ where he can beat down weaker monsters with ease.”
Although he kept a bright and happy smile on his face, he was covered in cold sweat.
It’s like he is a gone on inferior drugs.
Shijima observed, no longer caring about the question on how Jami got behind him when he was in front of Shizuo just seconds ago.
“...What was that?”
“Don’t know...Was that a promotion to join a combat gym?”
Meanwhile, Shizuo Heiwajima and Tom Tanaka tilted their head, bewildered by the scene they had just witnessed.
A voice had abruptly called out to them, yelling, ‘hey, Shizuo Heiwajima-san!’ They turned around to see what it was, and the moment their eyes met with Shizuo’s, a brown-skinned boy froze momentarily before he had leapt away like a puppet on a spring the second after. Just as his feet touched the wall of the building, he skillfully placed his feet against the concave surface and seemed to defy gravity, running along the wall and jumping off of it.
It was a feat accomplished in a moment, and if anyone had not paid close attention they would have felt like the man had simply vanished. More than ten meters away, they saw the man hide behind another man with bandages wrapped around his face.
“...Or maybe an invitation to join the circus? They have shows where the physically strong tear off chains.”
“Ahh, I don’t really like jobs where I have to go out in front of people…”
“Anyway, I don’t really know...Maybe they got some urgent business to take care of, so want to try talking to them?”
“Yeah.”
Prompted by Tom, Shizuo turned to the two men and took a step forward.
“He’s coming! He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming over here, Shijima-san! At this rate, you and I will die. It’ll be boring if you die, and I’m no good with that Earthworm lady, so let’s get out of here!”
Jami rambled excitingly while terrified, as though manic like a portion of the characters in horror films.
“Hey, calm down, don’t drag me into-...”
Just as Shijima was about to complain to him, he suddenly felt himself floating.
“Come on, let’s run! We’re getting out of here, Shijima-san! Sorry if I drop you!”
“Wha-, wai-, hey!”
Jami did not listen to Shijima’s protests when he had hefted him up and dashed off at an athlete's speed through the city while carrying one person.
Shizuo and Tom, left behind, cocked their heads and exchanged glances.
“...What was that…?”
“Don’t know…”
♂♀
In the back of an alleyway
“Haa, haa…haha...hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Man, that was so scary but fun, wasn’t it? Shijima-san! That was amazing! I’ve never had a thrill like that even on roller coaster rides and in haunted houses!”
“Alright, just put me down already.”
Shijima ordered with a cold gaze from where he was strung over his shoulder.
“Ah, sorry, Shijima-san! But you sure are light. If you took a punch from Shizuo-san, you would have been dead. That’s terrifying!”
“...What happened? Why did you suddenly run away from him?”
“You see, I was planning to call out to him and then give him a punch. But the moment that Shizuo guy turned around, our eyes met. And then I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“Yeah, that um, it’s the other name for ‘revolving lantern’ ...What expression is it?”
Jami rambled enthusiastically, adding gestures to describe the item. Shijima told him, sighing.
“You mean you saw your life flash before your eyes?”
“Yeah! That!”
“...On that note, you decorate your room with revolving lanterns? That’s an odd taste of style.”
“Revolving lanterns are pretty...Anyway, that’s besides the point; I just knew it when our eyes met. ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna die!’ was the thought that went through my head. I got goosebumps all over, and before I knew it I was running alongside the wall!”
So he’s saying, ‘I got scared just by meeting his gaze?’ Then why is he talking so excitingly about it?
Jami spun around, eyes bright while Shijima cocked his head, bewildered by him.
“This city is amazing, Shijima-san! I’m so glad I dropped by!”
“You were having fun with Snake Hands, so why’d you run away from Shizuo?”
“Their nature is different! Snake Hands is really dangerous like a snake and there’s worth in beating him, but that Shizuo guy is terrifying like a bomb. It’s not a matter of being able to fight him.”
And then, Jami stated while examining his palm, recalling enigma known as Snake Hands he had briefly fought the other day.
“That guy. That strange being faced me with killing intent so happily.”
Jami smiled once more, stating something both peculiar and insane.
“So if I were to get in a fist fight with anyone, I’d rather go up against him.”
♂♀
In the store house in Sonohara Hall
“...”
Himeka called out to Yahiro, seeing him stare at his palm silently.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, I cut my finger a little.”
Yahiro had scraped against a splinter on the shelf as he was cleaning, and blood seeped out from the tip of his finger.
“Are you alright? I have band aids. Do you need them?”
“No, I’m alright. It’ll stop bleeding soon.”
Yahiro stated unconcerned.
He pressed down on the wound with another finger for a few seconds, and although it did not disappear the bleeding had ceased entirely.
“See?”
“...I’m shocked. You heal quickly.”
“I got hurt often ever since I was young…”
“I don’t think that would be the reason for it.”
Himeka was going to add more, but upon seeing the numerous scars on the back of Yahiro’s hand, she ended up not saying anything under the assumption it would be better to not touch him. She had already heard he had received those scars from when he had punched other people, but nonetheless they were not pleasant memories.
She made up her mind and decided to continue cleaning up.
“Ah, you’ve done more than enough.”
Anri told them from the entrance of the store house.
Although the place had been ransacked, since nothing had really been destroyed most of the items that fell were put back on the shelves in just thirty minutes. It was not like the items were organized orderly by genre from the start, so just cleaning up enough to be able to walk down the storehouse aisles seemed to be satisfactory to her.
“I am really grateful. I feel like it’s cleaner than it was before.”
The Raira Academy graduate bowed her head. Yahiro could not help but feel they had not done enough despite her words of thanks.
Next to Yahiro, Kuon asked Anri.
“So how about it? We cleaned up, but you still don’t know what was taken?”
“Yes...There was a lot of items that were left in the boxes untouched...There are items I’ve only seen for the first time today. So I can’t exactly tell for certain what could have been taken…”
“I get it. Sorry we couldn’t help in that regard.”
“No, it’s alright. You three helped tremendously.”
Anri examined the storehouse and told the high schoolers with a gentle smile.
“It may not quite compensate for part-time work, but if you would like, I’ll give you something from the storehouse, so please take one item.”
“Whaa-!? That sounds like a bad practice!”
So Kuon had exclaimed, but his face clearly expressed his true thoughts, ‘what? Lucky!’
Yahiro and Himeka, after seeing his expression from the side, exchanged worried glances.
“We didn’t really expect…”
Yahiro went to refuse the offer, but Togusa spoke up from the entrance of the storehouse.
“Go ahead and take something. You’re high schoolers; you don’t have to hold back.”
“Saburo-san. Where have you been until now?”
“Ahh, it seemed like it would’ve taken you guys a while, so I moved the van to a nearby parking lot. But that’s beside the point. Don’t just settle for being a volunteer. Accept the form of compensation for your work. Anri-chan won’t feel guilty for taking precious time away from high schoolers and have them work for free if you do, so everyone will be happy, right?”
“But...we don’t know the values of each one…”
Anri reassured the troubled Yahiro.
“Ah...please don’t worry about that if that’s your concern. Everything I stock is cheap… Even the items that were in the storehouse before I took over should not affect me even without the price on them. I’d even say the items here I can’t use.”
“I see...then…”
Yahiro looked over to Himeka again and they both nodded.
The three of them looked at the shelves in the storehouse and pondered what to get. Yahiro was searching for anything that would not hinder Sonohara-senpai if he got it for free, Himeka looked for anything practical, while Kuon kept scavenging for anything he could resell and make a profit off of or a curio he could use on his blog to earn money.
After a few minutes, they each chose an item and showed them to Anri. Kuon had an old-looking Hakone craft. Himeka took a fountain pen that came in a small paulownia wood box. And Yahiro chose a large shark tooth fossil which he could not tell if it was real or plastic.
“So I did have items like these...I definitely should make a log…”
Anri muttered to herself as she happily handed all the items over to the three students.
“Is it really alright for us to take them? These look like they’d have a lot of value…”
Himeka asked apologetically, but Anri merely replied.
“It’s fine. I didn’t plan on putting these items up for sale originally, and I believe these children would rather have someone use them or be used as decorations. Please take care of them.”
Anri gave them a warm, saintly smile, referring the antiques as ‘children.’
“Sonohara-senpai…”
“Thank you! We’ll take good care of them!”
The high schoolers were overjoyed and each expressed their thanks.
“...”
Except Kuon was the only one who had shifty eyes, thoroughly excited to confirm the contents in the Hakone box and resell it. And although Yahiro and Himeka saw through Kuon’s intentions, they decided to not speak up about it. It was because even if they criticized him here and now, they knew they could not change his lifestyle.
♂♀
At a park somewhere in Ikebukuro
‘So, why were you there?’
“I was informed by a mole in the police that an incident happened at Sonohara Hall, which I do business at, and came to see what happened. And when I arrived, I caught sight of you in Ikebukuro after nearly a half year.”
To avoid encountering Akabayashi, Celty and Kujiragi sat down on a bench at a park further away to attempt at conversation again.
‘If I’m being honest, I have no idea what goes through your head. Aren’t you being pursued by the police too?’
“I am. I am seen as an accomplice in the serial killing case. The main offender is Jinnai Yodogiri while I am suspected of assisting in his escape.”
‘Did you do it?’
“No. However, I do not mind either way. I had it set up that way. But I am not obligated to tell you the reason why.”
Celty wrote after a bit of thought.
‘Alright...I’m glad to hear it.’
“Of what?”
Celty plainly answered.
‘I’m glad someone who fell for Shinra and who is good friends with Karisawa and Anri isn’t so much of a miscreant to commit murder.’
“I question your logic. I am a villain, and the true culprit may be a good person who just has certain circumstances.”
‘Yeah...I suppose so. You may break the law, but I don’t have a say on this as this applies to me as well...I made assumptions even though I don’t know the real culprit. I’m sorry.’
“How come you are apologizing?”
When Kujiragi questioned her, puzzled, Celty bluntly put her thoughts to words.
‘If you’re covering for the real culprit, then they’re an acquaintance of yours, right? Sorry I called you a miscreant without knowing the details.’
“...I am surprised. You are more credulous than I expected.”
‘I’m not. I’m still mad over you kidnapping Shinra.’
Celty leaned towards Kujiragi to show her the message, yet Kujiragi stated apathetically.
“...I will not apologize for what I did nor do I regret it. But likewise, I do not deny you from criticizing me or punishing me. Please, scold me as much as you would like.”
‘...No, what’s done is done. But I will answer your question from earlier.’
“My question?”
‘Shinra is doing extremely well. Even more so now than ever. He goes on about how much fun he has with me and smiles everyday.’
Celty made sarcastic remarks to answer her first question on how Shinra was doing.
“...I will correct myself. You are a bit unkind.”
‘Not a bit. I’m telling you, “serves you right!” Can’t you be a little more bitter about it?’
Celty sensed a faint smile from Kujiragi and wrote back in dissatisfaction.
‘Ah no, I’m acting like an annoying girl in romance movies boasting about her boyfriend! ...Well, whatever. Shinra is fine. He’s doing well now since you’ve lent him Saika. Staying mad with you is stupid, so I’ll quit it there. ...But let me warn you, if you get yourself caught you better not cause trouble for Karisawa and Anri-chan.’
“Rest assured. As I have mentioned, I have a pawn within the police who supplies me with information.”
‘Pawn…? Shinra has your Saika right now, so how-?’
Celty tilted her helmet to the side, but Kujiragi answered as she glanced over to a cat near their bench.
“I have other means to manipulate people how I want even without Saika.”
‘So I did get the miscreant vibe from you right… You have a ton more things like Saika then…?’
Celty then recalled something and asked the other for confirmation.
‘That reminds me, back during that phantom killer mess, Shinra said some enchanted mallet called Bannanjin had something to do with it, but don’t tell me that can control people too.’
“You are well informed. As expected of Shinra Kishitani-san.”
‘...? What do you mean?’
“I had that cursed mallet in my possession until recently. Right now I have left it in the storehouse at Sonohara Hall.”
Celty typed in large font to emphasize yelling when Kujiragi dropped a huge revelation so casually.
‘What!? Why’s it at Anri’s place!?’
“It was a form of apology for causing her trouble with Saika. Unlike the usual compensation for our deals, I have left numerous items I use in the storehouse without notice.”
‘Why didn’t you tell her!?’
“She is the type of person to refuse to accept something free of charge, correct? I made them all seem like they have always been there, so it should not raise any issues.”
Celty braced a hand against her helmet in place of her missing head.
‘That’s not the issue! And I had just told you to not give her any problems! I heard the cursed mallet possesses people and amplifies their desires! Why would you leave such a dangerous item…’
Celty protested, but Kujiragi’s eyes narrowed as she shook her head minutely.
“That information is incorrect. Bannanjin is a cursed mallet that does not have a will of its own, unlike Saika. The mallet was made by a craftsman post-Edo era, which was based off the hammer the western artist and smith, Carnald Strassburg, had made.”
‘Wha-?’
“Although it was based off of Carnald Strassburg’s original work...the superb grip, which creates a sense of incentive from its roughness, and the visual patterns on the hammer have a hypnotic effect on the wielder. People must have seen the change in behavior and spread rumors that the cursed hammer possessed people. Someone thick-skinned could hold the object and experience no change.”
After giving a brief explanation, Kujiragi added, gazing at the cat at her feet expressionlessly.
“If a stunted human who is sensitive and cowardly by nature wielded it, the effect on them would double. The gap from their normal self would be so grand, I suppose it would be naturally for people to assume they are possessed.”
♂♀
At a rental office somewhere in Saitama prefecture
Yukihiko Natsugawara was not blessed with much talent. Talent was not everything in the world though, and there may be something for him if he looked, but at the very least he still had not found what ‘that’ was.
He grew up in an environment as the son of a multi-millionaire, and if he had sincerely put in the effort his upbringing could have helped him achieve better results in his studies and physical activity compared to the average person, but instead he had chose to lay back ever since he was little, mistaken he would become successful without making any effort.
However, the cog began to spin off the moment his father took in an adopted child. His younger brother had a strong desire to improve and had excelled more than him in all areas. He shunned his brother and tried to pick on him, but the other was superior to him in even a fight, leaving him as the eldest to give up trying to overcome him and turned to sulking for the loser he was.
He even showed up where delinquents hung out at and thought he was just making a name for himself. But by the time he realized the men got close to him for his money as the son of the Natsugawara Group, he had gotten so deep he could not escape. And in the present, he was jumping from place to place, having gotten into trouble with the group just after running from home.
“Now this is a surprise. The rich Natsugawara boy came back on his own.”
The voice boomed through the room in an old building. The owner of the voice was a young man thought to be in his mid-twenties. The aura he had made him be instantly perceived even to the amateur eye as an indecent human being.
The person he was addressing was a young, high class-looking boy with frantic eyes, making him look like a victim of extortion.
“Nah, I honestly just got tired of running.”
“You took your goddamn time. So where’s goods? We’ll contact those people once we confirm it, so hurry and take them out.”
“...I hid them away in a certain place right now. I’ll get them later.”
“Ahh? What the hell, you’re useless! You shoulda brought them here right away! Or did you use this time to trade them off?”
The somewhat bourgeois boy, Yukihiko Natsugawara, smirked and took a step toward the man threatening him.
“No, I didn’t. I just had something I needed to do beforehand.”
“Something you had to do?”
“Yeah, it’s important, but I can’t let others hear what it is, so please lend me an ear.”
“?”
The man drew closer to his face, cautiously.
Yukihiko Natsugawara took out a strangely patterned hammer hanging from his waist and swung it at the man’s temple.
“Bwagh.”
The man’s voice bubbled out of his throat, and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing.
The men were stunned momentarily when they witnessed that before they shouted.
“Y-you bastard! What the hell did you do!?”
“Did you lose it!?”
Yukihiko yelled over them, hammer still in hand.
“Hey you guys! How much does this guy pay you!?”
He pointed with the tip of the hammer to the man on the ground and raised his voice even more.
“Are you fine being put to work and only get small change for it!? You can’t, right!?”
Yukihiko yelled his name to the rowdy men.
“I’m Yukihiko Natsugawara! I’m a descendant of the great Natsugawara Group! I have considerably more money than he has, and I’ll give you several times the amount than he did!”
He then pulled out stacks of bills from his pockets and began to disseminate them around the area. Yukihiko observed the reactions from the people around him, as several 1,000,000 bills scattered throughout the room. The hoodlums wavered for a moment and looked at their leader who was still convulsing before beginning to collect the bills.
In that moment, their positions had changed. The young boy who had only been exploited for money, now jumped to the position to use those around him with money.
The young boy, who had transformed from a chrysalis to a butterfly, gripped the hammer and yelled once more, as though proclaiming his existence to himself rather than the people around him.
“Starting today, I am the boss of Heavens Slave! If you got a problem with it, I’ll pay you to shut up!”
There was a legend of a demon sword known as Saika that existed in Shinjuku long ago. The demon blade’s nature was to love humans, and it was said it had appeared in modern time when it was discovered by American military forces on the black market some time after World War II took place. A strange legend left behind depicted the sword was sealed by a sentient bamboo spear after they had a deathmatch, and it had vanished into the void once more. However, there were people knowledgeable of ‘situations beyond the norm,’ starting with the Headless Rider, and viewed its existence as common knowledge.
The demon blade, Saika, was a being disregarded by modern science and the laws of physics just like the Headless Rider was that had a female personality and lived off a human host. She would pour out words of love in mass to those who used her and instructed them to, ‘love humans and produce more children.’ Those people would be taken over by the demon blade, brainwashed by its words, and would try to pass on the troth of love to other human beings.
Hearing that alone may give the impression the demon blade was harmless enough, except the issue was how the blade Saika expressed its love through physical contact. Its blade slicing into someone’s flesh and spilling their blood was how it ultimately expressed its love. Saika perceived the act as similar to having sexual intercourse. And that action infected the victim with the curse of its words of love, making them revere the wielder of the sword as their ‘mother’ and be puppeteered under their will.
Those cut were called ‘children,’ and a ‘child’ could wield scissors or kitchen knives as a medium to murmur words of love to others. Anyone cut by ‘children’ would produce ‘grandchildren,’ and the ‘mother’ was capable of spreading the curse (love) to the world at large by using that linkage under their sole wish.
However, among the children and grandchildren, there were sometimes people who could escape their mother’s control through sheer power of will. Or rather, even if they had Saika dwell within them, there were some who rejected the curse for some reason or another, whether that would be a rare force of will, a unique mental fortitude, or if the wielder was inhuman. Anyone with a human conscious that wielded Saika could be a threat in modern society, but in the present moment none of the owners of Saika in Ikebukuro had any ill intention or ambition to do harm.
For Anri Sonohara, she coexisted with Saika and had a remarkably unique case where she retained her own personality. Saika was a demon blade that lived off of humans and sung its love to the world - the very sin that its name derived from. The girl envied the demon blade and accepted it, and likewise she leeched off of Saika, allowing them to continue living in the world with this strange balance.
Except she had also gotten involved in meaningless trouble multiple times because she was with Saika. And sure enough, Anri was unable to even guess whether predicament brought to her this time was due to Saika or another matter.
♂♀
Anri realized what had happened when she went to the storehouse to restock the empty shelves after getting up early and having breakfast. The storage area was built behind the building that served as both a store and a home. The padlock was broken and the shelves and boxes were ransacked as though someone scrambled through them in search of something. Everything had been drawn out as the contents were scattered around on the ground.
Anri was relieved that nothing got destroyed or damaged, but she decided to call the police, realizing the state of the storage room could not be caused by an earthquake, after a few moments of hesitation.
She wavered not because she did anything wrong. Anri did not imagine the police would go after Saika, who laid dormant in her body. Her hesitation came from a slightly otherworldly reason.
Since the safe and her certificate of title was in the residential home, there were nothing but general merchandise in here. Estranged from the world, she simply thought she would just bother the police if she reported a small incident as this, given nothing big was damaged or stolen. It was not like she did not consider the rumors that would come out over the incident, but she realized she could not leave the situation as is, believing the robber may try to break into another home nearby if she did nothing.
And so, she reported to the police. The police cars had not been outside the building since her parents had died. Anri got asked numerous questions, but one in particular made her realize: she had no idea what had been stolen.
What was originally in the storage room after her parents’ deaths were items left unsorted, their value unknown. Although Anri had slowly gone through them and put prices on them, she had not finished registering all of items. And with the inside of the storage house in disarray as well as anything big was kept safe, it was difficult to evaluate the casualties.
“Hmm...I see. Please contact us when you know exactly what was taken. I believe the culprit might have taken small items that they believed would be good, unsure of their real value...but there is also the possibility they left without taking anything. There are people who would prefer not to steal anything to avoid getting charged for theft as well as breaking-and-entering.”
They had found new footprints besides Anri’s at the crime scene, and they had asked her if there was anyone else who would use the storage house, but it was primarily Anri. When she was preparing to open the shop, her high school classmates Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida as well as some acquaintances, Kadota and Erika, had helped out, but no one else had set foot into the place since then. They also found fingerprints on the padlock that were not Anri’s, but they had to put it through the database and investigate further to find a match.
Once the formal investigation was done, the police left in a hurry. Since a dangerous criminal was not involved and the general damage was left unclear, this case did not rank high on their priorities. Regardless, Anri was grateful that nearly ten officers came to investigate the scene and saw them take their leave, bowing politely in front of the shop.
Just then, she heard a voice from behind her.
“Hold on, did something happen? Sonohara-senpai.”
When she turned around, a boy with green hair stood there. He was Kuon Kotonami - one of the new students at Raira Academy who became a regular a few months ago.
“Yes. A robber broke in…”
Anri answered plainly, as though the incident happened to someone else.
“Wha-!? Are you alright!?”
“I don’t really know what was stolen...Ah...I’m sorry. I believe it will take me more time to open the shop.”
“Ah! No, no, don’t worry about it! I saw a post on the Ikebukuro network that mentioned there were police cars out in front of an antique shop nearby, and I came over wondering if it was your place!”
After he blurted out his straight-forward, inconsiderate reason for coming, Kuon then added.
“Still, I didn’t expect a cat burglar… They must have thought you’d have some big treasure like oban and koban coins or ceramics from the Edo era like what you see on antique appraisal shows since it’s an antique shop.”
“...”
“Oh geez, I didn’t mean to say you don’t have valuable stuff! Sorry.”
“Ah, it’s alright…”
Anri’s silence was not particularly due to being upset with Kuon’s comment. It was because he hit the mark.
The police had also questioned if she had an idea who the culprit could be, and she did have one ever since she discovered there was a robber. But she could not tell who it was to the police. There was no other reason for why except that it was related to Saika. After all, there was a strange man who wanted Saika yesterday evening.
“...I want to purchase Saika. As for payment...I have 5,000,000 yen for it.”
The exchange they had half a day ago replayed in Anri’s mind.
“And if you prefer, I’d settle with you even cutting me to make a child.”
“Saika...What is that?”
Anri tried to feign innocence, but the man with bandages wrapped around his face smiled wryly.
“You don’t need to play dumb. You should know that I’m not just window shopping if I came with that much information on it…”
“Where did you hear-...?”
“An acquaintance of mine was a child, and they broke free from their mother’s control. You don’t need to know more than that, right?”
“...!”
“...I suppose you don’t feel like selling it based off the look you’re giving me. Guess I should drop it then.”
Anri unconsciously spoke up as the young male went to leave.
“Please wait. Shouldn’t having you acquaintance cut you have the same-...”
“They’re gone. And they weren’t even half sane to begin with. Actually, I saw two of them, but either one was nuts.”
The man placed a hand on the door and remarked, turning around to face her.
“...I’ll be honest, I think you’re amazing to have a normal life as you do even though you have that power at your disposal. I’m not being sarcastic; I really do respect you.”
Recalling the young man who had left as mysterious as when he had appeared, Anri suspected he had something to do with the robbery. But the question remained: what was he trying to accomplish by committing a crime? Especially considering he had given up and went home.
He could have just threatened me by mentioning Saika. If he did, I may have cut him with Saika...But he did say he didn’t mind becoming a child…
If he was well-familiar with Saika, then he should fully be aware the blade would not be found even if he trashed the storage house in search for it.
But if he knew Saika could branch off to make more blades…
The more she thought on it, the more bagged down she felt, so Anri decided to turn her mind off of Saika for now. She first decided to consult with her guardian and her friends, starting with Mikado, to let them know what had happened.
Anri called her guardian first - roughly at the same time Kuon had sent a message to his friends in Snake Hands.
At the fence of a park a little ways from the storefront
There were two silhouettes that watched the activity at Sonohara Hall.
“...I didn’t expect my destination would be the same as yours. What a surprise.”
‘...Me too...That, um, you’re acquaintances with Anri-chan…’
“Hm. I more or less knew you were. I heard a girl looking like Anri dropped by Kishitani-sensei’s place a couple times a year or two ago. And then there’s the whole Mikado Ryuugamine deal.”
‘Sorry…’
Based from the information she got when she reunited with her head at the Dollars event, she more or less learned of the connection Akabayashi and Anri had. But since Anri did not seem to know Akabayashi was a yakuza member, she could not talk with Akabayashi in her presence.
“I feel guilty hiding things from her, but she still believes I’m a crab wholesaler. Once that shop gets more on track, I’ll talk to her and keep my distance more. If people were to learn there’s a yakuza member backing her, they may suspect her without cause.”
Akabayashi smiled bitterly. Celty replied, nodding in complete agreement.
‘It’s alright. She won’t hear it from me.’
“Thank you, courier-san.”
There was movement in front of the shop as they conversed. A van Celty recognized parked out front, and she saw two familiar faces come out from inside it.
That’s...Yahiro-kun!? And...umm...the driver guy for Kadota and his friends. The Ruri fan?
Ah, that’s right. Yahiro must have gotten the message too.
The doors to Sonohara Hall opened for them as they rushed out of the van. But the one who greeted them in was not Anri but Kuon. After the police had left, he seemed to have swung by out of curiosity and stayed in the shop.
He’s as nosy as ever.
Celty, knowing Kuon’s nature, imagined he was trying to get anything on the robber for an article.
Just as she considered to stop him before he caused trouble for Anri, Akabayashi muttered next to her, voice devoid of emotion.
“I feel like I’ve seen that green-haired kid before.”
‘...!? Oh, it’s alright! Anri-chan has Mikado-kun! Besides, despite his appearance, that green-haired boy isn’t a scoundrel, probably.’
“That said, Mikado-kun worries me too, you know? I am at least somewhat relieved that he has completely drew out of the underground though. But that wasn’t what I was getting at…”
Akabayashi fidgeted on his cell phone as he spoke and brought up a video on the screen.
“He’s probably this kid, right?”
On it was footage Celty had seen on the internet numerous times before. It was taken afar and was blurry, but the scene was a boy picking a fight with Shizuo Heiwajima to save a green haired boy.
…
“Based off your reaction just now, you do know that green-haired kid…”
Huh? Did I just dig a hole for myself!?
A chill went through Celty. Akabayashi placed a hand on her shoulder and smirked with a sharp glint in his eye.
“I would appreciate it if you would explain everything to me from the beginning, courier-san.”
♂♀
At about the same time, in front of Kishimojindo Temple, Ikebukuro
“Hey, Shijima-san, Shijima-san! Is Kishimojindo a Shinto shrine? Or a Buddhist shrine? Which is it?”
An innocent voice unfitting to the owner’s tall figure echoed over the stone paving at the Kishimojindo shrine.
“Worshiping a god means it’s a Shinto shrine, right? But this place seems to be different from normal Shinto shrines I know of.”
Although tall, the brown skinned boy still had young facial traits. The person he was asking questions to was a man covered in bandages walking a few paces ahead of him.
“...Kishimonji is a goddess protecting Buddhism. So this is a Buddhist shrine.”
“But there are a ton of torii. My dad said if there are torii it’s a Shinto shrine, and if there aren’t any it’s a Buddhist shrine!”
“...The torii over there are part of the Takeyoshi Inari shrine to honor Inari-sama. Apparently they built a Buddhist shrine to honor Kishimojin on the land formerly known as the Inari forest.”
“So that’s it!”
After the dark-skinned boy nodded in awe, he chuckled to himself.
“...What’s so funny?”
“It’s funny a scoundrel like yourself would add the sama suffix to a god’s name.”
“...You’ll be punished if you phrase it otherwise.”
The man named Shijima had a small blush form under his cold eyes, embarrassed the other pointed that out. Unaware of the expression Shijima made, the boy walking behind him uttered words that should not be spoken out in a public space like this with an innocent smile.
“I believe you deserve to be punished for distributing drugs around here, Shijima-san.”
Shijima’s eyes narrowed as he replied.
“I’ve already received my punishment.”
He muttered to himself, his cold gaze filled with self-derision.
“But if I consider the things I’ve done, I guess I haven’t been punished enough as I’m still alive and moving about.”
Hiroto Shijima. He was born as a descendant of the Shijima Group - a great enterprise with huge authority in real estate. While he had a modest life, he had the tendency to look down on those around him and had spent his school life in boredom. That was until a man named Kumoi invited him to join a mutual aid association for legal drugs, interested in his assets and personal connections.
Kumoi was a strange man. He was not intimidating or charismatic, but his directions were strangely precise, surprising Shijima and the other members in the association. He reminded him of a top-notch game player controlling the board from a different perspective, creating more routes to sell drugs. And even after Kumoi had disappeared, Shijima kept chasing his shadow.
They shifted from selling legal drugs to illegal ones, and even as they made enemies with the Awakusu Group in the end, still he stepped further into the darkness instead of quitting.
“I was jealous of Kumoi-san even as I admired him. I wanted to stand in a higher position than Kumoi-san.”
Shijima continued to talk about his past indifferently after they exited the Kishimojin grounds, unconcerned of their surroundings.
“So I used Kumoi-san’s name to make the organization bigger, even planning to get rid of Kumoi-san if needed. But then Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group and Izaya Orihara put an end to all that. I didn’t intend to make light of him, but that Orihara guy was more dangerous than Kumoi-san.”
“Izaya Orihara. I heard that name before.”
“No one has seen him in Ikebukuro in two years. The last time I saw him he had a knife in his stomach and was on the verge of death. ...Anyway, I don’t really care if he’s alive or dead.”
“That’s unexpected of you. You’re pretty pessimistic, so I thought you resented him.”
“I do. But not Izaya Orihara. I resent society itself. ...No, maybe it’d be better to say the city Ikebukuro.”
“How come?”
“...Because they didn’t see me.”
“?”
The dark-skinned boy cocked his head to the side, smile still etched on his face.Shijima added indifferently.
“After Heavens Slave was destroyed, I got used by Izaya Orihara, Jinnai Yodogiri and Nasujima. I felt like I was used as an indispensable tool. So I gave into despair, and I considered trying to drag the boss of the Dollars down with me.”
“I heard about the Dollars before. But I haven’t heard of their end.”
“...Yeah, I made a mistake. The Dollars, Izaya Orihara, Yodogiri...and even the Headless Rider. To the people in this city, I was seen as someone dispensable. I was reminded I was just worthless trash no one would even take notice of.”
Shijima grit his teeth, hidden behind the bandages, recalling what had happened back then.
He had been close to the center of the incident, having gotten involved with the Dollars and the Slasher. But in the end, did he pay the price for the evil he had done?
The answer was no. He was simply left alone, and it ended without him doing anything. He did not get any form of punishment. The urban legend that had seized him, Nasujima who had showed him the irregular power that was Saika, Izaya Orihara who had been fighting the monster Shizuo Heiwajima to the death nearby, and bizarre creatures and gangs that overran the city, the color gangs, the Awakusu Group, and even the police did not do a single thing to him.
The moment he realized the truth others would consider to be fortunate, Shijima noticed the pride he thought had been crushed was not even partially destroyed. He was nothing more than a nobody among the masses of people. The sensation that he was unimportant against the large, turbid wave of truth and illusion the city Ikebukuro was engulfed by dominated his mind.
The small villain despaired. Not because he was lumped together with the people he had looked down upon until now. Believing he was nobody more than anyone else had taken away all his hope. And he could not even take someone down with him. That the man Hiroto Shijima was nothing more than a loser.
“I just want revenge. I don’t have any grand ambitions or solid plan for the future. I’m a bit biased towards the balance of the city, and all I want is the day to get back on the city. But I imagine the percentage of my head being lopped off is high before I can do that.”
After he had talked about himself he partially was deprecate to, Shijima asked the brown-skinned boy walking behind him.
“Are you okay with it, Jami? If you tag along with Earthworm and I, you’ll end up with a terrible fate.”
The boy named Jami responded with a nonchalant expression.
“I don’t really care. I knew from the start you were a tiny person.”
He then added, eyes slightly narrowing.
“I can’t go up against big shots. I enjoy hanging out with you though. I can knock myself out and not think of anything about it.”
“I’ll pick out plenty of guys for you to fight. I believe that’ll help overturn the city down the line.”
“But today’s target is a woman, right? I don’t like attacking or hitting women. Hey, can we not do that? That’s not cool to do no matter how much of a nobody you are, Shijima-san.”
“...Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”
Shijima frowned and turned to face the boy named Jami for the first time. When he did, he saw Jami was not walking on the street but on top of the fence alongside the road.
“What are you doing?”
“Practicing my balance! It’s quite fun. Should I try dancing up here?”
“Don’t do anything that makes you stand out.”
“As if a mummy-looking guy with bandages wrapped around his face can talk.”
Jami, while muttering complaints, nonetheless jumped back down to the ground.
“I think you stand out way more than I do.”
“I’m fine with that.”
After he made sure Jami began to walk on the path properly this time, Shijima faced forward once more and resumed their conversation.
“Anyway, I said we’re just going to check on a woman we should be weary of. I didn’t say we had to fight her...Well, to make it easy for you to comprehend, I suppose the fastest way would be her bearing hostility towards us…”
“Comprehend what now?”
Jami tilted his head to the side, confused. Jami replied.
“I’m saying there are beings who are beyond human understanding all over Ikebukuro.”
Shijima smiled fearlessly and went to turn a corner.
“...”
However, his body made a 180 just as he was about to take the corner and began to return the way they came, grabbing Jami by the shoulder.
“Eh? What is it? What’s wrong, Shijima-san?”
Shijima explained in a small voice as they turned back the way they came.
“Right now it doesn’t look good. I saw a pair we can’t come across.”
“?”
Jami quietly went to the corner and observed the scene ahead of him silently. There were two silhouettes conversing, hidden away at another corner. One was a man wearing tinted glasses and had a cane. The other was the Headless Rider he had seen in videos before.
“Whoa.”
Jami whistled and rushed back to Shijima, jumping in joy.
“Hey, hey! That’s the Headless Rider, right!? I know because I’ve seen it before in real life! I wonder if it’s really not human!”
“Yeah, it’s not human. What the hell is it doing here, walking around the city in broad daylight?”
Shijima expressed dispassionately, but after grinding his teeth a bit he strung together.
“The problem is the guy the Headless Rider is with.”
“Ah, the old man with the cane?”
“...He’s Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group. He’s the guy who ruined Heavens Slave I was a part of.”
“Ahh, so he’s a yakuza member! That’s okay. I’m not afraid of guns.”
Jami expressed which could only be perceived as overconfidence, but Shijima did not remark on that point and instead corrected him in another area.
“...Akabayashi doesn’t use guns. The terrifying aspect of him is a little different from most.”
Shijima quickened his pace, glancing back over his shoulder.
“Let’s pull out today. Picking a fight with Akabayashi who despises drugs is the first sign of bad luck. If he recognizes my face, he may beat me to death the moment he sees me.”
“I can go up against the yakuza, you know?”
“Yeah. You’re strong, so you’ll be fine. But I’m not like you; I’m weak. If the Headless Rider keeps you occupied when I attack, I have no means to win right now. And it’d be the same vice versa. The Headless Rider may not care about me, but it has no reason to let me go either. ...That said, do you want to have a fight soon?”
Shijima sighed. Jami nodded with an innocent smile.
“Yeah!”
“...Then maybe we should change our schedule a bit.”
Shijima spoke the name, annoyed, while dropping his cold gaze to the ground.
“Then how about we go see...Shizuo Heiwajima, who you’ve been dying to meet?”
♂♀
Hm?
Celty turned around, sensing something off, but no one was on the road.
“What’s wrong, courier-san?”
‘Ah, nothing. Sorry, pay no mind to it.’
What was that just now? I felt a strange presence.
She was curious, but it was not enough to ignore Akabayashi, so she decided to let it go for now.
“So you’re hanging out with high schoolers who are getting into trouble again.”
‘Not quite. They’re not making weird teams like back then with Mikado-kun...I do think being a Jack of all trades for high schoolers is pretty dangerous, but they probably would have crossed the bridge into dangerous territory even without my involvement. So I figured it would be better to be able to stop them when needed…’
“I do get how you feel. I know you’re not the type to hurt or stop high schoolers by force. But for me, I don’t want them getting close to Anri-chan too much and bring their problems with them. I’d appreciate it if you’d be on the lookout for at least that.”
‘Yeah, I’ll do as much as I can.’
Ah, I feel like I just accepted an extremely insane request. But if I said that, Akabayashi-san would become the most dangerous here…
“Don’t look so upset. I know I’m the most troublesome misfit out there. Doing as much as you can is reasonable to me.”
Is he an esper!? What the heck!? Can people from the Awakusu Group see the face I don’t have!?
‘I also consider Anri-chan as a friend. I don’t want to drag a friend into anything dangerous.’
“...Is that so? Then I can’t have you undertake much dangerous jobs from now on like transporting explosives or someone’s organs.”
‘Have the items I’ve transported until now for you been those!?’
“No. I was joking.”
Akabayashi chuckled.
Celty slumped in relief as Akabayashi turned to face Sohohara Hall and added plainly.
“I transport anything of that nature myself.”
…
Celty let the comment slide, believing it was a joke, and decided to look over at Sonohara Hall wordlessly.
“Still, I suppose I can’t show my face in front of high schoolers. I’ll go when they leave the stop.”
‘Alright. Then I’ll go at a different time. It’d be weird if we both see her at the same time.’
After leaving Akabayashi, Celty returned to where Shooter was and searched for the presence she had sensed while riding him slowly around the area.
Hmm, that odd presence from earlier is gone.
She thought back on the strange being she had felt earlier.
It wasn’t a type of fairy, but it didn’t feel like a normal human either… It felt similar to Kujiragi, but it was a little different from her…
Celty looked around the area, recalling the woman who had a mix of human and inhumane blood and was her former rival in love. As she was doing so, she noticed a presence approaching her and turned her focus towards it.
That’s right; Kujiragi’s aura felt like this.
……W-wait what?
Ahead where Celty’s attention was pulled, a calm and collected, bespectacled woman was on the sidewalk. The woman had been involved in the chaos in Ikebukuro a while ago and had also tried to snatch Shinra from her - Kasane Kujiragi.
‘Ku-Kujiragi…?’
If Celty had a head, her mouth would be gaping open in shock. Celty shook. Kujiragi bowed systematically with an expressionless look.
“...It has been awhile, Celty-san.”
And then even as she raised her head her expression remained unchanged, and Kujiragi asked diplomatically in a way to stir up Celty’s emotions.
“I am glad to see you are well. And how is Shinra Kishitani-san doing?”
♂♀
In the shop Sonohara Hall
“Then you don’t know what was stolen?”
Anri nodded to Himeka Tatsugami’s question, conflicted.
“Yes...If it was an item I had logged since I opened the shop, I would know… But the products left in the storehouse have not been touched since my father ran the shop…”
“So maybe there is some amazing treasure tucked away back there. Like an antique left behind from a family member the last owner didn’t know about, or a treasure map…”
“Kotonami-kun, read the situation.”
“Ow-ow-ow. Stop, you’re going to make the holes in my ears bigger!”
Yahiro spoke to Anri in place of Kuon, who was having his ears pulled by Himeka behind him.
“Anyway, I am glad to hear that you are alright.”
Seeing Yahiro’s slightly relieved expression, Anri gently smiled at him.
“Thank you. I’m sorry I made regular customers such as yourselves to needlessly worry over me…”
Anri looked over at the three once more as she said this.
Himeka, Yahiro, and Kuon all had a common trait of being unable to show their feelings on their faces, but Anri recognized their differences. Yahiro was simply not accustomed to express his emotions. He would look troubled when something was bothering him and smile when he was happy, but even then he appeared to be inexperienced in expressing those emotions. In Himeka’s case, she was the type of person with an incredibly strong mental fortitude. Although she did not get agitated easily, she would rarely smile or look surprised. In Kuon’s case, he had an abundance of expressions, but he gave Anri the impression that he overdid it to hide his true feelings.
Kotonami-kun is like Kida-kun, and Tatsugami-san is similar to Saki-chan.
As she recalled her close friends, she suddenly remembered another ‘expressionless’ person.
Kujiragi-san is stone-faced as well...but I feel she’s different somehow. Why is she so robotic? I can only tell she’s happy by going off her word choice though…
♂♀
On a street in Ikebukuro
‘What do you expect with, “how’s Shinra-san?” Do you think I’d tell you!?’
“No, I am an enemy to you, so I do not anticipate an answer. But I can state I asked without any intention to provoke you, as my question on how Shinra Kishitani-san was doing was out of pure interest.”
‘No, no, no! You actually have the gall to come up to me!? I thought you wouldn’t set foot in Ikebukuro again after everything!’
Celty got off Shooter and sauntered up to Kujiragi, seizing her by the collar and shoving her smartphone screen to her face. However, the other woman did not show any fear and responded in an aloof tone, warding off her anger.
“The opportunities for me to visit Ikebukuro have certainly decreased, but I do come by to carry out business deals at Sonohara Hall or to do costume fittings with Glasses Boys - the Double Shotgun.”
‘Glasses...what now?’
Kujiragi recited the name of the group she had mentioned articulately for the bewildered Celty.
“...Glasses Boys - the Double Shotgun. They are a sublime group organized by lady Eternal de Charmante that is devoted to escape the husks which contained our self and descend into a new persona.”
‘What on earth are you talking about!? Just when I thought you intended to sell me out, you got into drugs instead!? ...And hold on. Eternal who?’
“Lady Eternal de Charmante.”
Celty pondered over the royal-like name that sounded like it had came from a video game.
I’ve heard of that name before...Where was it from…? I believe it was on a video site…
After thinking over it for a few moments, her friend wearing all black came to her mind.
‘Isn’t that Karisawa’s handle name!?’
“It is. It also serves as lady Erika Karisawa’s cosplayer name. On that note, my cosplayer name is ‘School Girl Cat.’ School is written in katakana, and the characters for ‘girl’ and ‘cat’ are read together as ‘nyan nyan,’ so please advice. It is not ‘cat girl’ but ‘girl cat.’”
Kujiragi explained as she took out the card for the cosplayer circle.
Celty took the card and typed while trembling in anger.
‘I really could care less! Ahh, this is so ridiculous that I can’t wrap my head around it! And you’re not at the age to be a schoolgirl to begin with! Though I guess there are those that go back to school at an older age!’
“Please do not misunderstand. Lady Erika Karisawa who had given me this name said ‘school’ did not stand for ‘a school.’ It derived from the words ‘honest’ and ‘cool.’ Originally it was written with the kanji for ‘principle’ and the English word ‘cool,’ and was read as Su-cool.”
‘I really do not care!’
After Celty typed her response out as though yelling, she showed Kujiragi the next few sentences she had written in rage.
‘Ah damn! I was just thinking it was all a ruse since last evening, but how is it the only people who act like proper adults around me are the Awakusu-Group!?’
“So anyway, how is Shinra Kishitani-san?”
‘Listen to what I’m saying!’
For the next solid minute, the two women engaged in combat, Celty using her shadows to try and bind her opponent while Kujiragi used her inhumane abilities and mysterious tools to evade her attacks. But upon noticing a crowd of spectators begin to form, Celty’s shoulders heaved as though taking in a deep breath before suggesting.
‘...Anyway, how about we relocate?’
“Understood. I did not come here today to fight you. Besides, I am wanted by the Awakusu Group… I saw you earlier, but I could not reveal myself while Mizuki Akabayashi was present.”
Seeing Kujiragi put away the numerous gadgets somewhere, Celty turned her smartphone towards her, exasperated.
‘...So you have enough self-awareness to realize you’re being hunted down.’
♂♀
Sonohara Hall
Togusa, who had tagged along with Yahiro, saw the high schoolers discussing something in a corner of the shop and quietly approached Anri to speak with her.
“Hey, miss. They don’t know about that, right? About the katana.”
Togusa asked in a low voice. Anri gave a slight nod.
“Yes, I don’t believe...they know. I don’t think Mikado-kun had talked about it either…”
“Ah, I see. They know Karisawa and Yumasaki though, so if they spill the beans, I’m sorry. But they can read the situation, so I don’t imagine they will.”
“I was surprised to learn you’re acquaintances with Yahiro-kun as well, Togusa-san.”
“...Ah, you remembered my name.”
Togusa, who had thought he was just remembered as ‘the driver,’ felt human warmth for the first time in a while.
“?”
“Ah, sorry, it’s nothing. Anyway, the other two don’t know her well, but Yahiro is friends with Celty, and I see him like a little brother, so I’ve looked after him.”
“Yes, I can see it.”
“What? You knew about it?”
Togusa shrugged, but Anri smiled silently in response.
Anri had heard about Yahiro from Mikado and heard there was a big possibility he knew Celty, but upon hearing that he was also friends with Togusa and Karisawa, Anri was shocked once again of how small the world was.
Maybe he had sensed her thoughts, Togusa stated.
“Anyway, if something happens, sir Kadota, Karisawa, and Yumasaki will all rush over here. If there’s anything we can do, just say the word.”
“...! Thank you…”
On one hand Anri thought it was inexcusable to make so many people worry, but on the other she was happy she was living in the same city as the kind hearted people who keep her on their minds. There was a period of time she had believed Saika’s curse would only bring misfortune in her life, but when strife came she happened to meet very kind people starting with Celty. Anri was grateful to have met them and was convinced she had to return a favor to them and Saika. Even as the words of love rang through her head as always.
Just then, the high schoolers who had been discussing something until then approached her.
“Sonohara-senpai, is there anything you want us to help you with?”
“Eh?”
Anri’s eyes widened in surprise at Kuon’s question.
“You’ve sold things to us for cheap because we’re your juniors, right? We actually do expressman-like work as a part-time job. So to return the favor, please have us do something. We can make this especially free for the occasion, and we can even stand guard outside the shop tonight if you want.”
“Kuon, I think it’s rude to phrase it like you’re selling a favor…”
Yahiro quickly went to stop Kuon and took over what he was saying.
“Umm, sorry. It also frightens me knowing there’s a thief somewhere in this city, and I was wondering if we could help you catch the criminal..”
“Ah...No, you don’t have to. It’s alright. I’m leaving it to the police to take care of…”
Anri turned down their offer, not wanting to get high schoolers involved, but the green-haired boy with piercings chimed in, desperately suppressing a smile but his eyes gleaming as though they spotted prey of their interest.
“But isn’t it more terrifying that nothing might have been taken? If they have a goal in mind, then they may come back, you know? Ow-ow-ow! My ears! The holes in them!”
“Why would you say something to alarm her…?”
Yahiro and Himeka both pulled at both of Kuon’s ears.
Beside them, Togusa sighed and whispered into Anri’s ear.
“Ahh...you see, I’d say Yahiro is about the same type of person as Celty or is the type to get into other people’s affairs, so they might try to do something even if you tell them otherwise like a vigilante committee. I think they’ll be satisfied doing any small task you give them.”
“But...Hmm.”
Even so, she could not let them go searching for a thief. After Anri pondered for a few moments, she decided to task the expressmen group Snake Hands with a job.
“Then how about this...could you help me clean up the storehouse?”
♂♀
On a road in front of the shop
Akabayashi cocked his head after observing the activity in the vicinity for a couple of minutes.
“Hm? The students still haven’t come out…”
Just then, he received a phone call. When he looked at the screen, he saw it was from a member of Jan-Jaka-Jan - a gang working for him.
“Yes, it’s me. ...Ah, yeah…...Okay.”
After they exchanged a couple of words, he gave them further instructions before hanging up. He then tapped his cane against his shoulder and sighed while looking up at the sky.
“I see...So the guys in Heavens Slave teamed up with those foreign visitors.”
He considered laughing, but in the next moment Akabayashi’s eyes narrowed and he whispered.
“Your gramps and dad won’t be able to cover you much longer, Hiroto Shijima-kun.”
♂♀
A certain place in Ikebukuro
Just as Akabayashi muttered those words-
“That’s Shizuo Heiwajima.”
Hiroto Shijima was near the very personification of violence which no amount of authority could protect him from.
“He’s the blond one wearing sunglasses.”
Shijima pointed to the duo who just exited a building with his chin. Jami whistled.
“Wow, he really does look like a bartender! How come?”
“As if I’d know. Maybe he just likes bartender clothes.”
“Alright, I’m gonna go pick a fight with him.”
“Ah, hey, we should observe them a bit-...”
Seeing Jami take off without heeding him, Shijima clicked his tongue.
“Damn, guess I won’t be able to use him for a while...Hope he doesn’t die, at any rate.”
While Shijima sighed in one regard, he held a slight interest in another. If the monster Snake Hands could put up a decent fight against Shizuo, then how well could Jami fight Shizuo?
Shijima shrugged, unable to predict it off of evaluations, and thought back to when he first met Jami.
♂♀
A few months ago
Somewhere in the city at an underground casino.
“...So you can’t use it? Saika’s power.”
“I can’t. The thing in me...what would you call it? Anyway, I don’t have any memory of when I was controlled. It’s frustrating, but I guess we’ll have to look for the woman who cut me, that Niekawa girl.”
“Why would I? The real Saika is apparently in this city. We’ll find it eventually.”
The two conversing with each other were Shijima and the leader of his former enemy organization Amphisbaena - Earthworm. Earthworm had been under the control of Saika and was manipulated by someone else, and by the time she was released from their control she had lost everything. She was found by Shijima when she was wandering along the roadside, and she teamed up with him, partially for protection, which lead them to the present.
Although they did not have as large of support as they did back then, Earthworm used her knowledge to open up another illegal underground casino in a different part of Ikebukuro. They did not use IC chips like before, and instead acquired new clients through the internet for more betting.
Shijima, having decided it was about time for gangs nearby to be looking for them, dropped by the casino to give Earthworm instructions, but as they were discussing Saika they heard something shatter from the casino room.
“We asked to bring out the person responsible, and yet you treat us like this too? You do know what that means, right?”
He was apparently one step behind, and a few members of a local gang barged inside the place. The most intelligent-looking man of the group quietly threatened the card dealer with five other intimidating men accompanying him.
“Well look here. I expected after opening our doors two to three times this would happen, but news traveled faster than I anticipated.”
Earthworm sighed in annoyance, watching the activity in the casino room from the mirror.
“Can you do something about them?”
“If they all don’t have guns. But if there are others waiting outside, that could be an issue.”
“I see… Well, since you’re the one responsible, I’ll leave this to you… Hm?”
Earthworm shrugged in response, and as she went to confirm the situation outside with her subordinates Shijima noticed something abnormal in the corner of the casino. A man had won at a roulette table in a dark corner of the place when he abruptly took a strange course of action. The man briskly walked up to the frightening men, while the other customers watched the scene at a distance in fear. The man then struck one of the men against the back of the head with a wine bottle he had acquired at some point. There was a dull thud, and the threatening man collapsed without a moment to yell.
Shijima caught sight of the action. He knew at a glance that the man was not just being reckless. It was because the man had moved into half of the men’s blindspot and struck them with the wine bottle before they took notice of him. When the men turned around, hearing the noise, they were promptly knocked unconscious, having been hit in the temple, chin, and nose with the wine bottle.
“!? What the he-...”
The intellectual man, who had sensed the abnormality, was punched right between the eyes by the attacker before he could even see their face.
“...Gargh…”
The man collapsed, foam forming at the mouth and his upper body seizing.
The dealer and clients watched dumbfounded as the other man walked over to the woman beside Earthworm and asked as though nothing had happened.
“Hey miss, do you have orange juice?”
The man held out the very bottle he used to knock out the six men, smiling innocently like a young child.
“I’m underage, so I can’t have alcohol!”
♂♀
“The possibility he’s stronger than Shizuo Heiwajima is…?”
In just a few seconds, six men who lived with violence had been knocked out. Shijima thought of the percentage rate Jami would have against him, recalling his valor when he had first met him.
But he smiled wryly, hanging his head at the obvious conclusion.
“He doesn’t have a chance.”
He then looked up again and went to check on what happened to the new martial legend he had acquired, Jami. However, Jami had vanished in the next second.
“...?”
In Shijima’s field of vision, he saw Shizuo Heiwajima turn around in his direction. Feeling like he was being looked at, he was weary, wondering what had happened when someone had grabbed his shoulder.
“...!”
The first person who came to mind was Akabayashi from the Awakusu Group, and he had spun around swiftly, nervous he was going to be there.
“Ahhh, ahhh!”
But it was Jami, pale and trembling in fear.
“...?”
Shijima did not understand. Why was he behind him? When he had vanished, had he actually been sent flying back here in a moment’s notice? If he had picked a fight with Shizuo Heiwajima, then that was plausible.
But he did not have any bruises on his face or had his clothes dirtied up. Shijima tilted his head in wonder when Jami pulled at the hem of his clothes, still pale and trembling with an innocent smile on his face.
“N-n-n-not good, not good, not good. He is seriously bad news, Shijima-san.”
“...Did you already get hit?”
He did not see any wounds on his face, so maybe he did take a punch that caused him to form trauma instantaneously. He voiced the question on his mind, but Jami merely shook his head left and right while smiling.
“Oh no, no, no. If I got hit that would have been the end of me, Shijima-san. Whoa, that was close. Just what is that? It doesn’t seem to be on the same page as a monster or a human. That guy’s like in that category of ‘something’ where he can beat down weaker monsters with ease.”
Although he kept a bright and happy smile on his face, he was covered in cold sweat.
It’s like he is a gone on inferior drugs.
Shijima observed, no longer caring about the question on how Jami got behind him when he was in front of Shizuo just seconds ago.
“...What was that?”
“Don’t know...Was that a promotion to join a combat gym?”
Meanwhile, Shizuo Heiwajima and Tom Tanaka tilted their head, bewildered by the scene they had just witnessed.
A voice had abruptly called out to them, yelling, ‘hey, Shizuo Heiwajima-san!’ They turned around to see what it was, and the moment their eyes met with Shizuo’s, a brown-skinned boy froze momentarily before he had leapt away like a puppet on a spring the second after. Just as his feet touched the wall of the building, he skillfully placed his feet against the concave surface and seemed to defy gravity, running along the wall and jumping off of it.
It was a feat accomplished in a moment, and if anyone had not paid close attention they would have felt like the man had simply vanished. More than ten meters away, they saw the man hide behind another man with bandages wrapped around his face.
“...Or maybe an invitation to join the circus? They have shows where the physically strong tear off chains.”
“Ahh, I don’t really like jobs where I have to go out in front of people…”
“Anyway, I don’t really know...Maybe they got some urgent business to take care of, so want to try talking to them?”
“Yeah.”
Prompted by Tom, Shizuo turned to the two men and took a step forward.
“He’s coming! He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming over here, Shijima-san! At this rate, you and I will die. It’ll be boring if you die, and I’m no good with that Earthworm lady, so let’s get out of here!”
Jami rambled excitingly while terrified, as though manic like a portion of the characters in horror films.
“Hey, calm down, don’t drag me into-...”
Just as Shijima was about to complain to him, he suddenly felt himself floating.
“Come on, let’s run! We’re getting out of here, Shijima-san! Sorry if I drop you!”
“Wha-, wai-, hey!”
Jami did not listen to Shijima’s protests when he had hefted him up and dashed off at an athlete's speed through the city while carrying one person.
Shizuo and Tom, left behind, cocked their heads and exchanged glances.
“...What was that…?”
“Don’t know…”
♂♀
In the back of an alleyway
“Haa, haa…haha...hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Man, that was so scary but fun, wasn’t it? Shijima-san! That was amazing! I’ve never had a thrill like that even on roller coaster rides and in haunted houses!”
“Alright, just put me down already.”
Shijima ordered with a cold gaze from where he was strung over his shoulder.
“Ah, sorry, Shijima-san! But you sure are light. If you took a punch from Shizuo-san, you would have been dead. That’s terrifying!”
“...What happened? Why did you suddenly run away from him?”
“You see, I was planning to call out to him and then give him a punch. But the moment that Shizuo guy turned around, our eyes met. And then I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“Yeah, that um, it’s the other name for ‘revolving lantern’ ...What expression is it?”
Jami rambled enthusiastically, adding gestures to describe the item. Shijima told him, sighing.
“You mean you saw your life flash before your eyes?”
“Yeah! That!”
“...On that note, you decorate your room with revolving lanterns? That’s an odd taste of style.”
“Revolving lanterns are pretty...Anyway, that’s besides the point; I just knew it when our eyes met. ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna die!’ was the thought that went through my head. I got goosebumps all over, and before I knew it I was running alongside the wall!”
So he’s saying, ‘I got scared just by meeting his gaze?’ Then why is he talking so excitingly about it?
Jami spun around, eyes bright while Shijima cocked his head, bewildered by him.
“This city is amazing, Shijima-san! I’m so glad I dropped by!”
“You were having fun with Snake Hands, so why’d you run away from Shizuo?”
“Their nature is different! Snake Hands is really dangerous like a snake and there’s worth in beating him, but that Shizuo guy is terrifying like a bomb. It’s not a matter of being able to fight him.”
And then, Jami stated while examining his palm, recalling enigma known as Snake Hands he had briefly fought the other day.
“That guy. That strange being faced me with killing intent so happily.”
Jami smiled once more, stating something both peculiar and insane.
“So if I were to get in a fist fight with anyone, I’d rather go up against him.”
♂♀
In the store house in Sonohara Hall
“...”
Himeka called out to Yahiro, seeing him stare at his palm silently.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, I cut my finger a little.”
Yahiro had scraped against a splinter on the shelf as he was cleaning, and blood seeped out from the tip of his finger.
“Are you alright? I have band aids. Do you need them?”
“No, I’m alright. It’ll stop bleeding soon.”
Yahiro stated unconcerned.
He pressed down on the wound with another finger for a few seconds, and although it did not disappear the bleeding had ceased entirely.
“See?”
“...I’m shocked. You heal quickly.”
“I got hurt often ever since I was young…”
“I don’t think that would be the reason for it.”
Himeka was going to add more, but upon seeing the numerous scars on the back of Yahiro’s hand, she ended up not saying anything under the assumption it would be better to not touch him. She had already heard he had received those scars from when he had punched other people, but nonetheless they were not pleasant memories.
She made up her mind and decided to continue cleaning up.
“Ah, you’ve done more than enough.”
Anri told them from the entrance of the store house.
Although the place had been ransacked, since nothing had really been destroyed most of the items that fell were put back on the shelves in just thirty minutes. It was not like the items were organized orderly by genre from the start, so just cleaning up enough to be able to walk down the storehouse aisles seemed to be satisfactory to her.
“I am really grateful. I feel like it’s cleaner than it was before.”
The Raira Academy graduate bowed her head. Yahiro could not help but feel they had not done enough despite her words of thanks.
Next to Yahiro, Kuon asked Anri.
“So how about it? We cleaned up, but you still don’t know what was taken?”
“Yes...There was a lot of items that were left in the boxes untouched...There are items I’ve only seen for the first time today. So I can’t exactly tell for certain what could have been taken…”
“I get it. Sorry we couldn’t help in that regard.”
“No, it’s alright. You three helped tremendously.”
Anri examined the storehouse and told the high schoolers with a gentle smile.
“It may not quite compensate for part-time work, but if you would like, I’ll give you something from the storehouse, so please take one item.”
“Whaa-!? That sounds like a bad practice!”
So Kuon had exclaimed, but his face clearly expressed his true thoughts, ‘what? Lucky!’
Yahiro and Himeka, after seeing his expression from the side, exchanged worried glances.
“We didn’t really expect…”
Yahiro went to refuse the offer, but Togusa spoke up from the entrance of the storehouse.
“Go ahead and take something. You’re high schoolers; you don’t have to hold back.”
“Saburo-san. Where have you been until now?”
“Ahh, it seemed like it would’ve taken you guys a while, so I moved the van to a nearby parking lot. But that’s beside the point. Don’t just settle for being a volunteer. Accept the form of compensation for your work. Anri-chan won’t feel guilty for taking precious time away from high schoolers and have them work for free if you do, so everyone will be happy, right?”
“But...we don’t know the values of each one…”
Anri reassured the troubled Yahiro.
“Ah...please don’t worry about that if that’s your concern. Everything I stock is cheap… Even the items that were in the storehouse before I took over should not affect me even without the price on them. I’d even say the items here I can’t use.”
“I see...then…”
Yahiro looked over to Himeka again and they both nodded.
The three of them looked at the shelves in the storehouse and pondered what to get. Yahiro was searching for anything that would not hinder Sonohara-senpai if he got it for free, Himeka looked for anything practical, while Kuon kept scavenging for anything he could resell and make a profit off of or a curio he could use on his blog to earn money.
After a few minutes, they each chose an item and showed them to Anri. Kuon had an old-looking Hakone craft. Himeka took a fountain pen that came in a small paulownia wood box. And Yahiro chose a large shark tooth fossil which he could not tell if it was real or plastic.
“So I did have items like these...I definitely should make a log…”
Anri muttered to herself as she happily handed all the items over to the three students.
“Is it really alright for us to take them? These look like they’d have a lot of value…”
Himeka asked apologetically, but Anri merely replied.
“It’s fine. I didn’t plan on putting these items up for sale originally, and I believe these children would rather have someone use them or be used as decorations. Please take care of them.”
Anri gave them a warm, saintly smile, referring the antiques as ‘children.’
“Sonohara-senpai…”
“Thank you! We’ll take good care of them!”
The high schoolers were overjoyed and each expressed their thanks.
“...”
Except Kuon was the only one who had shifty eyes, thoroughly excited to confirm the contents in the Hakone box and resell it. And although Yahiro and Himeka saw through Kuon’s intentions, they decided to not speak up about it. It was because even if they criticized him here and now, they knew they could not change his lifestyle.
♂♀
At a park somewhere in Ikebukuro
‘So, why were you there?’
“I was informed by a mole in the police that an incident happened at Sonohara Hall, which I do business at, and came to see what happened. And when I arrived, I caught sight of you in Ikebukuro after nearly a half year.”
To avoid encountering Akabayashi, Celty and Kujiragi sat down on a bench at a park further away to attempt at conversation again.
‘If I’m being honest, I have no idea what goes through your head. Aren’t you being pursued by the police too?’
“I am. I am seen as an accomplice in the serial killing case. The main offender is Jinnai Yodogiri while I am suspected of assisting in his escape.”
‘Did you do it?’
“No. However, I do not mind either way. I had it set up that way. But I am not obligated to tell you the reason why.”
Celty wrote after a bit of thought.
‘Alright...I’m glad to hear it.’
“Of what?”
Celty plainly answered.
‘I’m glad someone who fell for Shinra and who is good friends with Karisawa and Anri isn’t so much of a miscreant to commit murder.’
“I question your logic. I am a villain, and the true culprit may be a good person who just has certain circumstances.”
‘Yeah...I suppose so. You may break the law, but I don’t have a say on this as this applies to me as well...I made assumptions even though I don’t know the real culprit. I’m sorry.’
“How come you are apologizing?”
When Kujiragi questioned her, puzzled, Celty bluntly put her thoughts to words.
‘If you’re covering for the real culprit, then they’re an acquaintance of yours, right? Sorry I called you a miscreant without knowing the details.’
“...I am surprised. You are more credulous than I expected.”
‘I’m not. I’m still mad over you kidnapping Shinra.’
Celty leaned towards Kujiragi to show her the message, yet Kujiragi stated apathetically.
“...I will not apologize for what I did nor do I regret it. But likewise, I do not deny you from criticizing me or punishing me. Please, scold me as much as you would like.”
‘...No, what’s done is done. But I will answer your question from earlier.’
“My question?”
‘Shinra is doing extremely well. Even more so now than ever. He goes on about how much fun he has with me and smiles everyday.’
Celty made sarcastic remarks to answer her first question on how Shinra was doing.
“...I will correct myself. You are a bit unkind.”
‘Not a bit. I’m telling you, “serves you right!” Can’t you be a little more bitter about it?’
Celty sensed a faint smile from Kujiragi and wrote back in dissatisfaction.
‘Ah no, I’m acting like an annoying girl in romance movies boasting about her boyfriend! ...Well, whatever. Shinra is fine. He’s doing well now since you’ve lent him Saika. Staying mad with you is stupid, so I’ll quit it there. ...But let me warn you, if you get yourself caught you better not cause trouble for Karisawa and Anri-chan.’
“Rest assured. As I have mentioned, I have a pawn within the police who supplies me with information.”
‘Pawn…? Shinra has your Saika right now, so how-?’
Celty tilted her helmet to the side, but Kujiragi answered as she glanced over to a cat near their bench.
“I have other means to manipulate people how I want even without Saika.”
‘So I did get the miscreant vibe from you right… You have a ton more things like Saika then…?’
Celty then recalled something and asked the other for confirmation.
‘That reminds me, back during that phantom killer mess, Shinra said some enchanted mallet called Bannanjin had something to do with it, but don’t tell me that can control people too.’
“You are well informed. As expected of Shinra Kishitani-san.”
‘...? What do you mean?’
“I had that cursed mallet in my possession until recently. Right now I have left it in the storehouse at Sonohara Hall.”
Celty typed in large font to emphasize yelling when Kujiragi dropped a huge revelation so casually.
‘What!? Why’s it at Anri’s place!?’
“It was a form of apology for causing her trouble with Saika. Unlike the usual compensation for our deals, I have left numerous items I use in the storehouse without notice.”
‘Why didn’t you tell her!?’
“She is the type of person to refuse to accept something free of charge, correct? I made them all seem like they have always been there, so it should not raise any issues.”
Celty braced a hand against her helmet in place of her missing head.
‘That’s not the issue! And I had just told you to not give her any problems! I heard the cursed mallet possesses people and amplifies their desires! Why would you leave such a dangerous item…’
Celty protested, but Kujiragi’s eyes narrowed as she shook her head minutely.
“That information is incorrect. Bannanjin is a cursed mallet that does not have a will of its own, unlike Saika. The mallet was made by a craftsman post-Edo era, which was based off the hammer the western artist and smith, Carnald Strassburg, had made.”
‘Wha-?’
“Although it was based off of Carnald Strassburg’s original work...the superb grip, which creates a sense of incentive from its roughness, and the visual patterns on the hammer have a hypnotic effect on the wielder. People must have seen the change in behavior and spread rumors that the cursed hammer possessed people. Someone thick-skinned could hold the object and experience no change.”
After giving a brief explanation, Kujiragi added, gazing at the cat at her feet expressionlessly.
“If a stunted human who is sensitive and cowardly by nature wielded it, the effect on them would double. The gap from their normal self would be so grand, I suppose it would be naturally for people to assume they are possessed.”
♂♀
At a rental office somewhere in Saitama prefecture
Yukihiko Natsugawara was not blessed with much talent. Talent was not everything in the world though, and there may be something for him if he looked, but at the very least he still had not found what ‘that’ was.
He grew up in an environment as the son of a multi-millionaire, and if he had sincerely put in the effort his upbringing could have helped him achieve better results in his studies and physical activity compared to the average person, but instead he had chose to lay back ever since he was little, mistaken he would become successful without making any effort.
However, the cog began to spin off the moment his father took in an adopted child. His younger brother had a strong desire to improve and had excelled more than him in all areas. He shunned his brother and tried to pick on him, but the other was superior to him in even a fight, leaving him as the eldest to give up trying to overcome him and turned to sulking for the loser he was.
He even showed up where delinquents hung out at and thought he was just making a name for himself. But by the time he realized the men got close to him for his money as the son of the Natsugawara Group, he had gotten so deep he could not escape. And in the present, he was jumping from place to place, having gotten into trouble with the group just after running from home.
“Now this is a surprise. The rich Natsugawara boy came back on his own.”
The voice boomed through the room in an old building. The owner of the voice was a young man thought to be in his mid-twenties. The aura he had made him be instantly perceived even to the amateur eye as an indecent human being.
The person he was addressing was a young, high class-looking boy with frantic eyes, making him look like a victim of extortion.
“Nah, I honestly just got tired of running.”
“You took your goddamn time. So where’s goods? We’ll contact those people once we confirm it, so hurry and take them out.”
“...I hid them away in a certain place right now. I’ll get them later.”
“Ahh? What the hell, you’re useless! You shoulda brought them here right away! Or did you use this time to trade them off?”
The somewhat bourgeois boy, Yukihiko Natsugawara, smirked and took a step toward the man threatening him.
“No, I didn’t. I just had something I needed to do beforehand.”
“Something you had to do?”
“Yeah, it’s important, but I can’t let others hear what it is, so please lend me an ear.”
“?”
The man drew closer to his face, cautiously.
Yukihiko Natsugawara took out a strangely patterned hammer hanging from his waist and swung it at the man’s temple.
“Bwagh.”
The man’s voice bubbled out of his throat, and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing.
The men were stunned momentarily when they witnessed that before they shouted.
“Y-you bastard! What the hell did you do!?”
“Did you lose it!?”
Yukihiko yelled over them, hammer still in hand.
“Hey you guys! How much does this guy pay you!?”
He pointed with the tip of the hammer to the man on the ground and raised his voice even more.
“Are you fine being put to work and only get small change for it!? You can’t, right!?”
Yukihiko yelled his name to the rowdy men.
“I’m Yukihiko Natsugawara! I’m a descendant of the great Natsugawara Group! I have considerably more money than he has, and I’ll give you several times the amount than he did!”
He then pulled out stacks of bills from his pockets and began to disseminate them around the area. Yukihiko observed the reactions from the people around him, as several 1,000,000 bills scattered throughout the room. The hoodlums wavered for a moment and looked at their leader who was still convulsing before beginning to collect the bills.
In that moment, their positions had changed. The young boy who had only been exploited for money, now jumped to the position to use those around him with money.
The young boy, who had transformed from a chrysalis to a butterfly, gripped the hammer and yelled once more, as though proclaiming his existence to himself rather than the people around him.
“Starting today, I am the boss of Heavens Slave! If you got a problem with it, I’ll pay you to shut up!”
