“Even setting business aside… Don’t you want to know more about Saika?”
At that point, there was no way Anri could reject the offer.
Tokyo—parking garage
“Did I hear that wrong? Did you just ask if I preferred getting taken over or crushed?” Masaomi Kida asked.
Chikage Rokujou answered, “Yeah, I did.”
A sudden surge of tension and hostility charged through the five or so Yellow Scarves present.
Chikage recognized that the situation had changed between them but detected that their leader still wanted to hear him out, so he shrugged and said, “Hang on. Masaomi Kida, right? Listen, I understand I’m being unreasonable, too. When a guy walks up and says to choose between getting destroyed and getting taken over, the obvious conclusion is that he’s picking a fight with you.”
“…Is there any other conclusion I’m supposed to draw from this?”
“Hey, it could be a friendly buyout, right? What do they call that in stocks? A…white something?”
“You mean a white knight?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Chikage nodded. “I’ll just be straight up with you: Wanna work for me? That’s the deal.”
“Well, that patronizing offer certainly fits the suspicion that you’re picking a fight.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m not a white knight. I came here to pick a fight,” he announced, hiding nothing.
Anger flooded the faces of the Yellow Scarves. They sensed they were being mocked.
“Hey, ease up, guys,” Chikage responded. “You know Kadota, by the way? From the Dollars.”
“…Well, yeah.”
The mention of Kadota’s name turned Masaomi’s anger into bewilderment. He had seen Mikado and Chikage talking, but he didn’t see the fight between Kadota and Chikage or how it ended.
So they fought one-on-one, I guess? Whatever happened with that…?
He didn’t need to ask, because Chikage promptly said, “See, Kadota really whooped my ass. I said I’d withdraw from Ikebukuro for now, and that settled the matter. But now I hear he’s been in an accident. So I got curious and decided to do some research of my own.”
Strictly speaking, he had seen the news about a dead body at the train station, sent the girls back home just to be safe, then found himself with lots of extra time to wander the town.
“I got in touch with a recent friend from around here, and whaddaya know? Turns out the Yellow Scarves and Dollars are in the midst of high tensions.”
He leaned against a nearby light pole and adopted a very annoyed expression. “You guys got a bad rep. From what I hear, you had the run of the area before we showed up. Hittin’ people up for money, making everyone miserable.”
He was probably talking about the period up to half a year ago, when Horada’s group had been calling the shots.
“I heard that Kadota and his folks knocked you out then. So I was wondering if you ran over him outta revenge. I asked around and learned about this place.”
“It’s not what you think!” one of the members protested. “It wasn’t Shogun’s fault things were bad back then!”
“Stop it,” Masaomi commanded. Then he said quietly, “So you’re gonna destroy us, because we look suspicious? Why would you stick up for Kadota like that?”
“Hey, I didn’t say for sure I was gonna destroy you. That’s why I keep throwing out the option of working for me, too. Besides, I’m not doing this out of loyalty to the guy or anything. But I do owe those folks for saving my girl Non. I figured I’d help them search for the ones who did it.”
Then Chikage sighed, and the lackadaisical lilt to his expression vanished. “And now it’s gotten me wrapped up in a buncha nonsense, too.”
“?”
“You know about this faction within the Dollars that’s carrying out an internal purge or whatever?”
“…!”
Mikado.
Masaomi didn’t even need to ask. He was talking about the boy who was the very reason Masaomi was here. Mikado Ryuugamine was the one standing atop the faction Chikage was describing.
“From what I hear, they’re exactly like a group of folks back in the spring who kicked my boys’ asses and lit their bikes on fire. All the details match.”
A chill ran down Masaomi’s back.
He was acting as leader of the Yellow Scarves and preparing for the possibility of war with Mikado, and possibly the Dollars, as a means of stopping his friend.
But now the possibility of a separate group displaying antagonism toward Mikado made him indescribably worried. This man and Toramaru were on a different level from the kind of thugs who might swear vengeance after a group purge or stragglers like Horada’s circle.
Masaomi hid that unease beneath his exterior and said, “I see. And you want to use the Yellow Scarves to light a fire under those people.”
“I’m glad you’re so quick on the uptake,” Chikage said, followed by something that gouged at Masaomi’s heart even further. “The part where it gets complicated is they’re apparently leftovers from some gang called the Blue Squares, but from what I hear, most of the holdovers from the Blue Squares went to the Yellow Scarves. And the Yellow Scarves apparently destroyed the Blue Squares back in the day… The twists and turns just keep coming.”
“…”
It was all true. Masaomi had no response.
He hadn’t even been able to tell that a number of old Blue Squares had infiltrated his gang, yet he had to accept that complication and forge on as the leader of the group.
But Chikage had no idea about any of that. He stared up at the sky and continued, “I just don’t get all the complicated details. I wanted to make things simple.”
“?”
“This is a place where I should be making things right with the entire Toramaru team, but I’m just here by myself now. I haven’t told the boys a thing, and I don’t intend to until I’ve caught these guys by the tail. Do you know what this means?”
The question had been posed. Masaomi had a general idea of what he meant, but he chose to wait rather than answer.
Chikage didn’t seem to expect one, either. After a few seconds, he continued, “It means this. If you decide to gang up on me now and beat the shit outta me, you won’t be advertising your hostility to Toramaru as a group.”
In a sense, this action was practically suicide.
Given that he came to pick a fight with them, the only possibility that he might walk away unscathed was if he impressed upon his opponents the retribution they might face from the fearsome Toramaru gang. And Chikage had just abandoned that weapon.
On the other hand, Masaomi and his friends were neither scummy nor stupid enough to decide to kick the crap out of him.
Even before the matter of if he deserved it or not, none of them was going to take his statements at face value. If he was lying, then the moment they attacked him, he could use that as a pretext to bring his entire organization here for “justified payback,” and strike back.
But from what I saw when he was talking to Mikado, he doesn’t seem like the sort to pull bullshit like that, Masaomi suspected.
“Look, this is just one of those things,” Chikage continued. “I wish I could act like some cool manga character and say, ‘Hey, let’s be like brothers.’ But honestly, I’m not reckless enough to do that with some guys I don’t really know that well. So I figured, since you guys have a bad reputation already, I could try to force you to hear me out.”
And as for things that Masaomi didn’t know about the other man, Toramaru had actually started with Chikage beating up a motorcycle gang member who tried to mess with his girlfriend. As a matter of fact, he had double-digit girlfriends, so between all the girls, family members, and friends who might get into trouble and need help, he was constantly destroying small-time gangs of ruffians in his vicinity.
Finally, for the dirt-simple reason of “If I’m going to let them go afterward, why don’t I just keep them all in check?” he
formed the gang called Toramaru.
And because he cared for the people he associated with, he attracted not just street punks who followed the might makes right of hierarchy but others drawn to his charismatic personality.
So for Chikage’s part, he was considering simply absorbing the Yellow Scarves in the way he understood best. It was just that, without the justification of getting revenge for a girlfriend, he had only his own selfish reasons to motivate him and thus felt a bit apologetic about it.
“The thing is, I’m planning to use you guys for my own ends, but I have no intention of helping you out in return. So if I came to you and said, ‘Let’s be blood brothers,’ I could never face my honeys again for as long as I live. Can we just make this a simple fight and get on with it?”
“…Then what are we supposed to get out of this?”
“Oh, there’s something in it for you,” Chikage said, flashing them a confident smile. “If I lose, I’ll be your muscle.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’ll be your shock trooper, helping you out with the fight against this weird group within the Dollars. I mean, win or lose, I’m gonna be fighting the Dollars in the end, alongside you Yellow Scarves.”
The officers of the group reacted to Chikage’s plan by sharing a look. Masaomi’s face pulled into a tired, annoyed grin. “Um…are you stupid, man?”
“I get that question a lot.”
“Why would we fight, then? Why don’t you just help us out?”
“I would’ve considered that if you had a better reputation,” he admitted and started doing squats to loosen up his knees.
“Oh, man, this guy’s rarin’ to fight.”
“Listen, if none of you want to get hurt, that’s fine. Just give me whatever info you have on the Dollars. Then I’ll just go over there myself.”
“Sounds perfect. So you’re going to annihilate them for us and let us keep our hands clean?” Masaomi quipped, looking up at the sky with a grin. Then he turned back to the other boys behind him. “Sorry, guys. Don’t get involved with this.”
“Uh…Shogun, what’s up?” wondered his friends. Masaomi faced Chikage again.
Man… How did it come to this anyway?
Well, I guess it’s my fault, he thought, reflecting on his past.
As he rolled and loosened his neck, Masaomi made his offer to Chikage. “I’ll take you up on that fight. And no, we’re not gonna do five or six against one.”
“Sh-Shogun!” one of his friends exclaimed.
“You don’t have a problem with that, do you? I’d appreciate it—fewer people injured to worry about.” He took a step closer to Chikage.
“…Ha! I like you. You don’t look that serious, but you’re actually pretty old-school, huh?”
“Look who’s talking,” Masaomi shot back.
Chikage winced and rearranged his hat. “See, maybe relying on the rumor around town ain’t the way to go, after all. I think I do like you. Want me to help you for free?”
“No. I’m gonna win and force you to be our muscle.” Masaomi steadied his breathing. “I don’t want you going overboard and wiping them all out, either. Once you’re our muscle, you’ll have to listen to what I tell you and obey.”
For being ready for an imminent fight, Masaomi’s face betrayed no worry or panic. He was as calm as if having a nice little chat as he stared into the face he was about to smash.
Then he swore under his breath, “If only you’d knocked out Mikado back then…”
Back then being the moment that Mikado declared he was the leader of the Dollars. If Chikage had just settled his score with Mikado then, it might never have come to this.
Just one simple punch. If this man had taken Mikado at his word, things wouldn’t have gotten so screwed up. The three of them with Anri could have been friends again, laughing together like old times.
No. Stop thinking about that.
He let his hatred from watching that entire scene start to finish dissipate into thin air. Chikage had done nothing wrong then. If anyone was worthy of blame, it was himself for not reaching out to Mikado when he was crumbling.
“Huh? You say something?”
“No. Just misplaced anger.”
“What?” Chikage wondered, his brow darkening.
“I’ll tell you the whole story once we’ve settled all this,” Masaomi said blithely.
“Okay. Guess I better make sure not to break your jaw, so you can still talk after this.”
“And I’ll guarantee that I don’t rupture your eardrums.”
They laughed at their little joke. Then, as Masaomi approached, Chikage lifted his foot to close the gap—and his opponent leaped into motion.
“!”
Caught in the midst of his action, Chikage had to reorient himself from movement to defense. Directly in front of him, Masaomi leaped again, pushing himself to the side. His foot landed on, then pushed off a parked car bumper and into the air.
“Ooh…”
Chikage marveled at his feline, predatorial movement. In the span of less than a second, while he was caught between the options of defending and evading, the toe of Masaomi’s shoe slammed into Chikage’s face.
Got him!
It was a solid hit. Masaomi hadn’t expected it to work so smoothly, but catching him off-balance with that surprise charge had paid off.
He was certain of victory. It was almost too easy.
Snag.
And then a hand grabbed his ankle where it still hung in the air.
Huh?
No sooner did the surprise run through his mind than he realized it was the reeling Chikage who had grabbed him. And despite the slight dent in the bridge of his nose, Chikage’s mouth was twisted into a smile.
That didn’t knock him out…
He felt a tug on his captured ankle and a terrifying chill that ran through his entire being.
The next moment, Masaomi’s body swung forcefully toward a pillar, to the sound of the Yellow Scarves’ exclamations.
But before he hit the surface, Masaomi recovered his balance and “landed” on the side of the pillar. Then he turned his body ninety degrees so it wasn’t parallel with the floor anymore and hit the ground.
“Man, if that wasn’t enough to knock you out, how tough are… Whoa!”
In the process of raising his head, he had to dart to the side—because the soles of both of Chikage’s feet were rushing toward him.
Masaomi instantly slid away, and Chikage’s feet passed through the space where he’d just been, smashing into the pillar. It shook with the impact, knocking dust loose from the light overhead.
“Holy crap, man. I’d have died if I took that.” Masaomi yelped, even as he rushed back toward Chikage.
He launched a high kick at his opponent’s temple as the older man spun, but Chikage just barely dodged it, swinging a fist in return—only to take a second reverse kick, with full rotation, right into his solar plexus.
“Hrgh…”
Chikage’s grunt told Masaomi he had gained the advantage for sure this time—but a grunt was all he got. His opponent continued to attack, his fist bearing down on Masaomi’s back.
But Masaomi reacted quickly, launching another kick as a counter to the other guy’s punch.
There was a loud smack—and the Yellow Scarves who had been watching the scene dumbfounded finally caught up to what was happening.
The heads of the Yellow Scarves and Toramaru had only initiated the opening stage of a devastating fight.
Raira General Hospital—interior café
“…And that is the reason that you and I have the same Saika. Do you have any questions?”
It was a sight that would give vastly different impressions to those who understood the context and those who didn’t.
An intellectual-looking woman was giving two high school students a lecture, using a tablet PC. If one didn’t know better, it would look like she was trying to sign them up for some kind of insurance.
&nbs
p; But with full context, it was not only eerie but downright ghastly.
After all, this was two different women with full Saikas infused into them, and a child Saika transferred through a cut, who later broke free and regained control—all sitting at the same table.
“No…I’m fine. I get the gist of it.”
“…”
Despite her consternation, Anri accepted the explanation of “branching” and the revelation that Kujiragi’s employer had once sold the very Saika that was inside of Anri now. Haruna said nothing, wearing her murderous smile the whole time. Her wrath was fixated on both Anri and Kujiragi now.
The fact that Haruna might erupt into violence at any time kept Anri’s nerves taut, but Kujiragi went ahead and gave them her speech on Saika, her tone all business.
Kujiragi did not touch upon the identity of Jinnai Yodogiri at all. She only gave them information about Saika and her own business handling it. It wasn’t that she felt any need to hide this; she simply judged there was no need to point it out.
“Branching, huh…?” Haruna muttered, wearing that sick smile of hers. “If you can do that, could you give one to me, too?” she asked Kujiragi.
“Based on previous transactions, a single Saika would command 6.25 million yen. And because of the nature of the product, I will only sell it to trusted customers.” It was the line that Jinnai Yodogiri had taught her to say whenever she had to explain these things.
Haruna couldn’t tell if 6.25 million yen was expensive or cheap.
For a supernatural sword outside of the bounds of all common knowledge about the world, it seemed so pedestrian as to be nearly free, but the hurdle to becoming a “trusted customer” was probably exorbitantly high.
In any case, it wasn’t the kind of money any teenage girl could command. But if money was all it took, Haruna could just use her Saika to cut some rich person and get them to pay for it.
“At present, a client who meets those two conditions desires to have Saika. I wish to avoid branching, because as more and more Saikas spread throughout the world, their price as a product goes down.”
With that out of the way, Kujiragi asked, “Anri Sonohara, I wish to confer with you again. Are you certain you’re not willing to part with your item?”
Durarara!!, Vol. 11 Page 15