“Nah, let’s pick up Karisawa first. It won’t be too late after that,” Kadota suggested.
It was then that Anri remembered another tidbit. “Oh! Karisawa has one, too!”
“Has one what?”
“Karisawa-san got a business card, too, because she was going to join the cosplay club. Miss Kujiragi, I mean.”
Even Kadota looked shocked by this. His eyebrows rose. Now it was the turn of everyone else in the van to look bewildered.
“Cosplay…club?”
Near Russia Sushi
“…”
In the chaos of the night district, a red-eyed Karisawa walked slowly onward.
But she hadn’t been sliced by Saika.
No, she was just pretending to be a child of Saika and walking right through the town, out in the open.
Fifteen minutes ago, feeling that she would soon be caught, Karisawa decided to take a gamble.
She went into the cosmetics she carried around in her usual backpack for cosplay purposes, pulled out red contact lenses for cosplaying, and stuck them in her eyes. They didn’t cover the white of her eyes, so if you paid attention, it would be obvious right away.
But she cleverly narrowed her eyes to keep them showing only the red irises and walked nice and slow. Thankfully, the other red-eyed people around only briefly glanced her way from time to time but otherwise passed without reaction.
Karisawa was very lucky.
The children and grandchildren of Saika could sense the presence of other instances of Saika, if not as strongly as their parents could. But in the midst of a crowd of Saikas like this, the haze of all that aura made it much harder to pick out the negative space of one ordinary human.
A Saika mother—the original one from which the others stemmed—might have finer control of the senses, but to the grandchildren whom Nasujima and Haruna had ordered to cut any human entering this area, the ultimate means of detecting Saika spawn from humans was essentially just the color of the eyes.
And though Karisawa wasn’t aware of it, she was also lucky that the Blue Squares had shown up and drawn much of the overall group’s attention. She kept walking down Otowa Street beneath the raised expressway toward the Sunshine area when she noticed something new.
Whoa, there’s a ton of people right outside Russia Sushi. Are Simon and the boss okay in there?
Despite her concern, however, she attempted to pass by it—until she spotted a familiar face and came to a stop.
It was Anri Sonohara’s friend, the one she had met in the hospital cafeteria earlier in the day. She was crouched down on the street outside of Russia Sushi and seemed to be acting differently than the other red-eyed people.
I wonder what the matter is. Maybe she’s still in her right mind?
It was hard to tell from this distance, so Karisawa tried her best to approach slowly, avoiding notice. If the girl wasn’t affected, there might be a way to sneak over and help her get away, she thought considerately.
As she approached, she noticed a man talking very excitedly next to the girl. On the other side of him was a boy with normal eyes, looking terrified at the scene around him. The trio clearly stuck out amid the crowd.
What…is that?
Karisawa approached from their blind spot. About half of the group around was focused on Russia Sushi, and the other half was looking at the exterior of Tokyu Hands for some reason. She didn’t have to worry about them spotting her.
Keeping her eyes narrowed, Karisawa got close enough to hear the man speaking. That was when she heard a name she recognized come out of his mouth.
“So the blue guys are here now… Shijima, which of them is Mikado Ryuugamine?” Nasujima demanded.
At his side, Shijima glanced through binoculars and reported, “Everyone who had Mikado Ryuugamine’s build is wearing those masks with the cut-out eyes… So he might be one of them. Shall we call the Blue Square lookout you took over and have him figure it out for us?”
“That’s going to be our only option in the end. But they’ll be suspicious if we straight-out ask for his location. If he hasn’t actually come to this street, that’ll only give him the chance to scamper away,” Nasujima said carefully. Then he added, “On the other hand, if we can get the Dollars under control, they’ll be all the muscle we need. Then I’ll have the Dollars find Jinnai Yodogiri’s location for me. And his secretary, Kasane Kujiragi, too.”
“Even the secretary?”
“Yeah…she’s the one who made me Saika-possessed to begin with. She’s like old Yodogiri’s secret backup weapon.”
“You’re right… It was the secretary who first suggested investigating the Dollars,” Shijima recalled. It reminded him of just what a twisted position he was currently in and how he’d gotten here. It was depressing.
In fact, it was Yodogiri who had ordered him to infiltrate the Dollars and “make contact with the Headless Rider,” but Nasujima had added one instruction on top of that.
Now that it was clear that Nasujima’s goal was to take over the Dollars, he realized exactly how completely up shit creek he was. He had accepted Nasujima’s invitation thinking that it might be the ticket out of Izaya and Yodogiri’s control, but now he regretted that choice.
Escape seemed impossible now. The only thing Shijima could tell himself was that he was wandering around a nightmare and that he should try to drag down as many others as he could.
“So what are we doing about Yodogiri and Kujiragi?”
“We can overpower them with enough numbers. But it’s not clear whether either Yodogiri or Kujiragi is capable of being controlled with Saika. So let’s just bury them somewhere.”
Bury them—i.e., kill them. Shijima felt a chill go down his back.
He had operated a drug-dealing organization and should have been used to cold, hard talk like this. But that kind of brutality coming from someone with the power to overrun the shopping area with zombie-like pawns terrified him.
Nasujima snickered to himself, whether aware or not of Shijima’s fear, and said, “But before you bury that Kujiragi woman, I’d like to have some fun with her.”
Nearby, Karisawa overheard this suggestion and felt both disgust for the man who said it and a powerful unease.
Mikado Ryuugamine and Kasane Kujiragi. Both distinctive names, the kind that you would never hear by mistake.
Why is he talking about Mikarun and Miss Kujiragi?
Whatever the reasons, it was clear that this man was attempting to go after them. If he was the leader of these red-eyed people, then whoever was his target didn’t stand a chance, unless it was a military battalion or his name was Shizuo Heiwajima.
Karisawa swallowed hard and made to leave the scene, keeping her eyes narrowed.
In the midst of that motion, Haruna Niekawa turned in her direction, and their eyes met. The other girl’s eyes were red, too, just like the people around them.
Aw, darn. Already infected by the slasher. Oh, well. I’ll come back with Dotachin and the gang to save you. Hang on until then, Karisawa thought. Niekawa kept staring at her. Uh-oh… Am I in trouble? Did she spot me?
Karisawa quickly turned away but not before she saw Haruna’s mouth move—and suddenly a cell phone ringtone cut through the scene before she could say anything.
“What’s that?”
The man and the boy next to Haruna turned toward the sound. But it wasn’t coming from Karisawa’s phone. It was coming from the phone in Haruna’s hand.
“What’s up? You hardly ever get any calls. I mean, you didn’t even give your old man the number,” the man said, mystified. Then he demanded she give it to him.
“…Yes, Mother.”
Karisawa heard this unnatural back-and-forth as she made her way out of the area as nonchalantly as she could. She needed to tell Kujiragi and Mikado about the danger encroaching upon them.
But because she did, she failed to learn that the phone call Haruna Niekawa received was actually from a girl that she knew quite well.
The name on the screen was Anri Sonohara, a former pupil he’d tried to assault. But his shock soon turned to sick glee, and he licked his lips.
“Well, that doesn’t matter. I’ve come up with a good idea.”
Within the van
“She’s not picking up,” Anri announced sadly to the passengers of the van.
She’d called Haruna’s phone, hoping her friend might know something that could help them, especially since they’d recently traded contact info, but all she got was an endless ringtone.
“Well, it’s pretty late. Almost morning, in fact. Most people wouldn’t pick up,” Mika offered.
“And if she were actually the ringleader, she wouldn’t pick up regardless,” Saki suggested.
Anri considered these things and said, “But when I met her yesterday, she didn’t seem like she was about to do something like—”
Abruptly, the ringing of her call paused, replaced by the sound of wind.
“Hello? Is that you, Niekawa? Um, I’m sorry to bother you in the middle of the night…,” Anri said, thinking she’d gotten through.
Instead, the voice she heard was one she could never have expected.
“It’s been so long, Sonohara.”
“…Huh?”
The man’s voice caused Anri’s body to tense up.
“You’re a very bad girl to be awake at this hour of night. Have you turned to a life of delinquency? Your teacher is very sad.”
It was an unctuous voice, practically clinging to the skin of her shoulders through the phone. She hadn’t heard that voice in half a year, but it was very familiar to her.
“M…Mr.…Nasujima?”
Mika and Seiji looked up when they heard that name. It belonged to a teacher at Raira Academy who had been hospitalized in February and then went missing. Why would Anri be talking to him all of a sudden, when she had been calling Haruna Niekawa’s phone?
Even Mika, who knew some of the backstory, was surprised by this. She stared at Anri’s phone in wonder.
“Wh-why would you be picking up…?”
“That doesn’t matter. Ah, it’s really wonderful to be hearing your voice again, Sonohara.”
On the Night of the Ripper, Nasujima had seen her holding a katana, and then he ran, screaming in fear. It was the last memory she had of him. But now he was gloating through the phone, as though he were completely in control of her fate.
“Oh, how I wish to see you. Can you make it here now? I can help you with any problems you’re having.”
“Um, what happened to Haruna?!”
“Oh, Niekawa? She’s sitting right next to me. She keeps calling me ‘Mother, Mother.’ It’s very sweet, really.”
“…!”
That told Anri quite a lot. Through circumstances she did not yet know, Nasujima had become a Saika carrier. Whether he had an original or was someone else’s child was unclear. All she knew was that he had cut Haruna Niekawa and now controlled her.
“Where…are you?”
“Now, now, no rush. You know where Tokyu Hands is? Right outside of the Sunshine building. We’re just hanging around that area until morning, so if you’ve got some time, swing by. If I see you, I’ll call out to you.”
“Haruna is safe, I assume?” Anri said, her voice tense. This seemed to catch Nasujima by surprise.
“Wait, are you worried about her? When did you two make up? I seem to remember you turning blades on each other because you were fighting over me.”
“Answer the question!”
“Don’t worry—I haven’t messed with her yet. Once tonight’s party is over, we’ll be taking our time with a very special private lesson.”
“Release Haruna at once…or else…”
She had to fight to ensure that the blade didn’t rip right through her hand and the phone she held in it.
That wasn’t the way that someone being ruled by another’s curse talked. Like Haruna once had, Nasujima had somehow overcome Saika’s control. Anri knew that Niekawa was in great danger. Her mind raced, trying to pin down where they were.
Only half a day ago, Haruna had declared that she would kill Anri in the same breath that she suggested they be friends. But Anri felt an odd kind of empathy for her. Perhaps it was because they were both possessed by Saika, or perhaps there was something about them being girls of the same generation; she didn’t know for sure.
Unlike the people in the van, Haruna was more of an enemy than a friend—but Anri still felt a terrible shock when she realized that the girl was under Nasujima’s control.
And the shock didn’t end there.
After he’d enjoyed the panic in Anri’s voice for several moments, Nasujima chuckled slimily and added, “There are two other people you know coming to the party, too.”
“Huh…?”
“Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida. You were close with them, weren’t you?”
“”
Her mind froze. She nearly dropped the phone.
At first, she didn’t understand what he was saying to her. But then Nasujima continued, driving home her despair.
“If you want to tell the cops about this, be my guest. I’ll just play dumb, and Ryuugamine and Kida will back me up with statements that support my story.”
“No! Wait! What…what have you done to them?!”
“Nothing…yet. I just invited them to the party.”
And with a chuckle, he hung up the phone.
Outside Russia Sushi
“Now, Shijima, I want you to keep an eye on them for a while. I’ll give orders to the Saika-possessed, too, though.”
“Keep an eye on them?” Shijima asked.
Gleefully, Nasujima explained, “Knowing Sonohara’s personality, she’ll probably rush to call Ryuugamine about this.”
“So if he’s one of the guys in the ski caps outside of Tokyu Hands, then we’ll know that whoever answers a phone next is him.”
Inside the van
After Anri hung up, she told the others what the call had been about.
“No way, man…,” marveled Togusa. “Why would he bring up Ryuugamine and Kida out of the blue?”
With a frown, Kadota offered, “Dunno. But there’s definitely been some bad business going on in Ikebukuro lately. There’s no telling what might happen.”
“And there’s Karisawa to worry about, too… Let’s rush over to Tokyu Hands! Speaking of which, what’s up with all the red lights?!”
The trip from Shinra’s apartment to Otowa Street wasn’t that far in terms of distance. Even during rush hour, this should be about the time they would finish the trip. But for some reason, the van was barely halfway to its destination.
“No, it’s not reds, it’s just plain old traffic. Shit, why is it like this so late at night?” Togusa swore. He turned on the car radio to see if he could pick up a traffic report. Fortunately, it was right at the late-night news, five minutes past the hour.
“…a number of traffic accidents in the Ikebukuro area, causing gridlock all over…”
“Accidents?” Togusa repeated.
“…and there are also multiple sightings of groups of people out on the street committing acts of violence. Perhaps that’s connected to the accidents themselves…”
And almost as if timed to the radio broadcast, there was the sound of multiple motorcycle engines roaring behind the van. A few seconds later, there was a clamor of exhaust and blaring musical horns as several loud and flashy bikes passed them.
“Meetin’ up at this hour? And they’ve still got those obnoxious horns? Didn’t they go outta fashion? That stuff’s outlawed now,” Togusa grumbled.
But more and more motorcycles blazed past them. A few seconds would pass before more bikes went by, then another ten or fifteen, trickling bit by bit. All in all, quite a large number of motorcycles were heading toward Ikebukuro.
“What is this, some biker gang head honcho retiring?
There’s so many.”
“They’re not going to turn out to have red eyes, are they?” snapped Namie, who didn’t care how this question might affect Anri.
But the girl shook her head. “I didn’t feel even the slightest hint of Saika from the people who just passed us…so I don’t think that’s it.”
“Damn…feels like everything’s working against us,” hissed Togusa in frustration.
It almost seemed as if getting out and running would be faster, but he wouldn’t suggest that. If he did, Kadota would actually hop out and try to run it with them. Kadota played it off bravely, but in his present state, he could barely walk. They’d given up on trying to stop him from going with them to help Karisawa, but Togusa wasn’t going to allow him to try anything beyond his means.
While the van was stuck in place, the swarm of motorcycles heading toward Ikebukuro’s city center made Anri worried. She decided to take out her phone.
“I’m…going to call Ryuugamine and Kida now.”
Saki turned to her from the adjacent seat and gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry—I’ll call Masaomi for you.”
“Oh…thank you. I appreciate that!”
Anri bowed to the other girl, then brought up Mikado’s contact information and hit the call button.
But neither of them got an answer to their call, and the mood in the van soon turned uncomfortable.
Anri prayed that they were just at home sleeping. In the meantime, she made a resolution to herself: If the two of them had been possessed by Saika due to Takashi Nasujima, she would have to slice Nasujima herself.
It was ironic that she had once told her teacher that she hated him, and now she was preparing to attack him with a sword that existed to love others. But Anri’s determination was quiet and crisp.
She would not hesitate. She was going to slash a man not worth slashing.
Outside Tokyu Hands, Sixtieth Floor Street—at that moment
“So…what now?”
Down on the street, Chikage headed over to the crosswalk so he could check out the scene across the way.
Durarara!!, Vol. 13 Page 9