The only distinct feature was the eerie sound of air hissing, shehhh, shehhh. They could sense something unsettling about the man.
“The hell do you want?” one of their rank demanded.
The thin man promptly walked up to the group and shrugged. “Hey, kids, I was looking for some directions.”
“Directions?”
The boys glanced at one another, not expecting that question.
Who would stop to ask directions from a gang of tough-looking guys wearing ski masks?
They looked back at the man, hackles raised—just as a high kick caught the youth closest to the man in the temple.
Victim A blacked out instantly before he even had time to scream.
The rest of the young men were briefly stunned, giving Kisuke Adabashi enough time to hiss once more and repeat, “C’mon, tell me the way.
“The way to love Ruri Hijiribe so tenderly, so delectably.”
Ikebukuro
“…Waste of my damn time.”
Grumbling, Masaomi was bleeding from his head.
He’d avoided a direct blow, but the graze had been enough to break the skin. He wiped his face with a handkerchief and looked down at the two Blue Squares at his feet.
“Well, damn. Both of you passed out? That’s ridiculous…”
They weren’t weaklings by any means, and Masaomi was an experienced brawler. If he hadn’t knocked out the first boy quickly, they probably would have taken him down together.
But he hadn’t expected to beat them both unconscious, and that made it much harder to get answers.
If I’m not quick, the cops are going to show up. Damn…guess I gotta use this.
He reached down, pulled one of the boys’ phones from his pocket, and started checking the message history. He was surprised at how guilty he felt about it, but there was no other good option now.
He at least needed to find out what the Blue Squares were up to, infiltrating the Dollars like this.
Not that I think this is really coming to Mikado’s aid…
The next moment, something in the message list caused Masaomi’s entire body to turn to ice.
MIKADO RYUUGAMINE
Right there was the name of his best friend, the one he’d been trying to help out.
And it wasn’t in the message history—it was right there in the inbox, very recent.
When Mikado Ryuugamine received word that several of the Blue Squares had been defeated, he looked sad, but his fingers continued the mechanical task of typing out directions.
“Gather a few heads near Anri Sonohara’s house and stay on guard. Do not let Sonohara notice your presence.”
Mikado knew what Adabashi’s goons were doing.
Having noticed the stalkers’ actions on the Dollars’ site, Mikado was able to view their communications using his admin privileges. Through means that were not legal, with back doors very close to virus-based hacking, Mikado seized their information.
Included in the data he pulled this evening were photos of Celty’s apartment and Shizuo’s face, among other things, presented as “info on believed acquaintances of Ruri Hijiribe.” With this came a discussion about several of the members attacking the targets.
Mikado promptly discarded the commonsense opinion that they wouldn’t dare attack out in the open. What he had seen of their communications made it absolutely clear that these people were not of sound mind.
He called Celty immediately to give her a warning—but he did not send a message to Anri, from whom he was hiding his role as creator of the Dollars.
He would protect her with his own ability, the Dollars’ ability, rather than cause her undue worry. That was his reason for not telling her anything.
While he didn’t think Shizuo really needed help, he sent a few men to stop the stalkers. But this was ultimately nothing more than an excuse he told himself.
Mikado Ryuugamine was not prioritizing Anri’s safety but his idea of the Dollars.
No one understood this, least of all Mikado.
No one…except for Aoba Kuronuma.
You idiot.
Mikado…
What are you doing…?
What the hell are you doing, Mikado?!
Impulse shot through all of Masaomi’s muscles. He ran.
Ran in the direction of Anri’s home.
Ran.
Ran.
Ran.
Ran.
He drove all his surging urges, anxiety, anger, and everything else into the ground through the soles of his feet, slicing his way through the air to push onward.
The message made it clear that Mikado was the one giving the Blue Squares their orders.
Masaomi knew they’d infiltrated the Dollars, and his trip to Ikebukuro was meant to ensure that their poisonous tentacles didn’t reach Mikado—only to find that Mikado Ryuugamine had been their first host body to leech onto.
Mikado…
The leader of the Blue Squares was supposedly some kid named Aoba Kuronuma. But it was Mikado himself who was giving them their orders.
Perhaps this Aoba Kuronuma was leading him on, or Izaya Orihara was pulling all the strings from behind the scenes.
There were a number of possible explanations, but none of them changed the inarguable fact that Mikado was the one giving the orders.
Do you have any idea what you’re doing, man…?!
Mikado seemed to think that he was purging the Dollars of all the punks and hooligans, using the Blue Squares as his private muscle.
Shit…
Masaomi knew the cause.
It was that conflict with Toramaru during Golden Week.
Goddammit… If I’d known this would happen, I would have reached out to him then…
But there was no use reflecting on the past now.
You might think you’re the king on his throne, giving orders via text from a safe space. You might think this is all a game…but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re on this side now!
Masaomi wanted to do whatever it took to stop Mikado, including storming his house and beating him if necessary. But there was something that prevented him from doing that now.
What, does that mean Anri’s in danger?
He’d been alarmed at the appearance of Anri’s name in the final message—and when he realized that someone was going after her, he leaped into action before his brain knew what he was doing.
Mikado…what the hell are you fighting against?! Dammit…dammit!
The target of his rage was actually himself.
He ran and ran, blaming himself, unable to forgive his cowardice, determined to be better than that version of himself.
Why…did I have to…?!
Dammit…!
Anri’s apartment
“…Shit…that was close.”
The salaryman panted and tried to catch his breath behind Anri’s apartment.
Somehow I made it all the way back here, and it doesn’t look like they left any guards. They ran off in a hurry somewhere. I wonder what happened.
Shit…I dropped my lighter and one of the oilcans. They’ve probably picked them up by now. That lighter was expensive, too…
Well, whatever. I have backup plans for starting a fire. I’ve got to get this job over with so I can lie in bed and imagine Ruri’s wailing face.
Bet the news of the burned bodies of the cat and girl will be a huge deal. And once they report on the connections between her and Ruri, she’ll be even more broken.
What a humbling thought. I can feel my blood surge!
The man pulled an oilcan from his work briefcase and began to spray its contents around the back of the apartment building.
Once he lit the fuel, he would rush around to the front, so that he could dump more oil on the girl’s head as she escaped out the door and light both her and the cat on fire.
The plan is perfect.
He laughed.
If anything, it was a perfect plan for getting arrested, but his imaginatio
n was unable to see that possibility.
It had nothing to do with eliminating evidence or pulling off the perfect crime. He didn’t even understand that what he was doing was a crime.
This will make Ruri even more beautiful.
When he was done spreading the oil, he pulled matches out of his pocket to light the fire.
That was when a sound that did not fit the scene reached his eardrums.
“Mewww.”
“Huh?”
An adorable, delightful sound came from behind him.
When he recognized it as the cry of a tiny kitten, he abruptly swung around—and saw a girl standing there.
“Wha…? Eh… Huh?”
“What are you doing…?” the girl asked. She was holding a pet carrier bag, out of the front of which poked a little cat head that meowed at him.
“…!”
The instant he recognized that this was Dokusonmaru, Yuuhei’s pet cat and beloved companion to Ruri, the man took a plastic bottle full of gasoline from his pocket.
“Huh—h-huh-hello… Would you crisp up a bit for Ruri’s sake?” he stammered and promptly attempted to splash the contents of the bottle on the girl.
But some kind of silver flash sank into the plastic and twisted the bottle from his hands.
“Wha…?”
He realized that he had somehow missed the fact that the girl had a sharp, shining katana in her hands.
And that her eyes were glowing red like the setting sun.
“Wh-what’s that? A k-k-k-k-katana’s not fair, is it? D-didn’t your mother ever tell you not to point that at others?” he stammered, stricken with fear.
Anri stared at him implacably and moved Saika closer to him. She was unable to fathom why her immolation would be to Ruri’s benefit.
And more importantly, she could tell that no right-minded person would attempt to kill a stranger and a cat on their first meeting.
Saika is truly remarkable if she can love even a person like him, she thought with detachment as she sank the tip of Saika into his ear.
“Gua…ah? …Ah! Aaaaahhggh?”
The voices would be eating away at him from the cut on his ear. Anri was used to them from ample experience, but to a first-time listener, it would be as if the entire world was replaced by the voices, such was the avalanche of sensation that overwhelmed Saika’s victims.
He started to lose consciousness from the voices alone, despite his only physical disturbance being a tiny cut on the ear. Anri stared at him dispassionately with just the faintest hint of anger in her eyes.
“…Forget about Ruri Hijiribe…and turn yourself in to the police for attacking Dr. Kishitani.”
What Anri didn’t realize was that while this was indeed a stalker, it was not the same person who attacked Shinra.
In fact, she had no way of knowing that the “stalker” was actually a group. And thus, she fatefully relaxed.
She told herself that the stalking incident was over.
And thus created a blind spot in her consciousness.
Behind Anri, air hissed through a narrow space.
For a moment, she wondered if Dokusonmaru had sneezed—but the sound clearly came from the opposite direction of the carrier bag.
“?!”
A chill ran through her entire body. She spun around—and felt a fierce kick slam into her side.
There was a sharp, metallic ring, and Anri’s body floated up into the air.
“…!”
She’d fought off attackers on multiple occasions before, but the impact she felt at this moment was greater than any she’d suffered against Haruna Niekawa or the masked attacker with the pruning shears. In a proper faceoff, she would have easily handled the blow with her blade, but the ambush left her unable to react, and so the kick knocked her sideways off her feet.
She slammed into the wall of the building before she could scream, driving all the air out of her lungs. The carrier bag was tossed into the air and tumbled onto the pavement with Dokusonmaru still inside.
If it weren’t for the instantaneous reaction of Saika guarding her side with the blade, the impact would have easily broken her ribs.
And yet, despite having kicked the edge of the cursed blade, the man’s foot didn’t appear to be cut.
“What a surprise…what a surprise…wasn’t it?”
The attacker examined the slice in the end of his shoe and stared at her. “If I weren’t wearing safety shoes, that would’ve slashed me… What the hell are you? Are you even human?”
“…”
She wasn’t in any state to speak at the moment, but looking into the red of her eyes caused Kisuke Adabashi no small amount of glee.
“Is it because Ruri isn’t human, either? Do all of you inhuman types gather up together…?”
Adabashi was quite matter-of-fact about the idea; he didn’t seem alarmed or frightened by Anri’s eyes in the least. He lifted his steel-plated safety shoes, preparing for the finishing blow.
But then—
“Fffhh!”
Dokusonmaru leaped out of the carrier bag, which broke open upon impact. The kitten hissed threateningly at Adabashi, then started racing away in the other direction.
“Whoa… Don’t run away now…”
Adabashi went after his top priority, the cat he’d seen cradled in Ruri Hijiribe’s arms, and completely lost all interest in Anri, who was still recovering from the physical shock of her blow.
He quickly vanished, and although Anri wanted to shout, her throat wouldn’t work, leaving only the half-unconscious man with bloodshot eyes next to her, who asked, “Are you all right, Mother?”
“Okay, we’re going to head back to Sonohara’s apartment now, sir.”
The boys wearing the Blue Squares’ bandannas over their faces bowed to the other boy with the ski mask and goggles and headed off.
So…that’s Aoba Kuronuma.
Masaomi identified the leader of the boys by the deference he received and glared at his target from the shadows. He’d noticed them on his way to Anri’s apartment, hopped over a nearby fence, and spied on them from out of sight.
I seem to remember this street as the place where Anri got attacked by the slasher before…
He stuck close to the concrete block wall, using the few hollow blocks as a little porthole to observe what was happening in the street. He could easily be charged with trespassing, hiding where he was now, but the situation was too important to worry about things like that.
Okay. If that Aoba guy gets isolated, I’ll grab him and get his story. No…wait. Should I be hiding here, or should I rush ahead to Anri’s place? But if I’m not careful along the way, those guys could easily spot me…
After several seconds of consideration, he decided that Anri’s safety was more pressing and that he should try to find a way to her apartment without being seen.
But in the next moment, a cat on the street corner meowed.
The little Scottish fold was just a kitten but raced down the asphalt with a kind of feral athleticism rarely seen in animals its age.
“Whoa, what’s with that cute little cat?”
“Huh? Isn’t that…?”
The Blue Squares noticed the animal approach, then race between and past them—and a few seconds later, Masaomi spotted something that was an absolute 180-degree shift from the sweet little kitten.
—?!
A thin man, wiry with muscle, appeared on the next street, his eyes glittering. He raced toward the boys, who had their backs to him while watching the kitten; leaped high off the ground; and planted a spinning kick right to the neck of one of them.
“Out of the way!” Adabashi hissed as the boy’s body flew through the air. The hapless target fell to the ground, taking the boy with the ski mask down with him, and did not move after that. The ski mask boy stuck beneath him shook him to no avail.
“Wh…what the hell do you want?!” the remaining boys demanded, closing in on Adabashi. One of them pulled out an extendab
le police baton, and they took places to flank their victim.
“Out of my way. You’ll all just get in the waaay!” Adabashi roared, visibly agitated, and approached them without fear.
The one with the baton pulled it back to swing as a fierce kick caught him in the solar plexus. He didn’t even have time to swing it forward.
Anyone viewing the scene might have thought that the man’s leg actually stretched.
The boy bent over double and writhed on the ground, stomach bile spilling forth onto the bandanna over his mouth.
“Wha…?”
Adabashi noticed the other boy’s attention turning to his fallen comrade, and he did not miss the opportunity. He carried his blissful love, that act of human destruction, imagining Ruri Hijiribe’s suffering with each and every blow.
Holy shit. He’s not Shizuo or Kadota, but he’s pretty damn tough, Masaomi thought, holding his breath after seeing the two teens knocked out in mere moments.
Was he the enemy going after Anri? In all honesty, he wasn’t the sort that Masaomi could challenge to a direct fight and win.
Should I call the cops…and have them evacuate her?
It seemed if push came to shove, he’d have to hold back that freak until Anri had time to escape. He was about to leave his hiding place—when another shadow darted into his field of vision.
It was the kid with the ski mask and goggles, the one who’d been knocked over by his fallen comrade. He’d moved the other boys to the side of the road, then raced off after the attacker at top speed.
He attempted a weak rolling sobat kick at the attacker’s back, a powerless swipe that was probably just mimicking whatever he’d seen on TV. It thumped lifelessly against the man, who turned around in curious surprise.
What the hell was that?! What a total amateur this Aoba kid is!
Masaomi had no idea that, in fact, Aoba Kuronuma was completely useless as a fighter.
If the veteran brawler known as Yoshikiri were present, it might be a different situation, but unfortunately for the Blue Squares, he wasn’t here at the moment.
Durarara!!, Vol. 8 Page 15