Durarara!! Epitome of Eighteen Histories: Mikado Ryuugamine Episode

This is an interval story.

An interval story in time.

– I have to move forward already.

In a lavatory of a certain small publishing company. Smacking her cheeks in front of the bathroom mirror, Kazane Kinomiya motivated herself.

She helped with magazines as a freelance writer while also going through with university life, but recently she had improved at work too where even her articles from interviews she wrote up on was used in magazines. Her livelihood had become stable, and when her career after graduation became more settled, she made a crucial decision.

“I have to meet my brother (step-brother).”

Since she was little, she was shown her “brother” from the car window by her mother. He was the child her mother had with her previous husband she divorced, but whether it was because there were not many other children among her relatives Kazane felt wonder and affection towards that boy just by seeing him once.

It had been roughly fifteen years since then. After taking an interest in her brother, Kazane had observed him from afar and looked into the reputation he received from friends around him sometimes as though to remember him, but even at this age now she still could not take a step in the action of “directly meet up and talk with him.”

Although she had the desire to meet him, she was unable to clearly express “why she wants to see her brother,” or “what could they talk about when they meet.”

In the midst of all that, she was appointed by a magazine for a fairly large article today and earned a clear response that she “could have a job for a lifetime” for her work that was her part-time job. Kazane thought that right now was a clear moment in time where she could be upfront about herself to another person in her family and the world would either widen or close.

Once she took her belongings back to the editorial department of Tokyo Warrior that brought in the article, the head of the editorial department called out to her.

“Ahh, Kazane-chan? Can I have a bit of your time?”

Once she replied back to the editorial chief who spoke to her in a light manner and approached her desk, he offered one job to Kazane.

“Kazane-chan, do you know about the group, the Dollars?”

“Yes, well……just about rumors really.”

The Dollars. It was the name of a color gang she heard about often when she did interviews from those within the vicinity of Ikebukuro, and primarily what Kazane considered to have some sort of connection with her brother, the Headless Rider, in her brother’s vicinity.

Kazane’s acquaintances Kyohei Kadota and Shizuo Heiwajima also seemed to be part of that group (though there were rumors that Shizuo quit recently), but even if it was not for work she thought it was a matter to not pry into lightly, so she had never asked about it directly.

And so she gave back a safe answer. However –

“Then that’s enough. This is every now and then, but it’s that, it seems like it’s their special group, but isn’t it your specialty to get the good stuff from those kids? I actually was about to let Nishikawa-kun handle it, but there was something about his daughter running from home or something. So right now he’s off. So I’m looking forward to seeing your abilities at work shortly.”

Kazane, feeling a sense of unease, asked the editorial chief as he spoke about this rather excitingly.

“Um……Why so suddenly? Was there something that changed?”

“……Recently, it seems there is some internal conflict within the Dollars……. It seems there are guys attacking the Dollar’s companions extorting money from the shadows. It seems they’re guys who wear shark like ski-masks……”

Nothing came immediately to Kazane’s mind even when she heard that just now, but hearing the following words from the editorial chief, the sheen in her eyes changed, and she ended up undertaking the job.

“That Headless Rider you were interested in before……I have information that it was seen making contact with the kids wearing the shark ski-masks.”

What is the Headless Rider?

To Kazane it was like a huge wall standing between her and her brother. Ever since she started looking into her brother Shinra Kishitani, she saw that existence every now and then.

Since she watched it since she was little she had no fear towards such an abnormal being, but upon seeing the existence appeared to be staying in the same residence she gradually thought of the question, “Just what kind of relation does it have with my brother?”

At a time she questioned if “the Headless Rider could be her brother,” but the moment she saw the two of them – of him clinging to her back on the bike – that conjecture vanished.

If it were not for that mysterious existence, would she have had the courage to speak with her brother sooner?

She thought of that before, but she immediately rejected that upon realizing that blaming her lack of courage on a complete stranger was the worst misconduct.

Although for a complete “stranger,” was that really a “person” to begin with?

Having to think from there, she thought she should make contact with Shizuo Heiwajima again someday who was rumored to be on good terms with her. All while she was unaware that Kadota, whom she had plenty of exchanges with, he was an acquaintance of the Headless Rider at present time.

And so she underwent the interview exultantly of trying to look into the “relation between the Headless Rider and the mysterious shark mask group.” Presently, she had fallen into a dangerous situation of being surrounded by several young boys in an abandoned building at night.

In a certain place in the city, an abandoned building

“So, who is this? This woman.”

One of the boys wearing the shark motif ski-mask looked over at Kazane sitting on the sofa as though she was brought in as garbage and said that.

“Who know? She was tailing after us, so we brought her here for the time being.”

“Brought her here for the time being? You guys, she’s not a stray cat……”

“What are we going to do, Aoba? Should we give her a good shaking and make her spit out what her goal is?”

“Well, let’s respect our leader’s judgement.”

Hearing such a conversation, Kazane was assaulted by a strong sense of unease.

– I messed up…….

– Ahh, if only I had pulled back sooner…….

It was poor of her to think she could get a clue on her brother and the Headless Rider. Although it was great she found the boys in shark ski masks, she made the mistake of not pulling back like she normally would, and thus she was caught and brought to this hideout like place blindfolded.

Once she was brought to the second floor of the abandoned building with her hands still tied the blind was taken off, and Kazane examined the boys’ faces in the area with apprehensive feelings. More than half of them were wearing ski masks, and so she could not tell which one was the leader.

However “to respect his judgement” meant his identity would become known soon.

– Ahh, after his judgement……will I die then?

– Just what kind of terrifying person is he? The leader of the radical party of the Dollars…….

Kazane thought he had yet to arrive here, but her expectations and anxiety ended up being turned on in various meanings.

“So, who is the leader?”

“He’s still passed out. Look.”

Ahead where one of the ski masked boys was pointing towards, she could see the form of one boy sleeping on another sofa. When one of the boys shook him awake, he opened his eyes with a groan, and the leader slowly got up and took off his ski mask.

“Eh……?”

Kazane unconsciously raised her voice. The shark mask group’s leader was quite frail and looked like a boy opposite of the extorting type in her eyes. That boy said while holding back the pain in his whole body.

“Ow-ow-ow…….I got done in again today, huh……? I’m sorry, everyone……”

“Please don’t worry about it. We don’t ask you to be strong in a fight.”

“No, but I’m really more of a burden……Huh?”

And then he noticed Kazane and said.

“Ummm……Who are you?”

What was emitted from the boy was just an innocent question. To Kazane she could not help but feel that was contrarily eerie.

“Um……I’m really sorry! I caused unbelievable trouble for you all……!”

Once the details were explained, the leader of the shark mask group – the young man by the name Mikado Ryuugamine – bowed his head hastily.

“Umm, it is Kazane Kinomiya, right? Uwaah, I know of you. You’re someone who sometimes writes articles for Tokyo Warrior, right!”

“….W-well, thank you for that……”

Were there really a lot of people even among those who love to read magazines know the name of a part-time writer like herself? While surprised, she was more perplexed of how such an adult-like boy like this was the leader of the shark mask group.

“Your article about the urban legends was extremely interesting. How do I put this……Towards something like that, you showcase it as though taking a step back and really convey that feeling of meeting halfway or something……”

“Th-thank you……”

Kazane, while baffled, gave the boy talking excitedly an ambiguous smile. But then –

“So, why is a writer like you looking into us?”

Hearing Mikado’s words said in the exact same attitude, Kazane completely stiffened up. It was because in the ordinarily looking boy’s eyes she saw a hollow gleam in them.

She had investigated into various urban legends and underground information for these past few years. With that and her possible congenitally bad luck, since Kazane had more than plenty of instances of encountering the scenes of reckless murder cases or the starts of quarrels, she may had noticed the dangerous gleam in those eyes.

Kazane knew people with eyes similar to his. Those were neither the eyes of a scoundrel who killed his own family nor the eyes of a crazed delinquent. They were pure eyes. Purely, they were the eyes of a fanatic believing in a deranged “something” different from normal people and pursuing after it. As compensation for pursuing their dream, they put down their life on the gambling table. He had the same eyes as those kinds of people.

She recalled a gang of bombers who believed meaningless destruction would change the world would have had those same eyes. It was a gentle inquisition, but if she gave the wrong answer something unfortunate would fall upon her. She had that strong of a premonition, yet at the same time it was certain he also looked just like any ordinary person.

As a result of her hesitating on what she should to do, Kazane decided to tell him the honest reason.

“I want to know……the connection between you guys and the Headless Rider.”

“……Why is that?”

The moment the term Headless Rider appeared, Mikado’s eyebrows twitched. Not understanding the meaning in that, Kazane continued.

“Half of it is work. The other half……It seems my family has a connection with that Headless Rider. So I at least want to know if the Headless rider is a good person or a bad person. Is this insufficient……?”

“….Family. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be fine to directly ask them?”

“I say family, but in truth, I haven’t met him. It’s a little complicated though…… So, I guess you could say I wanted the courage to meet him or the chance to. So to look for that cue, I thought I would try to know about the Headless Rider well.”

“I see……was that the case?”

And then the boy, after thinking for a few moments, spoke as though he was reminiscing the past.

“Family is important even to me. My father, and my mother. But……since I came to Ikebukuro I’ve been living on my own, and to me Cel-……that Headless Rider is like family to me.”

“Eh?”

“If it wasn’t for that person, the current me wouldn’t be here. I would’ve just been left behind within the city, and without becoming anything I may have passed through the days as if they had simply died.”

Kazane asked Mikado about it further whose eyes were shining as though something was sufficed.

“What do you mean……? What did the Headless Rider……do for you in this city?”

Kazane thought that the answer could be an important lead to know the existence that was the Headless Rider, but what came back was a little faintly mad, boy-like smile.

“The Headless Rider……that person gave me courage. Courage……to take a step in the water.”

“Courage?”

“Yes, since that person was there, the current me was born. With that meaning, it is like having another parent to me.”

With a gentle, a truly gentle smile Mikado continued speaking.

However, his eyes narrowed suddenly, and he carried on while looking far away.

“But, I can’t depend on that person all the time. So I have to stand up and walk with my own strength. ……It’s over. The days of yearning for the extraordinary are over. So this time I have to protect them. the place everyone yearns for…..The Dollars……”

The last half was as though he was speaking to himself, and Kazane who realized the boy was no longer looking at her threw a question at him to bring him back and press further.

“But……The Headless Rider……does he wish for that? I don’t really get it……I know what you’re doing is dangerous. Did the Headless Rider want you to do that…..?”

At that Mikado answered plainly. Just like previously, with a smile shining in those unnaturally serene eyes.

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Then why……He’s like family to you, right?”

Mikado said to Kazane who asked that, finding it was strange.

“Isn’t it just me being rebellious?”

Kawagoe Highway

After that, they had dropped her off from their hideout close to their home by a car, and now with her released she thought about the boy Mikado while half dazed. He was just a stranger she had met only today, yet she felt she could not leave this be.

But, what should I do? Whose words would reach that boy?

As a result of thinking it over, Kazane arrived at one answer.

“The Headless Rider……”

If they were the words from the Headless Rider, which he called something like family to him, then they may reach him.

I really will have to step towards the Headless Rider. But how can we meet?

– It’s simple.

– My brother……If I meet Shinra nii-san, then I can also surely meet the Headless Rider……!

– If I can raise up my courage……!

The moment she made her decision, her body was pushed from behind.

“!?”

When she looked, there were several, clearly delinquent men trying to push her towards a car.

“Wai-……Sto-….Why!? No……!”

“Come on now…..rrgh!”

The hoodlum men emitted angry voices while immobilizing the struggling Kazane.

“You came out of those shark mask people’s car, didn’t ya? You their whore? Anythings fine, so tell us, alriight!”

They seemed to be members of the Dollars that suffered because of the shark mask group. They happened to see the car of the group that attacked them by coincidence and were ecstatic upon seeing her get out from there. Not thinking this could be a situation where they could talk upfront, she felt the sense of danger again from earlier today and was almost in tears. However –

“Hey.”

The next moment when she thought she heard the sudden voice of another man, Kazane realized her body felt lighter. And then what reflected in Kazane’s eyes in the next few seconds was the scene of the men who had surrounded her had completely fallen senseless and convulsing on the ground, and a man wearing a straw hat standing among them.

“Are you alright, miss? That was unfortunate.”

“Ah….Um! Thank you! And you are……?”

“Ahh, this isn’t anything to give my name over……is I would like to say, but I’m not so cruel where as I’d deny a girl asking for my name.”

The man with a sweet smile on his face tells his name to Kazane asking him while out of breathe.

“I’m Chikage. ……Chikage Rokujo. Nice to meet you.”