DURARARA!! Vol.6 CHAPTER 4, PART IV
♂♀
Several minutes later, Ikefukurou in front of the East Gate of Ikebukuro Station
There were several meeting spots of choice when young people wanted to have fun together in Ikebukuro.
If they intended to take the train, they would usually go for the fountain at the entrance of the underground Metropolitan line or the stone owl named "Ikefukurou" in front of East Gate.
These two were used often since they were ideal meeting spots even in rainy weather.
Ikefukurou, just like its name suggested, was a stature of an owl. Like Shibuya's Hachikou* Statue it was a favorite meeting spot because it was hard to miss.
* Hachikou: widely regarded as "Japan's most faithful dog". A bronze statue of Hachikou was erected in Shibuya in 1934 while Hachikou was still alive (the current one is a remake after the war in the year 1948).
Right in front of the stone statue a girl wearing glasses round as the owl's eyes was talking to the girl next to her who looked about six years her junior.
"Aoba-kun is going to be here soon, so let's wait here for a moment."
"……Mm."
Akane, the younger girl, nodded quietly and clung more tightly onto the hand of Sonohara Anri, the bespectacled girl.
Akane was already looking much better; it was hard to tell that she had recently been ill.
Anri was relieved at the girl's calm expression, but she was still feeling uneasy inside.
- What could Mikado-kun's "urgent errands" be?
She had just gotten a text message from her kouhai Aoba. She decided to keep waiting, but her heart was no longer at ease.
Yesterday Mikado had said that those errands were for another day. Did it turn out that they were for today after all?
Usually Mikado would have texted Anri directly to tell her about things like these.
That was enough to make Anri wonder just why he had to ask someone else to send her a message.
Hopefully he was not getting into some sort of big trouble?
Anri, who had just been attacked by a foreigner who thrusted a pair of garden scissors at her stomach, worried that Mikado would somehow run into something like that as well.
- What if……he gets attacked because of my……
She wanted to believe that he was indeed just distracted by his urgent errands. But she couldn't rule out the possibility that her assailants yesterday would target Mikado because he was "someone Anri was close to".
And it was not only Mikado. Her friends Harima Mika and Kida Masaomi - even her classmates like Yagiri Seiji - could also be in danger.
But she had no clue whatsoever as to what her assailants were after and who they were. She had no idea what could happen.
She was so wound up over this that she had sent a text message to Mikado, but he had yet to reply.
She thought about calling him, but was afraid that she would be giving him unnecessary trouble if he was indeed in the middle of some urgent errand.
She decided to wait for Aoba first and ask him what exactly had happened. But she shuddered involuntarily as she was reminded of the shine of the garden scissors.
She was not afraid because she remembered them as they were pointed at her.
She was afraid that they would be pointed at Mikado or her other friends.
The mere imagination of such a scene was enough to send a chill down her spine.
- If that happens……I……
Though she stayed calm on the surface, Anri felt a wave of fear and anger washing over her heart.
But it ended up not showing in the slightest; for Anri, it was but another piece of the "world beyond the picture frame". Her emotions stopped at a certain threshold and raged no more.
It was like being in the audience at a movie; one would feel fear and anger, but no one would seriously shout "Stop kidding!" or run out of the cinema screaming when seeing a movie.
On the other hand, Saika was still whispering her incessant curses inside her body.
"I love you."
These were the only words Saika said in place of hundreds, thousands, millions of words she could have said. Such was the eerie "demon blade" that existed inside her body.
These simple words would sound cheap in anyone's ears. But even cheap words could acquire a strange shine after being repeated for eternity. Whether the shine was a good or bad omen would be another story altogether - for Anri, she simply couldn't help being jealous of the demon blade who can voice her love in such an uninhibited fashion.
She was concerned that even under such circumstances she simply forced her anger and fear to the other side of the picture frame. But right now she was more concerned about Mikado and Celty being targeted by her mysterious assailants.
Just as she quietly waited for Aoba to arrive without letting a single trace of emotion show on her face -
"Eh? Sonohara-san? What are you doing here?"
"……Ah, Kamichika-san……"
One of the girls in her class was standing in front of her.
She looked like she was with other friends; a group of girls who looked like they were with her were chatting somewhere nearby.
She was one of the more mature types like Anri, but they were not particularly close with each other.
They had never really talked to each other before. Both at a loss as to what to say, they remained in somewhat uncomfortable silence.
"Um…is this your sister?"
"Ah, no, she's just a girl I know……what is Kamichika-san doing here?"
"Mm, my middle school friends came over yesterday, so I'm showing them around Ikebukuro. We were at West Gate a moment ago but we're probably heading for Sunshine now."
"I see."
After some pointless exchange silence fell again.
Trying to break the silence, Kamichika Rio, her classmate, told Anri something she had just remembered.
"Oh, right, it would be better to watch out when you walk around these streets today. It looks like there are hooligans fighting everywhere."
"Fighting?"
"They say Dollars is fighting some bousouzoku gang from outside of Tokyo……"
"……"
Anri's heart reacted to the word "Dollars".
"I see. I will watch out."
In a flat voice she replied, her body on the other side of the picture frame not showing any emotions.
Just as silence was about to fall for a third time between the two, the girls Rio was with walked towards them and tugged at Rio's sleeve.
"Hey - hey, Rio, we're hungry. Is she your friend? Wanna go to lunch together?"
"Ah, Non-chan! Sorry, I'm coming! Um, Sonohara-san, do you have anything planned……?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm waiting for someone……"
"I see. Um, in that case, we'll see each other at school, Sonohara-san……!"
Her classmate left with a peaceful yet somewhat awkward smile on her face.
Anri sighed quietly as she watched her leave.
- I really have to make myself more social……
She had become a class representative hoping to change her passive manners somehow. But it turned out that she was still not that different from the time when she was called Mika's foil and bullied at school.
Her thoughts wandered from that fact back towards the "Dollars" topic that had been brought up shortly before.
She knew that Mikado had something to do with Dollars.
Though it looked like that he had significant ties to Dollars, she had never asked Mikado exactly what they were. Mikado, on the other hand, never asked her anything either even after he had seen her wielding a katana.
She knew that it meant he wanted to postpone that talk until after Kida Masaomi's return.
Anri both looked forward to it and feared it.
The triangle would probably collapse when all the truths would be revealed.
Though it was probably already broken when Masaomi had disappeared from this city - but Anri still wanted to believe.
To believe that if these two could accept the abnormality called "Saika" along with the rest of her, she would probably be able to bond with people like she had never been able to bond with people before.
It was a somewhat cowardly expectation on her part, but she couldn't get it out of her heart.
At the same time she made up her mind.
No matter what dark secrets Mikado and Masaomi had been keeping, she would accept them as they were.
Not as mere "pictures beyond the frame", but as real beings who would occupy places inside her heart.
That was all she wished for as she waited for Aoba to arrive.
She was going to ask him what urgent errands Mikado had had in order to feel relieved at having made sure that Mikado was alright.
However, the ones who did appear in front of her -
Were several men in suits whom she had never known in her life.
"Miss Akane."
There were three of them.
They had a special sort of aura about them that intimidated and repelled; even as they walked through the variegated crowd close to the train station people stepped backwards naturally to avoid getting too close to them.
When one of them spoke, it was not to Anri, but to the little girl holding on to her hand.
"!"
Akane looked very surprised at the sight of the men.
It was not fear but rather pure surprise.
"Took us long enough to find you. Please come with us."
"W - Why……"
Akane stepped backwards, but a hand had already grabbed her shoulder.
As she turned around she saw another man in a suit standing there, looking down at her with a troubled face.
"Goodness, please be a good kid."
"S - Stop! If you don't let me go, I'll yell and say you're trying to kidnap me!"
"Are you saying you want some cops here to hear your story? We won't mind, but I think Miss Akane will be the one in trouble that way."
"Uh……"
Akane couldn't think of anything to say to the man's words and had to nod.
"?"
Anri was the only one without a clue as to what was going on; question marks lingered on her face.
"U - Um……"
"Ahh, Miss, you must be the girl Kishitani-sensei talked about."
"Eh……"
"We're sorry that you had to take care of Miss Akane. You can just leave her to us from now on."
She still had no clue what was happening.
"Kishitani-sensei" had to be that doctor living with Celty. Celty usually called him "Shinra", but Anri remembered that on the name tag outside the apartment she had seen the name "Kishitani Shinra".
Did that mean that these men were here because he told them to come?
None of them looked like Akane's father. If any of them were her father, he wouldn't have needed to come here with multiple men.
It didn't look like they were kidnappers, either. They were not hostile towards Akane; in fact, they even addressed her with deference.
Anri had heard that Akane had run away from her home. These people had probably come to take her home. But still Anri had no idea who they were.
"U - Um, sorry, are you Akane-chan's relatives?"
She tried to ask in a way that would avoid offending the men.
One of the men thought about this for a few seconds and sighed as he replied:
"……Well, we're not his family or anything. But since she's the granddaughter of the old man*, she's kind of like family to us……"
* Old man: yakuza members usually refer to an old head as the "old man", which in Japanese has the double meaning of "father". This is why Anri was confused by the explanation.
The man struggled to find a way to explain, but Anri felt even more confused.
- Um, the old man……his father's granddaughter? Does that mean that Akane-chan is either a daughter or a niece to these people? But he said she was not their family, so she's probably not a daughter to any of them, um, so they're like Akane-chan's uncles who aren't living in the same place as she is……?
These men differed greatly in age and looks. As Anri looked at them she was even more at a loss as to what they were.
Just as she was about to ask Akane what exactly was going on, the situation became even more chaotic.
"Sonohara-san!"
"!? M - Mikado-kun! And Celty-san!?"
The ones who were running towards Ikefukurou, rushing down the stairs that extended towards the sidewalk as they came - they were no other than Mikado, who was out of breath, and Celty, who was in her usual characteristic rider suit.
"Um, didn't you have something urgent to attend to? And what happened to Aoba-kun……?"
"I'll explain later! Before that……"
Mikado was about to say something until he stopped himself involuntarily.
He saw four formidable-looking men right next to her, forming a ring that threatened to close in on her and the girl clinging onto her hand.
- !?
Though judging by the way they were dressed these men had nothing to do with Toramaru, Mikado still felt immediately alarmed at the sight.
He feared that Anri was already involved in something ominous because of him.
He looked at Anri's face and without thinking turned to look at Celty as well.
But Celty, too, was frozen on the spot like he was.
A pitch-black rider suit and a full-faced helmet.
The way she was dressed simply screamed "criminal suspect", and indeed, the eyes of passers-by who were enjoying their holidays were by now turning in her direction.
However, thanks to the fact that one couldn't see very far on a crowded holiday street, many people simply walked on without taking notice of Celty. It would probably have to take a national idol appearing out of thin air with sound effects or a stray lion charging into the street to make such a crowd panic.
But still, among the people who had taken notice of the rider on the Black Motorbike some had already begun to take photos or videos with their cell phones. Skillfully manipulating her shadow, Celty covered the lenses of their cell phones and made sure that they didn't capture a single image of what was going on here.
Usually she wouldn't have bothered, but right now she had to make sure that photos of Mikado or Anri and herself wouldn't be posted all over the Internet.
As she did so she hastened to approach Anri, but -
- ?
- W - What is this? Why are they…?
Celty eyed the men in alarm because they looked like they belonged in the underworld.
As she did so, however, one of the men lowered his head in her direction.
"Thank you for everything."
- Eh!?
- Huh? What?
- Speaking of which, I might have seen these people somewhere…..
"Has Kishitani-sensei or Big Brother Shiki been in touch with you, too, Celty-san?"
"Ah, you came at a great time! We'll trust her to you if that's alright, then!"
- Ah! Yeah!
- These people are……from Awakusu-kai……
What were the Awakusu-kai people trying to do to Anri?
Just as she was worried that they might have found out about Anri's role in the Slasher incident, she saw the little girl holding Anri's hand and immediately put such thoughts behind her.
New questions formed in her head instead.
- Eh? Ah, eh? Ehhh - ?
- Awakusu……Akane-chan?
Realizing in shock that the girl in front of her eyes was no other than the Awakusu Akane she had been looking for, she stopped dead involuntarily in her tracks.
Had she a head her eyes would have popped to the size of saucers. Celty was about to ask the Awakusu-kai men just what had happened -
[No, actually, I came looking for this girl in glasses right here…]
Angry voices shouted after her before she could finish typing these words onto her PDA.
"Stand still!"
"Don't run away like a little rat!"
Celty had to stop typing and turn around as she heard the shouting voices in broad daylight.
- Oops.
- Don't tell me they followed me all the way here!?
Five or six young men in leather jackets were standing in front of her.
The passers-by turned to look at them with even more interest than they did when Celty appeared on the scene after they heard the shouts from the group of people who were obviously bousouzoku or something of the sort. Some quickened their pace to leave this place as soon as possible, some kept watching at a safe distance from behind pillars in order to not get themselves involved.
No one had notified the police or the staff at the train station, presumably because despite their fierce shouts the men had yet to do anything truly violent.
- Hang on, isn't there a police station immediately next to this place!?
- Are they determined to catch the Captain of Dollars……which for them would mean Mikado-kun no matter what it costs?
Celty thought about holding these five men back with her shadow, but to do so would just convince them further that Mikado was the leader of Dollars.
In her moment of hesitation, Celty heard one Awakusu-kai man speak before she could.
"Shut up, kids. Don't shout inside the station!"
They probably knew that some bousouzoku gangs had been after Celty last month. Thinking that these young men were just another bousouzoku group seeking to get Celty in trouble, the man had meant to dispel them for her.
But the young men only looked perplexed for a second, after which they recovered immediately and shot back:
"Argh? What the hell? It's got nothing to do with ya!"
Akane shuddered slightly as the young man in the leather jacket yelled.
All four Awakusu-kai men, after seeing how scared Akane was, turned their stares towards the young men.
"You're adults. Don't shout in front of kids. We're busy right now. Get lost."
In response to the man's condescending manners, the young men in leather jackets stared back without any intention to withdraw.
"What? Are you in Dollars too, old men? Really, elementary school kids, office ladies, and now thuggish old men too? Does Dollars not pick its members at all? Argh?"
Mikado felt his chest tighten as he heard the men insult Dollars.
He almost felt like insulting Dollars was like putting a negative sign on everything about him.
On the other hand, the Awakusu-kai men, who had no clue as to what the young men were saying, simply suspected that they had been on some kind of drug as they asked another question:
"You can't be…the ones who wanted to lay their fingers on Miss Akane?"
They asked that in a voice that only the younger men could hear in order to not make Akane, who was standing right behind them, worry.
Of course, the Toramaru men didn't know what they were being asked. It simply sounded like another provocative question in their ears.
And without realizing that Akane was standing right behind the Awakusu-kai men, the young men said something they should never have said.
"Stop messing with us, just hand that kid over already."
"!!!"
The expressions on the Awakusu-kai men's face changed drastically at the young men's words.
For the Toramaru men, the "kid" was meant to refer to Mikado.
But for the Awakusu-kai men, the "kid" in this place was Awakusu Akane.
Someone was trying to kidnap Awakusu Akane. Heiwajima Shizuo, who attacked their fellow members, also had something to do with this incident. For these men who knew about these incidents concerning Akane, it was only natural to misunderstand what these younger men had just said.
"……You've got some guts, that you do. What group do you work for, you bastards?"
"Ah? Huh?"
"Or did Yadogiri hire you? ……I wonder how much he paid you for your lives?"
"W - What are you talking about?"
The younger men couldn't help but step back a little as the Awakusu-kai men grew more intimidating all of a sudden.
One of the men grabbed Akane's hand and put it in Celty's. Lowering his head, he said in a voice only she was able to hear:
"Celty-san, please take Miss somewhere safe. Big Brother Shiki should still be at Kishitani-sensei's place."
- ……Um, what do I do?
Though Celty had sensed that these men must have misunderstood something about the situation, there was no time for lengthy clarifications.
Not to mention leaving Akane alone in a place where a fight was about to break out was certainly not an option.
As soon as she realized this, Celty took Akane's hand in a half-resigned fashion and ran.
"Eh - !"
Akane let out a little wail. Celty quickly typed [It's OK, I'm on your side.] onto her PDA, threw in a couple of emoticons and showed it to Akane.
Akane looked at it as she ran. With confused eyes, she looked up at Anri.
Like Akane, Anri was being dragged around by Celty. Right next to her, Mikado was also being dragged around by Celty.
Something simply felt wrong about this situation. But Akane, seeing that at least Anri's still with her, calmed down a little and kept running. Perhaps she was just happy to be able to get away from the Awakusu-kai men.
Using the shadows that extended from her body, Celty made two extra hands to make sure that everyone was pulled close to her.
The ring of onlookers, upon taking notice of that, began to clamor.
"Oi, no kidding……"
"Was that two extra hands!?"
"What the hell!?"
"What, so those weren't special effects!?"
"Is he a magician!?"
"Ooooh!?"
"Oi, it's true! The Black Motorbike was running past me a moment ago!"
"Awesome!"
Though they kept coming, Celty was already not paying attention to the curious looks from passers-by.
She simply continued to scan her surroundings with her sensors and use her shadow to cover up the lenses of cell phones as discreetly as she could.
"S - Stand still!"
One of the men in leather jackets came running after her.
Of course, he was actually after Mikado and Celty; but to the Awakusu-kai men it inevitably ended up looking like he was after Akane.
"You stand still, bastards!"
"Huh!?"
The young man in the leather jacket was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and pressed to the ground.
Taking everything in via her peripheral vision, Celty led the kids up the stairs to East Gate and out of the Station.
Her Black Motorbike was parked right there on the road in front of the Station.
It was technically not a legal parking spot, but Celty, telling herself that she was in an emergency, mounted the motorbike anyway.
- Four people……there's no way we'd fit!
- It's been long……but I guess there's no other way!
Celty thought about this for a second and immediately touched Shooter's back, sending a signal in the form of shadow to her horse.
And with that, the back of the motorbike began to morph back into that of a horse - a Coiste bodhar, the beloved horse of dullahans.
It did not change into only a horse, however, as it had done on many occasions before; instead, it morphed back to its even more original shape - namely, that of an Irish Coiste bodhar, a headless horse coupled with a two-wheeled chariot on which the dullahan usually rode.
- Sorry. I know we're going to be heavy, but please bear with us.
Celty let Mikado and Anri sit in the chariot, which she was originally supposed to sit, and made them seatbelts out of shadow to tie them to the chariot's body. Using her shadow to tie Akane to her own back, she mounted Shooter forcefully.
Of course, all of these transformations took place in broad daylight on the Ikebukuro streets in the middle of Golden Week. More than a hundred passers-by and many taxi drivers waiting on the side of the road witnessed the entire process.
In front of the collectively dumbstruck crowd that couldn't do anything but stare, Celty put shadow helmets one by one on the other three people. She had decided that it was much faster compared to having to cover the lens on every cell phone camera in the vicinity.
She pulled at the black reins and charged.
The neighing of the headless horse was heard even at the Lotteria by East Gate.
- I trust you, Shooter.
And the black chariot soared.
They started slow, but immediately picked up speed until they were going as fast as cars, their old-fashioned wheels grinding on Ikebukuro's asphalt roads.
- Good boy. Go!
Celty had faith in her horse. At the same time, she prayed.
It was not to the Gods, but rather to the flow of life in this city, something that bore resemblance to fate.
- ……If that's not too much to ask…please, please let this be a day off for the scary guy on the White Motorbike……!
♂♀
Most of the people could only stand still and goggle as the chariot soared away, its horse neighing.
But among them, some managed to stay relatively calm.
Like Vorona and Slon, who had followed Celty all the way here.
They had arrived on their respective motorbikes and seen what had happened.
Using the transceiver installed on the inside of the helmet, Slon said to Vorona:
"……That - was a real monster."
"Affirmative. But the problem does not lie on that spot."
Vorona recounted the facts in her typical cold and observant tone.
"Her back. The aforementioned boy has been taken on it with her. The problem is the fact that two persons were added."
"Yeah, that was why she changed the motorbike to a chariot. I'm so curious as to how she did it that I can't sleep - if I say that to you, what would your answer be?"
"Cannot answer. I recommend investigation by yourself."
Vorona answered Slon's question anyway as she slowly started her motorbike.
The light had turned green, but most other vehicles were not moving, probably because the sight of the chariot had been too much of a shock. Not knowing what exactly was going on, the vehicles behind them were blowing horns at them.
Vorona listened to the sound of horns as she continued to talk about what she saw to Slon.
"The two persons added, they are targets of our missions."
"What?"
"One is the bespectacled girl who acquires cold weapons from her soft flesh. The other girl is the target of our abduction. I confirm. Elements of doubt, nil."
"……Really? Well, now that you say so……"
Surprised but convinced by what Vorona had said, Slon started his own motorbike to follow Vorona. His huge frame made the motorbike look smaller; however, it was the same model as Vorona's.
Vorona continued to tail the chariot as she organized her thoughts in her head. She said to Slon:
"……The bespectacled girl and the abduction girl, clients were different. Completely separate missions. Affirmative?"
"Affirmative."
"Yet, the two targets are gathered together. Adding the Black Motorbike, three gathered together. Incomprehensible."
"……Are the two jobs connected somehow by that Black Motorbike?"
Vorona did not say "yes" or "no" to Slon's question; rather, she voiced her opinion cautiously.
"Coincidence, not coincidence, still unclear. Not the Black Motorbike, but the boy she brought from the abandoned factory connects it all, that possibility is not zero."
"Yeah……"
"In some cases, the possibility that the client set this up as a trap for us, is not zero. I suggest the necessity of caution in action."
Vorona analyzed the situation calmly.
In fact, anyone who did not know her would feel that she was as calm as a machine.
But Slon, who had known her for a long time and gotten used to her Japanese, sounded somewhat surprised as he said:
"You sound really happy, Vorona."
In response to that, the freelancer woman curled the corners of her lips inside the helmet.
"Affirmative. Right now I am……existing in cheerful nervousness."
Noon of May 4th, CHATROOM
.
.
.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
Kyo-san has joined the chat.
Mai-san has joined the chat.
Kyo
I bid you all good day, my illustrious chatroom company on the other end of the computer screen. It's the middle of a long holiday week today. No wonder no one could be bothered to come here. Regardless of that, Mai-san and I would wish to leave records of our excitement here when our hearts are not yet cold. That is why we have come here to the empty cyberspace when no one else is around.
Mai
Good day.
Kyo
Oops, just when I thought I should pick up where we left off yesterday - look what Bakyura-san's written here. On top of that, the archives older than that have all been erased without a trace. Ahh, that's true. Chatroom logs, even if saved, can be deleted at any moment. They're nothing more than data, and therefore subject to change at the owner's whim.
Mai
Strange.
Mai
Bakyura-san said that he hadn't been here all week.
Kyo
That is to say, since not even the records are reliable, chatroom conversations are in fact no different from the ones in real life. That is to say! Conversations in the chatroom are just like the ones we have in real life, in which the words said should remain in our respective hearts and gradually become dyed in our own colors. Though Brother had smiled bitterly at me when I said it to his face. That bitter smile had in turn become a mocking smile in my heart and fanned the fire of hatred -
Mai
Bakyura-san was here yesterday.
Kyo
Oh, that's true. Now that I think about Bakyura-san's words and actions, there are indeed some strange discrepancies. This is a serious situation. If he had not been sleepwalking, then there must have been some imposter who stole his handle. On the other hand, though, it could have been Bakyura-san's doppelgänger……it is said that one dies when one meets his doppelgänger. I wonder if that applies to the online world as well.
Mai
Scary.
Kyo
But then, it could be that Bakyura-san is just desperately trying to pretend that the person who said a word as nonsensical as "Sin-Clone-y-City" yesterday was not him but someone who stole his identity. To prove your words to be true, we must have the testimony of that lover who was traveling with him, which we cannot obtain. But does that person really exist to begin with? Ahh, if she does, I must apologize for my rudeness.
Mai
2D waifu.
Kyo
Argh! Now that I think about it, chatrooms are really an incredible creation. Even if no one is in it, the chatroom still exists in concept. But as long as no one opens the website to log onto it, this space called the chatroom would not be existing anywhere. It's just piles of data stored on the server's database. However, it is nothing more than data. It is not a "place" where people have conversations.
Mai
I don't understand.
Kyo
Yet, because of the existence of people like us who use it as a platform of observation, the chatroom becomes an actual presence in this world. There might even be virtual monsters trying to wreak havoc in the chatroom. There might be something they could type that would make us all insane and die in misery once we see it. But as long as no one opens the website, no one can be
Mai
Word limit.
Kyo
Sorry. No one can be sure that something like that is happening. Ahh, it's almost like Schrödinger's Cat. But even Schrödinger wouldn't have expected that in the future places like these would come into existence on a network of computers. Though to be fair, I guess it was not Schrödinger's intention when he invented his cat analogy to illustrate something like that to begin with.
Mai
I don't understand.
Kyo
We too are like Schrödinger's Cats in a closed box for anyone who has never opened this website. When someone finally sees our conversations here, where would we be? Would we still be continuing our conversation, or already logged out, or poisoned to death? That would not be something they could know just from opening this website, though!
Mai
Um,
Mai
Can't you get down to the topic already?
Kyo
Goodness, was that directed at me? Apart from being criticized online, I was also urged by Mai-san who is sitting next to me to hurry up and write down what had happened. Yeah, even from my own point of view, it was not my intention to lessen the impact of the shockingly real story I am about to record with my lengthy, pointless talk.
Kyo
Let us begin. This is the tale of what we saw a moment ago!
Mai
Yay!
Kyo
So, we were strolling around on the Ikebukuro streets in the morning. We were enjoying our shopping tour with the foreign friend we recently made who is so very useful for carrying things around. There we raised our eyes just because. And what a sight we saw. Behold, wasn't that a man in a bartender suit standing on one of those tall buildings?
Mai
Shizuo-san.
Mai
That hurts.
Mai
I was pinched.
Kyo
Let us put aside for the moment the question of whether that was the famous Heiwajima Shizuo. Anyhow, the man in bartender suit who was standing high above us was not on the rooftop of that building because he wanted a good look at the sky or wished to kill himself. No, actually, it was in some way suicidal nevertheless - because behold, that man simply jumped to a neighboring building at least two stories shorter than the one he was on!
Mai
So cool
Kyo
He would have been dead had he missed by an inch. Why on earth did he do something like that? We couldn't do anything but stare. He moved like a beast - no - a jumping spider that stuck its feet to the walls without difficulty and moved from window to window on that building! Ahh, those were some terribly erotic moves! I feel so aroused!
Bakyura-san has joined the chat.
Mai
Good day.
Bakyura
Good day.
Bakyura
Um,
Bakyura
There's something I wanna ask you
Bakyura
Is it true that I was here yesterday?
Mai
It's true.
Kyo
Alas, how do you do, Bakyura-san? Are you feeling the fear from the sudden advent of your doppelgänger? Or have you come here with material proof that your lover is not a figment of your imagination but an actual 3D presence? Either way, it is really scandalous of you to have been lurking in this chatroom since you got offline and until we came online. There should be legal limits on how obscene a person can be, really.
Mai
Pervert.
Bakyura
No,
Bakyura
After I logged off,
Bakyura
I put it on "log watch" mode,
Bakyura
And when I returned to the room I saw you two chatting,
Bakyura
So I hastened to logged on.
Mai
Was that so?
Mai
I'm sorry.
Kyo
Hmm. We will take your word for what just happened. Regardless of who typed those words using your handle, be it you or your impostor or your other self or your doppelgänger or Schrödinger's Cat typing its last words before it died of a gas leak, it is a sad fact that we will forever remember the word "Sin-Clone-y-City" that has been typed here under Bakyura-san's name.
Bakyura
I've been wondering, actually,
Bakyura
What exactly is that,
Bakyura
This,
Bakyura
Sin-Clone-y-City thing
Bakyura
Is that the name of a final revelation scene or something? Of a trading card game?
Mai
It's synchronicity.
Bakyura
What, a pun!?
Kyo
But it was "Bakyura-san" who said it, remember?
Bakyura
Argh,
Bakyura
I so have to see that part of the log.
Bakyura
By the way,
Bakyura
Until yesterday,
Bakyura
Has Tanaka Taro-san been in this chatroom as well?
Mai
Yes.
Kyo
Setton-san and Saika-san were here as well. Only Kanra-san is absent.
Bakyura
Kanra-san wasn't here?
Mai
No.
Kyo
Well. That person is always appearing in the least expected places. Might even be watching us as we chat right now. If you know some kind of magic word that would make Kanra-san alone insane and dead, then now is probably the biggest and the last chance to type it. Bakyura-san, aren't you always going "tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun till you die from it" on Kanra-san?
Mai
Scary.
Bakyura
Nah,
Bakyura
That was just kidding.
Bakyura
Thank you, anyway.
Bakyura
See ya.
Mai
Goodbye.
Bakyura-san has left the chat.
Kyo
Alas, he didn't react at all to our story about the man flying on the top of buildings. Did he have something extremely urgent to attend to all of a sudden? Or was he suddenly reminded that he was supposed to be doing something after hearing us talk? There's no way of finding that out now.
Mai
Mm -
Kyo
Then it's about time we logged off as well.
Mai
Goodbye.
Kyo-san has left the chat.
Mai-san has left the chat.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 4