"I'm okay," he said, knowing it was a lie.

[knkfics]

A/N: One more to go after this! Mikado is kind of wibbly in this chapter, but hey, he's had a rough week. (Also, if we're going to be fair, wibbly!Mikado is probably closer to anime canon than the snarky!Mikado I tend to write. *cough*)

Chapter Sixteen

Things at Shinra’s got hectic for a little while. Izaya’s clean-up crew arrived, wearing uniforms that looked suspiciously like the same cleaning agency that had once threatened Mikado in his apartment, back while they still worked for Yagiri Pharmaceuticals. Mikado didn’t notice, and nobody pointed it out.

They were efficient, whoever they were; they were there for less than fifteen minutes before the bodies were gone and the bloody carpet torn out, with some cheap throw rugs laid down after the fact. Izaya paid them in cash and then departed with them, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary around Shizuo, the teenagers, or the Mask. Shizuo had already declared his intention to hang around for a little while in case anyone else showed up looking for trouble.

By the time Shinra’s colleague showed up, Masaomi had passed out. Shinra himself was back on his feet by that point, though he was moving a little gingerly, one hand occasionally lingering over the wound. He would peer down at it every thirty seconds or so, fascinated by the speed at which it was healing. If Moriyama was surprised that Shinra had pointed ears or a hole in his chest that should have killed him, he said nothing about it. He simply hooked the doctor up to an IV, hung two units of blood, and moved on to the teenagers.

Masaomi didn’t even twitch while Moriyama fixed the stitches he had popped and put a bandage on his sprained wrist. In fact, the doctor became somewhat concerned at this and tried to rouse him, which had absolutely no effect whatsoever. Celty put a stop to that. She was fairly sure that Masaomi would be much better off after some serious sleep. There was nothing any doctor could do for whatever damage had been done to his mind by the Mask. They put him in the spare room to sleep it off.

Mikado’s ribs were broken but he had no other injuries besides some bruises on his throat, from where Ceallach had held him aloft. Moriyama advised him to take it easy for a few days and try to stay off his feet, which Mikado was perfectly happy to abide by. The doctor left just as Anri and Saki showed up. Kadota had given them a ride, picking Saki up on their way, though he didn’t come up to the apartment with them. Mikado heard the door open and came out of the spare room to greet them.

Saki stopped just inside the door and looked around, taking in the missing carpets, the jumbled furniture, and Shizuo smoking inside. "Well,” Saki said, “this looks unpleasantly exciting. Is everyone okay?"

Mikado nodded, then cleared his throat. He didn’t want to have to tell the long story, and he especially didn’t want to have to explain to Saki that Masaomi had put on the Mask to save him, and may or may not be coming back the same as he had been. Then he looked around and realized there was no one else to explain. Celty would have had to type everything out, which would take far too long. Shinra was dozing by this point, leaning against her. And Shizuo? No. Just no. The blonde would probably say something terse and completely unhelpful like ‘everyone’s alive. Except the bad guys. And your boyfriend’s in a coma.’

When Saki and Anri both looked at him rather expectantly, he said, “It may take a few minutes for me to explain, but everyone is . . . is basically okay, and Ceallach is taken care of.” He found himself desperately wanting to stall. For some reason, it felt like until he had to tell the girls, it wasn’t all real. He could pretend that everything was the way it should be for another precious few minutes. “Celty-san, do you mind if I make some tea?”

Celty gave him a thumbs up and then waved Shizuo over to her to help her put the sofa and coffee table back where they should be.

Saki opened her mouth to start asking questions, but Mikado looked so pinched and worried she thought that maybe it would be wise to let him have a minute. He busied himself making the tea, took a deep breath, and began to explain, starting with when they had left the Dollars meeting. He assumed, correctly, that Anri had already told her about what had happened at the meeting itself. He kept things as brief as possible, not giving a lot of detail, and managed to tell the entire story before the water finished heating, without once looking up from his hands.

Saki was quiet for a long moment, just listening. When he was done, she still had questions, but those could wait for a moment. She stood and pulled Mikado into a hug. Anri embraced him from the other side, leaning her head against his shoulder. He let out a shuddering breath. “I’m okay,” he said, knowing it was a lie, but also knowing that it needed to be said.

"You don't have to be," Saki informed him.

He took another deep breath. It came a little easier. “Being upset about it won’t help anything,” he said.

"You might feel better if you got some of it out of your system," Saki informed him. Having a good cry, most girls and woman knew, often released some pressure. It was really too bad that most males were blind to this fact.

Mikado managed a wan smile. “Mostly I just want to sleep,” he said.

Anri squeezed his hand. “I’m sure that Masaomi-kun will be fine,” she said. “He’s not the type of person to lose to something like this.”

"He doesn't know how to give up,” Saki agreed. “Not anymore, not with you around."

Mikado shook his head. “That somehow makes it worse. He did that to save me.”

"And to save himself,” Saki said, knowing that Masaomi without Mikado was not a Masaomi that any of them wanted to see return. “So don't give up on him. Sometimes he does know what he's doing."

“Yeah,” Mikado said, and his voice trailed off into silence. “I guess I’ll just get some sleep. I’m really tired.”

"Okay." Saki stepped back. "We can all go see Masaomi and then you can sleep." Mikado nodded and they headed for the spare room. Shinra was putting the IV equipment away when they got there, and reassured them that Masaomi’s condition hadn’t changed; he was just sleeping. The blonde was normally a light sleeper, but he didn’t twitch as the group of them entered the room. He had been stripped out of his clothes and tucked into the bed, and appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Saki started to give a nod to Shinra, but stopped and stared at his ears for a moment before shaking herself. "Sorry."

“No problem,” Shinra said, unbothered. He frowned at Mikado. “Did Moriyama-sensei give you anything for your ribs?”

Mikado blinked. “He said they couldn’t be wrapped. Something about pneumonia and common misconceptions. He just told me to take it easy for a few days.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Shinra said. “I meant, did he give you anything for the pain?”

“What? Oh, no, but I’m fine,” Mikado said automatically.

"You're an idiot," Saki informed him primly. She turned to Shinra and took another long look at him, this time taking in the careful way he moved and how pale he was, rather than his pointed ears. "Can I get what he needs?"

Shinra nodded. “Top drawer over there,” he said, pointing to one of the cabinets. He told Saki what to look for, and Mikado looked at the two pills she handed to him like they were from another planet before swallowing them dry.

With Mikado taken care of, she turned her eyes to Masaomi. She could already tell that something was wrong, no matter how peaceful he looked. He was arranged on the bed in what would have been a comfortable enough position, flat on his back, arms at his sides. But that wasn't Masaomi. He either curled up next to whoever he was with, or sprawled. This reminded her uncomfortably of when she had first seen him in the hospital after the Dollars had put an end to the Blue Squares. She felt her shoulders sag and she sat down on the edge of his bed.

Seeing the look on her face, Anri wrapped an arm around Saki’s shoulders. “He’ll be all right,” she said, with unusual confidence in her voice. “I think . . . because he has both of you now. All of us. He’s been really happy, and . . . I don’t think he would ever give that up.”

Saki leaned back into Anri's embrace. "For such a big bad gang leader, he has too many selfless impulses." She looked down at Masaomi's sleeping face and then up at Mikado. What she really wanted to know was what, exactly, had happened. Mikado’s explanation had been terse at best. But Mikado looked to be at the end of his rope. She considered her other options. Shinra didn't look so great and given what little she did know, she was willing to bet he had missed a lot. Asking Shizuo anything usually got one the Cliff's Notes of the Reader's Digest version. Hardly useful. And Celty? She had to type everything. That left Izaya.

“He does at that,” Anri agreed. She gave Mikado a gentle shove towards the bed with her free hand. “You should lie down for a bit, Mikado-kun. We’ll go help Celty-san put the apartment back to rights. Call us if you need us, okay?”

Mikado was too tired to argue any longer. He flopped down on the bed, trying to keep the pained expression off his face when Masaomi didn’t even react to his presence rather than curling up around him like usual.

Saki bit her lip at Masaomi's lack of movement and then squared her shoulders. "We won’t be far." She turned and left the room with Anri on her trail. Shinra left behind them and shut the door most of the way, leaving it ajar in case Mikado needed anything. Shizuo and Celty had gotten the apartment more or less back in order, though for the moment little could be done about the hole in one of the walls from where Shizuo had tossed an opponent through it. Fortunately, it was a wall that simply led from one room to another, rather than leading out of Shinra’s apartment.

Celty was looking at the hole with a hand on her hip. When Shinra was closer she typed, 'Maybe we can make an archway? With a fish tank?' There was a pause. 'Are you okay?' She took his hand.

“Do I not look okay?” Shinra asked, blinking at her. “Anyway, I figured we would just replace the wall; that seems like the easiest solution.”

'You look a little peaky. You also nearly died and then changed species. It's a lot.'

Shinra studied her over the rims of his glasses for a few minutes. He bit down on his lip, but the snickers escaped him anyway. “Really? ‘It’s a lot’? That’s your summary of the situation?” He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. “I’m a little tired. But the transfusion helped. I’m fine. I’m wonderful. I get to stay with you forever.”

There was a long pause, and then she threw herself at him, hugging him fiercely.

“Tch,” Shizuo said. “Get a room, you two.” But he was smiling despite himself.

'Quiet, you.' Celty held the PDA out to him.

Saki cleared her throat. “Celty-san, is there a place I could use to make a quick phone call?”

'The office.' Celty pointed to a room that actually seemed free of damage, without entirely letting go of Shinra. She wondered who Saki was calling, but figured that if Saki wanted them to know, she wouldn’t have bothered asking for privacy.

“Thanks,” Saki said, and headed for the other room. She wasn’t surprised when Anri followed her, clearly aware of what Saki was doing and wanting to be privy to any additional information that she could get.

Saki pulled Izaya up on her speed dial and hit send. She stayed standing, because she thought she might want to sit down before this is over and wanted the option to be able to do so. The phone rang six times and then went to Izaya’s voice mail. She hung up and redialed. He picked up on the first ring. “Saki,” he said pleasantly, as if he were thrilled to hear from her.

"Izaya-san, how are you?" The concern was genuine.

“Pff, fine,” he said, then after a moment, “a little roughed up, but nothing big. Where are you? At Shinra’s already?”

"Yes." She paced back and forth. "Mikado was only able to give me the very basics, so I was hoping you would fill in the details for me."

There was a brief pause, barely noticeable. But from Izaya, the silence spoke volumes. “You pissed?” he asked. It sounded almost like he cared, rather than simply trying to plan ahead.

"I don't know. I just need to know what happened to Masaomi. I didn't call to have someone to yell at; I called because I need to have someone tell me the truth."

Izaya told her. He started at the point where Shinra had been injured and related the events with as much detail as he could remember, unlike Mikado’s brief, glossed over version. There was no hint of remorse in his tone; he was simply giving the facts. When Saki went quiet to let him talk, Anri pressed her ear in close so she could listen as well.

Saki drew in a deep, shaky breath upon hearing his description of Masaomi’s behavior after he took the Mask off. Izaya knew her well enough to tell that it was because she was upset, not angry. She couldn't even be angry at what Masaomi had done, because he had saved Mikado. "That is . . . less promising than I had hoped."

Izaya was uncharacteristically silent.

"Was he there at all?" She wanted to hear the 'Yes' so badly that she was almost willing to take a lie, if it came down to it.

“I don’t know, Saki,” Izaya said. “But he took the Mask off of his own free will. I think that’s probably a good sign.”

Saki took another deep breath. "Okay. Thank you for telling me."

“Catch you later,” Izaya said, and hung up without another word.

Saki closed her phone and bit her lip, clearly trying not to cry. Anri still had an intensely thoughtful expression on her face. “You know . . .” she said, hesitantly, “I remember after I heard Saika for the first time. It changed me . . . but I think I’m still me, underneath it all. It’ll take some getting used to . . . but he’s still Masaomi. So don’t give up. Okay?”

Saki nodded mutely and then leaned on Anri. "I think I just need to have a cry and get it out of my system."

“Okay,” Anri said, and hugged her tightly.

~ ~ ~ ~

Masaomi slept for nearly two days, and they were two of the longest days in Mikado’s life. He slept so soundly that he didn’t even move, which had Shinra bothered more than any of the others. The doctor insisted on periodically shifting Masaomi to make sure that he didn’t grow stiff. Even being moved around didn’t rouse the blonde teenager.

Celty kept telling them to wait and be patient, that Masaomi needed time to recover, that rest was the best thing for him. Mikado didn’t dare ask how long they were supposed to wait before becoming concerned. He supposed that he didn’t really want the answer. Saki was there just as often as he was, and it was only when she was there, holding Masaomi’s hand, that Mikado would try to get some sleep. Not that he could sleep very well; he had bad dreams, and could never stay asleep for more than a couple hours.

Anri came in and out. She was just as worried as either of them, but her level of detachment allowed her to badger them gently about things like food and rest and even homework. It alarmed everyone when she brought Mikado his assignments and he simply set them aside without even glancing at them. She coaxed and cajoled, and he finally looked at them, but after ten minutes he just put them away again, shaking his head and saying that he couldn’t focus.

Masaomi finally shifted, like he was deciding whether to wake or just curl up and go back to sleep. Apparently sleep won, because he rolled onto his side and pressed his face into the new, cool spot on his pillow before falling still again. He moved again only a moment later, shifting closer to whoever was sitting on the bed with him. That, of course, was Mikado, who nearly forgot how to breathe the moment that Masaomi moved of his own volition. “M-Masaomi?” he asked, cringing away from how loud his own voice was in the still room, though he had barely spoken above a whisper.

Masaomi made a contented humming sound, a faint smile playing across his lips. He shifted again, using Mikado's thigh as a pillow. Clearly whatever dream he was having was a nice one. Mikado hesitated, not wanting to force him awake if he was finally going to start showing signs of life again. He looked around to see if anyone else was nearby, craning his neck to see into the hallway. Saki had gone to take a nap only about a half hour previous, and Anri was at school. He didn’t know where Shinra and Celty were, but other than Shinra coming in periodically to check on Masaomi, they had mostly been leaving him alone.

Mikado's movement seemed to rouse the blonde from his sleep, and eventually he blinked his eyes open and then gave a jaw-popping yawn.

“Masaomi?” Mikado tried again. He remembered what Celty had said. “How are you feeling?”

"Fuzzy." He rubbed a hand over his face and then into his eyes.

Mikado’s heart leapt in his chest to hear an actual coherent answer. He decided, hesitantly, to try a statement instead of a question. “You’ve been asleep for over two days.”

That earned him a slightly baffled look, but the truth of his words hung sharp and bright like a shining thread in a growing tapestry. Masaomi watched it shift and stretch for a moment before it sunk in that the silence was also stretching. "Two days, nine hours and," here he had to pause and listen for the rest of the answer, "forty-two minutes. You don't care about seconds. They come and go so fast."

Mikado blinked. For a few long moments, that was all he could muster. Then he hastily moved on, since there didn’t seem to be anything he could say to that. “Are you hungry? Or thirsty?” He remembered the sprained wrist and the popped stitches. “Or in any pain?”

"Yes, yes, n . . ." The last word literally choked him. It lodged in his throat and refused to budge until he was willing to swallow it back down and rethink. "Some." That seemed to satisfy whatever new part of him that wasn't just him, but was part of everything else.

“Okay.” Mikado didn’t catch the slip. He tilted his head towards the door and called out, “Shinra-san? Masaomi’s awake.” He didn’t say more than that. His friend’s behavior was still a little off, and he wasn’t going to venture an opinion on whether or not he was actually okay. He heard a faint reply from Shinra and tried for a reassuring smile at Masaomi, squeezing his friend’s hand. Masaomi squeezed back and considered his friend's smile. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. It wasn’t like Mikado’s normal smile, or even his small ‘I’m pretending to be exasperated with you but in truth I think you’re hilarious’ smile.

Shinra bustled in a few moments later. When he saw Masaomi upright and looking around, he smiled, a much more genuine smile than Mikado’s. “How are you feeling, Masaomi-kun?”

"Fuzzy, hungry, and thirsty. And my wrist hurts." Apparently he had decided this in the meantime.

“Okay,” Shinra said. He glanced at Mikado and the near deathgrip that the teen had on his friend’s hand. “Mikado-kun, why don’t you go grab Masaomi-kun a glass of water and something to eat? I’m just going to check his stitches and rewrap his wrist; you won’t miss anything exciting.” Mikado nodded, mumbled something vaguely appropriate, and stood up to go.

At first Masaomi's fingers tightened about Mikado's, but the pattern that came and went from his vision showed how Mikado always looped back to him. He uncurled his fingers enough to let Mikado go. Once he was gone, Shinra began poking and prodding at places that were still rather sore, though he had done a lot of healing while he had been asleep. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, okay, Masaomi?” That got a solemn nod of agreement. “Do you remember what happened before you put on the Mask?”

Masaomi nodded, but didn't offer anything else as he had answered the question posed to him.

“Do you remember what happened after you took it off?”

Another nod. It was starting to creep Shinra out just a little. It wasn’t right for Masaomi to be answering these questions about such an incredible event with simple nods. Shinra wasn’t sure what he thought the teenager should be saying, but he was sure he didn’t like what he was getting instead. He tried to think of a question that might prompt a greater response. Yes and no questions clearly weren’t going to get anything beyond a yes or a no. “What was it like, having the Mask on?”

"Loud and bright and amazing." There was a pause. "Everything made sense. The universe is a little snide though."

Shinra smiled. That was more the Masaomi he had hoped to see. They could deal with this. The trick would be getting Mikado to understand that. “Yeah? What did it say that was snide?”

Masaomi pouted. "That I angst too much," he said. Then he yawned hugely.

Shinra had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He looked up as Mikado came in with a can of juice and a sandwich, still looking somewhat hesitantly. “He seems to be okay overall,” Shinra said, “though from the look of things I’d say he needs to get some more sleep.”

“Oh . . . okay,” Mikado said. He gave the plate and the can to Masaomi.

Masaomi smiled at him, bright and honest, before diving at the food. The sandwich disappeared in record time and the juice almost as quickly. Shinra left while he was eating, leaving the two of them alone. Mikado waited while Masaomi ate, fidgeting, tugging at the cuffs of his shirt. “Uhm . . .” he said, and then his voice trailed off. “Anri-san and the others are okay,” he said, as if Masaomi had asked, trying not to let on that it bothered him that Masaomi hadn’t. “Some of the Dollars got roughed up, but they were taken care of.”

Masaomi could see how upset he was as if it was a lit sign in front of him. "I know." The smile was almost mischievous. "I asked. I wanted to be sure."

“So . . . you can still . . .” Mikado trailed off. He wasn’t sure how to phrase it, and was sort of hoping that if he let the sentence trail off, Masaomi would give him some details. He didn’t. Instead, he tilted his head to one side, looking confused. Mikado took a deep breath. “Can you still see the truth of everything? I mean, is it like you’re still wearing the Mask?”

“Sort of and no.”

“I . . . oh.” Mikado wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. He realized suddenly that if he tried to make sense of Masaomi much longer, he was probably going to cry from sheer frustration. “Why don’t you get more sleep, like Shinra-san suggested?” Then he could go get Saki up and give her an update. She could sit with him for a while in case he woke up again.

Masaomi nodded and snuggled down into the blankets. Once he was settled, he reached out and grabbed Mikado's hand. "I'm glad I didn't want to know everything."

“Yeah,” Mikado said, thinking of how much worse things might be if Masaomi had worn the Mask much longer. “Me too.”

Masaomi let go of Mikado's hand. "It promised everything would be fine."

Mikado could think of a dozen things he could say in response to that, most notably ‘what promised, the universe?’ and ‘whose definition of fine are we using here?’ It was hard to squeeze any words out past the lump in his throat, though, so he settled on, “Okay. I guess that’s good.”

“You’ll see,” Masaomi said confidently.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next day found Masaomi out of bed, although Saki wouldn't swear that he was always precisely with them. Actually, he was hardly with them at all. He would answer direct questions, but only with as much information as was needed. He didn't elaborate at all unless it was required. It was a little unnerving sometimes, such as when he would answer Celty even when she and her PDA were across the room, or when he answered rhetorical questions with very real answers.

But mostly he simply drifted. Around the apartment itself, or just mentally. Earlier he had sat down by a window and stared out for hours. Now he was slumped against the same window, asleep. They had draped a blanket over him but otherwise let him be. Celty was the resident expert on magic and she and Shinra agreed that it would be better to just let Masaomi alone for the most part.

This left Saki at loose ends. She needed something to do. Suddenly she stood from the sofa and smoothed down her skirt before turning to Anri and Mikado. "I'm going out. Which one of you is coming with me?"

Mikado glanced at her and said, “I don’t - ”

“Mikado-kun will,” Anri said, with unusual firmness in her voice. “I’ll stay with Masaomi-kun.”

There was a brief pause. Mikado, who hadn’t slept much over the last few days, took a few moments for his brain to click into gear while he looked at her. “Anri-san, I’d really rather . . .”

“You need to go with Saki-san,” Anri said.

Shinra looked up from where he was sitting at his computer. “Why don’t all three of you go?” he suggested. When Mikado opened his mouth, he said, “I assure you that Celty and I are fully capable of looking after Masaomi-kun for a few hours so you three can have some downtime and get some fresh air. Now get out for a while. Doctor’s orders.”

"It's decided, then," Saki said cheerfully. She held out a hand to Mikado.

He sighed and took it, then stood. Maybe they were right. He hadn’t left the apartment since their arrival with Ceallach. Sitting around watching Masaomi was only making him feel worse. If his presence was helping his friend, that would be one thing, but he honestly wasn’t sure that Masaomi even noticed that he was there. “Where are we going?”

"Apartment hunting."

Mikado looked at her blankly while he put on his shoes, wondering if he had missed something. Was he really that tired? “I already have an apartment. You have an apartment. Why are we going apartment hunting?”

"Because Masaomi doesn't. So we can all get one together."

“I guess,” Mikado said. His stomach churned at the idea. He knew that they couldn’t exactly bring Masaomi back to his parents’ place when he was like this. He also knew that nobody would be thrilled with the idea of Masaomi living in the little hole he currently called home. But the idea of getting a place with Masaomi right now, having to spend all day looking at that blank stare, behind which had once lived one of the liveliest people he had ever met, made him want to be sick.

Saki paused long enough to put shoes on and let Mikado put his own on and then she dragged him out into the hallway. "He said he didn't have a home. We are going to fix that."

“Okay,” Mikado said, not knowing what else he could say to that. Anri was smiling a quiet little smile as she fell into step beside them. She found the idea strange, but appealing. She knew that she was meant to be alone, but . . . maybe after all this time, she had finally been alone long enough.

Saki towed Mikado along out of the building and onto the sidewalk. "You aren't allowed to give up on him."

“I’m not giving up on him, I just . . .” Mikado’s voice trailed off into frustration. “I don’t know how you can stand it.”

"It's not easy. But we see little flashes of him, so I just . . . have to try."

“This is all my fault,” Mikado said miserably.

"What? How do you figure that?"

“We didn’t even have to get involved,” Mikado said. “I’m the one who made the decision to do that. To try to help. Because these guys beat up Izaya-san and he’s in the Dollars, and I . . . I don’t even like Izaya-san. I just went and stuck my nose into it anyway because of some stupid, childish ideas about what being ‘taichou’ is all about. I never should have gotten us involved in this to begin with. It wasn’t my business.”

"It was your business. Because you're Taichou." Saki sighed. "Do you know why Masaomi loves you?"

Mikado gave her a dubious look. “Because he’s crazy?”

Saki shook her head at him. "Because you're you."

“Wow, that’s very zen.” Mikado kicked a can that someone had left on the sidewalk and sent it skittering into the road. “Now I feel better about everything. Thanks, Saki-san.”

"Don't be a twit. My point is that you wouldn't be you anymore if you didn't do things like want to help Izaya-san even though you don't like him. Masaomi, despite how he acts, isn't stupid. He didn't follow you into this blindly."

“Besides,” Anri said, “last time, you didn’t get involved, and then everything only got worse. That’s what would have happened this time, too.” She reached out and curled her hand around his. “You made the right decision, Mikado-kun. Even if Masaomi-kun wasn’t going to be okay, you still would have made the right decision. That’s why we all supported you.”

Saki nodded. “That’s the way things are in Ikebukuro,” she said. “Bad things happen. We do our best to stop them, and sometimes people get hurt.”

Mikado sighed. “Every time something like this happens, I get all excited and glad that I formed the Dollars. Then it ends badly and I wind up thinking that I did everything all wrong. That I don’t belong here.”

“You want to know a secret?” Saki asked, with a sympathetic smile. “That’s got nothing to do with Ikebukuro or the Dollars or magical masks. That’s just part of life. Everyone has to struggle to find their place. You do belong here, Mikado. You foiled a human trafficking ring when you had only been in town a few weeks. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to make mistakes on occasion. But it does mean that you have to cut yourself a little slack when things go badly.”

Mikado took a deep breath, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry I’ve been so hard to deal with.”

“We forgive you for that, too,” Anri said, squeezing his hand.

Saki smiled at them both. “C’mon, let’s go find a place to call home.”

~ ~ ~ ~