“Why, hello there, young Orihara. What has you in such a hurry?”
“…”
Shingen, wearing a gas mask like always, spotted Izaya leaving the building, but Izaya gave him no more than a glance before scampering away.
“Hrm… Well, how about that, Egor? I’ve just discovered that being totally ignored by a person younger than myself hurts more than I realized it would.”
“Are you saying you’ve never been ignored before this?”
“Why did you phrase that question as though it seems only natural that I would be ignored? Not only that, he was one of my son’s few friends, and—whether he did it or not—he was brought in by the police for stabbing my son years ago! Surely my presence would earn some kind of reaction…”
Egor ignored Shingen, who then launched into a pointless speech about nothing important. Instead, Egor focused on the building above them.
“…What?! Egor, are you ignoring me, too?! Don’t forget that not only are you younger than me, you are also a pawn I hired with money! But do not worry! I am a man of generous and forgiving spirit! I can be friends with a man I hired with money and be close enough to send him a holiday card containing a photograph of me and my new wife being disgustingly sappy togeth— Whoaaa!!”
Egor grabbed him by the collar midsentence and yanked him closer with one hand. The force of it caused Shingen to smack against the wall next to them.
“Gwah! What was that for?! Was all that bragging about my new wife making you jealous?!” spluttered Shingen.
“I’m sorry. It was because—,” Egor started to say, but then a human being came plummeting down on the spot where Shingen had stood seconds ago.
“…?!”
“—you were in danger there.”
The man who descended just feet in front of the shocked Shingen silently glanced toward where Izaya’s shadow fled the scene.
“…”
And without blinking an eye, he began to race after him. Egor watched him go, then shrugged.
“…He’s like the Terminator.”
“Yes. And while this is exceedingly awkward for me to admit, I suppose that I owe you an…apology?”
“No, you don’t. Besides, it’s true that I’m jealous of how hot your wife is,” Egor said with a dashing smile. Then he eyed the middle-aged man slumped over lifelessly at the side of the alley. “What should we do with him?”
“Hmm?”
Shingen followed Egor’s head bob and saw Seitarou Yagiri muttering to himself.
“It’s gone… My…head… Dullahan… My…head…head…”
He approached his old friend, who seemed to be in the midst of a dissociative episode, and waved. But Seitarou gave no reaction. Shingen sighed through the mask.
“So this is what becomes of one whose heart is stolen by that which lives on the flip side of reality. What a pitiable shame.”
“Yeah, it’s like seeing your own son’s future, right here,” Egor noted archly.
But Shingen just shook his head. “No, Shinra would not break down over a little trifle like this. If anything, he would say something like ‘Adversity is but a trial on the path to love’ and become even more hyperactive and tunnel-visioned.”
“That’s not much of an improvement, though. Um…what are you doing?”
Shingen had pulled a felt-tipped pen out of his pocket. “I found this pen by rifling through my pockets. It seems like a good opportunity to scribble something mischievous on Seitarou before he comes to his senses. Hmm…is it still valid to draw the kanji for meat on someone’s forehead, or is that passé now? What do you think, Egor? Have you got any brilliant avant-garde ideas…?”
Shingen turned and stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw the look on Egor’s face. “Ooh,” he murmured with fascination.
Egor’s face looked just the same as it had moments ago. But with one very distinct difference.
The whites of his eyes were now red and bloodshot as they gazed into the distance. Shingen reacted to this eerie sight by remarking, “So I suppose you got cut by Saika at some point. Your possession doesn’t seem too strong, however. I’m guessing it was Sonohara.”
He nodded, reassuring himself of this supposition, and continued, “So has something changed with the Saikas?”
“I’ve been noticing for the past few hours…that another mother and her children and grandchildren are spreading their aura rather thickly.”
Shingen nodded a few more times. Then, resigned, he shook his head.
“…Ah. Well, it certainly can’t get much more troublesome than this.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Inside the van