“So the blue guys are here now… Shijima, which of them is Mikado Ryuugamine?” Nasujima demanded.
At his side, Shijima glanced through binoculars and reported, “Everyone who had Mikado Ryuugamine’s build is wearing those masks with the cut-out eyes… So he might be one of them. Shall we call the Blue Square lookout you took over and have him figure it out for us?”
“That’s going to be our only option in the end. But they’ll be suspicious if we straight-out ask for his location. If he hasn’t actually come to this street, that’ll only give him the chance to scamper away,” Nasujima said carefully. Then he added, “On the other hand, if we can get the Dollars under control, they’ll be all the muscle we need. Then I’ll have the Dollars find Jinnai Yodogiri’s location for me. And his secretary, Kasane Kujiragi, too.”
“Even the secretary?”
“Yeah…she’s the one who made me Saika-possessed to begin with. She’s like old Yodogiri’s secret backup weapon.”
“You’re right… It was the secretary who first suggested investigating the Dollars,” Shijima recalled. It reminded him of just what a twisted position he was currently in and how he’d gotten here. It was depressing.
In fact, it was Yodogiri who had ordered him to infiltrate the Dollars and “make contact with the Headless Rider,” but Nasujima had added one instruction on top of that.
Now that it was clear that Nasujima’s goal was to take over the Dollars, he realized exactly how completely up shit creek he was. He had accepted Nasujima’s invitation thinking that it might be the ticket out of Izaya and Yodogiri’s control, but now he regretted that choice.
Escape seemed impossible now. The only thing Shijima could tell himself was that he was wandering around a nightmare and that he should try to drag down as many others as he could.
“So what are we doing about Yodogiri and Kujiragi?”
“We can overpower them with enough numbers. But it’s not clear whether either Yodogiri or Kujiragi is capable of being controlled with Saika. So let’s just bury them somewhere.”
Bury them—i.e., kill them. Shijima felt a chill go down his back.
He had operated a drug-dealing organization and should have been used to cold, hard talk like this. But that kind of brutality coming from someone with the power to overrun the shopping area with zombie-like pawns terrified him.
Nasujima snickered to himself, whether aware or not of Shijima’s fear, and said, “But before you bury that Kujiragi woman, I’d like to have some fun with her.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Nearby, Karisawa overheard this suggestion and felt both disgust for the man who said it and a powerful unease.
Mikado Ryuugamine and Kasane Kujiragi. Both distinctive names, the kind that you would never hear by mistake.
Why is he talking about Mikarun and Miss Kujiragi?
Whatever the reasons, it was clear that this man was attempting to go after them. If he was the leader of these red-eyed people, then whoever was his target didn’t stand a chance, unless it was a military battalion or his name was Shizuo Heiwajima.
Karisawa swallowed hard and made to leave the scene, keeping her eyes narrowed.
In the midst of that motion, Haruna Niekawa turned in her direction, and their eyes met. The other girl’s eyes were red, too, just like the people around them.
Aw, darn. Already infected by the slasher. Oh, well. I’ll come back with Dotachin and the gang to save you. Hang on until then, Karisawa thought. Niekawa kept staring at her. Uh-oh… Am I in trouble? Did she spot me?
Karisawa quickly turned away but not before she saw Haruna’s mouth move—and suddenly a cell phone ringtone cut through the scene before she could say anything.
“What’s that?”
The man and the boy next to Haruna turned toward the sound. But it wasn’t coming from Karisawa’s phone. It was coming from the phone in Haruna’s hand.
“What’s up? You hardly ever get any calls. I mean, you didn’t even give your old man the number,” the man said, mystified. Then he demanded she give it to him.
“…Yes, Mother.”
Karisawa heard this unnatural back-and-forth as she made her way out of the area as nonchalantly as she could. She needed to tell Kujiragi and Mikado about the danger encroaching upon them.
But because she did, she failed to learn that the phone call Haruna Niekawa received was actually from a girl that she knew quite well.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What does this mean? Why is her contact info saved in your phone?”
The name on the screen was Anri Sonohara, a former pupil he’d tried to assault. But his shock soon turned to sick glee, and he licked his lips.
“Well, that doesn’t matter. I’ve come up with a good idea.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Within the van
✦ ✦ ✦
“She’s not picking up,” Anri announced sadly to the passengers of the van.
She’d called Haruna’s phone, hoping her friend might know something that could help them, especially since they’d recently traded contact info, but all she got was an endless ringtone.
“Well, it’s pretty late. Almost morning, in fact. Most people wouldn’t pick up,” Mika offered.
“And if she were actually the ringleader, she wouldn’t pick up regardless,” Saki suggested.
Anri considered these things and said, “But when I met her yesterday, she didn’t seem like she was about to do something like—”
Abruptly, the ringing of her call paused, replaced by the sound of wind.
“Hello? Is that you, Niekawa? Um, I’m sorry to bother you in the middle of the night…,” Anri said, thinking she’d gotten through.
Instead, the voice she heard was one she could never have expected.
✦ ✦ ✦
“It’s been so long, Sonohara.”
“…Huh?”
The man’s voice caused Anri’s body to tense up.
“You’re a very bad girl to be awake at this hour of night. Have you turned to a life of delinquency? Your teacher is very sad.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was an unctuous voice, practically clinging to the skin of her shoulders through the phone. She hadn’t heard that voice in half a year, but it was very familiar to her.
“M…Mr.…Nasujima?”
Mika and Seiji looked up when they heard that name. It belonged to a teacher at Raira Academy who had been hospitalized in February and then went missing. Why would Anri be talking to him all of a sudden, when she had been calling Haruna Niekawa’s phone?
Even Mika, who knew some of the backstory, was surprised by this. She stared at Anri’s phone in wonder.
“Wh-why would you be picking up…?”
“That doesn’t matter. Ah, it’s really wonderful to be hearing your voice again, Sonohara.”
On the Night of the Ripper, Nasujima had seen her holding a katana, and then he ran, screaming in fear. It was the last memory she had of him. But now he was gloating through the phone, as though he were completely in control of her fate.
“Oh, how I wish to see you. Can you make it here now? I can help you with any problems you’re having.”
“Um, what happened to Haruna?!”
“Oh, Niekawa? She’s sitting right next to me. She keeps calling me ‘Mother, Mother.’ It’s very sweet, really.”
“…!”
That told Anri quite a lot. Through circumstances she did not yet know, Nasujima had become a Saika carrier. Whether he had an original or was someone else’s child was unclear. All she knew was that he had cut Haruna Niekawa and now controlled her.
“Where…are you?”
“Now, now, no rush. You know where Tokyu Hands is? Right outside of the Sunshine building. We’re just hanging around that area until morning, so if you’ve got some time, swing by. If I see you, I’ll call out to you.”
“Haruna is safe, I assume?” Anri said, her voice tense. This seemed to catch Nasujima by surprise.
“Wait, are you worried about her? When did you two make up? I seem to remember you turning blades on each other because you were fighting over me.”
“Answer the question!”
“Don’t worry—I haven’t messed with her yet. Once tonight’s party is over, we’ll be taking our time with a very special private lesson.”
“Release Haruna at once…or else…”
She had to fight to ensure that the blade didn’t rip right through her hand and the phone she held in it.
That wasn’t the way that someone being ruled by another’s curse talked. Like Haruna once had, Nasujima had somehow overcome Saika’s control. Anri knew that Niekawa was in great danger. Her mind raced, trying to pin down where they were.
Only half a day ago, Haruna had declared that she would kill Anri in the same breath that she suggested they be friends. But Anri felt an odd kind of empathy for her. Perhaps it was because they were both possessed by Saika, or perhaps there was something about them being girls of the same generation; she didn’t know for sure.
Unlike the people in the van, Haruna was more of an enemy than a friend—but Anri still felt a terrible shock when she realized that the girl was under Nasujima’s control.
And the shock didn’t end there.
After he’d enjoyed the panic in Anri’s voice for several moments, Nasujima chuckled slimily and added, “There are two other people you know coming to the party, too.”
“Huh…?”