“Ha! But you’re gonna be all alone in your coffin, old man!” the boys laughed.
They all imagined what would happen in the next moment, when their accoster crumpled to the ground. And yet…
“…See, something’s not right.”
Chikage grinned at them, blood streaming from his head.
“?!”
They flinched and took a step away from him. Chikage motioned with his chin toward the “normal” people walking around Sixtieth Floor Street. “You gotta be crazy to hit a guy in the head with a bat in the middle of a crowded place like this…but it doesn’t make sense, right? Nobody’s watching; nobody’s calling the cops… This ain’t the usual bit about city folk not carin’ what happens to your neighbor. There aren’t even any looky-loos whipping their phones out to take video.”
“…”
The boys exchanged a glance. It must have occurred to them, too.
Chikage took a step closer to them, smiling.
“But all that aside…”
“?”
“That kinda hurt, you sons of bitches!”
He swung a majestic hook punch at the boy holding the still-unbroken bat.
“Gbya—?!” the boy shrieked and spun himself sideways. He was about Chikage’s size, but the difference in strength between them was vast.
On that signal, a number of other youths wearing blue who hadn’t noticed Chikage up to this point suddenly grasped the situation. On top of that, even more boys emerged from the vans parked in the street—and some adults, too. And still, the ordinary people on Sixtieth Floor Street did no more than occasionally glance over and resume their wandering.
Yeah, something about that is creepy, Chikage thought, a shiver running down his back. He cracked his neck to warm up and focused on the approaching opponents instead. Whatever. I can whup all these fools before I worry about them.
“Hang on—do any of you even care what happens to Masaomi Kida?!” he shouted in the midst of countering a kid who came swinging at him.
Another kid in a ski mask answered, “Yeah, it doesn’t matter what happens to Mr. Kida.”
“Wha…?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Aoba Kuronuma pulled off his mask, smirking and cackling with glee.
“I already know everything.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The rooftop of a mixed-use building—a few minutes earlier
✦ ✦ ✦
“Damn, you really can’t see anything from here…”
Masaomi was still on the roof, watching, as Chikage instructed him to do. His cell ringtone went off loud and clear from his pocket.
“Whoa!”
He’d been so focused on lying low that the sound made him panic before he realized that it was probably inaudible from the ground, and he took out his phone with relief.
But at the same time, he got an odd feeling of wrongness.
As if he’d sensed some other sound, not the ringtone, echoing behind him.
“…”
A clammy sweat broke out all over Masaomi’s body. He turned on the spot, slowly.
Slowly, slowly, so slowly…
He didn’t know why he felt this way, but he had a strong premonition that he shouldn’t turn around. That he might lose something precious to him.
A variety of worries racked Masaomi within the span of just a second or two. He almost felt as if the moment he spun around, he would witness some horrid, unrecognizable monster that would twist his head right off his shoulders.
But once he started, he couldn’t stop. He had to turn the whole way.
There ended up not being a monster, so Masaomi’s fears were unfounded.
He was not, however, relieved by what he saw.
Because the other sound he heard was most definitely the ringtone of a cell phone that didn’t belong to him—and he understood what it was that had caused the anxiety within him to explode.
He recognized that ringtone.
“…”
At first, he thought that he was completely alone on the rooftop. But eventually he saw, within the darkness, a little light flash on behind the large external air-conditioning unit.
“…Who’s there?”
Masaomi’s phone continued to go off. The screen said “Saki Mikajima” on it, but he didn’t have the frame of mind to even look at it.
Across the roof, the person staring into the little light of the other phone read out the name of the person listed for that incoming call.
✦ ✦ ✦
“It’s from Sonohara.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was a familiar voice.
But even though he was looking right at his ringing phone, he did not answer it.
“I wonder why she’s calling now. It’s nearly morning.”
It was a voice Masaomi didn’t want to hear out of nowhere like this. He was here specifically to hear that voice, but this was a sneak attack. It felt as if he were climbing the stairs to a bungee-jumping platform only to lose his footing and fall all on his own.
✦ ✦ ✦
The boy stood there, wearing a smile.
A rather troubled smile on his childish features.
It was so typical. The very face that Masaomi remembered when he thought of him.
“Hi, Masaomi.”
“Mikado…?”
“It feels like it’s been forever.”
Now that he was faced by Mikado Ryuugamine wearing that same old smile, Masaomi found that he couldn’t say anything.
The ringtones of the two phones mingled, turning into one mangled sound, echoing across the darkened rooftop.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sky was devoid of even the stars.
Only the writhing shadow above them watched the two.
Silently, secretly.
Enveloping all below it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Chat room
✦ ✦ ✦
Kuru: It would seem this place is coming to an end.
Mai: It’s sad.
Kuru: Well, perhaps it is just the changing of the times. Even if this had not happened, the very concept of the chat room itself might be fated to die out. New tools for communication evolve out of the online ether by the day, such as Mix-E and Twittia and Bodybook and FINE. It is only natural that people would trickle from chat rooms onward to new places.
Kuru: Of course, the truly good things will last beyond the ages. This chat room might be a closed place, but it was not a place everyone would call home. That is the extent of it.
Mai: I wonder.
Kuru: But the world changes with the times. Perhaps someday there will be an age when this chat room is necessary. Whether that will be in three days, or three years, or only in the moments before our death, when we reflect upon the past. Let us hope that the program still exists on the server at that point.
Mai: Let it happen.
Kuru: That is not how it works. And if it worked, it wouldn’t actually revert our minds back to this state.
Kuru: Well, any more of this pontification will only muddy the waters. Rather than needlessly draw out the ending, perhaps we should simply take our leave.
Mai: You’re showing off.
Mai: Ouch.
Mai: I got pinched.
Kuru: And now, my best to all of you.
Kuru: Despite the ending, it was not displeasing. In fact, I’m even grateful that I was able to see an entertaining show to round it out. I wish I could have spoken with others like Kid and Saki more, but I will have to look forward to our next meeting under different circumstances.
Kuru: One of the best parts of being online is the countless paths one can choose to form connections.
Mai: You can do that off-line, too.
Kuru: And now everyone, a very good sign-off to you.
Mai: Bye-bye.
Mai: It was fun.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kuru has left the chat.
Mai has left the chat.
✦ ✦ ✦
The chat room is currently empty.
The chat room is currently empty.
The chat room is currently empty.
.
.
.