When he understood the situation, Shizuo’s eyes calmed, becoming clearer with reason—and he shouted at his coworker, “Stop, you idiot! Why would you let yourself be a murderer?!”
She smiled when she heard his voice, but she did not take her eyes off Izaya.
“I request your relief.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I have always been a beast who loves killing.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Outside of Russia Sushi
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hey…isn’t that Shizuo?!”
Tom emerged from the restaurant, making his way through the crowd of Saika-possessed who were alternately slumped to the ground holding their eyes or just plain unconscious.
The plan had been to toss stun grenades in the hope of blazing a path to escape the building, but once they were outside, it was hard to believe what they saw. As they scanned the area for the direction of least resistance, they noticed an odd clump in the crowd with a vending machine on the ground between them.
Which meant that the person in the bartender’s vest beside it had to be Shizuo.
“Oh, I see Izaya, too,” said Simon, whose sharp eyes were scanning the intersection. Then the crowd abruptly scattered left and right. With the sudden increase in visibility, Simon made out the figure of Vorona pointing a gun at Izaya.
“!”
His next action was lightning fast. Without a word, Simon pulled the pin from the stun grenade in his other hand. He waited a beat to time it, then hurled it with all the force he could muster toward the intersection.
“Hey!”
The grenade quickly reached the open square on the fly.
✦ ✦ ✦
Intersection, Tokyu Hands side
✦ ✦ ✦
No…the end can’t be this ridiculous.
The sight of Vorona’s gun pointed at him filled Izaya with powerful disappointment.
But he smiled, half-resigned, and gave Vorona a direct look.
Fine, I forgive you. I love humanity.
“…You are human. Just a human like any other.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Vorona paused, puzzled by what Izaya had said—but unlike when she pointed the gun at Shizuo, she did not feel any hesitation about pulling the trigger. She was going to end Izaya before Shizuo could get to her and stop her.
✦ ✦ ✦
But then something entered her vision that she didn’t expect to see at all.
Before she could recognize it as the kind of stun grenade that her father’s company dealt with, that she loved using—the object burst in midair barely above the ground, blinding the vicinity with light.
✦ ✦ ✦
Outside of Russia Sushi
✦ ✦ ✦
After Tom and Simon rushed off in the direction of Tokyu Hands, Nasujima was left behind, his mind a toxic mix of fury, humiliation, and fear of Shizuo, whose approach he could not sense with his eyes blinded.
“Dammit…cut them! Just go and possess every last one of them, even the bikers! No more holding back! Possess every last person in this city!”
“Yes, Mother,” replied Haruna, the first to respond. Because of her distance from the stun grenade, her sight was already recovering.
The crowd of Nasujima’s and Haruna’s Saika-possessed victims, who had previously been merely watching the events happen, now converged on the Dollars.
✦ ✦ ✦
Major chaos began to erupt around the area in front of Tokyu Hands.
First, a flash went off in front of the biker gangs watching Shizuo and Izaya’s duel from a distance; then a group of people with red eyes rushed up on them. The bikers, plunged into the kind of terror only witnessed in zombie movies, fought back wildly with metal pipes and whatever else they had on hand.
This quickly went beyond the level of a simple skirmish. It was clearly going to end in major bloodshed, possibly death.
✦ ✦ ✦
But then a miracle happened.
Though perhaps it was too visually ominous to be labeled a miracle.
A “shadow” began to descend from the sky like rain, touching and tangling up the motorcycle gangs and Saika dolls alike and freezing them in place.
✦ ✦ ✦
Instantly, the entire crowd was nearly under the sway of this black substance—and all those people heard “her” voice in their ears.
“I understand the situation.”
It was as though the shadow itself was transmitting words, a woman’s voice hitting the eardrums of the entire crowd at once—and simultaneously reaching directly into their minds. Few of them had ever heard this eerie voice before.
She continued, “Before I leave this city, I will eliminate all the trouble stemming from my body.”
It spoke clearly and briefly but with a power that resonated inside the minds of all who heard it.
“It is what little atonement I can provide for the confusion my body has wrought upon this place.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The rooftop of a mixed-use building
✦ ✦ ✦
All space that could be perceived was covered in shadow. It had poured down from the sky above the building, instantly coating Mikado and Masaomi.
This happened at nearly exactly the same moment as the gunshot—so it wasn’t surprising that Mikado initially thought he was dead.
Ah. There isn’t even any pain…
But it’s so dark.
I wonder…if it’ll always be this dark, forever…
Eventually, after a number of minutes, as his mind settled in, Mikado noticed tears springing from his eyes again.
Sorry. I’m so sorry, Sonohara, Masaomi…
But no sooner had the thought come to his mind than a strange voice sounded in both his ears and his mind.
“I understand the situation. Before I leave this city, I will eliminate all the trouble stemming from my body.”
Then Mikado understood.
He could still feel the sensation of the gun against the palm of his hand.
Am I…still…alive…? he wondered, but without responding to this question, the voice entered his mind again.
“It is what little atonement I can provide for the confusion my body has wrought upon this place.”
My…body? Mikado repeated to himself. It was an odd phrase in this case, and it put the image of someone he knew into his mind. Is that…Celty?
At that moment, the shadow enshrouding him softened, gave way—and the sights and sounds of Ikebukuro returned to Mikado’s world.
“Mikado…? Mikado! Hey!”
He was looking at Masaomi, who was still in the place he’d left him earlier.
“Masaomi…?” he mumbled.
His friend heaved a deep sigh of relief. “I’m so glad…you’re alive… You’re alive, Mikado!”
“Ah…”
He looked to his right hand and saw the gun there. But the very next moment, a swarm of tiny shadows pried his fingers apart, wrenching loose both the pistol and the HFM in his other hand.
Something hard tumbled from the shadow that was right next to Mikado’s head. When they saw the twisted lump of metal roll onto the ground, both boys instinctually understood what it was.
The instant he had pulled the trigger, the shadow had slipped between his temple and the muzzle of the gun, stopping the bullet before it could reach Mikado’s head.
It was a feat no human being could have achieved—which was obvious, given that it was a shadow that had done it. But Mikado knew who was responsible. And before he could say that name out loud…