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kinomiya · 1 year

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Ultraviolence

@aquariasmoon-blog i actually don’t even wanna talk about this (/lie)

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ultraviolence.

ul·tra·vi·o·lence | \ əl-trə-ˈvī-lən(t)s \

extreme or excessive violence.

He didn’t know how he’d ended up here.

A minor injury sustained during competition that had delayed his return to Russia because overly cautious physicians had refused to clear him to fly. Followed by an unseasonably early, unusually easterly typhoon threatening catastrophic damage to the Honshu region of Japan and now he was stuck in this monolithic traditional Japanese home surrounded by a bunch of glorified wild animals that Tala quite frankly, wanted to hunt down one by one and slaughter like the beasts they were emulating.

Tala clenched his jaw, his face resting in the palms of his hands, fingers pressing hard into his forehead as he willed himself to dispel the intrusive thoughts swirling in his mind. The people congregating around him weren’t animals after all, they were his… friends. He exhaled loudly, the hint of a malevolent laugh.

What a joke, what a complete and utter joke.

Before his annoyance could subside completely, it began to swell again, overflowing out of its containment worsening every thought. Exacerbated by the piercing sound of jovial laughter from the one person he had come to utterly abhor.

Kinomiya fucking Takao.

The sound of the boy's carefree giggles made Tala want nothing more than to grab him by his scrawny neck and slam his face into the hardwood floors until he stopped laughing. He wanted to paint the floorboards with red streaks as his prey pleaded for mercy and he wanted to reward his efforts by leaning down and biting off his—

“Tala.” Came Takao’s voice, breaking him out of his violent reverie.

“What?” He snapped back, the acid dripping off every syllable was completely ignored by the boy standing in front of him.

“You look like you're overwhelmed, let me take you somewhere quiet.” He spoke softly, leaving the rest of the room's occupants oblivious to their conversation.

“I don’t need your fucking help, Kinomiya.” He hissed back in response, but his objection was ignored as Takao simply beckoned him silently to follow.

His first instinct was to cross his arms and remain in the same place, but the scowl on his face intensified when he realized he was acting like a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum. So with a nearly inaudible snarl he pushed himself up off the floor and stalked after the younger boy who’d exited the room several moments prior.

The light from the room behind him cast light through the dark hallway illuminating where Takao was leaning against the wall, nonchalantly scrolling through his phone. He only spared a glance in Tala’s direction when he heard the click of the door behind him and the room was cast into pitch black sans the small light from the device in his hand.

“The doctors said you have to be mindful of your head.” Takao spoke finally, stretching his arms over his head casually, his shirt riding up slightly, before he pushed himself off the wall and effortlessly traversed the dark corridor.

“My head is fucking fine.” Despite the hostility of his words, Tala still followed the other teenager further into the depths of the massive, unfamiliar dwelling, ignoring the hair on the back of his neck as it stood on end.

“Hmmm.” Takao hummed with an air of disinterest that made one of Tala’s eyebrows twitch, if he didn’t actually care then why had he felt the need to interrupt his thoughts and drag him down a desolate hallway to some unknown destination.

Eventually he’d stop at a door, placing his hand on the knob and turning before pushing the door open and moving to the side, silently beckoning Tala to enter first. Never a coward he did, and when the teenager behind him flicked the lights what was revealed to him was… a plain office. An empty desk stood under a window on the far end while a couple of bookshelves lined the walls on either side. Tala turned towards Takao, an eyebrow raised.

“No one will come in here, thought you might like the privacy.” Takao answered Tala’s unspoken question, but the explanation failed to lighten the mood, if anything it did the complete opposite, causing a sour atmosphere to descend on the room. An angered expression spread across Tala’s face as he considered the implications

How fucking dare he.

In an instant, Tala’s fragile composure slipped away and he stalked towards Takao closing the distance between them in seconds. He grabbed the younger man by the chin, shoving him backwards until he ran into the empty desk with a loud thud, all the while never redirecting his intense gaze from Tala’s own.

“Don’t you ever suggest I’m one of your strays that needs saving… Kinomiya.” He spoke softly into the younger teenager's ear, with icy fury bubbling below the surface. He felt the shiver run down his adversaries back. Victory.

But as satisfaction began to seep into his pores he felt the man he had pinned between him and the desk move, grabbing onto his forearm, and in a blur of motion he found their roles reversed. His left cheek resting firmly against the cold wooden desktop and his hands pinned behind his back, Takao was above him looking down, devoid of the satisfaction he’d expected.

Takao languidly leaned towards him, his face so close he could feel the hot breath on his cheek and smell the vaguely minty fragrance of some since discarded gum he’d been chewing that day. Tala could hear the office clock ticking loudly with every passing second as he braced for whatever came next, eventually he’d hear a soft chuckle from the man above him

“I wasn’t suggesting that… I just want you to… relax a little.” He whispered tenderly into Tala’s ear, his free hand moving to grasp his chin and tilt his face to the right.

Tala only registered the reality of the kiss when he felt Takao’s tongue coyly lick his lower lip before he leaned back away from the Russian, releasing his arms from their pinned position and wordlessly exiting through the office door.

Eventually, he exhaled, relishing for a moment in the peacefulness of the empty room. Slowly Tala rolled over on the desk until his back was pressed hard against the wood, then he closed his eyes, before raising an arm to cover part of his face.

A fiendish smile danced across his lips.

So this was how it was going to be was it?

Then Tala supposed he’d let Kinomiya keep his tongue for now.

#beyblade #bakuten shoot beyblade #takao kinomiya #yuriy ivanov #fanfiction #i am the captain of the takao/yuriy ship

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anime-to-the-t · 4 years

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#The Bones of An Invisible Person #Toumei Ningen no Hone #Kinomiya-san #suicide #knife #seinen #Ogino Jun #my posts #my caps #Bones cap

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burnsopale · 3 years

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Ashen, excerpt 2

Last time was mostly a big tease. This time, Boris returns to the abbey for the first time in years. It doesn’t go well.

Working title: Ashen Characters in this clip: Takao, Kai, Max, Boris and Kinomiya Tatsuya Setting: 7 years after season one, Russia, the abbey Summary: Volkov has escaped from prison, attacked PPB headquarters and taken back Black Dranzer. The Russian boys have been living with the PPB, and were used and hurt in the attack. Yuriy left with Volkov for unknown reasons. Daitenji Kogoro has gathered the troops and sent them to Russia to find out what Volkov is up to. Meanwhile, Kai’s grandfather is on his deathbed, and Kai is struggling to deal with it.

A stray wind mumbled and whined through the colonnades of Volkov Abbey. In that desolate courtyard no summer lived, only barren winter. The stones were black, the shadows cold, and doorways yawned like sucking mouths while broken windows gave a sharp, jagged edge to the scene.

For a while, Takao, his dad, Max, Kai and Boris stood silent in the middle of the open courtyard, a little overwhelmed by the sheer depressive atmosphere, wondering what on earth they were supposed to find here.

“Home sweet home!” Boris exclaimed suddenly, before laughing uproariously at their startled expressions.

A door opened up ahead. Takao vaguely recalled it leading to the mess hall where the BBA had eaten on their first visit here, years ago.

“That’s probably our liaison,” Dad said and headed towards the young woman who had just stepped outside and was waving.

“Hello, everyone!” she said as they came to meet her. “My name is Myrna Lebedev. I’m supposed to show you around this place?”

She didn’t look much older than the boys. With her ash-blonde hair and glasses, turtleneck sweater and long jeans, she seemed a big-sisterly type.

They shook hands with her in turn.

“You worked here after it was shut down?” Dad asked.

She nodded, gesturing for them to follow her down the pillared walkway towards the fat, looming tower where Takao and Zangief had battled.

Where was Zangief now? Takao wondered. Was he happy?

“I was on the team that mapped this place out, initially. Strangest job I ever did. The police had been here and cleared out all the kids and those cultists of course, but when we first went down to explore, someone almost died; there were traps everywhere!”

“Not traps,” Boris said. “Training gauntlets. You had to be ready all the time.”

She stopped. “Oh. I’m so sorry. Were you ...?” She looked at them in turn.

Max and Takao shook their heads and pointed at Kai and Boris. “Not us.”

Myrna looked at them all a little longer. “You are strange. I was told a group from Japan wanted to see the abbey, so I thought you’d be like the usual tourists.”

“This place gets tourists?” Boris asked, and then started laughing again. “Oh god. Can I work here too? I could be an attraction.”

Kai frowned at him. “We’re not here for pleasure,” he said firmly, voice a little hoarse from his long silence in the car. “The man who ran this place, Vladimir Volkov, has escaped from prison and is in possession of an old weapon of his. We’re looking for any clues as to what that weapon is capable of.”

“Oh!” Myrna’s dark eyes grew very big behind her glasses. “I see. That ... wasn’t really in my instructions ... I’m not supposed to let you wander much on your own or ... well, go that deep, but ...”

“If you need to, we can shut you in one of the cells while we look,” Boris suggested, possibly seriously. “If you need an excuse.”

Myrna certainly thought he was serious, and if her eyes grew any bigger now, they would pop out.

“We won’t do that,” Max said quickly. “But we would be very grateful if you’d let us explore a bit. We won’t tell anyone. It’s very important that we stop Volkov from using the weapon.”

She cocked her head to the side. “But why do you have to stop him?” she asked innocently. “Who are you?”

Kai’s impatience got the better of him then, and he strode past her towards the door.

Boris watched him go, his jesting finished. “We are the ones who let him have it in the first place.”

It grew immediately colder as they plunged into the darkness of the abbey, and more so when they began to descend underground. Takao wished he had worn a proper sweater, like Myrna, but Dad had told him to bring one and he hadn’t done it so he couldn’t complain or Dad would say “I told you so”.

Myrna told them a little bit about the history of the place as they walked, how Borg had purchased the abbey from a group of monks that might, in hindsight, actually have been forced to part with it and silenced afterwards, and how these hallways, once cellars for storing food and other things, had been dug out until they encompassed a labyrinth of rooms and tunnels, where Borg could carry out their clandestine plans.

“What does clandestine mean,” asked Boris, and once Max had explained it, he declared it his new favourite word. “Holy shit, we were so clandestine. Clandestine is now my middle name. You can call me Boris Clandestine Kuznetsov.”

“And now it’s lost all meaning,” Max said.

Kai was continually a little ahead of them, and eventually Takao’s dad called after him. “Kai, where are you leading us?”

“To Volkov’s office,” he replied.

“Really?” Boris said. “Then you’re going the wrong way.”

Kai came stalking back. “I am not going the wrong way; it’s down here and to the left. Don’t fucking mess with me, Kuznetsov.”

Boris grinned wickedly. “That’s Clandestine Kuznetsov to you.”

For a moment, Kai’s face was white with rage, but he only turned on his heel and walked on. Takao looked to Max and found him looking back in concern. Kai’s reactions were way out of proportion lately.

“Sorry about him,” Takao said to Myrna.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She shook her head disarmingly. “It can’t be easy being back here.”

“I don’t know,” said Boris. “I’m getting the warm fussies myself.”

“Are you sure Kai-kun should be down here?” Dad asked Takao in an undertone.

“Leave him to us,” Takao whispered back. “You just look for whatever it is Daitenji-san wants you to find.”

When they caught up to Kai, he was waiting in front of the door which, as it turned out, did indeed lead to Volkov’s office. Myrna unlocked the door with her bunch of keys, and they stepped inside.

It was empty. Not just nobody’s-here empty, but stripped completely bare. It was just a room, panelled in green and beige, with pale squares on the walls where pictures had hung or cabinets stood and preserved the original colours.

Kai made a dissatisfied sound.

“Did you check for hidden rooms when you were emptying the place?” Dad asked Myrna.

“Yes and no. We had the building’s blueprints, and we did find some discrepancies and discover some rooms that weren’t noted, but we didn’t go knocking on every wall to find sliding panels or things like that.” She laughed a little.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Dad said, looking at Kai for confirmation. “Seems the most likely place he’d hide any particularly sensitive information, right?”

Kai inclined his head. “That was my thought.”

“You two do that,” Max said. “Boris can show me and Takao around meanwhile.”

Myrna came with them, and for a while they wandered from room to room. As Boris led them past dormitories, communal showers, training rooms, recreational facilities and secret corners, he seemed increasingly to veer between high and low spirits. He’d stand for a long time staring at the place where his bed had once stood, and then he’d crack jokes while they walked to the next place.

They came around a corner and were faced with a row of rusting cells, some with their doors ajar. Takao remembered Kai saying he had seen Zangief in a cell all those years ago. Maybe it had been one of these.

“I wonder what happened to Zangief?” he said out loud, idly moving the nearest door back and forth and making the hinges scream and creak.

“He was probably rescued by the BBA,” Max said, eternally optimistic.

“Zangief ...” Boris said slowly. “He was lucky. If he had beaten you, he would have advanced, gone to train with Baba Yaga.” As Takao moved on, Boris took over the door he had left, swinging it back and forth, back and forth, creak, creak, creak, creak. “He would have regretted that fast.” A bit of laughter, low in his throat. His face was lost in shadow. “Zangief was weak.” Creak, creak, creak, creak.

“Boris?” Max was watching him warily.

“Baba would have eaten him alive.” The ceiling light glinted off the edge of his sharp, sharp smile. “Then again, they say that’s what she does to the ones in the cells to.” Another laugh, like quacking. Creak, creak, creak. And then he stopped and stood very, very still. Trembling.

Suddenly, Max grabbed Myrna and Takao and shoved them into the nearest cell, slamming the door behind them. Takao shoved at it, but the lock had sprung; it was shut fast.

“Max!”

“Stay there!” he said, giving them a warning look.

Boris had twitched when the door banged shut, and now he turned slowly towards Max.

“Max, why did you do that?” Takao pressed himself up against the bars.

Myrna was going through her mess of keys and muttering stressfully to herself. “Is it this one or this one or this one? Not that one. Okay, this is scary. This one? No, no ...”

“Be quiet!” Max commanded. He drew a careful breath, inhaling and exhaling. “Boris? Boris, please step into the light for me.”

Boris didn’t move, but Takao could hear him breathing now, a harsh whistling sound like he was in pain.

“Mama told me that you usually get a bit manic before an episode,” Max said gently. “That’s how I knew.”

“Max,” Takao hissed. “Get out of here!”

But Max shook his head. “No. Boris, you said you would be okay, and I believed you. I still believe in you.”

Boris’ hand fell from the cell door to hang limply at his side. It twitched.

“What is happening?” Myrna whispered.

Max took a step closer to the other boy. “When I talk to Mama on the phone, all she talks about is you. How far you’ve come, how strong you are, how proud she is of you. She laughs about your terrible jokes. She says you are so clever.”

Boris sucked in a breath. He was trembling all over, hands closing slowly into fists like he was holding himself back desperately.

Max took another step forward. “Boris-”

Boris’ lunged, grabbing Max by the front of his sweater and slamming him up against the bars. The light caught his face and revealed his eyes huge and staring, and a weird, cruel twist to his mouth. Max clenched his teeth and held still as Boris’ knuckles dug into his throat.

“Max!” Takao cried, reaching through the bars, but unable to touch them. “Boris, don’t you dare! Don’t give Kai a chance to gloat about being right! Come on, fight it!” He turned back to Myrna, who seemed to be frozen in shock. “Find the key!”

She startled and began to fumble again.

“It’s okay, Takao!” Max said, straining. “Boris, it’s just you and me. I have Draciel, but I won’t use it. It’s your choice; you can hurt me, or you can come back to us. I already know what you’ll do, because you said you’d be alright, and because I know you want to make Mama proud of you.”

“Make ... Baba ...” Boris muttered, seeming confused for a moment.

“No,” Max said. “Mama Judy. My Mama ... and yours.”

Another hard shiver went through Boris, and then he sank to his knees in front of Max, letting go of him. His face relaxed until he was pale, but calm.

“The stupid door,” he muttered. “The stupid sound. Every night, all night, our metronome from hell.” He stumbled to his feet and moved a few paces away, sniffing and wiping at his nose. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “Kai was right about me.”

“No, he wasn’t,” Takao said quickly as Myrna finally moved past him to put the right key in the lock. “You came back.”

“Let’s rejoin the others,” Myrna said a little hysterically as the door swung open. She hurried down the corridor without waiting for them.

“Would you like that hug now?” Max asked Boris softly.

He didn’t say anything, but lifted his arm, and Max slipped under it and wrapped his own around him.

“She’s your Mama,” Boris said, almost whispering. “But I like her too.”

“I don’t mind sharing,” Max replied, smiling as he let go again. “I already share her with Emily, and honestly she could use the extra practice.”

Takao grabbed them and pulled them into a double hug. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry, Takao,” Max laughed.

#Beyblade #Judin writes #Ashen #Max is a good boy #I had an idea that Boris got overwhelmed by all the affection shown to him by his initial foster mothers #and that Judy's more reserved (read: cold) approach actually worked much better for him #So she kinda took him on #So now Max has even more competition

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meimi-haneoka · 6 years

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Hello! I'm from Hong Kong, honored to be acquainted with you and I am very fond of CCS and Clamp. You too? I keep track of your Tumblr and your posts are great?I also enjoyed the CCS Seiyuu! And I'm also very curious about Kumai-san and Tange-san, would you tell me about them? Thank you for ask! :3

Hello, I’m the one honored for you keeping track of my tumblr blog!! ^_^ I LOVE CCS and CLAMP , as it’s pretty easy to understand from my never-ending babbling hahaha!

Well, what can I say about Kumai-san and Tange-san, let me see…

Sakura Tange was born in the prefecture of Aichi in 1973, her birthday is on March 24th! She’s a pretty popular voice actress and of course her most prominent role was (and still is) the one of Sakura Kinomoto in Cardcaptor Sakura.Going by director Morio Asaka’s words, Sakura Tange was chosen for the “addictive quality” to her voice, something that made Sakura Kinomoto’s voice unique and loved even today, and Sakura Tange herself said that she paid a lot of attention to not high-pitch her voice too much even if she was voicing such a young child.Sakura Tange is currently reading the Clear Card manga when the volumes come out (She doesn’t buy the Nakayoshi magazine, a thing Minori Suzuki -Akiho’s VA- is actually doing instead).Sakura Tange voiced also other popular anime characters, such as Suzu Sakuma in Marmelade Boy, MAICO in Android Ana Maico 2010, Lulu Takigawa in Duel Masters, and maybe the role that is giving her the most popularity alongside that of Sakura, that is Saber in Fate/Extra Last Encore.She took a period of hiatus from the voice acting world almost immediately after leaving the CCS world in 2000 to focus on the singing career, and went back to be a voice actress in late 2009!Tange-san lives with a pretty dog named Suzu-chan and hosts a digital radio show on A&G+ every Sunday!

Motoko Kumai, born on September 8th 1970 in Tokyo, is another popular voice actress. Her roles include mainly male characters, usually very young (younger than teenagers) and for this reason is often commented as being “a cute lady with the heart of a boy”. Her most popular character is without any doubt Syaoran Li from Cardcaptor Sakura, but she also voiced other popular characters such as Takao Kinomiya from Beyblade, Goro Honda from Major, Sumomo from Chobits, Gon from Gon, Kaoru Koganei from Flame of Recca, Nataku from X and lately is the voice of Kocchi in Koneko no Chi and Gelatoni, a cute cat character from Tokyo DisneySea!Motoko Kumai is usually surprised when she’s told that she and Syaoran are very much alike, personality-wise, but she’s actually very attached to him. She understands his psychology perfectly, and she always puts a lot of effort in trying to portray that. Her tweets on her Twitter account are always a blessing for the fandom!Her hobbies include motorcycles (she LOVES them), she’s got a degree that allows her to teach English in high school (hence her perfect English in Clear Card anime) and she can play the piano!

#reply #cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #sakura tange #motoko kumai

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kinomiya-kazane · 7 years

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Epitome of Eighteen Histories 18: Kinomiya Kazane Episode

This is my translation for the last episode in the Epitome of Eighteen Histories extras! It was a lot of fun working on this, especially since Kinomiya Kazane is a really special character to me.

I translated this from a Chinese translation, which translated it from the original Japanese, so um, translation-ception? ;w;

Feel free to point out mistakes I may have made! (there are probably many)

Thanks you @candleoreo for proofreading owo

I hope you enjoy!

Translation under the cut

“Mommy, mommy, aren’t you going to meet Onii-san?”

Kazane had once asked this question as a child. However, at that time, her mother only smiled nonchalantly and replied,

“Right now, it’s enough for me to know that he is living happily. But if Shinra wants to see me, then of course I’ll go meet him.”

Her mother would often travel overseas because of work, and often came home only once in a few years. While Kazane did feel lonely, she never once blamed her mother.

Even though she was a child, she understood her mother’s deep love for her.

Kazane had never seen the sight of her mother together with her brother before, so she had asked this question innocently. However, her mother, while smiling, continued to speak.

“Also, Shinra, he…”

♀♂

At that time… what did her mother say?

Kinomiya Kazane dug into her deeply buried memories as she raced through Ikebukuro’s darkness.

On the night that she decided to go meet her brother of a different father, what entered her eyes was the sight of an unknown person carrying her brother, dressed in white, jumping out of the window of a tall apartment building - and a pitch black monster that pursued tightly afterwards.

If she didn’t catch up now, then she might not be able to see her brother ever again - this sudden rush of unease propelled her to break into a run after the black shadow moving above the buildings

However, it was impossible for her body to keep up with the speed of the monster - within 30 seconds, they had completely vanished from her line of vision.

But she continued to race after “her brother’s shadow”.

Maybe she was mistaken.

Maybe her brother was still peacefully sleeping in his apartment.

If she could convince herself of this, then she could stop her racing footsteps. But Kazane had also been a person that would often be swirled into troublesome situations since childhood. Because Shinra was certainly her brother, her intuition told her that he was probably being twisted into the center of a giant collision of trouble.

“What…. What’s happening on the street?”

After running on the street for a while, Kazane gradually realized that the atmosphere was completely different from usual.

It was approaching the late hours of the night, but she saw that Ikebukuro’s business sector was still filled with the shadows of countless people moving about.

Looking from afar, their movements seemed very strange - with an unnaturalness reminiscent of wooden puppets on strings, wobbling back and forth on the road.

Having experienced a number of past strange events - Kazane’s intuition now warned her not to approach them under any circumstance.

Not only this, but there was a countless flow of cars on the main highway, as if they were all converging towards one spot somewhere deep in Ikebukuro.

“Oh… this place…”

When she had come back to her senses, she was already standing in a seemingly familiar location.

The first time that she had met Orihara Izaya, he had brought her to this pedestrian bridge.

In order to find out what was actually happening, she temporarily stopped her footsteps, pulling out her cellphone to check Ikebukuro’s current news.

Any clue, no matter how small, would be enough. She prayed that at least one other person had also witnessed the mysterious black monster as she fiddled with the phone. However, what she found was information that was beyond belief.

A gang that called themselves “Dollars” had fired a gun at the Awakusu-kai residence and the police station. Along with the incident where the police were attacked by a group of unknown people - it was difficult to distinguish between truths and falsehoods as the information exploded across Ikebukuro’s online forums.

Just a few seconds ago, she was chasing the removed-from-reality news of the “abnormal situation on the streets.” But what was entering her eyes now was precisely the reality of the “abnormal situation on the streets.”

“...”

Not long ago, she had interviewed the young boy from the Dollars, Ryuugamine Mikado.

What exactly had he done?

No, or rather, maybe he was an innocent victim that was caught up in these strange events?

---- The headless rider.

All of the clues pointed to one place, in the end.

This lingering idea mingled with the sight of the “black abnormality” she had just witnessed, and grew into a giant monster that engulfed her mind.

--- The headless rider that the young boy had mentioned.

--- The headless rider that was living together with her brother.

--- The headless rider - the urban legend that galloped through the streets and alleyways of this city.

The headless rider, that despite everything, was undoubtedly, firmly existing in this world.

It was both fantasy and reality.

The world’s “This side” and “That side”.

Kazane realized this.

That the very fact that the headless rider existed, was where the twisted part of this world became reality.

--- This is a crack… a boundary line…

She recalled what Izaya had once said to her.

“You should be careful not to get engulfed, as well.”

Maybe her brother had already stepped knee-deep into this world long ago.

Whether it was of his own will, or from the headless rider manipulating his heart.

Maybe if she took another step, she would also end on “the other side”. Maybe she would never be able to return to her past self.

Or maybe, precisely because she was afraid of this, she had always hesitated approaching her brother. This deeply buried thought began to surface in the jumbled sea of ideas.

She tapped intently at the screen of her phone, madly digging for the truth hidden between Ikebukuro’s fantasy and reality.

When she had returned to her senses, her phone was already dimming after displaying the “out of battery” notification.

Watching the screen fade to pitch black, she sunk into a deep silence.

To the other passer bys, it only looked like a few minutes, but to her, it felt like a long time had passed.

There was an intense conflict raging in her heart.

After a moment of deep reflection, she came to this kind of conclusion.

--- On some level, the headless rider and Nii-san are no longer ordinary existences

--- If I reached my hand out, then the present familiar world would be completely overturned.

--- Then all of the common sense and knowledge from before might be shattered.

As if to confirm this again, she contemplated inwardly as she walked on in the night.

“And if that happens…”

Her inner voice blurted it out like it was only natural.

“And if that happens…”

“And if that happens… so what?”

Emotions that she had carried in her heart for nearly twenty years began to erupt, erupt, erupt.

Clapping her hands to her cheeks forcefully, she stood on the pedestrian skywalk overlooking Ikebukuro’s streets and yelled in a loud voice.

“My name is Kinomiya Kazane! Kinomiya Kazane!”

Nobody else had heard her voice - it was as if she was announcing her own name to the city itself.

Throwing away everything, she began to look her brother all over again.

She had already made up her mind - it didn’t matter if she could never go back.

Even if she couldn’t return to “that side”, in her heart, she silently thanked her parents and all the other people she had felt grateful towards in her lifetime.

Suddenly, she realized something.

It was already far past the time that the sun should have risen, but the sky above was still shrouded in a layer of pitch black.

The darkness was far too excessive even for a cloudy day. Furthermore, the sky in the far distance showed an edge of bright daylight.

In other word, only the sky above Ikebukuro seemed to be covered by a huge black umbrella. Kazane felt more and more unease in this abnormal darkness. With rising unrest, she continued to wander the streets with the clear goal of searching for her brother’s shadow.

Although she had no real sense of direction, her premonition led her closer and closer to a certain place.

Her brother was trapped in this abnormal situation.

Not only, but this abnormal situation seemed to have something to do with the headless rider

Then, perhaps her brother was in the middle of this madly swirling hurricane of events.

With no evidence for her thoughts, Kazane simply followed her intuition as she ran towards some direction.

Towards the heart of the black shadow that engulfed the entire city.

As well as the place where the red-eyed people were converging.

The place where the people who had lost control of themselves were gathering.

Where the members of the Dollars were also gathering.

At the base of one of Ikebukuro’s iconic landmarks, the towering Sunshine 60.

♀♂

And then she saw it, raising her head to look up at the sky from the base of Sunshine 60.

She saw the giant horse running through thin air, and the armour-clad silhouette that sat atop the horse.

The sky above was illuminated only by the light from the tall buildings, so she could not see very clearly. However, she could see that the person was holding something under their arm.

She could also see that the armour had nothing but emptiness in the space above its neck.

--- There’s no mistake… this must be the headless rider’s true face.

--- Then, what about Nii-san?

Kazane noticed that there was no such white-clad person sitting on the back of the horse. She continued to watch the giant horse anxiously. In the next instant, a hard-to-believe scene entered her vision.

Suddenly, a white shadow emerged out of nowhere, hurling through the sky towards the black horse at a frightening momentum.

--- Eh?

She was stunned for a moment.

When the black shadow reacted first, she suddenly realized the identity of the white silhouette.

--- O-Onii-san!??

She couldn’t help but cry out like a surprised child, hurriedly rushing toward the spot where the two figures had fallen.

And then, she saw it.

♀♂

After a few minutes, she arrived where they had landed.

In a corner of Sunshine city.

On the black web that had expanded from the dark shadow, Kazane saw “that sight”, and she remembered.

From her childhood, the second half of her mother’s words.

“And Shinra… he… is living with someone right now. When he smiles at that person, his expression is a lot brighter than when he smiles at me.”

“Of course, even though I’m unsure what to do, if Shinra can smile that happily, I believe that she is not a bad person.”

A smile.

Shinra’s entire face was filled with an almost overflowing smile.

Her brother’s whole body was wrapped in bandages, and he had just risked his life. But as he was being tightly held by the headless rider, he wore a refreshing and exceptionally tender smile.

As if that smile wasn’t for himself, but to comfort the uncontrollably shaking headless rider in his arms.

Seeing the tightly embracing pair, Kazane temporarily forgot her next move.

It could be said that she was mesmerized by this sight.

Because although she had always been watching her brother from afar, she had never seen such a blissfully happy smile on her brother’s face before.

And then she remembered the last of her mother’s words.

“...But if mom saw Shinra’s happy smile up close, then mom would surely be jealous of that person. So, it might be better if I don’t go see Shinra.”

“Because in front of her son, how could a mother show a jealous expression?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, right now, these words might be hard for you to understand…”

--- But I understand it now, mother….

Kazane began to walk toward the two people.

--- But it’s alright. Be it me, or mom, there’s no way either of us could be jealous towards that person.

She said this within her heart, for herself, and for her mother far away overseas.

--- She is the person brother likes, right? So I will definitely like her as well… although this is only my feeling.

[Ah, S-Shinra! There’s someone watching!]

Hearing her motorcycle’s warning neigh, Celty became aware of a woman approaching them and twirled Shinra away to show him her PDA.

“Eh? Ah, sorry to disturb you! We’ll leave right away!”

Shinra waved his hand while gently smiling. Seeing him like this, the girl’s eyes filled with tears as she opened her mouth to say:

“This...suddenly bringing this up...might startle you…”

Towards the the girl that was now addressing them, Shinra and Celty felt some confusion. The girl suddenly bowed deeply, announcing her name in a clear voice.

“My name is Kinomiya Kazane! This is our first meeting, Shinra Nii-san! I’m your younger sister of a different father!”

♀♂

Years later…

--- I remember it clearly even now… Nii-san’s shocked expression, and Celty’s even more shocked expression.

The female freelance reporter heading towards Shinra’s apartment, Kinomiya Kazane, was walking on Ikebukuro’s sidewalk as usual while holding her phone to her ear.

A familiar voice from long ago came from the other side of the line.

“Oh? How did a freelance reporter find this number? Did Tsukumoya tell you? ...Well, it doesn’t matter - if you can call me now, it means that you have already left the path of ordinary people.”

Towards the other person’s slightly surprised tone, Kazane replied without any hint of timidness.

“Haha, that makes me remember… At that time, you once said to me that whatever I feel toward my brother is my own free will, but to be aware of the headless rider.”

“...”

“You said that the headless rider was an existence beyond normal understanding. And my brother who was obsessed with her, also might no longer be an ordinary existence for me…. then I should be careful not to get caught up too deeply.”

“Who knows? I forget things from such a long time ago. But I feel like that is a piece of earnest advice, no? Don’t tell me you called me just to say this?”

Hearing his slightly awkward tone, Kazane replied in an extremely clear voice.

“After this, everyone will be gathering at brother’s apartment for a hotpot party. Nii-san and Celty-san’s friends are invited… Shingen-san and Emilia-san, Kadota-san… Also Mikado-kun, Kida-kun, and Sonohara-san, the people from Russian Sushi, and your sisters Mairu and Kururi-chan are also coming! If they have time, Hanejima Yuuhei-san and Ruri-san are also trying to get here! You know all those people, right?”

“Oh? You can tell just from the list of participants that it will be a lively event…”

Hearing the other reply without change of emotion in his tone, Kazane spoke his name while continuing to talk.

“If it’s okay for you, would Izaya-san be able to attend as well? The reason why I called was to invite you!”

“...It’s rare for me to receive such an enthusiastic invitation, but I’ll have to decline. Right now, I am rather far from Tokyo. Also, Tsukumoya must have already told you that my body is not in the best condition right now, so I won’t be able to rush back just like that.”

“How about if Shizuo-san comes to pick you up? Then you might get here faster that way.”

“... Your style has changed a lot, it’s nearly comparable to Tsukumoya’s level now!”

After spitting out obvious words of ridicule, the man on the other side of the phone lowered his voice slightly as he asked her a question.

“Hey, Kinomiya Kazane,”

“What is it?”

“What exactly are you trying to become? You are but a magazine journalist that happens to have some connections. On this mystical stage full of ridiculous dolls dancing a mad dance, what kind of act are planning to perform?”

Towards Izaya who had suddenly changed his approach, Kazane maintained a serious attitude, stopping her footsteps on the sidewalk to answer him clearly.

“What I’m planning to perform is exactly the ‘magazine journalist that happens to have some connections’ that you described!”

“...”

“What I wish to become, is simply ‘Kinomiya Kazane’”

Her words contained no hint of confusion or ambiguity, directed straightforwardly at the person on the other side of the phone.

“Liking my brother, liking my sister-in-law Celty, a common, ordinary little sister, just like everyone else.”

“... How worthy of celebration. In the end, you were also enraptured by nonhuman beings. It’s regretful.”

“Um, but are you really not coming to the hotpot party?”

“Sorry, but I actually hate hotpot. I dislike hot foods.”

Carelessly saying an obvious lie, Izaya prepared to hang up the phone. Towards this, Kazane spoke in a serious tone.

“Izaya-san, one last thing.”

“...What is it?”

“One day, for sure, I will let you have a reunion with brother and Shizuo-san again!”

After a moment of silence, he laughed as he gave his strange but sincere reply.

“...If you think you can do it, feel free to try. At that time, I will use my full effort to run away from you.”

---

Like this, history was written down.

From one person’s subtle movements, to the flow of an era set by the endless accumulation of fate between people,

Accepting everything that had changed, Ikebukuro’s streets welcomed a brand new day.

Precisely because she was able to understand all this, Kazane was able to walk bravely forward.

There were as many people as the number of beautiful and terrifying distortions engraved into this continuously flowing tale.

Even tomorrow, the story of these streets, filled with hope and countless dreams, will continue on as always.

Kinomiya Kazane Episode.

Along with the compiled tales of Ikebukuro’s inhabitants.

Continues to weave out a new history.

#kazane #kinomiya kazane #epitome of eighteen histories #translations #drrr #durarara #my translation

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