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[Recap]
"Celty!" Shinra exclaimed, hugging her.
'Who is this?' Celty typed, gesturing towards the other female in the room.
Sakura smiled. "I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you"
[End Recap]
Celty nodded and typed again. 'Nice to meet you. Are you Shinra's new assistant?'
"Yep! I'm helping him out while I try to get myself some well paying jobs." Sakura answered.
'Well I'll leave you two alone while you work. I want to talk with a few friends.' The dullahan typed. Sakura and Shinra nodded as Celty left the room.
Sakura looked at Shinra. "How did you manage to get her to fall for you?" She asked jokingly.
Shinra glared and playfully smacked her arm. "I'll have you know that no lady can resist my beautiful face and wonderful personality!"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "I can assure you that it's not hard to resist your 'beautiful face'." She said, sarcasm lacing her tone.
Shinra put a hand over his heart dramatically. "My fragile heart has been stomped on by your cruel words!" He pretended to fall to the ground.
Sakura giggled, "Oh no! What a tragedy!" She kneeled over his body and pretended to pray, "Satan please take good care of my friend."
Shinra smiled and resisted the urge to laugh. Sakura laughed while 'praying' Shinra couldn't hold it in and joined her. They laughed until Sakura was also on the floor.
They were cut off by knocking. Shinra stopped laughing and ran to the door, opening it. "Yes? How can I help-" He stopped talking when he saw who knocked.
"Shizuo, what are you doing here?" The doctor asked. Sakura heard Shinra and gasped quietly. She started looking for a reasonable method of escape, not wanting to confront the 'monster'.
"I was helping Tom like usual and these guys fought back with knives. I just need a couple stitches for one of the cuts I got." Shizuo replied.
Shinra nodded, "Okay! Go talk to my assistant while I get the stuff I need." He informed, going into doctor mode.
Shizuo nodded and went to the room Sakura was in. Sakura looked at the floor, hoping he wouldn't recognize her. Shizuo just looked at her curiously, "You were with that guy I mixed up..." He mumbled.
Sakura wanted to deny it but she nodded anyways, "Yea. But it was fine! I mistake strangers for people I know all the time!"
Shizuo sat down and didn't respond, he stared at a couple scars on his arms, the only ones he had. Sakura noticed his behavior, "What happened?" She asked, pointing at the scars.
"Some idiot I used to know cut me with his knife, he had slashed me plenty of times but he never left a scar before. Makes me mad just thinking about him." He grumbled, pulling down his sleeve.
Sakura looked away, knowing who Shizuo was talking about. Iza had told her the story in his writing when she was having him write about his past.
Shizuo stared at the woman in front of him skeptically, "You know something." He said, more as a fact than a question.
Unfortunately for him that's when Shinra walked in the room with a kit of medical supplies. "Shizuo I got the stuff! I can stitch up that cut for you now." He said cheerily, totally oblivious to the atmosphere.
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Celty stared at her computer, noticing that Himi entered the chat room. She would have giggled at the conversation happening if she had the ability to laugh. 'So Himi adopted the kid she talked about, that's so sweet.' She thought.
She typed away happily with her friends. Taro had mentioned Kanra again, as he had been doing every day since she vanished. Even Celty had to admit that she was worried for the chat's creator.
Sure, she assumed Kanra was just busy for a couple of days when she had first went silent but it had been a year since she talked in the chat. That was worrying.
Celty didn't even know how much she cared for the people in the chat until she realized just how much she missed Kanra and her antics. It was lonely, even with Himi and the others in the chat.
The dullahan tried not to worry, maybe Kanra just got bored of the chat? Maybe she forgot her login information? She tried to be reasonable with her assumptions so she didn't make herself worry even more.
She could hear Shizuo and Shinra talking, occasionally Sakura would say something that made the doctor laugh. She tried thinking of the people she did know and how much better Shinra was doing.
Shinra wasn't in a good state of mind after Izaya died, he would barely eat or sleep and pretended that he was busy so Celty would stop trying to force him to take care of himself.
He started to get better but wasn't his usual peppy self. It was worrying for Celty but at least he started eating and sleeping again. It was progress, and she couldn't complain about that.
Eventually though, Shinra started joking and flirting and acted like his old self again. Celty thought he was faking at first but she could sense actual joy in his tone whenever he was taking to her.
There was an unspoken rule that neither of them would mention Izaya or the incident. They didn't have proof he was alive but honestly, how could he have lived? Him being dead was the only explanation.
Celty shook her 'head', which was really just her helmet, to clear her thoughts. She didn't need to worry about things that happened so long ago. She had to focus on the present, Himi, Sakura, Shinra, and the peace in Ikebukuro.
'Yea, happy thoughts. No need to worry about things you can't change.' She thought before logging out of the group chat. She stretched and waited for Sakura to leave and for Shinra to finish stitching up Shizuo.
They had plans to go to Russia Sushi that night. They wanted to say hi to Simon since he was probably the only person who could understand how Shinra felt. Ever since Izaya's funeral service the couple had been going to Russia Sushi regularly.
"Celty my darling!" Shinra called, "Sakura and Shizuo are gone, are you ready to go?" He asked.
Celty left the room and went to the front door, gesturing for Shinra to follow. The pair then made their way out into the least normal city they knew.
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Sakura burst into Izaya and Yuu's apartment. "Iza! Let's go celebrate! Did you tell Yuu the news?" She said, all in one breath.
Izaya laughed. "Yea, I told him. He's getting his coat and shoes." He informed her. Right after Izaya said that, Yuu ran to into the room.
"Celebrate! Papa's manga is gonna be an anime!" Yuu cheered, grabbing hold of Izaya's hand. Izaya chuckled and ruffled Yuu's hair with his free hand.
"Let's go! I was thinking we could go back to Russia Sushi." Sakura said.
"Sure. Yuu likes using chopsticks and you don't eat much sushi, it's a good place for our small celebration." Izaya said, although he was worried he would run into Shizuo again.
"Yay!" Yuu cheered as the trio walked out of the apartment. The three walked in comfortable silence on their way to Russia Sushi. Yuu ran up to the large Russian Man when he was in sight, dragging Izaya along.
"Ah, you three again." Simon said, recognizing the trio.
"Hi sir! What is your name?" Yuu asked, no longer afraid of him.
"You can call me Simon." He said. "You come in for sushi?"
Izaya nodded and they made their way inside the small restaurant. They got seated and placed their orders. Izaya and Sakura we're chatting while Yuu played games on Izaya's phone.
Suddenly Sakura stood up and ran to a table with two people. "Shinra! What a coincidence!" She greeted the doctor.
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Izaya froze. 'Shinra?' He thought as he cautiously looked over where Sakura was. 'Shinra and Celty?! Why are they here? Why today? First Shizu-chan now them?!' He mentally face palmed.
Yuu ran to Sakura, obviously meaning Izaya had to follow him. Yuu's eye lit up as he saw Celty. "Papa, it's the dullahan you drew!" He said.
Izaya resisted the urge to slam his head on the wall and Shinra and Celty looked at him. "You drew Celty? Can I see this drawing?" Shinra asked.
"Oh, It's back at home! I saw her a lot when I lived here and Yuu got curious and asked me to draw a dullahan." He said, sounding calmer than he was.
Shinra stared at him, skeptical. "How did you know she is a dullahan?" He asked suspiciously.
"Well what else could the headless rider be? Especially with that stunt over a year ago with all those dollar members" He said, mentally praising his ability to lie without showing his nerves.
Sakura coughed, gaining the attention of the small group. "Anyways Shinra, this is my friend. The one I was talking about earlier!" She said.
Shinra smiled. "Oh. You're the mangaka Sakura has been telling me about! I'm Shinra!" He said, holding out his hand for Izaya to shake.
"I'm Iza..." He said, shaking Shinras hand.
Celty observed Izaya, not wanting to believe what she sensed from him. She decided she was just out of it and turned to Yuu, who was staring at her like she was some pretty painting.
She typed on her PA. 'Hi, My name is Celty. What's yours?'
Yuu smiled at her, "I'm Yuu! You look just like papa's drawing!"
Celty typed again. 'I would like to see it one day.'
Yuu giggled and looked at his dad expectantly. Izaya noticed, "Well maybe she can see it if she visits our side of town. We live near my old high school."
Izaya immediately regretted his words, knowing what question Shinra would ask next. "What's the name of your old high school?" The doctor asked.
Izaya decided to tell the truth, Shinra couldn't figure him out that easily right? So many people went to that school and Shinra didn't even know "Iza's" age.
"I went to Raira academy while it was still called Raijin academy" He answered, predicting Shinra's response.
"Oh wow! We went to the same school. Did you know of Shizuo and-" Shinra cut himself off, Celty and Izaya tensed up. Sakura looked at the group, putting the pieces together, Yuu just stayed confused.
Izaya broke the silence. "I saw Shizu-" He coughed, he was about to say Shizu-chan. "I saw Shizuo Heiwajima fighting with some other dude a lot. I hear rumors that he's still as temperamental as ever." He said.
Shinra laughed. "Yea, he just came to me earlier with a scratch he got that needed stitches. Oh you probably didn't know but I have the same job as Sakura." He said.
Of course Izaya already knew that information but he had to act surprised. "Oh! Cool, is that how you two know eachother?"
Sakura nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! Shinra is letting me work under him while I try to get myself on my feet." She explained.
The group talked a bit longer. Shinra got Izaya's autograph, which was signed using his pen name. Sakura, Izaya, and Yuu left since it started getting late and Yuu had school the next day.
After the three left Shinra smiled at Celty. "I didn't know that the manga author had son. He's a nice little boy." He said.
Celty nodded, which was just her helmet moving up and down. 'I really want to see the picture he drew of me' She typed.
"Maybe we can arrange that one day." He said, getting up.
Celty stood up as well. 'For now you can just tease Erika and Walker with his autograph.'
Shinra laughed after he read what the dullahan had typed. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!" He said, leading Celty out of the restaurant. Shinra was happy for once, he hoped that happiness would stay with him.
-Sky