The Blue Flame of Ikebukuro Chapter 6

In an apartment complex in Ikebukuro, underground doctor Shinra Kishitani was on his laptop, waiting for his beloved Celty to return. She told him that she was helping Shizuo find the boys who attacked her and that she would be back soon, but he was still worried since it turned out one of them wasn’t human. He closed his laptop, laid his back on the sofa and sighed.

“So another demon is around Ikebukuro. But why is it after her?”

Suddenly, the door opened and the sound of footsteps came in the apartment. Shinra sprang up from his spot and went straight to the entrance. At the doorway, Celty and Shizuo was standing with a black cocoon made with Celty’s smoke substance. “Welcome home Celty! Oh
Shizuo what are you doing here?”  He examined the man and noticed Shizuo’s scar on his chest and his slightly burnt arm. “Shizuo what the hell happen to you?!?”

Shizuo sighed “It’s a long story Shinra…”

The three went towards the living room and Celty set the cocoon on the couch, releasing it to let a teen boy lay down on the couch unconscious, while carrying the sword he owned.

“Who’s that Celty?” Shinra asked.

Celty pulled out her phone from her sleeve and typed her answer. [That’s one of the boys who attacked me and was the one who stopped Shizuo a few days ago]

Shinra looked at the boy curiously. “For a demon, he sure looks human. Well if you didn’t include the tail of course.”

Shizuo growled “Would you hurry up and treat me Shinra before I lose all my blood?”

“Oh right! In a minute Shizuo, I’ll go get my things.” Shinra quickly got his medical supplies   and returned to Shizuo. Shinra treated Shizuo’s wounds with ease. Luckily, both wounds weren’t deep enough to possibly harm the blond’s life.

“There, that should be it. But Shizuo it’s best if you don’t do anything rash for a while.
The burn was only first degree but the wound on your chest will take some time to heal.”

Shizuo sighed, looking at his bandaged arm “I can’t make any promises but I’ll try…”

Shinra turned his attention to Celty. “So that’s the sword you said that controls his powers right?”

Celty examined the sword that belonged to Rin, and then she gave it to Shinra for him to look at. Then she took off her helmet and set it on the coffee table. She typed up her response to him while he studied the sword. [Looks like it. It seems as long as the sword stays in its sheath, he can’t use those flames he has.]

Shizuo look at the sword quickly, thinking of what to do with it. “I doubt it since I remembered when he burned my arm; he could use the flames without the sword.”

Shinra looked at Shizuo in surprise. “I’m amazed that you even remembered such a detail. But now that means we have to be careful with our questions or he might try to burn us to death.”

“If that’s the case, how about we destroy it? Then maybe he won’t be able to hurt any else?” Shizuo suggested.

Shinra laughed nervously and explained, “I don’t think that’s a good idea Shizuo. It might do the opposite and make his powers go out of control. Besides, I don’t want my apartment going up in flames…”

“Uh…where…?” Rin muttered as he regained consciousness. He looked around seeing that he was in a living room of some sort, with some guy in a white lab coat, the headless demon, and Shizuo. He immediately started to look around for his sword only for him to see that the man in the lab coat was in possession of it.

Shinra was the first one who noticed the young boy. “It looks like he’s awake. Do you want to go first Celty?”

Celty nodded at the doctor and she walked towards Rin.

Rin sprung up from his seat going towards Shinra. “Hey what are you doing with my sword and who are you?”

Celty used her powers to put Rin back on the sofa, making him unable to move most of his body. [Don’t move. You’ll get your sword back, if you answer our questions.]

Rin stared at the message Celty gave him. ‘So, it can communicate…’ He sighed, not knowing what else to do. “Fine, but I also have questions for you guys as well.”

“Fair enough,” Shinra replied as he put the sword down on the coffee table where Celty’s helmet was. “To answer your first question, I’m Shinra Kishitani. I’m sort of an old acquaintance of Shizuo who you injured just earlier. And the headless beauty before you is the love of my life Celty~, who you attacked yesterday for a reason I’m not sure of.”

“I’m Rin Okumura, but you probably know my name since apparently most of Ikebukuro knows it by now.” Rin replied nervously. Then he turned his head to Shizuo, who was glaring at him. He remembered what he did to the blond and turned away from guilt.

This started to make Shizuo madder at him as he got up from where he was sitting and moved Shinra and Celty back. “What’s with the look kid?”

Rin was taken aback from his question and answered “Nothing, it’s just. I’m really sorry what I did to you, but…” Rin tried to move from his restraints but only to still not able to escape. “But you didn’t have to try to kill me…”

“I wasn’t going to kill you, but you and your friend tried to kill Celty and I wasn’t just going to stay back and let you off scot free.”

Celty grabbed onto Shizuo’s arm just in case he was going to harm Rin and typed him [Shizuo, I’m ok. You don’t need to hold a grudge against him.]

“Well she was going to attack some guy in an alleyway and I couldn’t just let her do what she pleased.”

Shizuo and Shinra looked at Rin in confusion, only for Celty to remember the job she did the day before. She quickly explained. [That man you were talking about was a thief I was supposed to stop. I wasn’t going to kill him, just knock him out and return the money to the client.] She back spaced her message and typed a new one. [It’s my job as a carrier in this city but I’m not surprised you thought I was some monster attacking people. It’s just a misunderstanding…]

Rin read all her messages and tried to process everything. He started to feel bad about the situation. “I see but I wanna know why you can walk around with no head since you’re obviously not human. Are you maybe some kind of demon?”

[Well, you’re right about me not being human. But I’m not a demon, I’m a dullahan.]

“A dullahan? Never heard of that before…”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t.” Shinra interrupted “Anyway dullahans are actually a type of fairy, not demon.”

“Who told she was some demon though? Did it have to do with Izaya?” Shizuo interrupted.

Rin glared at blond, not wanting to repeat what he said earlier. “I told you before, I barely know the guy. And what does he have to do with anything? Besides you need to control your anger better or you’re going to hurt someone.”

“You think I don’t know that Sherlock? And maybe if he stopped going around messing shit up, none of this would’ve happened!”

“What about you stop blaming him for all of your problems!” Rin shouldn’t have said that.

Shizuo was about to punch Rin when Celty hold her grip on Shizuo’s arm. [That’s enough

Shizuo. I’ll explain to him about Izaya.]

Shizuo scoffed and went back into the chair he was sitting. “Fine…”

Rin sighed in relief that Celty saved him. Then Shinra and Celty sat next to the boy.

[Shizuo is kind of right about Izaya. He tends to get into other people’s business to manipulate them for his own self amusement. He isn’t someone you can trust.]

“You’re probably in one of his games right now with all the stuff that’s been happening for the last 2 days.” Shinra added.

Rin started to get angry at Izaya. If he ever sees that guy walking around, he might beat the hell out of him. “That bastard…if he thinks that he’s getting away with this…”

The doctor decided it’s best to change the subject. “Well now with that all out of the way, since Izaya isn’t the reason you’re here, what brings you to Ikebukuro then?”

Rin sighed nervously and replied, “It’s a long story but basically, I’m a student at a school for exorcists…”

[Exorcists? What’s a demon doing at a school for exorcists?]

He continued, “I’m not exactly a full demon like you probably think. I’m half human and that’s another story on its own. Anyway, I’m supposed to be on break so me and my classmates decided to crash in Ikebukuro and Shibuya. Of course that changed because of Shizuo and I got interested in his strength and now True Cross wants to capture him and Celty.”

[I see…] Celty didn’t know what else to say.

Rin chuckled nervously “Well it seems that you’re not a threat to the city so I’ll try to explain to my brother and everyone that we got it wrong. I’m really sorry this all happened.”

[Don’t apologize. You did what you thought was right.]

“I guess…” He looked at Shizuo. “But I’m not sure how I’m going to do with Shizuo though, since I can’t just let him destroy half the city.”

Shizuo got up from his seat again; ready to give him a piece of his mind. “And why do you think I’m going to do that?”

“Maybe not on purpose but you really need to work on that temper of yours. Of course I’m no better...”

“And what do you mean by that, kid?”

“Well, this might sound weird to you but when I saw you in action the first time, it felt…familiar to me I don’t know why. Maybe if you explain to me where your strength came from, maybe this whole thing will clear up for you.”

Shinra and Celty got up from their seat, getting ready to restrain Shizuo if he was going to hurt Rin, only for Shizuo to surprise them both of what he said next.

“Alright then, if it’s going to get me out of this stupid mess…”

Rin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Wait for real?”

“Shut up before I before I get more mad…” Shizuo warned him.

“Sorry…” Rin said nervously.

Celty poked Shinra and showed him her screen. [I think we should leave them alone for a while…]

“Are you sure Celty?” Shinra whispered.

Celty nodded at him in assurance. Shinra sighed and didn’t question her anymore. Celty released the restraints from Rin and both she and Shinra left the living room to the computer room, still watching from the see through wall to make sure if something happened they could respond.

Shizuo went back to his chair and started to explain “So, where I got this strength? It’s hard to explain but I just seem to have it.”

Rin stared at Shizuo, not sure what he meant. “Is it possible that maybe you’re not completely human.”

“Doubt it. I came from a normal human family, It’s just I’m the only abnormal one for some reason.” Shizuo started to remember his childhood as he talked to the young exorcist. “You know, I’ve been struggling with this since I was kid. I started thinking I was some monster that would hurt everyone that came close to me. Only recently I started to have some control of it and even that wasn’t enough since I’m now stuck on some exorcist hit list.”

Rin started to chuckle a bit, it sounds so familiar to him.

“What’s so damn funny about this?” Shizuo angrily asked.

Rin stopped and replied “It’s just…I understand what you’re going through.”

The blond looked at the boy dumbfounded “Huh?”

“I also have problems with my temper, though it’s not as bad as yours. But I also have to control these flames I have as well. And trust me, I also felt like I was a monster so many times I lost count. But it’s not that entirely bad. I have my brother and my friends so I’m not alone.” Rin explained.

The blond was pleasantly surprised at the young boy’s response. It seems he got this kid all wrong.

Rin continued, “And it seems that you’re good friends with Celty and Shinra so you’re not that alone.”

Shizuo scoffed at the idea being ‘friends’ with Shinra. “I wouldn’t call Shinra a friend but you are right about Celty.”

He smiled at Rin. “You know kid; it seems we’re a lot alike.”

Rin gave a small smile back to the man. “Yeah…It seems so…”

The small moment was interrupted when Celty came from the computer room and gave Rin her phone. He took it from Celty and held it at his ear.

“Huh? Who is it?” Shizuo asked.

“How should I know?’ Rin said while he waited for the other line to answer.

“Wow Rin-kun, I can’t believe you forgot your friend back here in town. What kind of friend are you?”

Rin recognized the voice to be Izaya. That was when Rin realised that he left Shiemi back with that bastard. “You asshole, you tricked me! And you better not had done anything to Shiemi!”

Shizuo didn’t need to ask Rin who the guy on the other line was after that. He knew who it was.

“Oh you’re so mean Rin~!” Izaya teased. “But anyway I wasn’t the one who abandoned her with a guy he just met.”

“You got a point there…” he sighed.

“Well I’m going to let the ‘headless demon’ pick her up and bring her to you. You know she’s really worried about you~.”

Rin growled at him. “Don’t rub it in. Alright just don’t do anything funny to her or I’m kicking your ass ok?”

Izaya laughed at Rin’s little outburst. “Fine, you don’t have to be mean about it. Later!”

Rin hanged up the phone and gave it back to Celty. “Did he tell you already?”

Celty typed up [Yes. I’ll make sure she gets here safely ok?]

Rin nodded at the headless woman, showing that he understood.

Celty put on her helmet and left the apartment. Shizuo just stared in confusion.

“What’s that all about?”

Rin sighed in regret and answered, “I did something stupid and now my best friend is stuck with that asshole.”

The blond sighed, not questioning him anymore. “Stupid flea…”

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Meanwhile, outside a café in Ikebukuro, Shiemi was waiting for Celty to come bring her back to Rin. Izaya left some time ago and told her to wait for the rider. Her familiar Nii-chan sadly said ‘Nii’ as he noticed how worried she was. Then a black motorcycle stopped in front of her, snapping Shiemi out of her worry. She looked at the rider who was typing up her message.

[You are Shiemi Moriyama, am I correct?]

Shiemi looked at the message, “Yes I am…”

Celty quickly typed up [The boy you are worried about is ok. I’m here to take you to him.]

Shiemi sighed in relief. ‘He’s alright, thank goodness!’

“Thank you for not killing him…” she said as she gave the rider a small bow.

Celty waved her hand, gesturing that it was ok. Then she created a helmet with her powers and put on the blonde’s head. She gestured her to sit behind her. [Hold on tight.]

Shiemi nodded and held her grip to the rider. They rode off on the motorcycle to the direction to where Rin was, as Ikebukuro continued its daily life as usual.