[Master K] The bad one next door

The engine of the motorcycle beneath him roared loudly.

The headless horseman known as the "urban legend" - Celty Struersen is running on the streets of Ikebukuro.

The name of the Headless Horseman is well known in Ikebukuro, but people who don't know it will never realize that she is the protagonist in the legend, they will only be surprised by her strange outfit of yellow helmet and black tights, and laugh at her He's an unruly biker.Of course, this made her feel more at ease—as long as others didn't find out what was under her helmet, it didn't matter what they thought of her.

There was deafening music from the barber shop on the street.Serti gripped the handle of the motorcycle, turned a corner in the street beautifully, and drove towards the train station.

Of course, there is a reason why the headless horseman who is a postman is here.

Just an hour ago, she received a commission from an acquaintance.

—— "In the Information Room"

"Porter, help me pick someone up at the train station."

The black-haired young man in a black plush jacket across the table smiled and pushed a brown envelope over.

Celty opened the envelope, revealing a wad of banknotes inside.She counted at random, then stuffed the envelope into the clothes transformed by the black mist, then took out the terminal, quickly typed a line, and pointed the screen at the other party: "What does that person look like?"

She hesitated for a moment, then asked again, "Who is yours?"

Not involving the privacy of the other party has become an unwritten rule in the transaction between the two. Logically speaking, she shouldn't ask such a question, but she really can't bear the curiosity in her heart.At worst, she would just be refused to answer——she thought so, but the black-haired young man seemed not to care much, and answered her question abnormally.

The black-haired young man sat leisurely on the swivel chair behind the table, crossed his legs, his scarlet eyes narrowed slightly with a nasty smile: "Well... it should be the existence called 'cousin'."

Celty was taken aback.

"cousin……?!"

What a surprise.

Although the two have known each other since they were young in high school, except for the other two younger sisters who have been influenced by him to have weird personalities, they have never heard of the cousin.

As if amused by her surprise, the young informant smiled.

He kept his usual smug smile, and spun around on the chair: "That said, I'm just an ordinary human who was thrown at the train station by my careless and neurotic aunt~ If it's too boring, I won't admit it She belongs to my cousin. That's right, then you can help me see what kind of person she is, Miss Porter."

This person has no scruples to label his aunt as "neurotic", and contemptuously denies the existence of his cousin, which can be called treasonous.

——When it comes to nervousness, no one can compare to you, Orihara Rinya.

Recalling this scene, Celti couldn't help complaining silently.

After confirming the deal, Orihara gave her a photo of the cousin.Celti controlled the handlebar of the motorcycle with one hand, pulled out the photo from the collar on his chest with the other, and looked down.

In the next second, traces of angry black air gushed out from the neck under the helmet.

What came into view was a sweet and soft little dumpling hugging a Doraemon doll and sleeping soundly.

……

... Hey, there is a ghost for the baby photo!Do you dare to cheat a little more? !

Serti clenched the photo tightly, resisting the feeling of veins twitching for no reason, while secretly cursing Rinya Orihara, the insincere bastard, he let go of the photo, and stepped on the accelerator hard to drive forward and go.

Behind her, the wrinkled photo drifted away with the wind, tumbled a few times, and finally landed danglingly at a person's feet.

"Wow?"

The boy with the silver pigtails stopped, slightly opened his sea-blue eyes, and looked down at the piece of paper under his feet in surprise.

"Huh? What the hell..."

He scratched his head inexplicably, bent down and reached out to pick it up.When he turned the photo over and looked at it, the lazy expression on his face instantly froze.

After a while, he slowly raised his hand to cover his bleeding nose.

……

When Celty rushed to the train station, the girl's soft and waxy voice broke into her hearing range.

"Even so, Mom, you're still going too far!"

She stopped, leaned the motorcycle aside, and looked ahead.

Then the voice sounded again.

"Very, very busy...? Even so, you can't leave me alone at the train station! I don't know the place... So in the end, I forgot or I really have something urgent!"

Celty scanned the crowd and found the owner of the voice.

The black-haired girl in a white and blue pleated skirt was leaning against the pillar of the train station, with a suitcase next to her legs, and its owner was holding the terminal to her ear, pursing her lips in dissatisfaction.It seemed that the person opposite said something again, and she opened her jet-black eyes wide in surprise.

"...Is someone coming to pick me up? Who is it—you don't know? Please, please wait! Mom, you are too unreliable!"

--really.

The Headless Horseman who was listening on the side commented so.

The conversation between the girl and her mother continued.

"Mom, please explain clearly why you went there, otherwise I won't give up easily——huh?"

——The voice of the woman in the ear turned into a beeping busy tone.

After the phone was hung up, the girl couldn't react for a while, and opened her mouth in amazement.After a while, she realized her situation, and she couldn't help but put down the terminal in frustration, her lips pursed into a "^" shape.

"Mom is really..." she muttered, "It's so irresponsible."

As she spoke, she drooped her head.

"By the way, where do I go to find 'the person who will pick me up'? Even my mother doesn't know me, how could I recognize it..."

Celti, who watched the whole process from the sidelines, felt that it was time for him to play.

She walked around from behind the motorcycle, picked up the terminal and walked towards the girl.When the other party looked up at her suspiciously, she stopped, quickly typed a line on the terminal, and pointed the screen at the black-haired girl.

——"Excuse me, are you Ms. Yazawa Maya?"

……

The girl named "Yazawa Masaya" is about thirteen or fourteen years old. According to her own account, she was a first-year student at Zhenme Junior High School before coming to Ikebukuro.She seems to have inherited the genes of the Orihara family perfectly, and Celti can even faintly see the shadow of Orihara Rinya from her black hair and delicate appearance-"It's really unfair, people with Orihara blood have long faces. Does it look so good?" Although the Headless Horseman had thought about it, but despite her appearance, she still couldn't believe that the girl in front of her would have anything to do with that famous information dealer.

No matter how you look at her, she doesn't look like someone with Orihara's blood.

She is so clean.

Even if they only get along for a moment, Celti has already seen Maya's docile and harmless character.Not to mention harmless, she couldn't even protect herself. After trusting her easily, she spoke out about herself without reservation.Fortunately, she is not a bad person, otherwise a little rabbit like this must be her first target.

"That..." Mami called softly, "May I ask your name?"

Well, surprisingly polite.

Thinking of the three Orihara brothers and sisters with distorted personalities they had seen before, and looking at the extremely well-behaved Yazawa Maya in front of him, Celti felt an emotion called pity inexplicably.

She took the suitcase from the girl's hand: "Just call me Celty."

"Miss Celty... I remember it." Maki repeated her name, as if imprinting the name in her heart, showing a warm smile, "Thank you very much for coming to pick me up."

"It's okay, it's just a mission."

The dark-haired girl blinked blankly, as if she didn't quite understand the meaning of the word "task".But soon she gave up thinking about it and turned the topic to another point: "Where are we going next?"

Serti, who had already walked to the front of the motorcycle, paused, his fingers wrapped in black gloves tapping slowly on the terminal keyboard.

"Orihara house."

……

When the motorcycle started, Celti couldn't help but glance at Yazawa Maya who was hugging his waist tightly behind him.Seeing her look, the black-haired girl raised her face and returned a shy smile.

——However, no matter how clear the eyes are, they will eventually be stained.

The Headless Horseman looked at the road ahead again, and thought while starting the car.

——In a place like Ikebukuro.

<<<<<

"Excuse me, is this...?"

Shinmi pulled the suitcase and looked up at the small white bungalow in front of her.

The small bungalow is not high, about two floors. There are some flowers and plants dotted on the window sill on the second floor, and there is a small garden next to it. At first glance, it gives people a fresh and natural feeling.

"Yes, this should be Orihara House."

Celti pointed to the gate, beside which was a nameplate with the word "Orihara" printed on it.

Although Celty replied very positively, and now he has obtained conclusive evidence, Maki still feels a little unbelievable.

——No matter how you look at it, they are very ordinary people.

It seems to have nothing to do with the "group of psychopaths" in my mother's mouth.

She stood there in a daze for a while, then suddenly remembered something, and quickly turned to thank Celty sincerely: "Thank you very much for sending me here, Miss Celty. It was a pleasure getting along with you."

"No, you're welcome! I'm also very happy during this time!"

I don't know if it was an illusion, but Celty's reply seemed a little flustered.Are you sorry?Thinking about it this way, Maki suddenly felt that the taciturn woman in black in front of her was actually quite cute.

"I have something else to do, so I'm leaving first!"

Mami smiled: "Well, goodbye. Be careful on the road."

After Celty left, Maki turned her attention to the gate of Orihara's house again.She hesitated for a moment, pulled the suitcase and walked forward, carefully ringing the doorbell.

The "beep" ringing lasted for a while, and then a girlish voice came from the intercom: "Moshi Moshi, this is Orihara's house~ May I ask what you can do?"

Suddenly hearing a strange voice, Mami's nerves tensed instantly.

"That..." She gripped the handle of the suitcase tightly and swallowed nervously, "I'm Yazawa Maya, may I ask mom...uh, is Ms. Yazawa Ryoko here?"

There was silence on the intercom for a while, and then hung up with a "click".Then the door in front of him was slammed open.

What came into view was a slender girl who was about the same age as him.

The girl had two thin braids on the back of her head, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses on her small nose. At first glance, she looked like a quiet literary girl.She held the door with one hand, stared at her with clear brown eyes, and raised her voice excitedly: "Are you Mami-chan?"

"Eh……?"

Stared at by such scorching eyes, Maki felt a little overwhelmed for a moment, and could only open her mouth and let out a blank monosyllable.

"Yes, yes... May I ask who you are?"

The girl's gaze behind the lens instantly became sly.She didn't answer directly, but just stepped aside, showing the clean and tidy living room openly, with a strange smile on her delicate face: "Then please come in, miss."

The girl called herself "Orihara Mairyu". As soon as she entered the room, she grabbed Maki's arm and dragged her to the inner hall while asking enthusiastically, "What kind of person do you think Aunt Ryoko is?"

Maya didn't expect that Wuliu mentioned her mother first.She was stunned for a moment, then tilted her head and thought for a while: "How should I put it, although my mother is often out of tune, she always gives people a very reliable feeling..."

"Ha! That's how it feels!" Wu Liu clapped her hands happily as if hearing something funny, "'It looks like a dishonest beast, but there is a secret beast lurking inside'——this is the charm of Aunt Liangzi Let's go!"

"'Beast'...no, I don't think it's that exaggerated."

At this time, the two were walking through the corridor.The undisguised fanatical admiration for Yazawa Ryoko in Orihara Mairu's tone made Maya feel a little embarrassed.

Wu Liu seems to respect and love her mother very much.

Thinking of this, Mami asked hesitantly, and the other party admitted frankly: "Yes, Aunt Ryoko is the idol of my sister and me. It is she who made us break away from the ordinary and boring life."

Wu Liu caught a glimpse of Mami's blank expression, paused, and pointed to himself with a thumb with a smile: "Well, don't you think I'm very special when you see me now? I'm different from most people you know."

This is true.

But if her mother's influence on Orihara Mai-ryu is to create her weird behavior...Mami thinks that normal parents should angrily sue her in court for "spreading cult ideas and destroying the flowers of the motherland".

"Aunt Ryoko's position in the hearts of my sister and me is just like that of Yuhei Hashima... Ah, by the way, have you heard of Yuhei Hashima, Manami-chan?"

"Yuhei Hashima?"

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I have seen this name somewhere.

"Is he a star? I heard it mentioned by my classmates before."

"Before? That's right, you came from the town, right, just like Aunt Ryoko." Orihara Mairu suddenly narrowed her eyes, leaned down, and put her face in front of her, "In this way, Mami-chan You should have seen a capable person, it is the one that has been rumored recently."

The eyes of the girl with braided braids are full of passionate emotions——Mami doesn’t know whether to call it “expectation” or not, it looks like a person’s simple longing, but it seems to be hiding other strange things s things.Subconsciously, she turned her head to avoid Wu Liu's gaze, and clenched her fingers suddenly: "...I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I only saw the head of secpter4's Munakata on TV... Of course, I may have seen it, It's just that the memory about them has been erased."

——I don’t want to tell her about Misaki.

A chill ran down my spine for a split second.The creepiness of the moment made her follow her instincts faithfully.

Wu Liu stared at her for a long time without saying a word.When she mustered up the courage to look back at the past, the girl with double braids straightened up again, with her hands behind her back, smiling calmly as if nothing had happened: "Really? What a pity, if I have the chance, I will really If you want to go to Zhenmu for fun, you might be lucky enough to meet someone with abilities."

As she said that, she turned around and walked forward: "Speaking of which, Mami-chan, how old are you this year?"

The topic jumped so fast that Maki almost couldn't react.

"Hey... fourteen years old."

"What month is your birthday?"

"March, March NO.12."

"Oh! Then you are my younger sister. I was born in February. I am also an older sister, hahaha!"

Orihara Mairyu laughed exaggeratedly.Seeing the two braids on the back of her head flicking and flicking with her movements, Mami felt that this overly cheerful cousin was really a miraculous person.

She is obviously dressed like a literary girl, but her personality is very weird, and she does not have the demure temperament of a traditional literary girl at all.Even if she doesn't speak, the burning eyes behind the lens will betray her completely.

"That, Wu Liusang—"

"I want to call my sister."

"..." Why are you so obsessed with this matter, "Okay, sister Wuliu—by the way, you kept mentioning 'sister' just now, meaning that there is an elder sister in the family?"

"Ah, ah, you can tell if you can see it yourself." Finally at the end of the corridor, Wu Liu pulled her past with a smile, took a step forward, and pushed open the door in front of her before she could react. : "Sister Jiuliuli! I'm back with my sister!"

Inside the door is a narrow room.

The four walls of the small room are covered with blue and white wallpaper, and the facilities inside are surprisingly simple: an old electric fan is placed in the corner, a square low table is placed in the center of the hall, and there is a suspected floor beside it. A rolled up quilt, nothing else.

Stationery and textbooks were strewn about on the low table.The short-haired girl with brown hair who was holding a pen and calculating on the draft paper by the table paused, then slowly raised her head, revealing a delicate face that was no different from that of Orihara Mairyu.

——As long as you are not blind, you can tell that the two are twin sisters.

However, they are a little different from ordinary twins.

Orihara Kururi, who was wearing sportswear, looked at them expressionlessly, pursed his lips, and whispered a word.

"Huan (welcome back)..."

Orihara Mai ran over bouncingly, and hugged her shoulder affectionately.

"Sister Jiuliuli, I'm going to be a sister too! Heh heh, hurry up and congratulate me!"

"He (congratulations)..."

"By the way, mom and dad are not at home today, where should we go for dinner? This time I'm going to bring Maki-chan!"

"Lu (Lucia Sushi)...Zan (the food there is better)..."

Maki stopped and stared at the door.

The twins she had seen looked almost identical, but the two in front of her were different.

They are completely different: one is passionate, the other is taciturn, each standing at the extremes of the two personalities, and they get along miraculously, as if they were a whole, but were divided into two people.

At that moment, she suddenly thought of Celty who sent her here.The motorcycle rider, wearing a yellow helmet and tights, communicated with a terminal, and there seemed to be some secret hidden under the silence.

Is this... Ikebukuro?

Recalling the text messages she received on the train, she felt as if an electric current had suddenly passed through her heart, and the agitation under her left chest became clearer as the complex feelings gradually gushed out.

She had a premonition that the time she lived in Ikebukuro would be extraordinarily exciting.