The Dollars Archive

Durarara and its characters does not belong to myself in any possible way. This story is merely a tale originated by me in which I use it's aspects.

Chapter One - Conviction

She was born on March 21's sunrise.

Her grandma told her that it was just as the sun rose on the horizon, she was brought to the world quiet as mouse. She didn't cry too much, and she was a gentle and lazy baby. Her mother, who had a strange fascination with her country's Imperial story, decided to name her Mikado.

(An synonym of tenno, a title to emperors. Mikado, tenno. Mi, honorable and Kado, gate. Mikado, male. Why name a female, Mikado?)

She was a quiet child, her grandma always told her. Her grandma didn't like her so much when she was little. Grandma used to tell her that she was the reason for her daughter's death and if weren't for her useless father, her mother would be an honorable housewife, with a good husband and live a peaceful life. So you see, grandma didn't like her too much at her life's beginning.

(Bitter, useless. Her grandma was so ordinary.)

But human beings have this incredible ability to adapt. And so, grandma adapted herself to her little quiet Mikado. But do not fool yourself into thinking that it was an easy feat, because grandma would always be bitter. And in her bitterness, a resolve to right Mikado's mother wrongs was born inside the resentful old woman.

The old woman was a graceful human. Mikado remembered a time when she felt so much awe for her grandma's elegance. She moved like a queen. Always perfectly capable and independent. Whenever there was a family reunion, her grandmother would serve tea like she was an elegant geisha, with perfect mannerisms and movements and timing. She remembered the time when her once naive mind would conjure with absolute rightness that she wanted to be like her sumptuous grandma.

(She was wrong. How could she ever desire to be like that woman?)

It was on a Sunday afternoon when Mikado had lived her five years of life, she had just finished her late homework when she saw her grandma sitting by the kitchen's table cleaning her tea ceremony set with delicate hands and a serene face, Mikado saw how much she wanted to be like that. To be as unruffled by everything as her grandma.

(Her grandma wasn't like that. She wasn't serene or unruffled. She simply hid everything behind a mask.)

With trembling hands, and her always present dull face she approached her grandma and told her with her faint voice that she wanted to learn how to be like her.

(And oh, how did she learn.)

She met Masaomi Kida on rather dull day on her rather dull school in her dull little town, on the same week her grandma started to teach her how to be 'respectable lady'. The brown headed male was all cheerfulness and smiles. He liked to joke about anything and everything, and was quite a charming, always talking with everyone. Mainly girls through.

Masaomi Kida approached her when school break started and asked her if she wanted to play. He thought she was a boy. She was all too much scared to say anything, and she couldn't summon the courage to tell him otherwise. She remembered that he didn't suspect anything, and she couldn't really blame him.

As a child, her messy dark mane of hair covered her eyes, and she was rather skinny with thin arms and long legs. She was the Awkward One. The only thing Mikado liked about herself was her bright blue eyes. In her dull face, and dull hair, her eyes were like beacons of light. And she adored them.

But still, that day Masaomi Kida showed her how much small her world was. How different people could be and how ordinary she was.

(She hates it.)

At school's day end, when she was walking back home, Masaomi Kida walked with until he couldn't accompany him back home. Walking the rest of the way alone, she believed she finally had a friend.

(Six years later, Masaomi Kida moves away to Ikebukuro and introduces her to the Internet when he asks her to mail him everyday.)

(Through e-mails, they dream together.)

She remembered the tears running down her face when her grandma told her to suck it up, because that was life and it wasn't all fluffy and pink candies.

She received a computer of her own, not three days after Masaomi Kida's depart.

In that new world, she made friends and created worlds of her own. She learned so much. Languages, history, theories… everything was at her reach with just a click of her fingers. Suddenly school was too easy, because she already learned that and if didn't, she only needed to go and search for whatever she wanted for.

(Her school was useless. How could they have such small mind? How could they not see how wide their world was?)

At eleven years old, she wasn't the same scrawny girl anymore. She was going to be a beautiful woman, her grandma said. She thought that she still was and would be dull. But at least she wasn't weak. Not anymore. She wouldn't be that trembling, filthy mess of a boyish girl anymore. She promised to herself that would not tremble behind others. That she would create a world where everyone could be whatever they wanted to be. Where they could be themselves, a better world so that they wouldn't be ordinary. Because there wouldn't have the morals and ethics and shenanigans of society to bother them.

(To bother her.)

—

Everything started as a joke.

Her virtual friends had the same ideals as herself and she couldn't be more elated. Because there were people like her outside of her disgusting small town, well, at least they became like after some light push in the right direction from her. But as they discussed about the uselessness of the world, like little duckling eating at the palm of her hand, she gave the idea.

It was a simple one. They created a site secured with a password, the password would be passed along to others as they sprouted outrageous lies about their little group.

One night after dinner with her grandma, Mikado was asked of she would do with her life. Mikado said exactly what she had in mind; "I'm going away from this place."

Her grandma then proceed to give a terrific speech about how she wouldn't do so. Because she hadn't throw away so much of her own live for Mikado repay her with ungratefulness. "You won't be another mistake of mine. It's enough that your mother brought such a disgrace to our family. You will stay and you will marry to young man with a respectable family, and then you take your duties as wife to him."

(She named the group not because of the American currency. The group was created with no initial purpose, it was a place that anyone could be anything without expectations or responsibilities.)

('Dara dara'; roughly translated to 'not doing anything' or 'useless'.)

(The Dollars. The Invisibles. The Colorless.)

—

Her so called friends swiftly left the group as soon as criminal activities started to show up on the Dollar's forum. She was immensely disgusted with them, but she let them go without even a second thought. She couldn't understand how they could be afraid of such amusing human behavior.

(Couldn't they see this?! They were watching some anomaly form in their creation! Couldn't they see how fascinating it was? It wasn't boring.)

(At least in the beginning.)

She decided to stay and see the outcome of the chaotic group they created. She saw as without someone to guide, people used the site to commit crimes, using as a scapegoat.

One day, walking back home from school, she saw as some kids kicked some stray dog on the street and no one even stopped to look at them. Everyone just kept walking forward, but none with enough courage or even interest in stoping the boys. Right there, she decided what to make of the group that she created.

She picked up a stone from the ground and with precise calculation she threw the stone at one of the boys head. When they looked back at her with angry faces she then smiled darkly at them, throwing another stone back and fort between her hands. They ran away when she uttered some dark and cruel words to them that she remembered reading in one of her books.

Coming back home after helping the injured stray, she cleaned herself, ate her lunch with her grandma and after her 'lady lessons' of the day she came to her room and proceed to give her first order to her group.

(She told them to try to stop and be better than such petty actions. How could they be so hypocrite about wanting a better world and make such wrong with those who they didn't even know? How could they be so stupid?)

Of course, they didn't listen and she was very much mocked for it. She thought about giving up when soon others appeared to agree with her.

With a smile, she cracked her fingers and started to type.

—

She had just completed her fifteen years when Masaomi Kida sent her The Chat Room's link in one of his e-mails.

(He had this strange things going on that he could get to convince her grandma to let her go to Ikebukuro if he kept talking about it.)

It was a chat website where Ikebukuro citizens could talk about the city and it's happenings inside chatrooms. She was confused at first, as to why would he send her a link to talk about a place she had never been to.

She entered the website as Tanako Taro with a blue icon with a dull male figure as her avatar. Kida said he had cried when he saw that she'd essentially made herself a male on the chat. Something about hiding her womanhood and that she shouldn't do this again. She ignored him.

Initially she only talked with Kida, who was know as Bakyura and had a green icon with a top hat, and he was very much frustrated with her.

(She thinks now that if he could turn back time he would have demanded her to leave the website.)

Days later, she received a chat invitation from a girl named Kanra.

—

January of the next year, she applies to Raira School without her grandma's consent.

She sits besides a weird girl who won't stop staring at the guy on her other side.

—

On April, she arrives at Ikebukuro by it's train station and waits for Masaomi Kida to arrive. She is absolutely sure of her progress.

She knows she will be much more important than the simple housewife her grandma wishes her to be. She will be greater.

She will be different, she will be remembered.

—

Okay, then! That's my frustration gone and done!

This idea was rolling through my head since last year's July! Such a relief to get it out of my head.

So, first of all, as you can see, Mikado is a girl, and as such, things will be different. Just a warning, only Mikado is a gender bent character.

And yes, there will be romantic drama in this story. Not with Heiwajima Shizuo, though. I'm leaning towards Orihara Izaya or Heiwajima Kasuka.

(Depending on the plot. And there is one. Really.)

They both will be kind of important for the plot so, yeah. That's pretty much it.

And about age difference and blah blah, yeah. This is part of the plot. So, age drama as well.

First things first, just wanted to warn you, if anyone is really reading this, that I don't know how frequent updates will be. But if you guys don't mind short chapters like this one, then yeah. Two or three monthly, when I don't have exams, will be pretty easy.

My Mikado is different from canon Mikado in that her Dark Side is more obvious than canon. Because of her upbringing and such. (Dark Mikado is so cool. I have to fight to not make just a badass manipulator bitch. I love to write those.)

If you know about any fem!Mikado buried in this, or others, website, please do tell me.

This story was inspired by Animefreak1145's The Mystery of Ikebukuro and Aviantei's Jokes, Whims, & Coincidences. And Watermelonsmellinfellon's Ikebukuro Miko.

Another thing is, The Chat Room and The Dollars website are different entities. When chatting, they talk about the Dollars like it is a completely different thing. And Mikado's ID as Tanako Taro is not the same as is ID on the Dollars forum. At the forum he is admin dollars. This happens with many characters, and so, they are NOT the same thing.

This is pretty much it, please do tell me of any spelling mistakes. English is not my first language, I learned it by own and so on and so on.

See ya~

~MariDark