AN: WELCOME TO THE FIRST DAY OF MARCH MAYHEM! I wasn't expecting anyone to actually solve the math problem, but thanks (Guess I did get it wrong … oh well)! Yeah, you should figure out what's going on in this chapter. Let me know of any errors. :D We'd appreciate reviews! Reviews are what will drive the March Mayhem! (For information on what it is, please visit our page.)

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Hit by a Bus

A Durarara! Fanfiction by Kitty & Foxy

Chapter Four: It Awakes

-Ryuugamine Mikado was experiencing Extra Sensory Perception.-

"… Masaomi-kun, why are you here?"

"I'm visiting you, of course!" Came the joyful reply from the blond sitting next to him.

"But you should be in school."

"You don't want me to visit?" Masaomi frowned, attempting to look pathetic as he started to physically harass (poke) his friend. "I'm hurt. Here I am, doing what all good friends do, and you don't want me here."

Mikado didn't really believe the reasoning as he batted his friend's hands away. Something was telling him otherwise. "… You're here to skip an exam, aren't you?"

His friend appeared taken aback. "What makes you say that?"

"It's written all over you. You really can't hide things from me." Mikado grumbled.

"I'm that easy to read?" Masaomi sighed, feeling defeated.

"What're you going to do when I'm out in two weeks?"

"I'll just go back to my old excuses. They might be lamer, but they work." Masaomi teased. "So what do you want to do?"

Mikado folded his arms, relaxing back into his propped-up pillow. "What did you bring?"

"Let me look." He pulled his bag into his lap, starting to dig around. "School supplies, lunch, a deck of cards, my cell phone, and my little black book of all the girls' numbers and measurements that I've managed to get."

"…" Mikado guessed that his friend was joking about the last part. "Let's go with the cards."

In reality, Mikado didn't feel like doing much today. He'd been kept up pretty late last night with all these tests and equipment he didn't quite understand that was used to make sure his leg was healing properly, and having it jabbed numerous times and trying not to yelp when it hit a bad area or if he moved it wrong was tiring. He'd been counting on getting some sleep, but leave it to his best friend to foil his "boring" plans.

They started off trying to play various card games. But, with each game, they'd either lose all the cards on the floor or Masaomi would really, really stink at the game. It's not even becoming funny anymore … is he letting me win? The frustrated mark told him otherwise. No … it's just my luck then.

They started playing a game where they had to draw cards and occasionally steal them from the other's hand (Mikado believed that Masaomi was making up the rules as they went along), and Masaomi grew ever more frustrated, game after game, as Mikado kept picking "winning" cards from his hand. After a few more rounds, Masaomi frowned and said:

"Mikado … I think you're reading my mind."

Mikado blinked, and the two sat in an awkward silence until Mikado – yes, Mikado – started laughing. "W-w-what?" That was clearly an exaggerated claim.

"No, really! How else are you able to guess what freaking cards I have in my hand?" Masaomi started shuffling all the cards again, making interesting gestures and faces along with his next words. "You've probably awakened some sort of ESP or mind reading or something ultra cool like that when the bus ran you over!"

"… I think you're the one that needs your head checked, Masaomi-kun." Mikado had ceased laughing; he didn't like that his friend was taking this seriously. "You're just easy to predict; you're open with yourself."

"Oh, really then? We're going to keep doing this." Masaomi pulled several cards out from the newly shuffled deck, and didn't look at them yet. "What are they?"

"… Masaomi … there's no way I'd know that." He replied dryly.

"Come on, if it's not true, then at least humor me so we have something to do for the next hour. Really, really, really try to think about it!" Masaomi argued.

Mikado shot his friend a glare, but sighed at the determined expression. Fine … I'll humor him. He kept himself in deep thought for a moment, but he wasn't really getting much. Just the normal things that usually appeared in his own mind when he tried thinking in silence.

"… I'm not getting anything," he reported. … Is he finished?

The frown told him no. "Okay, I'm going to look at the cards, and think really hard about what they are. You try to read my mind."

"… Now you're just being ridiculous –"

"Just humor me," Masaomi grinned, picking up the cards and staring hard at them, making sure that Mikado couldn't see them from where he was. "Okay, think for a while."

Rolling his eyes, and taking a deep breath, he started to let himself think again. No, he was still just getting the normal clutter that was in his mind … he started thinking about what the cards might be, but of course, he doubted what he was thinking.

"Read the cards right to left." Masaomi interrupted, still looking at his own four cards, speaking them aloud in his own mind but trying not to give off any clues.

"Uuuh …" Mikado decided that he'd let whatever came first to his mind, he'd say. After all … it was just pure guesswork, right? "Three of clubs … Queen of hearts … Jack of clubs … and a five of diamonds?"

The wide-eyed fish face that Mikado received was not comforting.

… Definitely not.

"Y-y-you got them all!" Masaomi turned his hand to show the cards, leaving a somewhat fish-faced Mikado as well. "Seriously, there's something going on here!"

"ESP isn't real, Masaomi!" Mikado bit his lip, but he was clearly concerned. How is this happening?

"Then let's try this again." Masaomi reshuffled the cards, this time drawing out five. They went through the process again, only this time, Mikado scored four out of five.

"See? I get stuff wrong. It's just guesswork," Mikado attempted to defend himself, but he knew full well that his defense was not going to convince Masaomi.

"But you're getting most of this right! That's statistically improbable! Maybe even impossible!"

… I think those are the biggest math terms I've ever heard him use. "I can't read your mind!"

"Oh yeah?" Determination splayed across his visage. "Try me."

"H-huh?"

"Read my mind."

"… But you're not holding cards …"

"I said my mind, not the cards through my mind. What am I thinking of right now?"

Mikado didn't want to do this anymore. "No."

"Come on, if you don't get it right, then I'll stop! But if you get it three times in a row, you have to listen to me."

… Mikado decided that three tries was safe. "Fine, I'll do this … but leave me alone if I don't get it."

"Okay." Came the cheery response. Masaomi knew Mikado wouldn't lie because Masaomi KNEW how to tell Mikado was lying. At least, it was fairly easy.

After a few minutes of what appeared to be concentration, Mikado turned to Masaomi, with a slight blush on his face. "… I really hope that's just my imagination."

Masaomi gave a little chuckle, sending off the devil's eyes. "What's in 'my' imagination?"

"… I … I'm not saying." Mikado grew a little redder. What he was envisioning was certainly, well, Masaomi like … it had to do with girls … in strange costumes … he thought so, anyways. I really somehow hope that IS his mind and not mine …

"That's not how it works!" Masaomi whined. "You've gotta say it out loud!"

"N-no!" Mikado protested, glaring at his friend. "J-just stop being hormonal!"

"Ha! You did know what I was thinking~" Came the chimed reply. But, when Mikado reached over and started twisting his fingers in directions they weren't meant to twist, Masaomi backed off. "Oww oww, alright, alright! Sheesh, being in bed rest has actually made you stronger …" he mumbled. "Alright, I'll think of something more generic now." Masaomi went back to concentrating, and Mikado (though he took a few more moments to glare) started to relax. A few minutes passed, and soon he was getting something else …

"You're … hungry?"

"Yeah!" Masaomi grinned again, clearly growing excited. "What was I thinking of?"

"… I don't know." Mikado admitted; all he got was the idea that Masaomi was hungry. Not much else. Though, it could be from his stomach growling about an hour ago …

"Hahah, that's two, Mikado!" Masaomi held up two fingers to prove his point. "Ready for three?"

"…No."

Too late. Masaomi was concentrating away again.

Mikado sighed, going back to "trying" to read his friend's mind. He's not going to give up, even if I get the next one right, is he? Well then, I guess I'll just lie … whatever comes to my mind next, I'm just going to say something generic … like dog … or cat … or … or … The image that he just got …

Mikado flushed exponentially more than he had the first time. "M-M-Masaomi!" This time, he grabbed Masaomi's bag on the seat near him and threw it at the now-laughing blond.

"Hahah, I know you got that one, y-you can't deny it!" Masaomi laughed, bringing his knees up on the chair and clutching his stomach.

"D-don't do that!"

"But I knew you'd lie about what you saw if I didn't think up something that would make you react like that!" Masaomi defended, still laughing. "I can make her more erotic if you wa–"

Masaomi soon found that his textbook – which, by the way, had been lying open in Mikado's lap the entire time – lost some of the pages from an embarrassed-and-angry-friend grip. He quickly stopped laughing. "H-hey, the teachers don't like it when those things get messed up!"

"Then. Don't. Do that." Came the growl.

"Fine. I probably deserved that. But you can't deny that this proves you can read minds," Masaomi grinned again, taking his textbook and its pages away from Mikado so no future incidents could take place.

Mikado hesitated. He's right … maybe not the reading part, but I did just guess things way too coincidentally … he decided that now he could worry.

"You just wait till others find out! You're going to be very popular with the ladies~" Masaomi elbowed his friend.

"H-hey, don't go telling people about this!" Mikado panicked, clearly still trying to sort out the truth of all the "tests" they just did.

"Why not? It's awesome!" Masaomi grinned, pumping his fist in the air. "You can read minds! Maybe not too clearly, but you can!"

"I-I'm not even sure that I can! A-a-and people might think I'm crazy!" He wasn't sure how he thought about this yet; he needed time to think. Time to figure out if it was real, or some sort of problem with his brain that he should let the doctors know about …

"Nah, crazy is when you're talking to the dead person in the corner," as if to prove a point that Mikado could not see the dead, he pointed to a corner in the room. "But this people can verify, y'know!"

"I-I-I don't want p-people coming h-here for that reason though!" Mikado grabbed Masaomi's arm. "I … I really need to consider telling the doctors … that something weird's going on …"

"Then they'd test you for ESP too, right?" Masaomi grinned.

"I had head trauma. Head trauma. The bus did a number on me. There might be something wrong or m-maybe I'm bleeding into my brain or – or –"

Mikado stopped when Masaomi grasped his shoulder tightly, becoming serious. "Mikado, don't freak out over this, or you really will pop something in your head."

"B-b-but -!"

"Supposedly these things happen a lot. Someone's got a hidden talent that doesn't show up in most people 'cause it's dormant. Maybe you've awakened yours or something," Masaomi grinned. "Just because a freaky sixth-sense seems to be showing up in you right after an accident doesn't make it bad or mean that your brain's gonna explode everywhere."

Mikado didn't appear convinced.

"Alright, I won't tell anyone for now," he sighed, pulling his arm out of the grip. "But I want you to keep testing this 'fore you tell the doctors anything! They might just start putting you in a Looney bin if you say you can but you can't prove it all the time."
*

… Can I really read minds? Mikado remained in his own deep thoughts, wondering if it could be true. Masaomi had left an hour ago, of course, after doing the homework and trying out a few more tests on Mikado's "psychic ability."

It would explain the coincidences … but in reality, he had no proof. Did he? The only person he'd been able to "read" so far was Masaomi. And Masaomi was already fairly easy to read; after all, the blond was an audible mime. It probably isn't something to be concerned about too much … I mean, I've known Masaomi-kun for a long time … it makes sense I'd know what he's thinking part of the time. Maybe I'm just picking up on more of it because there isn't much else to do in here … that could be it. But, he also decided he needed to worry. I need to see if I can do "this" with other people … if that's the case … then Masaomi might have a point. Or I might just be going insane.

He hoped not. It could mean a number of things, really; like he wasn't right in the head. Then and there, he started to creep himself out with such thoughts. Maybe he was going nuts and he didn't realize it. Like, maybe, he thought he was acting sane, and everything was making logic to him, but maybe he was really mental on the outside and had suffered severe brain damage from the accident or something along those lines. Or, better yet, maybe he was just imagining things. Maybe he was in some sort of deep coma, and he was just dreaming things. That would actually make sense; he'd be able to predict things because he'd be "asleep," and his unconscious would be making up the stories as they went along, and then his "conscious" would just pick up on those rhythms and –

Ack, I need to stop thinking about this! Mikado hit his head – gently, as he didn't want to induce any more trauma that might be there – against his pillow, trying to shake it off. He knew if he thought too far, he just might convince himself of one of those scenarios. And, while the idea of being in a coma or insane had slight appeal in its never getting boring, he didn't really want to experience either. It came along the same lines of logic that he wanted to experience the thrill of being in a mass of people, but he didn't really want to experience a physical fight in that mass of people. He didn't need the extremities to get a thrill right off the bat.

Deciding that he needed to take his mind off of things, he logged into his laptop (conveniently nearby) and started surfing around, looking for news, articles, theories, anything. Eventually, he logged into the Dollars website, to see what was going on. If anything.

-Tanako Taro has Logged In-

Tanako Taro: Konbanwa.
Setton: Ah, good evening, Taro-san.
Tanako Taro: Ah, is Kanra-san here too?
Kanra: Of course I am~!
Kanra: How are you feeling, Tanako Taro?
Tanako Taro: Alright, I guess …
Setton: So long as you're getting better, that's what's important.

Mikado swallowed, deciding he needed to ask now before Celty got off.

-Private Chat-

Tanako Taro: Uuum, Celty-san, I'd like to talk to you for a moment.
Tanako Taro: I'm not sure I want Kanra-san hearing about this.

That part was true; he may trust Izaya more than most people, but he knew better than to state unconfirmed things to him.

Setton: What is it?
Tanako Taro: You lost your memories when you lost your head, right?
Setton: Yes, that is true.
Setton: Why do you ask?
Tanako Taro: Did you believe what you were, what you could do, when you first woke up without your memories?
Setton: Hmm … I guess I might have doubted myself, but I was more preoccupied with finding out what happened.
Setton: Why the interest?
Tanako Taro: Some strange things have been happening the past few days.
Tanako Taro: I can't tell if I'm going crazy, if my friend's crazy, if it's something I should be concerned about, or if I should accept it as truth.
Setton: Why don't you start from the beginning?
Setton: I'm not quite sure what you're saying.
Tanako Taro: Sorry, I don't think I should tell anyone just yet … I'd like to figure out if it's real before it gets out.
Setton: Well, whatever it is, be sure to let me know, alright?
Tanako Taro: I will.

-Public Chat-

Kanra: Oooy! Where did you two go?
Setton: Ah, sorry, I had something to do.
Kanra: At least tell me that then ...

The chat room continued on for a little longer, but soon the other two had things to do, and Mikado soon found himself alone in it. Deciding he needed rest, and feeling a little comforted after the chat that had nothing to do with the freaky things that were going on, he set the laptop aside and relaxed, taking a deep breath and staring at the incredibly plain white ceiling in the quasi darkness.

Life would certainly be more interesting …

…If I really could read minds.