Durarara!!, Vol. 1 (novel) (12 page)

“Iiizaaayaaa,” came a lazy voice. Mikado and Anri slowly turned toward it.

It was a young man with sunglasses. He was wearing a classic bartender’s outfit with a snappy bow tie, like an old-fashioned solicitor for a cabaret club or a hostess bar. The man was quite tall, though not as tall as Simon. But his frame was lithe and compact, not the body of a man you’d expect to throw a trash can that far.

“Didn’t I tell you never to show your face in Ikebukuro again, Iiizaaayaaa?”

Izaya very clearly recognized the man, and for the first time in Mikado’s presence, the smile vanished from his face.

“I thought you were working over toward the West Gate, Shizu.”

“I got fired ages ago. Plus, I told you not to call me that, Iiizaaayaaa. How many times have I told you that my name is Shizuo Heiwajima?”
the man growled, veins pulsing on his face. His features were ordinary enough that he looked like a typical bartender by default, but the invisible aura of domination he emitted tipped Mikado’s scales from intimidation straight into terror.

I’ve never actually seen someone with bulging veins in real life before
, Mikado initially thought, but in moments his body was completely controlled by primal, instinctual fear.

Shizuo Heiwajima—one of the people Masaomi said never to mess with. He had qualified that with “outside of yakuza,” so at the very least, this man was an ordinary civilian. But Mikado felt with all of his being that if there was a person who lived through violence alone, this was him.

It all made sense. Virtually any person living in Japan, upon seeing this man, would know they didn’t want the first thing to do with him. It would be easier to avoid him with a face that screamed danger from a distance, but it was his very ordinary looks that made him so dangerous.

“Come on, Shizu. Are you still mad about me framing you for my crime?”

“I’m not mad at all. I just want to beat your brains in.”

“Oh, c’mon. Just let me go.”

Izaya pulled the knife out of his sleeve. “I don’t like your violence, Shizu, because it doesn’t respond to reason, words, or logic.”

“Aaah!” Anri shrieked at the sight of the silvery blade, finally snapped out of her daze. Mikado held his breath and tried to motion to her to run away. She nodded, her back pressed to the wall, then clutched her bag to her chest and raced away. Mikado followed right behind her, turning back just once to glance down the alley.

Shizuo’s bellow of rage echoed off the walls, and people on the sidewalk stopped and looked down the side alley. Then, parting the crowd, the enormous shape of Simon, well over six feet tall—and Mikado couldn’t watch anymore.

Absolute terror swirled within him. His new city was a maelstrom of the ordinary and extraordinary, but he didn’t know which of the two this was. The only thing he knew was that he must never get involved with whatever that was.

He finally understood what Masaomi meant by the people to never make enemies with.

And those are regular civilians. How terrifying must the yakuza and Chinese mafia be?

The tales of violence he read about on the Net seemed like they had to partially be just that: tales. Now that he’d come into direct contact with it himself, Mikado was overwhelmed by the fear that actual violence inspired.

Finally, he gauged that it was safe, and he called out to Anri.

“H-hey, w…wait…hurts to…breathe…”

Sadly, even though he was running with all of his strength, he never once broke ahead of Anri.

That was the cruel shackle of reality as Mikado Ryuugamine knew it.

“Are you all right?”

Mikado took Anri to a nearby café, hoping to calm her down. He ordered them two cream sodas, then later realized it seemed like a childish choice.

“Um… Thank you for your help.”

“Uh, n-no, not at all! If anything, it was that Izaya guy who saved you!”

“But…”

Damn, what should I say? This just had to happen when Masaomi isn’t here to help me out.

Mikado wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew that not saying anything at all wasn’t an option, so he tried to find a topic.

“So…were those girls from your middle school?”

Anri nodded.

“That explains it. So when you were in middle school, this Mika girl was there to stick up for you when they bugged you, but now that she’s gone, those bullies from the past seized their chance to get back at you?”

Anri trembled at Mikado’s conjecture. “H-how did you know that?!”

“Um, j-just a guess based on the conversation… Anyway, is this Mika the Mika Harima from our class?”

She seemed to be calmer now and started to explain. “The thing is…Mika’s been marked absent at school, but in fact, she hasn’t been home at all since the day before the entrance ceremony.”

“…Huh?”

That seemed like a matter for the police. The concern must have shown in Mikado’s eyes, because Anri quietly shook her head.

“Technically, she’s not missing—she’s been sending e-mails to both my cell phone and her family. Messages like, ‘I’m going on a journey of spiritual healing.’ Or a report of whatever train station she’s currently at.”

“Spiritual healing? What happened?”

“Well, uh…”

For the first time, Anri was unable to answer. She cast her eyes down, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. The guy who
would
talk is too busy having an affair with a housewife right now,” Mikado blabbered while insisting on his ability to keep secrets. Anri failed to notice the contradiction. She thought for several moments.

“Will you promise not to be shocked?”

“Oh, nothing could shock me after the scene we just witnessed,” Mikado said, putting on his most reassuring smile. The time he spent with Masaomi in elementary school had taught him the proper way to soften a situation for the other person.

That boyish smile apparently did the trick, because Anri put it as bluntly as possible.

“Mika Harima…is a stalker.”

Plurfp!

Half-melted ice cream spurted out of Mikado’s smiling mouth.

Once her story was done, Mikado tried to piece it together.

“I see… So Yagiri the Health Committee rep was being bothered…er, romantically approached by Mika, and when he turned her down, she went on a journey of healing to fix her broken heart?”

According to Anri, Mika Harima had a habit of doing this, going back to middle school—picking the locks of the homes of boys she fell in love with at first sight or researching their vacation destinations and meeting them there, only to thank them for inviting her. In short, she changed the truth to whatever suited her.

On top of that personality, she had excellent grades and a rich family.
She got her own apartment to live in while at high school, one with a monthly rent of more than 100,000 yen. Raira Academy had its own dorm, but it was located so far away from the school campus that most students chose to commute from home or got their own apartments to learn independent living at a young age. Mikado was one of the latter, as was Anri, who had a cheap place a little farther away.

This Harima girl’s got quite a life.

Then she met Seiji Yagiri and decided that he was The One. She started visiting his home, then failed to show up for the first day of school. According to Seiji, he gave her a very convincing no on the day before the entrance ceremony, warned her that he’d call the police—and hadn’t seen her since.

Mikado felt a cold sweat forming as he heard more and more of Anri’s story. Apparently she’d been sitting between him and Seiji during the school’s entrance exams. It could very easily have been Mikado whom Mika had decided to follow. He was secretly relieved that he hadn’t saved any girls in town so far—not that he would’ve been able to if he wanted.

He didn’t let any of these thoughts cross his face, though. Mikado was all business as he listened to Anri’s story.

“So what happens when you call her?”

“She won’t pick up… It seems like she keeps her phone off except to send messages… When I brought that up in an e-mail, she said she didn’t want to hear my voice because it would make her homesick…”

“I see… Hmmm. I wonder if it’s best to just hang back for now… Or maybe, just in case, you could put a little pressure on her in a message by saying you might have to call the police if you don’t hear her voice?”

Mikado tried a number of commonsense suggestions, but none were solid opinions of his. Time dragged on without an apparent solution.

“By the way, would you say you’re her best friend?”

“…I can’t say for certain, but we were together all the time. I’m a bit awkward and don’t know how to get along with people, and she was the one who took me by the hand and pulled me along. After that, we were always together…”

Mikado suddenly realized that the two girls were not just simple friends. One heard stories about this on the Internet, where the
beating heart of such friendships was always spelled out in the most gruesome, harsh terms.

“Plus, with her grades, she could have gone to a much better school than this. Instead, she chose to go to mine. I felt really bad about that…”

That’s probably because she thought you were a useful tool and foil for her and didn’t want to lose you…

Mikado just barely kept that sentiment from reaching his lips. He was very glad that Masaomi wasn’t present. If this conversation was happening in a chat room, he’d have blurted that out without a second thought.

But maybe making that clear would ultimately be the best for her
, Mikado thought, his eyes wandering as his mind grappled with indecision.

Anri noticed this and giggled. “It’s okay, I know the truth.”

Shocked that he was so easy to read, Mikado stammered a hasty “Wh-what?”

“I know that I was nothing more than a foil for her. And to be frank, I was using her as well. I don’t think I could survive without doing that. The reason I volunteered for the class rep job was because I knew she’d want to do it. So I figured if she wasn’t able, at least it should be me.”

Now everything made sense to Mikado. When Anri looked his way during homeroom, it wasn’t him she was looking at—it was Mika’s empty seat. Only it wasn’t empty because Masaomi was occupying it.

Meanwhile, Anri revealed some information he hadn’t asked her for.

“But, in fact, it’s just for my own self-satisfaction. I felt like, if I can be the class rep, I might even be able to surpass her… I think it’s very unfair of me.”

Before she could finish her thought, Mikado cut in, his voice cold and clinical. “Actually, the worst part of it is that you’re telling someone else.”

“…”

“It’s like you’re hoping that someone unrelated to the situation will forgive you for your actions. At least trying to be better than her in some fashion is the right choice. So you should hold your head high and do it fair and square.”

Inwardly, Mikado chided himself for taking it too far. After their long conversation, he’d gotten so engaged that he ended up telling her something he would normally have kept to himself. He watched her reaction, half-afraid she would explode with anger—but she seemed neither angry nor upset.

“Yes, I suppose so… Thank you,” she smiled sadly.

Mikado thought to himself,
How pretty must Mika Harima be if she’s using this girl to make herself look better?

It was probably more of a foil for personality than for looks, but Mikado couldn’t help but wonder.

“Um, thank you very much.”

Anri bowed to Mikado again as they said good-bye. Mikado wanted to pay for their order at the café, but she insisted, and they split the bill. The shadows were stretching long across 60-Kai Street, and the deepening sky silently stared down at the two.

“No, it’s okay. This was the first time we ever talked, but now that we’re the representatives of our class, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”

Anri smiled kindly and nodded.

“Actually, Ryuugamine, I’ve known about you for a while.”

“Huh?”

“When I came to deliver my enrollment form to the office, they checked it against a list of names. I spotted a cool-looking name on the list, and no sooner had I noticed it than someone came and checked it off…”

Something weird was happening. Mikado gave her a bland affirmative, trying to dispel the feeling of dread welling up in his chest.

“And now…the owner of that very name has helped me out of a bind.”

Just a second.

It was starting to sound exactly like the situation between Mika and Seiji. Anri was smiling at him, her face a mask over her true intentions.

Uh, crap. I don’t think I’m ready for a stalker… But would it be so bad if it was a really cute girl like her? Yes, it would. What if she ends up stabbing me?! Or she might set my house on fire or take my family hostage… But if it turns out she’s cool, then I wouldn’t mind her stalking
me… Wait, no! If she’s a stalker, that rules out the possibility of being cool entirely! Then again, if I really had to choose yes or no…

After three seconds of wild, circular speculation, Mikado realized he had no idea how to react to his classmate.

Anri noticed his discomfort and giggled. “I’m joking.”

“Uh…”

“I’m sure you don’t want someone like me hanging around and bothering you. But don’t worry, I’m not a stalker.”

Along with the realization that she was teasing him, Mikado felt a deep shame at having been so obvious—as well as an even greater sense of guilt.

“…Sorry.”

“Huh? N-no, don’t apologize! I’m the one who was teasing you!” Anri stammered, wide-eyed, clearly not expecting an apology.

They both cast about awkwardly for something to say, and Mikado broke the silence with a simple “Well, see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, I suppose we’ll be seeing plenty of each other.”

She might have a bit of a sneaky streak to her, but she’s a good person at heart,
Mikado thought as he headed back to his apartment. She wasn’t the otherworldly spirit he originally imagined, just a normal girl with an awkward life.

Maybe it’s kind of like my relationship with Masaomi. He’s the one who always tugs me around, and it’s how I came into contact with my new world here.