Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel) (21 page)

Anri’s place

“Miss Sonohara…do you know why I came…to meet you?”

Anri and Haruna were sitting across from each other at the cheap little table. Haruna wore a fantastical, confident smile, while Anri’s face was plain with troubled concern.

Haruna Niekawa. It was the very person whom Anri had wandered the streets hoping to find earlier that night, but she had no idea why the girl was here. How had she even found her address?

Haruna was rumored to be Nasujima’s lover but had transferred to another school, those same rumors said. Anri didn’t know any details beyond that. She wanted to make contact with Haruna to learn what those details were—but now that they were face-to-face, she found it hard to ask.

But now there was an opening. Haruna herself had just asked the question: Why did she come to visit Anri? There was only one obvious commonality they shared.

“Is it about…Mr. Nasujima?” Anri summoned up her courage to ask. Haruna gifted her with an angelic smile. Anri took that as an affirmative and hastily clarified, “Oh, um, but you know I don’t like him at all, right? It’s just dumb rumors…”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Haruna answered swiftly.

Anri felt relief spread throughout her body. However…

“But I still love Takashi.”

“Huh…?”

Takashi was Nasujima’s first name. It was very strange to hear a girl just one year older than Anri, still wearing her school uniform, refer to him in such an informal way.

Feeling that this conversation might be going in an uncomfortable direction, Anri prompted the older girl.

“Um…were you in a relationship?”

“It was more than just a ‘relationship.’ We were madly in love. We were happy just confirming that fact, day after day. Forever. Forever and ever…”

Haruna’s eyes stared at nothing as she spoke, positively glowing. She must have been reliving past memories in her mind.

But just as quickly, her expression clouded over into sadness, and there was almost mourning in her voice as she looked straight into Anri’s eyes. Her eyes were beautiful and clear. But there was something eerie about them, an unfocused nature that made it hard to tell what she was actually looking at.

“But then one day, he rejected me… I was just trying to confirm my love for Takashi, like always. All I did was try to help our love take shape…”

Near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building

“Saika manipulates her wielder into attacking over and over. Over and over, she tries to confirm her love. In order for her love to take shape. In order to make sure her lover never forgets her…she pierces and wounds her victim’s body and mind at the same time.”

“As proof of love…?”

“Exactly. That’s how she’s loved. But those incidents only spanned a period of ten years or so. As the years went on, Saika vanished entirely. It would be one thing if she’d grown tired of loving and had simply
lost interest in humans…but based on the posts on the Net, I’d say she’s still overflowing with love.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. If she’s been around humans for years and years, then why were her first messages in the chat room so primitive? That was Saika possessing a human body and making them type, right?”

“That’s the thing. Could she have forgotten Japanese in the time that she was gone from human society? This knife is…
hmm?
”

“What’s up?”

“Huh? Wait…”

Shinra looked back at the knife on the table, exclaiming with curiosity. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed the handle.

What?!

Celty hurriedly tried to snatch it away from him, but Shinra held tight.

He asked, “Celty…you didn’t examine this in the light, did you?”

“Um, no, I picked it up outdoors. Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t feel like it’s tightening its grip on your heart or anything?!”

“Not in the least,” he laughed, then dropped a bombshell. “This isn’t Saika.”

“What?!”

“Here, look at this.”

He pointed at a spot on the handle of the knife. There was a small piece of text carved into the grip.

MADE IN JAPAN 2002

Anri’s place

“Um…what do you mean by…tried to make your love take shape…?”

A cold sweat began to break out on Anri’s palms. The other girl’s abnormal nature was becoming apparent.

Haruna never let her beautiful smile fade as she spoke. It was as though she didn’t even hear Anri’s question.

“But then Takashi rejected me. But I don’t hate him for that. After all, I’m in love with him. I forgive him for everything, including his rejection of me. I love him so much, I can accept everything he does.”

“Uh, I was asking…”

“But I cannot forgive anyone
other
than Takashi.”

The smile remained, but her words filled with madness. Anri could sense this shift, and the sweat began to trickle down her back as well.

“I can forgive Takashi for falling in love with something other than me. But…I cannot forgive the thing he falls in love with.”

“Uh…”

“Miss Sonohara, you might love Takashi, or hate him, or not care about him at all—but none of that matters.”

Anri got to her feet as the words of madness reached her ears. Her instincts were screaming at her that remaining sitting was a dangerous course of action.

“I’m not going to apologize to you, Miss Sonohara. I mean…everything I do is for the right reasons, for the sake of my love. Why should anyone apologize for doing the right thing? Why should anyone feel wrong for that?”

She wanted to flee the scene and leave it all behind. But Haruna was not likely to allow her to do that.

“…”

Anri had already given up on reasoning with Haruna. She knew it wouldn’t work.

Haruna watched her closely and said, “But you know…it’s not right to use people. If I want love, I need to take action myself. This is good proof of that…”

Near Kawagoe Highway, top floor of apartment building

“Why would a demon blade that’s been around for decades be made in 2002?”

“No, wait. You have to believe me. I know what I saw.”

“I believe you, Celty. I would never doubt your word. This means
the slasher was always crazy. It had nothing to do with the weapon. He probably just heard about the legend of Saika from somewhere.”

“I don’t know if I buy that… The man himself was also a victim of the attacks. Either he was possessed at that time or the demon blade ordered him to cut himself and thus remove himself from police suspicion…”

“Was it someone you knew?”

“Well, not exactly… It was the magazine writer who came to ask me about Shizuo at the end of last month. I heard he was attacked later that night, according to the chat room… When I looked further into it, the attack occurred right outside his own house.”

“His name was…oh yeah, Niekawa. His name was Shuuji Niekawa.”

Anri’s place

“I thought my dad could do the job better than anyone else…but it didn’t quite work out.”

What is she talking about?

Anri had no idea what Haruna was saying at first. But what came next, combined with the look on her face, told Anri exactly what she meant.

Exactly.

“So now…I’m forced to handle my own business. To get rid of my rival in love.”

Haruna reached behind her back and pulled out a knife.

“Using the power of my very special partner.”

The blade wasn’t even eight inches long. Compared to what the slasher had earlier, it was much less imposing.

But Anri understood. The girl with her inside the apartment was actually far more menacing than the slasher. After all…

“I might not love you. But Saika, on the other hand, has all the love in the world for you…”

After all, when she pulled out the knife, her eyes went a shade of red
much, much, much, much, much deeper and more crimson than the slasher’s had ever been.

Near Kawagoe Highway, top floor of apartment building

“I know, the chat! What is the chat saying?”

Talking about the writer had reminded Celty of the chat room, so she loaded the page right away to see if anything had changed.

And change it had.

“What…the heck?”

What she found was not terror. Or unease.

It was simply chilling. A chill that ran straight through her back.

Deep, deep darkness that shunned all.

Something that froze Celty to her core.