Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel) (26 page)

Anri’s words jogged Celty’s memory. She studied Nasujima’s face.

He was that scumbag…

Celty thought back to the night that Anri attacked her and recalled the face of the man standing right there.

And he’s a teacher? If he was a teacher, why was he taking money out of a place like that?

“But, sir, it doesn’t add up. The Black Rider here…is a very, very good person. Much stronger than me…and forthright…and helping to keep our neighborhood in order.”

Nasujima finally realized that something chilling was in the air. He didn’t attempt to interrupt any further.

“So, sir…can you tell me…why you were
running away from the Black Rider?
What exactly were you doing?”

She slowly turned to face Nasujima. At last, he noticed the Saika in her hand and shrieked, “Nuh-nuh-nuh-n-not you, too! Not you, too, Anri! Are you pulling that sword on me t-t-too, too, too?!”

His voice rattled into an unintelligible mush.

“No, sir.”

Anri wore a faint smile and started to walk toward Nasujima, the cursed katana Saika in hand, a part of her now.

“Miss Niekawa and I are different.”

“Unlike her, all I feel for you is utter loathing.”

After Nasujima fled in a panic, Anri turned back to Celty.

She was ready for what came next, if that should happen to mean a fight and possibly her own death…

But all she saw was the Headless Rider slinging the unconscious Haruna over a shoulder and getting onto that motorcycle.

“Huh…?”

Anri watched Celty in bewilderment. Celty apparently noticed her confusion and typed out a quick message on the PDA.

“I’ve been watching you for quite a while, actually. I’ve pretty much got a grasp on the situation. I’ll take the girl to see an unlicensed doctor I know—don’t worry about her,”
the message read nonchalantly.

Anri blurted out, “C-Celty! Um, I’m really…”

“Don’t apologize,”
the PDA said, the font enlarged for emphasis.
“You did what you thought was right, didn’t you? I think it was the right thing to do in that situation. Knocking my head off might have been excessive, but I can complain to Saika about that later.”

The rider leaned closer to Anri and typed in a fresh message.

“But don’t think that I’m sympathizing with you.”

That statement felt like it was covering something up and was followed by another more bashful one.

“I just think that if we fought, I couldn’t beat you.”

After Celty left, Anri clenched her own Saika as she stood in the empty street.

Sympathy… I don’t really bother myself with the sympathy of others…

But Anri didn’t particularly think that she was worthy of pity.

She didn’t feel sadness.

This was the life she chose for herself.

Anri thought back to the last message Celty left upon departure.

“If you still can’t accept all of this…then instead of apologizing to me, use that sword of yours to protect Ikebukuro. You could, let’s say…use those hundred Saikas to do volunteer work around town or fund-raise to plant more trees in Ikebukuro…”

As Celty said, Anri Sonohara had gained a sword.

A mob of more than a hundred slashers. In normal circumstances, they acted with their own wills, but when the time came, Anri could call upon them as faithful partners.

It was a burden, but a weight that Anri wanted on her shoulders.

She had been floating aimlessly before this, so the weight of controlling the fate of others kept her feet firmly on the ground.

The weight might keep her from moving from that spot.

But at least her eyes and mouth, hands and heart were still free.

She could look where she wanted.

She could listen to the world around her.

She could tell someone about that.

She could reach out and grab what she wanted.

And she could still smile.

She wasn’t sad.

She might not be having fun, either.

So she chose to smile.

Even she didn’t know if that was her true will or if she was just fooling herself.

She kept smiling without a sound.

Happily, sadly.

For a moment, the voice of Saika that echoed throughout her body halted, and she heard a voice say,
I cannot love you, but I do not hate you
.

To be honest, maybe she only imagined that she heard it.

“Uh…”

But the cursed voice was back to its usual state and wouldn’t respond to her.

Then Anri realized that Saika had tried to comfort her, and for a moment, she felt just a little bit happy.

Chat room

A van drove the streets of Ikebukuro.

For some reason, the side door was brand-new while the rest was old, and it stood out like a sore thumb due to some kind of anime illustration on the side.

“…Well, we definitely can’t get up to trouble in this van anymore…”

Yumasaki handled the door repair, as he knew someone who worked with sheet metal. The result was that their van looked incredibly nerdy now.

“Shit, I should have known this would happen if I asked Yumasaki for help,” Kadota grumbled. Meanwhile, Togusa gripped the steering wheel in silence. The otaku had already burned one of his cars to the ground, and he was obviously furious with them.

The guilty party, meanwhile, was busy with the usual chitchat in the backseat.

“Oh, right. We gotta pick up the Dengeki Bunko releases for May.”

“Yeah, the fifth volume of
Dokuro-chan
is out.”

“It’s an odd-numbered volume, so it must have another final chapter in it.”

“Can’t wait to hear about Allison’s kids.”

Kadota leaned over to see that Yumasaki and Karisawa were sprawled out in the back of the van, rear seat removed, reading through a pile of books and manga.

Can’t believe they don’t get carsick,
he thought with wry admiration. The nerd talk continued.

“I’m already looking forward to next month’s releases.”

“Yeah, it’s the last volume of
Lunatic Moon
. Gotta love Tomaz and what a little cutie he is.”

“Even in two dimensions, I’m not interested in guys.”

“Aww, you’re no fun, Yumacchi.”

Kadota could tell that Togusa’s driving was getting more and more violent as their nonsensical chatter continued. He turned to face forward and held his head in his hands. Yes, they were irritating Togusa. The problem was, they had no idea that they were.

But what’s done is done. No use raising a fuss about it now.

They had bigger problems than infighting right now.

The events of that prior day had been nicknamed the “Night of the Ripper.”

The authorities hadn’t made any headway into solving the incident that produced more than fifty victims in a single night.

But public opinion held that the events of that night were something different from the string of ongoing street slashings. The primary reason for this was that all of the victims were young men wearing yellow bandannas.

At the same time, there had been a huge brawl in South Ikebukuro Park, so the residents of the town assumed it was some motorcycle gang squabble. There was just one teenage girl included in the victims, but she was explained away as one of the usual slasher victims.

The case was classified as a color gang’s internal conflict, but this only meant that the heightened tension in the town reached even greater levels.

What worried Kadota most was that the Dollars were listed as a potential culprit for the attack.

When Celty and Shizuo captured the slasher, they found he had alibis for some of the other crimes and figured that it would be pointless to give him to the police, so they left him outside of a hospital instead. He really was being controlled by something and had no memories of anything.

They’d had him blindfolded while questioning him, so he couldn’t
possibly bring charges against them…but just in case, Celty arranged for some support money through Shinra. While they felt guilty about hitting him with the car, they were essentially even, as far as they cared.

But this meant that no slasher had been caught.

Celty sent a message saying not to worry about that anymore, and nothing like it had occurred since the Night of the Ripper—but the fact that the police hadn’t caught anyone meant that society at large was still nervous.

As long as that fear doesn’t get turned against the Dollars,
Kadota hoped, looking outside the window.

The town was full of people in yellow bandannas. At least half of the crowd was wearing them. They weren’t really doing anything, but their eyes were all full of hostility toward
something
. That hostility colored the entire neighborhood of Ikebukuro yellow.

The Yellow Sky will soon rise…

Kadota recalled the line that launched the Yellow Scarves Rebellion from the very start of the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
novel and the irony of the Yellow Scarves gang that colored the streets.

The kids were young—many were in middle school, and some even looked like elementary age.

Kadota looked up at the blue sky above with irritation and repeated a line he’d said once before, but with more disgust this time.

“…The town is starting to fall apart.”

Shit, shit! I’m so tired of everyone treating me like a fool! I’m a teacher! And a far more talented and intelligent teacher than the others! How can this be happening to me?!

Just you wait, Anri Sonohara.

I’ll ruin your life at the faculty meeting! I’ll tell them you attacked me with a katana! If I tell them you were working with Niekawa, the other teachers will take my side.

And screw that stupid Niekawa! I fool around with her once, and she becomes a damn stalker!

Ooh, what if I use that as a threat against Anri? Could I leech some money out of her?

I’ve got the Awakusu-kai backing me, I’ll say. That’ll freak her out.

…She
will
freak out, right?

Guns are stronger than swords, after all.

Yeah, that’s a plan.

Sonohara, Niekawa, Kida: No one messes with me and gets away with it…

At the same moment—

“What’s up, Shizuo? Why the good mood?”

Shizuo was on his way to collect some debts for the hookup website, dragged out by his boss, Tom. He was normally sluggish and reluctant to work, but he was being rather proactive today.

“Nothin’ much. Just cleared my head a bit yesterday.”

Even the way he spoke to his boss seemed a bit more natural and polite than normal. Tom couldn’t help but be curious, but business called.

“Today’s target is a real piece of work. He borrows five hundred thou, then tries to weasel out of it by saying, ‘I’ve got yakuza friends!’ Well, I laughed my ass off when I looked into it. Not only does he
not
have any yakuza connections, all he did was borrow money from a back-alley loan shark working for the Awakusu-kai. And somehow he thinks that gives him any kind of leg to stand on?”

“So we’re going to find him and break that leg for him?”

“That’s basically it… Man, you really are excited today, aren’t you?”

“Actually, I think I’ve finally figured out how to control my strength. I’m just dying to test it out,” Shizuo remarked, his eyes flashing with childish exuberance behind his sunglasses.

In the end, Shizuo’s strength turned into violence.

But as for whether the liberation of his power turned his life in a more positive direction—that would depend on how he used it in the future.

It would be up to the man Shizuo was about to pound to decide what the answer was.

“Funny thing is, it turns out this guy is a teacher. From Raira Academy.”

“Well, that makes it even worse. It’ll feel good to sock him one.”

“Just don’t go overboard and kill him. Let’s see, Nasujima, Nasujima…ah, here’s the place.” Tom spotted the apartment nameplate. They took positions on either side of the door and rang the buzzer.

Who is it at this time of night…?

I-is it
him
? That informant?

Has he come to make me disappear?

Or is it Anri?! Or Niekawa?! The Black Rider?!

Shit! Shit! Not now! I was almost ready!

You won’t get me without a fight.

I dare you to open that door. I’ll crush your skull with this extinguisher.

“…No answer. His electric meter’s been reading steadily, so I’m pretty sure he’s still here.”

“Let’s open this up.”

Shizuo squeezed the doorknob. It cracked and broke out of the door, lock and all. He swung the door open forcefully.

A fire extinguisher appeared from within and struck him soundly on the head.

Silence.

After a brief hush, Shizuo grabbed the extinguisher, which was still pressed to his forehead, and crumpled it with his fingers alone.

A blast of exhaust and white powder buffeted Nasujima in his hiding spot.

“Gaah!”

As Nasujima coughed, Shizuo slowly lowered the fire extinguisher. His boss had already sprinted off for safety, which left only Shizuo and Nasujima in the apartment hallway.

From behind the extinguisher appeared the face of some vengeful god, veins bulging on every surface.

“That…
hurt, dammit!
”

He threw a punch using the twisted remains of the extinguisher like
brass knuckles, catching Nasujima smack in the middle of the face and sending him into dreamland.

Shizuo’s boss watched the explosion from a safe distance away and remarked in relief, “Good, that’s the Shizuo I like to see.”

And thus began a day in the life of Shizuo Heiwajima, just like any other.

Just as his name suggested, a day of peace and quiet, if only for himself.

The next time Nasujima opened his eyes, it was already April, he had been fired from his job due to complaints about sexual harassment from students, and there was a gang of young toughs from the Awakusu-kai at his bedside.

But that’s a story for another time.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Sonohara?”

Mikado Ryuugamine was watching Anri in her hospital bed with concern.

“Damn that slasher! So sorry, Anri. If only I’d been at your side twenty-four hours a day, this never would have happened,” Masaomi Kida joked, though there was a surprisingly serious, angry look in his eyes.

They’d skipped school and raced to the hospital the moment they heard Anri was a slashing victim.

She was sure they’d said a lot of stuff to her, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Anri only remembered that she was happy about it.

Later that night, she didn’t have the usual dream.

And yet, when she woke up in the morning, she wasn’t plunged into despair.

Mikado and Masaomi visited again the next day.

Masaomi was attempting to seduce the nurse when his phone suddenly went off.

“Masaomi! Turn your phone off in the hospital!”

“Sorry, sorry, gotta be careful about that. Looks like I got called out. Gotta leave for today.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Well, I’ll be back tomorrow, Anri. And remember: All men are wolves, so keep the nurse call button close in case Mikado tries anything funny,” Masaomi warned as he left the room. Based on that, he didn’t seem likely to return today.

Given the criminal angle of her injuries, Anri was in a private room so the police could question her. The nurse had just come by for her check, so no one would be coming for a while.

That meant that Anri and Mikado were completely alone in the room.

It was his chance.

Though he felt that being thankful was inappropriate, Mikado couldn’t help but be grateful to God. Normally Masaomi would be running interference, but now they could finally speak alone.

It was nearly a year since he first met Anri.

Time for him to move on from just being her class representative partner.

Mikado Ryuugamine steadied his breathing and did his very best to act normal.

“Um, hey, Sonohara.”

“What is it, Ryuugamine?”

“I w-was just wondering if there was anyone you had…on your mind?”

He knew that it was totally impossible, but he couldn’t help but hope against hope that she might say, “Actually,
you
…”

Mikado waited for Anri’s response, praying to God for a positive response.

“Hmm… Well, there are some people I look up to.”

“…?! O-oh. You don’t say. Who would that be?” he tried to reply as nonchalantly as possible, ringing bells of doom in his ears.

“Well…I didn’t say this to the police, but…I was attacked by the slasher a few hours before I actually got hurt…and some people were there to save me. In particular, there was a guy wearing bartender clothes, and the other person there was supercool…”