Durarara!! SH Vol 2 Chapter 5.2

Durarara!!SH×2

Chapter 6B

The Watcher

Somewhere in Tokyo.\nWhen the blindfold came off, it was an unfamiliar room that met Shiki’s eyes.

There were no windows, so it was likely the room was underground.

His hands had been bound behind his back with box tape, and his legs were similarly restricted.

Assessing the kidnappers who had, in abducting him and bringing him here, proven their audacity.

He wanted to tell them to at least wear balaclavas, but decided to remain silent and observe the situation for now.

“What are you after, bastards! Don’t think you’ll get away with this!”

“Quiet.”

Like Shiki his limbs were bound, but unlike Shiki, who was sitting, he was lying on the floor.

“Don’t shout. Call me Manager.”

　—Things are getting troublesome.\nAbout one hour ago.

It was late at night in Tokyo. Shiki, after the meeting, had boarded the car to return to the Awakusu-kai office and report with his chauffeur –

Without panicking, he glanced casually at the rearview mirror.

For all Shiki was yakuza, he had no reason to be carrying a blade or gun around at the moment, as he was not engaging in any fight.

　—Now, whether this is a grudge against my person or a strike against the Awakusu-kai changes things significantly.

　—Or someone within the Awakusu-kai, even… It’s an unfortunate possibility.

Muscled men, their faces concealed by sunglasses and facemasks, were moving towards both sides, and they opened the doors in unison.

“We’ll have you come with us,”

It was because the instant he had seen their bearing, a strong sense of unease had come over him.

“…Am I your target?”

“What happened to my chauffeur?”

The voice was muffled through the mask. Shiki narrowed his eyes, and looked not at the men but around the car.

However – through the window Shiki could see that there were more than ten similarly masked people on standby. With this revelation he sighed.

　—But fighting isn’t my strong suite… How troublesome.

　—…

Shiki, detecting a nuance in the voice, replied coldly,

“Very well. I will hear what you have to say.”

Afterwards he was made to board a van parked nearby, and was transported, blindfolded, for about an hour.

With this and the travel duration in mind, they were probably in the west side of Tokyo outside the twenty-third district; at the villas between Tokyo and Hachiōji.

As he thought this, Shiki spoke up to the group of men in the basement.

“Nothing, apparently.”

“To be precise, it seems we’re supposed to keep you here for a while. That’s all.”

　—Just pawns with no idea of the full game.

Just as he was thinking this, there was a scuffle at the doorway.

From the gap he was able to see stairs leading upstairs, so it seemed this was, indeed, a basement.

Of the three men who had just entered, two were masked like the others.

“Stay here and behave yourself.”

Ignoring him, the men shoved him roughly.

“They must be here, in this building! Tatsugami Aya-san and Ai-chan!”

“Shut up.”

After glaring coldly at the boy, the men left without taking off his blindfold.

Shiki, gauging that it should be safe for himself to talk instead, spoke to the boy at his feet.

“Ah, excuse me. Could you take off my blindfold?”

“I see. Thank you anyway.”

“You’re the one who was on the news this morning, right?”

“I don’t often visit that site, but I look up the Headless Rider now and then.”

The boy smiled awkwardly. Shiki continued, coolly,

“Huh?”

“Oho, you believe the Headless Rider’s really a headless monster, old man?”

“Whether I believe or not, it remains fact. You should know best having met Celty yourself, shouldn’t you?”

The boy said jokingly. Shiki’s subordinate, lying on the floor nearby, began to reprimand him.

Shiki sighed at how his subordinate was trying to threaten the boy when he himself was tied up, and was about to ask the boy a question, but –

“Manager. I know this boy. The guys at the office were making a fuss about it the other day.”

That very subordinate recalled this at the sight of the boy’s hair, and said, anxiously,“This guy was with the boy who fought Heiwajima Shizuo.”

Afternoon. Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

Besides the outdoor stage in West Gate Park.

‘So this Yahiro-kun really fought with you, Shizuo?’

“He was with a green-haired kid, right? Then it’s probably the same guy.”

“So you’re friends. The world sure is small.”

Celty, having heard of Shiki’s disappearance, had been looking for information around the city.

Celty, remembering the conversation between Yahiro and Li-pei from the day before, had brought it up doubtfully, only to be shocked when Shizuo confirmed it was true.

“What do you think I am?”

It brought to Celty’s mind a certain informant he had fought with, though not quite head-on; but she did not mention him seeing as Shizuo seemed irritated.

“Do you remember Izaya?”

“I don’t want to remember that pest either… But, mm, this is awkward, but since you know him, could you keep an eye on that Mizuchi Yahiro guy?”

Celty had tilted her helmet, to which Shizuo, with an awkward expression, continued,

‘Really?’

‘I see.’

Remembering how he had taken photos with her, Celty laughed bitterly in her heart.

The suzu castella and karaoke was a stretch, but because he had described her as an un-kidnapper-like person, she was more relieved than angry.

To Celty, who had typed this obvious question, Shizuo, with some thought, answered,

‘Your old self?’

Shizuo fell deeper in thought, and, clicking his tongue, spoke up again.

‘Yeah?’

‘That’s an amazing question.’

‘Why are you asking?’

‘Oh, that building.’

In a series of events, Shizuo had wound up in a death match against his nemesis Orihara Izaya.

There had even been a giant explosion in a building under construction, but the crime could not be pinned since Izaya, the one responsible, had disappeared.

The building’s construction had been delayed due to the explosion, and Celty remembered the completion date was during her and Shinra’s vacation.

　—That’s not…

Because she realised that indeed, had Shizuo and Izaya been on speaking terms, the victims who had been embroiled in their fights would have had much more peace in their lives.

‘Well, that might be true, but it might have been disastrous, too.’

‘Yeah. There’s no way Izaya would have ever become a good guy. If you got along with him he could have used you to start terrible things.’

Shizuo sighed lightly, and said to his friend, the Headless Rider,

‘Forced to fight?’

As if embarrassed that he was saying this, Shizuo switched the conversation to the future instead.

‘I know.’

‘Why don’t you say it yourself?’

“You or Shinra or Tom-san would be one thing, but if I go and talk to a simple high schooler I might cause him trouble.”

She was tempted to say this, but thinking that he would probably look out for the boys in his own way, she did not retort.

　—Well, Izaya’s vanished to goodness knows where, so there’s no reason for him to be riled up all the time anymore, I guess.

‘Sorry for taking up your break. I should be going now.’

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

With this concern about her friend’s future in mind, she was about to return to chasing Shiki’s trail, but –

“Headless Rider-san!”

A voice stopped her.

Perhaps she had run to them, for she was out of breath; and after calming down, smiling at Celty, she said with genuine happiness,

　—Huh?

Before she could remember the name of the familiar girl, Shizuo voiced it.

　—Right, that’s her.

Awakusu Akane.

“Hello, S, Shizuo-san.”

“Thank goodness… You came back!”

“Vacation?”

She had not interacted much with Akane since that one incident, so why was Akane so heartened by her return?

In response, Akane’s expression became one of utter relief, and with tearful eyes she looked to Celty, saying,

‘Oh, that?’

　—Come again?

“A fan of… Celty?”

After hearing out the situation, Celty was able to make sense of several things.

　—Yesterday Yahiro-kun said the senior of a middle-schooler he knew disappeared too… But I didn’t imagine that acquaintance could be Akane-chan.

And remembering that that was not the time for that, she patted her own chest, and reassured Akane.

But that very moment, doubt clouded Akane’s face.

‘Huh?’

　—Crap!

Shizuo, despite not knowing the circumstances, seemed to have understood that she had made a terrible mistake, and was piercing her chest with a deadpan gaze that seemed to say, ‘What on earth are you doing?’.

“You’re… lying, right?”

‘…Sorry. I thought you would have known.’

After that, Celty soothed Akane who had proposed searching for the kidnapper herself, and learnt what information Akane had had.

“Tatsugami-sempai… spoke of you like you were a god.”

“I’m not exaggerating… She would say that you changed her world… Or, if she would give her life if she could become like the Headless Rider…”

　—Speaking of which, there was a girl who did plastic surgery to have the same face as me, wasn’t there?

　—Shiki-san did mention people looking for me had vanished, but…

　—I’m not even that important…

Worried that Akane would in the worse case be endangered because of her, and doubly so because that would involve the Awakusu-kai, Celty firmly discouraged her from going after the culprit by herself.

‘I said it’s going to be okay! Believe in me, all right? I was gone for half a year, but I’m back now, aren’t I?’

‘Don’t worry and just give me some time. I’ll definitely bring both your schoolmate and Shiki-san back.’

“Hey, I’ll help too. Is there anything I can do?”

“Right, call anytime. I’ll come even if I have to skip work.”

　—Well, if I have to call Shizuo I’d have to be up against an organisation of vampires or something on that level…*

If Shizuo were to go all out from the start most criminals would be flattened in a second. But in this case there were kidnapped hostages. If Shizuo rampaged it would be dangerous for those victims, whose safety had to be prioritised.

Praying that the kidnapped victims were still alive to be used as hostages in the first place.

And – in the next moment.

Akane and Shizuo were waving at her, so she turned back, and looked around the park.

　—I feel watched.

At that point Celty arrived at the possibility of it being the White Motorbike, and left with a shiver down her spine.

The one watching the Headless Rider continued watching until it left, and then, quietly, said,

The ‘woman’ inside the vehicle parked beside West Gate Park turned her narrowed gaze to Shizuo and Akane, and continued,

And in a voice filled with a yearning close to adoration:

With hatred and pity for Awakusu Akane dwelling in her eyes.

A smile spread on her face, soulless, like that of a poorly-made doll.

That is her fate.”

Evening. Shinra’s apartment. Underground parking lot.\nAfter going around the city looking for information, Celty Sturluson had returned to the underground car park.

　—…?!

Celty was sighing in relief having realised it was the acquaintance she had exchanged contacts with just the day before, but abruptly something hit her and, panicking, she showed him her smartphone.

“Oh, that’s… a trade secret. I’m not going to leak it to the police or reporters. You don’t have to worry.”

‘Right… Dragon Zombie teamed up with Izaya at some point. Did you hear from Izaya back then?’

‘I guess. Anyway, this just proves he’s a load of trouble dead or alive.’

“Heroes and villains are subjective. In the past six months you’ve been gone and no one knew if you were alive, you were made a villain yourself, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, to the point. Something happened with the Awakusu-kai, right?”

Celty returned the question, wary that he might be fishing for information.

Jyan Jyaka Jyan was the rival gang to Dragon Zombie, and survived under the wing of the Awakusu-kai.

But it was hard to imagine Dragon Zombie to go over the heads of their rival gang and attack their handler, the Awakusu-kai, directly. For this reason Celty had eliminated Li-pei from the suspect list.

’Are you going to tell me there’s a new colour gang around or something?’

Thinking it was possible some other group was behind it, Celty asked this.

“The reverse, actually. Do you know of any person… any organisation that’s disappeared without a trace?”

‘…You can’t be saying Orihara Izaya is orchestrating this from the shadows?’

‘…”Both”?’

After skirting around the point this far, Li-pei leant against the pillar and finally revealed the names.

‘Ah… Those people…’

In the past, the organisations had been crushed by the informant Orihara Izaya.

‘They didn’t disappear. They were disbanded.’

‘Is that so?’

His voice was nonchalant, but there was a tinge of danger in it.

‘So did they disappear recently? Maybe the Awakusu-kai decided to disband them more permanently?’

‘Are they really involved in this?’

For that matter, while she had worked for Izaya as he was dismantling the groups, Celty had no memory of them having a grudge against her in particular.

　—But that’s a weak basis to say they’re the kidnappers.

“You’re sharp. I can’t hide anything from you.”

“About half a year ago, our gang was contacted. Someone was willing to fork out any sum to get us to work for them. It was shady and I didn’t want to rile up the Awakusu-kai unnecessarily, so I rejected, but… Back then that person said something.”

“…He said, ‘How much do you believe in the Headless Rider?’”

“Exactly that. What he was asking… was if we believed that you really are a supernatural being beyond human sensibilities. He was strangely stubborn about it. I might even say he was excited.”

Celty pressed for an answer, and in reply, Li-pei brought up a certain name.

‘…I’ve never heard of him.’

‘No, wait. Shijima… I know that guy.’

All the young man had done was cower, but because his name was unique she still remembered him.

Li-pei smiled again, and said, cheerfully,

‘…You can’t be saying…’

‘I see… It’s worth looking into.’

‘Thanks. This could be a breakthrough. I’ll tell everyone about it, too.’

‘Yeah… Well, I did promise to pass on any information.’

Li-pei’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant. Celty continued, typing,

“I see~. Well, I don’t mean that; I’m saying that if you get him involved at this stage, he might get attached to you, I think.”

“We Dragon Zombie have our eyes on him too. Since we don’t just accept second-gen Taiwanese, but Japanese people too now.”

‘So gangs are eying him after all?’

‘I can see that he’s strong, but… What’s your own opinion on him?’

“Monster in the flesh. I haven’t met anything that could give me such a chill in a long time.”

Celty rolled her shoulders, her tone cynical.

“Your body may be that of a monster. But your heart is more human than any human. That’s why we can be having such a friendly talk right now. But that child could well be more inhuman than you, you know?”

“Fear translating into aggression is a normal reaction, but even so… For him, he has no hesitation to speak of at all. The emotion of fear switches to anger or killing intent and takes over his body. It happens in comics all the time, right? The instant his life is threatened, your strength awakens and you crush all your enemies… that kind of thing.”

“It’s possible that in his case, just a drop of fear is enough for his brain to take off that limiter.”

“Even I wouldn’t think of teaming up if I hadn’t known of you or Heiwajima Shizuo beforehand. I might even have thought… to eliminate him ASAP, you know?”

“Sorry, sorry. Well, he might actually have been reassured meeting you and Shizuo, you know? Did you notice? Last night, he might have been on his guard against you, but he seemed pretty happy, did you realise?”\n“He must have had a difficult time living somewhere without you or Shizuo before.”

Somewhere in Ikebukuro. In front of Himeka’s home.

When Himeka tried to open the door to her home, she discovered it could not be opened.

To be accurate, Himeka was not allowed to have a key.

—It’s happening again.

She thought, expression unchanged.

It was a condition of her mother’s that had persisted since Himeka was a young child.

Without any warning, her mother would completely shut down, and she would lean her forehead against the wall and start talking.

In that time, she would not react to anything Himeka said.

Himeka had before wondered what kind of happy dream she saw in that shadow, but her one-sided ‘conversations’ revealed nothing that seemed remotely happy.

It would be the second time today she used these tools; specialised metal instruments modified from hairpins.

She did not have the license to possess the actual thing, for one.

A qualified locksmith selling them to someone would itself constitute a crime.

Except: other than actual locksmiths, there was an exception for ‘reasonable causes’.

Today, for the first time, she broke into another person’s house.

The first time was in middle school, to help a bullied classmate who had been locked in a storage room in the school – at that time, Himeka had thought that it being a crime was unimportant.

Having lied to Kuon’s sister Nozomi without a beat, was she any different from a thief?

No; the fact that she had felt no guilt at all could mean she was of worse character than even a thief.

As she thought this, while inserting the tools into the keyhole, she remembered what had happened that evening.

It was on the way home from their talk with Kuon’s sister.

She did not mind as she would have deserved that; and thought it could not be helped if he suspected her of being someone who stole things often, or started rumours about her.

“I was so shocked when you just unlocked the door like that. Where did you learn how to do that?”

Himeka was slightly surprised by the question, but thinking it was nothing to hide, answered promptly.

“Locked out?”

“I see, that must be tough.”

Even so Himeka let it pass. After that, Yahiro thanked her:

“Eh?”

“…”

“You’re weird after all, Mizuchi-kun.”

“Normally wouldn’t you think I was a thief, seeing me do something like that?”

“Ah, yeah, I was shocked earlier because I thought we were like thieves.”

“Then don’t you look down on me?”

“I’m not.”

It was the kind of conversation that would have had Kuon complaining by now about how casual they both were if he were here. Yahiro, reminiscing on his past, continued,

“Right, the one time I met a thief he broke the lock with a hammer instead. When I saw and called out to him, he tried to hit me with it. That was way more shocking than just now.”

“Should I have laughed…”

Himeka, feeling bad for remaining expressionless despite his effort, checked that she had unlocked the door.

When she opened the door there was a silhouette, and thinking it must be her mother, she called out automatically.

“…? …!”

She realised the person on the other side was not her mother.

Then she sensed multiple people behind her, from outside the door –

She was pushed down from behind before she could even cry out.

“O… Oi oi oi oi! What, just what’s going on here!”

On the premises of another house.

Suddenly a group of men had barged into Himeka’s doorway, pushed her down, and bundled her onto a van that had stopped by the entrance.

“Wh, what do we do, Horada-san?”

Still unable to absorb the situation, Horada was completely confused.

The boy’s name was Mizuchi Yahiro, and he was born in Akita. In addition, he had been with the green-haired boy Kotonami Kuon since the first day of school, and got along with a student by the name of Tatsugami Himeka. With this knowledge, Horada’s strategy had been to go after the girl, and so they had been following her.

It was true that Horada, being a thug, had had the thought of using the girlfriend as a hostage to make Yahiro obey him flash through his mind.

After tailing Himeka they had finally acquired her address, and he had just been about to discuss their future plans, only for this sudden turn of events.

“N, no, they look pretty tough…”

“Kidnapping and helping out is completely different!”

“Damn it, what now? If they’re the Awakusu-kai or something we can’t possibly interfere…”

“The police, huh… I don’t want to bring them in…”

“Ahhhh, shit, think, think! Go, me!”

“You, follow on your motorcycle.”

“Huh?! I, I’ve never tailed a vehicle before!”

“O, okay!”

　—Yeah. If the ones at the end of the trail look weak we’ll beat them up and have him owe me a favour.

This he decided. Just then, he saw a silhouette exit Himeka’s house.

At the sight of this person giving directions to the men on the way to the van, Horada could not help but frown.

“A woman…?”

****CHAPTER END****

Interlude: Rumours on the Internet ⑤

Ikebukuro Information Site, IkeNEW! Version I・KEBU・KUR・O

Latest Article, Tragic News: Green Boy who Befriended Headless Rider Missing!

Content from microblogging site Twittia:

I haven’t been able to contact ●●●● since the IkeNEW article featured him this morning.

Seriously?

Looks like he’s MIA. No one answered when we called his house either.

He’s missing?

Because he knew the Headless Rider’s secrets?

IkeNEW! Administrator’s Comment

Apparently the users who tweeted this are Blue Square members-nari.

[This boy so boldly asked for all this personal information and even took a picture, but he wasn’t kidnapped-nari.

↑ I said this in the last article, but it’s not yet confirmed that he’s missing-nari.

There are commenters in our previous article saying he’s missing because we put up that article, but that’s not true-nari.

If you have the time to blame others, you should pray for the boy’s safety like a proper Ikebukuroan.”

Administrator Lila Tailtooth Zaiya

Excerpts of typical tweets from microblogging site Twittia.

Argh. I want to punch the IkeNEW admin in the face.

Someone going missing and it’s ‘Tragic News’? Stop screwing around, Mister Lila.

It’s useless to scold that site’s admin. The controversy only adds on to the viewership.

There’s no point complaining, even if people die that jerk still tags on that nari-nari everywhere.

He even puts illegal manga scans as headers, right?

Maybe if IkeNEW gets reported it’ll go down once and for all…

So the Headless Rider kidnapped him after all?

Why would they do that?

Because he exposed that they liked suzu castella…?

What’s wrong with that? It’s tasty.

But what if the Headless Rider really was the one who did it?

Then IkeNEW will have been complicit, since it spread the lie that the Headless Rider was safe.

So it was a lie that it was a lie.

IkeNEW hasn’t apologised yet?

Don’t go there to comment, it’ll only up the view count.

Speaking of which, I saw the Headless Rider hanging around this afternoon.

In Ikebukuro?

In West Gate Park, talking to Heiwajima Shizuo.

Ah, then that’s the real thing for sure.

I saw too. They were with a middle school girl, right?

What’s the likelihood of the girl becoming an urban legend too…

The Dragon Zombie fellows have been noisy recently.

The sickly leader is back now after being hospitalised, apparently.

Sickly…

No, it’s true he had a weak constitution, but I heard he recovered after surgery.

That Horada guy is back too, right?

Who’s Horada?

Horada got in trouble with Shizuo recently.

Heyhey, who’s Horada?

The guy who always tagged along with Izumii-san, remember.

Oh, Higa-san’s senior! I remember!

Who the fuck are you guys? I’ll find your names and beat you up just you wait.

Who’s this? You’re being scary so I’ve blocked you.

There’ve been a lot of cars going in and out of a mountainside villa near my house.

It’s spring, so maybe they’re tourists here to see the flowers?

Possibly. There are some scary-looking people, but maybe they came with their families. There are lot of kids that look school-age.

Hasn’t the school term started?

Oh? You’re right…

****CHAPTER END****

*The senior who taught Himeka to lock-pick is most likely Harima Mika.\n