Durarara!!, Vol. 13

by Ryohgo Narita

  “…What?! Egor, are you ignoring me, too?! Don’t forget that not only are you younger than me, you are also a pawn I hired with money! But do not worry! I am a man of generous and forgiving spirit! I can be friends with a man I hired with money and be close enough to send him a holiday card containing a photograph of me and my new wife being disgustingly sappy togeth— Whoaaa!!”

  Egor grabbed him by the collar midsentence and yanked him closer with one hand. The force of it caused Shingen to smack against the wall next to them.

  “Gwah! What was that for?! Was all that bragging about my new wife making you jealous?!” spluttered Shingen.

  “I’m sorry. It was because—,” Egor started to say, but then a human being came plummeting down on the spot where Shingen had stood seconds ago.

  “…?!”

  “—you were in danger there.”

  The man who descended just feet in front of the shocked Shingen silently glanced toward where Izaya’s shadow fled the scene.

  “…”

  And without blinking an eye, he began to race after him. Egor watched him go, then shrugged.

  “…He’s like the Terminator.”

  “Yes. And while this is exceedingly awkward for me to admit, I suppose that I owe you an…apology?”

  “No, you don’t. Besides, it’s true that I’m jealous of how hot your wife is,” Egor said with a dashing smile. Then he eyed the middle-aged man slumped over lifelessly at the side of the alley. “What should we do with him?”

  “Hmm?”

  Shingen followed Egor’s head bob and saw Seitarou Yagiri muttering to himself.

  “It’s gone… My…head… Dullahan… My…head…head…”

  He approached his old friend, who seemed to be in the midst of a dissociative episode, and waved. But Seitarou gave no reaction. Shingen sighed through the mask.

  “So this is what becomes of one whose heart is stolen by that which lives on the flip side of reality. What a pitiable shame.”

  “Yeah, it’s like seeing your own son’s future, right here,” Egor noted archly.

  But Shingen just shook his head. “No, Shinra would not break down over a little trifle like this. If anything, he would say something like ‘Adversity is but a trial on the path to love’ and become even more hyperactive and tunnel-visioned.”

  “That’s not much of an improvement, though. Um…what are you doing?”

  Shingen had pulled a felt-tipped pen out of his pocket. “I found this pen by rifling through my pockets. It seems like a good opportunity to scribble something mischievous on Seitarou before he comes to his senses. Hmm…is it still valid to draw the kanji for meat on someone’s forehead, or is that passé now? What do you think, Egor? Have you got any brilliant avant-garde ideas…?”

  Shingen turned and stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw the look on Egor’s face. “Ooh,” he murmured with fascination.

  Egor’s face looked just the same as it had moments ago. But with one very distinct difference.

  The whites of his eyes were now red and bloodshot as they gazed into the distance. Shingen reacted to this eerie sight by remarking, “So I suppose you got cut by Saika at some point. Your possession doesn’t seem too strong, however. I’m guessing it was Sonohara.”

  He nodded, reassuring himself of this supposition, and continued, “So has something changed with the Saikas?”

  “I’ve been noticing for the past few hours…that another mother and her children and grandchildren are spreading their aura rather thickly.”

  Shingen nodded a few more times. Then, resigned, he shook his head.

  “…Ah. Well, it certainly can’t get much more troublesome than this.”

  Inside the van

  “So this is…um, Saika.”

  By means of demonstration, Anri allowed the tip of the katana to protrude just a bit from her palm.

  “Ooh, that’s amazing. How does it work?” asked Saki, who was sitting next to her and staring with interest. Togusa peeked through the rearview mirror at the exhibition, and his jaw dropped with shock.

  “Huh. That’s real strange,” said Seiji, without much apparent interest. True to character, Namie followed that up with “You don’t need to pay attention to her, Seiji” as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

  But the most dramatic reaction by far belonged to Yumasaki, who first trembled when he saw the blade emerge from Anri’s hand. Then he began to emit an eerie moaning sound: “Ooh…ooooooooo…”

  Lastly, he grabbed Anri’s wrist, staring at the blade closely. Tears began to drip from his eyes.

  “Um, what…?” she stammered.

  “The promised day has arrived at last!” he shouted. “I always knew that I would one day get the chance to earn supernatural powers of my own! And now…and now! Will I be able to have a Saika of my own?! If so, then I am not opposed to taking lessons from an iai dojo every day to prepare for the coming battle against the all-powerful enemy!”

  His excitement flustered Anri. “Um…er… First, when you have the sword, Saika sends a curse seeping through you, trying to love humanity.”

  Yumasaki abruptly came to a standstill. “Humanity? Like…three-dimensional humanity?”

  “Three-dimensional…?” Anri repeated.

  Kadota threw her a lifeline. “He’s asking if you mean actual living people, not just anime characters and whatnot.”

  “Um…Saika has never shown an interest in manga or novels…as far as I know…”

  Instantly, the boy deflated and let go of Anri’s hand. “Oh…I see… Then I respectfully decline my suggestion of having a cursed blade.”

  “Huh?”

  Anri was surprised to learn that he was being serious about “having” a cursed blade at all and failed to grasp where he was going with this. He looked at her apologetically and explained, “I would do almost anything to build a bridge to two-dimensional characters, but I’ve got better things to do with my time than help facilitate three-dimensional romance.”

  Annoyed, Togusa turned to Yumasaki and said, “In that case, why couldn’t you use that cursed blade to make some hot woman your girlfriend?”

  “Huh? Do I stand to benefit in some way by making a three-dimensional girl my girlfriend?”

  “Honestly, I’m kind of amazed at how firm you are on your standards,” Togusa said, half in admiration.

  “But all of that aside! I can’t wait to see Karisawa again so we can share in the joy of knowing that the cursed blade is the pathway to two dimensions! Let’s go rescue her as soon as we can! What are we doing, Togusa? Hurry up, hurry up, run, run, run!” He smacked the window.

  “Shuddup!” Togusa bellowed. “Don’t get fingerprints on the window! I’m driving as fast as I can, but I can’t change a red light!”

  While the driver and back seat passenger argued, Kadota glanced over his shoulder and said to Anri, “Just checking, but…if Karisawa turns out to be under that Saika thing’s control, can you do something about that?”

  “…Yes. If I find the mother of Karisawa or the other people afflicted by Saika in town—in other words, the source of the possession—and I use my Saika to overwrite their curse and set them free, then they should return to normal.”

  “Okay…well, on the rare chance that it’s actually the case, we’d appreciate your help with that. I’m sorry about this,” Kadota said, tilting his head forward into a bow from his awkward position.

  Anri quickly waved him off. “Oh no…I was the one who got her involved.”

  “What do you mean? You didn’t do anything. I don’t know whose fault this is, but you shouldn’t trouble yourself over it.”

  “But,” she said sadly, lowering her face, “if we can’t find her Saika mother, then I’ll have to hurt Karisawa a bit…”

  She looked forlornly at the blade protruding from her palm. Kadota asked, “Do you, uh…have to cut ’em to a point where it becomes life-and-death?”

  “N-no, just the tip of the finger would
work, I think.”

  “Then there’s no problem. Karisawa isn’t going to be upset about something like that.” Kadota chuckled, trying to cheer her up. “I’m telling you it’s fine. You have my permission. I’ll take responsibility.”

  Feeling the warmth of his words, Anri looked at Kadota through the mirror and said, “Um…”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thank you.”

  “What did I just say? We’re the ones who need to thank you,” Kadota said with a smile. The image of Karisawa’s face floated into Anri’s mind. It was the same kind of warmth she felt when Karisawa said, “I can forgive you of everything.” Maybe Kadota and Karisawa were rubbing off on each other because they spent so much time together.

  And then there’s me… I spent all that time with Ryuugamine and Kida, and I couldn’t do anything… I didn’t try to change myself…

  And that was why she had to do something now. It was that resolution that led her to reveal the situation to everyone here in the van—but their reactions were far from what she feared might happen.

  She imagined that when they learned her secret, they’d treat her like a monster, or suspect her of being the actual street slasher, or perhaps even subject her to some kind of medieval witch hunt.

  But their reactions were so normal that it actually left her confused and shaken.

  “Um, aren’t you…afraid of me?” she said, to her own surprise.

  Yumasaki tilted his head, as though he couldn’t fathom why she would ask such a thing. Namie snorted and said, “I might look down on you for it, but I certainly don’t have a reason to feel afraid of someone as meaningless as you.”

  “You don’t have a reason to look down on her, either, Sister.”

  “Oh…I-I’m sorry, Seiji! That was just a saying—it wasn’t what I really feel!” she stammered when she caught the whiff of criticism in her brother’s stare.

  Saki smiled and said, “It was a surprise, but I’m not afraid of you,” as simply as if they were talking about any ordinary topic.

  Anri replied, “But I’m…I’m not human…”

  Kadota butted in to say, “Listen, young lady.”

  “Y-yes?”

  “Would you dare say that around Celty?” he asked in all seriousness.

  “…!”

  She had no answer.

  “She’s far less human than you are, but nobody in this group dislikes her.”

  Namie looked displeased with that. “Well, I don’t—”

  “Read the room, Sister.”

  “…F-fine, Seiji. Don’t worry, your big sis is more than capable of being tactful.”

  Kadota ignored their banter and continued addressing Anri: “Whatever it was like the first time, none of us are afraid of Celty now, because we know her. We know what she’s been doing, what makes her happy, and what makes her sad. Just maybe not as well as Shinra does.”

  “…”

  “When people are afraid of something, it’s because they can’t see the inside of what that is. Even a walking explosive like Shizuo Heiwajima doesn’t have to be scary to someone who understands exactly what it is that gets him pissed off,” he continued, drawing on another example. “So we’re all able to accept you because we know what kind of a person you are.”

  “Uh…”

  “Whether you were being sincere or polite, that accumulation of your interactions with others led to this result. Do you get that? So be confident in who you are,” he said, keeping his tone light. But even so, the words permeated her heart deep down.

  Mika, who had held her silence in the seat ahead of her, suddenly turned around and bowed. “Anri…I’m sorry!”

  “Huh? Huh? H…Harima?”

  “The truth is, I knew. I knew you were possessed by that sword…”

  “?!”

  Anri’s mind went blank at the revelation.

  “I don’t want to go into why, because it’s a long story…but in the end, I chose to go with Seiji over you… I knew that you were struggling with personal problems, but I never cared about anything but Seiji!”

  That explanation didn’t actually explain anything exactly, and the mood in the car turned to awkward silence.

  Namie and Seiji knew about Mika’s situation, but neither of them made much of an effort to argue for her. In fact, Namie saw it as an opportunity to kick a downed rival.

  “Seiji, any woman who would abandon her friends is trash. Especially if she chooses a moment like this to admit it, hoping that she’ll get an easy chance at forgiveness. You should break up with her soon.”

  “What about you, Sis?”

  “I don’t have to worry about that, because I don’t have friends!”

  “Well, at least you’re thinking positively.”

  As she listened to the others talk, Anri found that she accepted their arguments much easier than she’d expected.

  Anri’s image of Mika Harima was of a person who could do just about anything. If you took away the stalkerish side of her personality, she really did fit Anri’s mental image of a perfect human being.

  The revelation that she also knew about Saika did not produce a particularly powerful shock to Anri. Nor was she stunned that Mika knew about Saika and had chosen to put herself at a distance.

  She chose Seiji Yagiri, not Anri Sonohara.

  That was an honest statement.

  Anri knew that if it came down to it, Mika would prioritize Seiji’s life over her own. So it wasn’t Anri’s call whether to forgive her or not. That just didn’t matter.

  There was only one worry on Anri’s mind.

  She looked at Mika, her red eyes flashing, and asked, “Um…are you sure…you’re not afraid of me?”

  Mika beamed at her and said firmly, “Listen, Anri.”

  “Yes?”

  “The next time you ask me that, I’m going to get angry.”

  That was enough for Anri.

  This was the girl who’d saved her in the past when she was being bullied. The arrival of Seiji had made it seem as if that girl had gone for good, but here she was in the van right now.

  The world within the picture frame in Anri’s mind suddenly shook. She realized with a start that the van was with her, on this side of the frame. Or perhaps it was the size of the frame itself that had just widened.

  “Thank you… Thank you…so much…!” she said to the group of them. Big drops began to fall from her glowing red eyes.

  “Now, now, don’t cry. You’ve got to save those happy tears for Mikado and Kida,” Mika joked warmly. “If some other car looks at us, they’ll think that Togusa’s band of thugs have kidnapped a couple of girls.”

  “You know, I don’t appreciate that you only think of me as the ringleader in those situations, rather than Kadota…,” Togusa said.

  The rest of the car laughed awkwardly at that. Anri smiled, too, and felt a resolve form within her.

  She would find a way to bring Mikado Ryuugamine and Masaomi Kida within this ring of friendly connections she had now.

  Maybe neither of the two boys wanted that. Maybe it was only her own selfish desire.

  But this time, she was going to be selfish.

  And with that honest admission to herself, she retracted the Saika blade into her palm.

  But in that moment, she felt as if she heard Saika’s voice again.

  “You’re going to discard me? No matter how you struggle, you will never escape from me. Don’t forget, it’s my role to love people.”

  Anri smiled to herself and treated these words, mixed among the sea of love curses, as nothing more than a misheard statement at the worst.

  Someday, I hope to love people with you. Me and you…learning to love in the truest sense.

  The curses of love stopped for just an instant, then Saika’s voice resumed.

  “I keep telling you. Humanity belongs to me.”

  The tone was sulking, but Anri didn’t detect any force behind it.

  As usual, Saika’s curses reverberated thr
oughout her mind.

  Saika’s intelligent words. Were they just an illusion that Anri’s own mind was creating? Or were they Saika’s true personality speaking to her? She did not know.

  But it was odd that, even before Anri got into the van and admitted her secret to these people, she had felt the distance between herself and Saika was smaller than before.

  It seemed that Saika was happy that more people had accepted the existence of the cursed blade without having to use those accursed words of love—but again, Anri would never know whether that was just a trick of her own mind or not.

  The hollow sound of hands clapping brought Anri’s consciousness back to the interior of the van.

  Yumasaki had struck his hands together and did a wriggling little dance with his upper half. He said to her, “At any rate, now this means that Anri has officially become a member of the guild!”

  “…‘Gild’?”

  “The Adventurers Guild. That’s the group that Dr. Kishitani put together to solve this problem!”

  “Oh…”

  Anri wasn’t very familiar with the English word guild, but she was definitely on board with solving the problem, so she let it slide in this case.

  “The problem is that the founder, Dr. Kishitani himself, was abducted by a mysterious woman in glasses who produced wires from her hands. Let me tell you, though, those wires were really cool.”

  “Huh?” That sounded to Anri as if it could refer only to one woman. “Do you mean…Miss Kujiragi?”

  Suddenly, the inside of the van stirred, and all the attention gathered on Anri again.

  “You know Kasane Kujiragi?” demanded Namie.

  Anri nodded. “Yes, I got her business card. It only has her phone number, though…”

  “Card?!”

  The others murmured even more, but Anri remembered something else about that meeting and added, “Oh…I’m sorry. The card is still in my schoolbag, so…it’s at home.”

  There was no saying whether Kujiragi would answer the phone, but given the circumstances, that was valuable information.

  “What do you think? Should we go get it?” Togusa asked.