Durarara!!, Vol. 13

by Ryohgo Narita

  Eventually, after a number of minutes, as his mind settled in, Mikado noticed tears springing from his eyes again.

  Sorry. I’m so sorry, Sonohara, Masaomi…

  But no sooner had the thought come to his mind than a strange voice sounded in both his ears and his mind.

  “I understand the situation. Before I leave this city, I will eliminate all the trouble stemming from my body.”

  Then Mikado understood.

  He could still feel the sensation of the gun against the palm of his hand.

  Am I…still…alive…? he wondered, but without responding to this question, the voice entered his mind again.

  “It is what little atonement I can provide for the confusion my body has wrought upon this place.”

  My…body? Mikado repeated to himself. It was an odd phrase in this case, and it put the image of someone he knew into his mind. Is that…Celty?

  At that moment, the shadow enshrouding him softened, gave way—and the sights and sounds of Ikebukuro returned to Mikado’s world.

  “Mikado…? Mikado! Hey!”

  He was looking at Masaomi, who was still in the place he’d left him earlier.

  “Masaomi…?” he mumbled.

  His friend heaved a deep sigh of relief. “I’m so glad…you’re alive… You’re alive, Mikado!”

  “Ah…”

  He looked to his right hand and saw the gun there. But the very next moment, a swarm of tiny shadows pried his fingers apart, wrenching loose both the pistol and the HFM in his other hand.

  Something hard tumbled from the shadow that was right next to Mikado’s head. When they saw the twisted lump of metal roll onto the ground, both boys instinctually understood what it was.

  The instant he had pulled the trigger, the shadow had slipped between his temple and the muzzle of the gun, stopping the bullet before it could reach Mikado’s head.

  It was a feat no human being could have achieved—which was obvious, given that it was a shadow that had done it. But Mikado knew who was responsible. And before he could say that name out loud…

  She descended from the sky.

  Straddling a headless horse instead of a motorcycle.

  Wearing pitch-black armor instead of a riding suit.

  And holding a head at her side, under an arm.

  QRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

  When he saw her descending to the roof down a path made of shadow, her headless horse whinnying somehow, Masaomi forgot about the pain in his leg and simply stared in wonder.

  “What…is this?” Then he looked at the head she was holding and shouted, “H-hey…that head! Isn’t that…Mika Harima from your class, Mikado?!”

  “No…it’s not, Masaomi. It looks like her, but it’s not her.”

  Stunned, Mikado addressed the woman who descended near the edge of the rooftop: Celty Sturluson.

  “Is that you…Celty?”

  “…”

  The eyes of the head under her arm turned to Mikado. Without emotion, her mouth opened. The words that emerged, unlike the ones earlier, were not addressed to every person touched by the tendrils of shadow. They were audible only to the young men on the rooftop with her.

  “Human boy. You are…Mikado Ryuugamine.”

  “Huh?”

  It was as though she’d never met him before. Mikado was confused.

  Celty used her shadow to draw the guns closer to her. Within moments, the shadow essentially dissolved them.

  “I do not know what my body said to you, but my existence is not a reason for you to desire what comes beyond death.”

  The separated weapon parts scattered across the rooftop.

  “It would seem that the presence of my body in this city registered the strongest effect upon you.”

  “Effect…?”

  “So, human boy, I choose to make a parting statement individually to you,” Celty said, her shadow writhing around her. “After I recovered my consciousness, I spread my shadow through the sky over this city so that I could collect information. I could not have guessed that I’d spent the last twenty years wandering about this distant, foreign land.”

  “Celty, what do you mean…?” Mikado asked, baffled.

  Just then, the sound of fresh footsteps came from the emergency stairs.

  “Ryuugamine…and Kida?!”

  “Masaomi!”

  Both of the boys turned toward the new voices.

  “…Sonohara?!”

  “Saki?! Why…why are you here…?”

  And they weren’t the only ones. Seiji Yagiri and Mika Harima were coming up behind them.

  The group had been trotting down the sidewalk, as Kadota had instructed, but weren’t sure where they should be heading. Should they leave Saki and the other noncombatants somewhere safe, then head to Russia Sushi, where Nasujima was located?

  It was at this time that they heard a third gunshot overhead.

  “?!”

  And after that, the scream of a boy’s familiar voice.

  “Mikado!”

  At the sound of Masaomi’s voice, they looked up and around—until they spotted the shadow looking especially thick over one building rooftop. They rushed toward the building’s exterior emergency stairs, fighting against their own unease.

  And when she reached the roof, Anri was finally there. She saw Mikado, the person she wanted to see most, and felt relief flood through her. In fact, she threatened to burst into tears.

  But the situation she saw there prevented her from having the moving reunion she wanted.

  “Masaomi…?”

  He was crawling along the surface of the roof, while behind him stood a headless horse.

  Sitting on the horse was a knight, carrying a head under its arm with the same face as Mika Harima, who was just behind Anri at the moment.

  “Is that…Celty?”

  Outside of Tokyu Hands

  When Shizuo’s vision recovered from the blinding flash, he saw a bizarre new sight around him:

  A crowd of red-eyed people and bikers were tied up, their limbs tangled in black shadows. For some reason, however, he was unfettered and free. After a brief glance around, he saw that there was no Izaya Orihara present, just a bloodstain on the ground.

  “…”

  That briefly rekindled the rage that Vorona’s interference had stilled, but the thought of her put her at the forefront of his mind. The place where she’d been standing a moment ago was now occupied by Tom, Simon, and Denis—caring for an unconscious Vorona.

  “Vorona!” he shouted, rushing to her side, ignoring the blood dripping from all over his body.

  “Shizuo… Hey, man, you all right?!” Tom asked.

  Shizuo nodded. “I’m fine. But Vorona…,” he prompted.

  Simon and Denis offered their reassurances. “Oh, she only knocked out. When she wake up, I give her hot cup of tea.”

  “She’s hurt here and there, but nothing life-threatening. That stun grenade hit her when she was already exhausted. Apparently, it was too much for her to handle at once.”

  “Why…why would she do this…?” Shizuo wondered, recalling what she’d been doing before the grenade went off.

  “Well, I only saw a bit of it,” said Denis, “but I’d say she didn’t want you to have a murder on your conscience.”

  “…Oh.”

  This put many different thoughts into Shizuo’s head. If he had killed Izaya, perhaps she would have thought that he had become a murderer to avenge her.

  …I’m…still weak…

  I’m sorry, Vorona.

  Shizuo breathed in deep and exhaled slowly, and this time, he pushed his smoldering hatred of Izaya deep down into his gut.

  But if I happen across him loitering around, I can’t guarantee I won’t kill him out of sheer momentum, he thought to himself, giving the scene another examination. He found his eye drawn to one sight in particular.

  “…What’s that?”

  He was looking not at Izaya—but at an old f
riend in a white lab coat, walking down the middle of the street with the aid of a crutch.

  The rooftop of a mixed-use building

  “I found her…my beloved.”

  “…”

  Mika Harima met Seiji Yagiri’s mumbled statement with silence. She glared at the head under the dark knight’s arm. Masaomi looked at her and back, wincing with both pain and confusion.

  “H-huh…? That is the same face, isn’t it…?”

  “Masaomi! Forget that—we’ve got to stop your bleeding!” Saki cried, rushing over to examine him. The next moment, shadows writhed around Masaomi’s leg, covering up the bullet wound and stopping the bleeding.

  “Aaagh!” he yelped, briefly jumping from the pain, but the next moment, the shadow wriggled in complex motions, then spat out the little bullet that had been wedged deep in his leg.

  “?!”

  “I do not condone that my body should have sparked a conflict that leads to the loss of life. I cannot erase the memories of those who know me, but I will at least minimize the victims before I leave,” said the figure, her words simple and economical.

  “This isn’t your fault, Celty… It’s all my fault!”

  “Human boy. Let me ask you: If you had not met the Headless Rider, would you still be here in this place, shooting your friend with a gun?”

  “…!”

  Mikado had no way to refute this. He had set up the Dollars, and when they had come together for their first in-person meeting, it had materialized the extraordinary sight of the Headless Rider and brought him into her orbit.

  If that hadn’t happened, then Mikado might still just be a normal high schooler right about now, and he might not have become estranged from Masaomi and Anri.

  “By being in this town, my existence caused Yagiri Pharmaceuticals to go astray, Seiji Yagiri to drown in a meaningless love, and Mika Harima to give up the face she was born with.”

  “Meaningless love…? What does she mean?” Seiji asked. He was gazing at the living head, his face the very picture of bliss.

  Celty did not reply to him. She continued her speech.

  “These are only a few examples. Many people here have found their lives manipulated and twisted out of shape by the illusion of the Headless Rider.”

  “Celty…? What are you saying?” Anri wondered, worried.

  The dullahan’s head looked at her and said without any discernible emotion, “I will be direct, girl of the cursed blade. I have no memory of living around you people. I am simply telling the truth as I have reconstructed it from the information I’ve collected.”

  “What…?”

  “It is clear that my presence has caused the gears of this city to go out of alignment. That much should be obvious, just from looking at this day’s chaos alone.”

  “No…it’s not! You’re wrong! It’s not your fault, Celty!” Anri shouted. “There are people whose lives were improved and saved because they met you! People like me…”

  “Girl of the cursed blade, salvation is but another kind of misalignment.”

  “Huh…?”

  “I am nothing but a system. Following a greater will, I exist within a limited area, warning chosen individuals of their death. There is no need for you humans to know the meaning behind this, and knowing it would not bring you any understanding.”

  She sat astride the horse, imperiously observing the shocked crowd of young people.

  “I regret that you have wasted your time being manipulated by a system that was not meant to exist in this place. It is an outcome that leaves no one happy.”

  Then she produced a path into the sky from the shadow at her feet and pulled on shadow-made reins to point the horse toward it.

  “I will return to my homeland and my purpose. By offering my words of parting to Mikado Ryuugamine, the human whose fate was most disturbed by his proximity to me, I conclude my duties within this city. Forget about me, human.”

  “Hey, wait…wait up!” Seiji called out, stumbling toward her, but the black shadow tangled around his foot and sent him tumbling to the ground.

  “You did not fall in love with me, only an individual part of me. I have no obligation or desire to return that emotion,” Celty replied robotically, in the very systematic form she had described.

  “I’m not giving up! If you’re going back home, then I’ll go to the other side of the world for you!” he yelled, still tangled up, a true stalker.

  As she watched Mika rush over to him, Anri Sonohara silently issued her own disagreements.

  That’s not true. Celty is lying.

  The one who’s had the deepest connection to her…

  The one whose life was the most changed by her…

  She was just about to speak out loud, to utter the name of the man who would make Celty pause, when…

  “Celty…you’re being a liar today.”

  The man spoke for himself, standing behind her.

  It was not a powerful voice. If anything, it was gentle.

  But it carried across the rooftop, crystal clear—and caused the headless horse to pause its forward motion.

  Celty did not reply to him. She swung the reins.

  “…What is it, Shooter? Move.”

  It was as though she couldn’t hear his voice.

  Instead, the man behind Anri declared, “Let’s see. Did you perhaps mean, ‘Move it, Shooter. If you stop now, then the point of lying will be lost’? Or am I mistaken about that?”

  “…”

  The head under the dark knight’s arm swung around toward him. It caught sight of Shinra Kishitani dressed in his coat, looking notably clear-eyed and gazing right back at her.

  “Human… Who are you?”

  Anri was shocked.

  It wasn’t only her. Mikado, who was aware of their relationship, looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  But Shinra himself just smiled gently and said, “All right. That one’s more like ‘Why are you here? Seeing you only makes the parting more difficult, so I thought that pretending not to have any memory of you would make you give up! And why are you talking under the assumption that I haven’t lost my memory anyway?!’”

  He was speaking her mental state aloud, imagining her thoughts the way a stalker might his victim. The head did not show any emotional reaction, however.

  “What? What is this human saying?”

  “I don’t doubt that you have recovered your memory. But I also trust you that much. I believe that you still have your memories of this city.”

  “What nonsense is this? I have no memory of the last twenty years.”

  “Either way, I don’t care. It was just a hope of mine. See, simply talking with you has cleared it up for me. I knew you were a kind and gentle soul, Celty. You’re too kind, in fact.”

  Shinra was not uninjured. He had dulled the pain, but his condition demanded that he stay bedridden, just like Kadota. He rapped his crutches together, however, not giving away any signs of discomfort.

  “Ah, let’s see. This one is more like ‘Stop it! I’m not meant to be here! My presence caused you to be terribly injured, and it completely ruined Mikado’s life!’”

  “This is a waste of time. I do not understand what you are saying.”

  “‘All I wanted to do was clear up the confusion in the city before I disappeared for good! I figured that if they found out I was a cold, cruel monster at heart, they would all want to forget about me! So if I act like I’ve lost my memory of them, they’ll all give up on me! And you’re the one I want to forget me the most, so why are you ruining this for me?!’ …Is that right?”

  “Nonsense.” Celty snorted, head facing in his direction.

  But Shinra just smiled at her. “Don’t be like that. Look at me, Celty.”

  “…”

  The head was already looking at Shinra, though. It was her body that had its back to him.

  “Enough, human. Your ramblings are nonsense.”

  “Whoa!”

&nbs
p; She extended her shadow to spin around Shinra and tangle him up. With her back still facing him, she kicked lightly at Shooter’s flank.

  “Go.”

  Qrrrrrrrrrr, Shooter trilled, stamping his hooves on the spot without stepping forward. He seemed to be pushing her, urging her, but Celty ignored it.

  “Go! Yah! Yah! Move, Shooter!”

  But by this point, Mikado and the others understood: Shinra was probably correct.

  “Celty…”

  “Wait, Celty!”

  Anri and Mikado called out to her. Shooter gave another mournful whinny, then began to walk up the path of shadow stretching into the sky. Celty said nothing more; she simply rode onward up into the darkened expanse.

  As though she wanted to melt into the deep of the night and vanish entirely.

  Mikado and the rest, left behind on the rooftop and unable to speak their minds aloud, felt a terrible sense of powerlessness. But then a new voice joined the scene.

  “Hey…was that Celty who just flew off?”

  They spun around to the source and found Shizuo there, lacerations bleeding all over his body.

  “Shizuo…?!” they yelped in shock.

  Afterward, a single man rose to his feet and greeted him. “Hi there, Shizuo. Good timing.”

  It was Shinra, who had somehow freed himself from the bonds of Celty’s shadow.

  “Yeah, well, I saw you going up this building… Then I spotted what looked like Celty and Shooter on the roof, so I climbed up here… What’s going on?” Shizuo wondered.

  Shinra chuckled. “What’s going on? Well, I’m about to become a villain.”

  “What?”

  “Shizuo, do you remember the promise we made back in high school?”

  “…?”

  Whatever Shizuo was expecting, it was not a reference to his school days. But behind his smile, Shinra’s eyes were deadly serious, so Shizuo decided to hear him out.

  “…Remind me.”

  “That if I became a villain for the sake of the woman I loved…you would smash me to the other end of the sky for her.”

  “…Oh yeah. I remember that.”

  “Now’s the time,” Shinra said, staring up at where Celty was vanishing into the dark of the night. “I’m about to do something terrible to Celty. But she’s so kind and gentle, I’m sure that she’ll forgive me for it.”