Durarara!!, Vol. 10

by Ryohgo Narita

  “Please be careful what you say, President Yagiri,” the woman warned. A number of figures appeared behind her, men in suits from the black van. Two more showed up behind Seitarou from the other vehicle.

  “People like this can even override their own sense of pain for the sake of love.”

  “Huh…? Ah y-yes. You’re quite right, Kujiragi.”

  The use of the word love seemed to throw off Seitarou quite a lot, but he was too preoccupied to go into it. He was still grappling with the fact that he’d been momentarily frightened by his niece’s aggression.

  “You’re a very bad girl, Namie. Threatening your own uncle with violence!” the man scolded, conveniently omitting the fact that he just stated the intent to take his nephew hostage. Kujiragi had a set of thumbcuffs in her hands now, and she used them to chain Namie’s hands together, then motioned to the men to load her into the car.

  But Namie sprang to her feet on her own, defying them. “If you do…anything to Seiji…”

  She neither fled nor complied, summoning all the strength she had for one last proclamation: “I will use a machete…to flay all the skin off your bodies… I will melt your flesh with acid…and I will whittle your bones with a grater, starting with your toes…while you’re still alive… Hell, I’ll do it even if you’re dead already!”

  None of this threat was a lie in any way. Seitarou had known her since she was a child, but if he hadn’t witnessed her utter fury a moment earlier, he would have taken this for a tasteless bluff.

  Now he wasn’t so sure. Namie Yagiri was utterly intent on making good on her threat, Seitarou was certain of it. But he still held the upper hand. With Seiji Yagiri as his shield, she couldn’t harm him. She would prioritize the safety of her brother over her own life, he knew.

  “You have a filthy mouth, Namie.”

  “…”

  “Do you think Seiji will like someone who speaks of such violence? Not that he would ever pay attention to anything other than that head,” Seitarou taunted. That only inflamed Namie further. Behind her, Kujiragi’s eyes narrowed.

  On this day, Namie Yagiri vanished from Ikebukuro society.

  She vanished from the sight of Izaya, her employer.

  All the while, the only thought on her mind was of her beloved brother—the one thing more important than her own life.

  At that moment, Raira General Hospital

  As the night grew later, visiting hours concluded, and the hospital waiting room went quiet. Normally, there would be no one there at this point, but in fact, there were around ten people sitting silently in the general waiting area with pained expressions. Among them were Anri Sonohara and Erika Karisawa.

  Kadota was in his second surgery now. He’d been back and forth between the ICU and operating room, all without regaining consciousness. His father was in the waiting room immediately outside the operating room now that he was off work, but all nonfamily members were forced to wait in the general waiting area for news of the surgery’s outcome.

  While he wasn’t in critical condition anymore, he was far from safe. This worrisome state lasted for over an hour after the surgery began, and there was no sign of it ending anytime soon.

  All Anri could do was stare at the floor in distress. Karisawa turned to her and said, just quietly enough that only Anri could hear, “You don’t have to do this, you know. It’s boring waiting around, isn’t it?”

  Anri was quiet to begin with, and now her voice was barely audible. “No, I want to be here.”

  “Well, if you insist. But I’ve owed him so much over the years, and Azurin and Rei have crushes on Dotachin, so it makes more sense for us to stay.”

  Azurin and Rei were two of Karisawa’s cosplay friends, girls around Anri’s age or a bit older. She’d been around them on a few occasions over the last few days. Karisawa had revealed their affection for Kadota on their first meeting, right in front of them.

  The girls had looked panicked and bopped Karisawa’s shoulders with teary eyes, wailing, “Why would you just spill a secret that big?” But now they were sitting silently at the front of the waiting area, shoulder to shoulder, praying for Kadota’s recovery.

  “Trust me, they aren’t the only girls after Dotachin. He doesn’t realize it because he’s really dense, but the truth is, women are really into him,” Karisawa said, oddly detached, with her usual smile. “I bet you barely slept at all last night, Anri. I’m so sorry. This really isn’t your problem to worry about.”

  “That’s not true. I owe Kadota for his help on many occasions…”

  And for Ryuugamine and Kida, too, not just me…

  She chose not to mention that part and rushed past it by asking, “Have you slept at all, Karisawa?”

  Anri had gone back home already and only returned to the hospital when she heard about the second surgery. When she got there, all she saw was the smiling Karisawa in the waiting room, dark bags under her eyes.

  It wasn’t just Karisawa, either. Azurin—Azusa Tsutsugawa—and the others looked like they’d spent a sleepless night. Kadota’s father had gone to his daytime job without a wink of sleep and came to the surgery waiting room without any rest.

  “Enough about me. Everyone else here is more worried about Dotachin than their own health right now. In a sense, none of us can survive without him around.”

  “Huh…?”

  “Dotachin’s a genius when it comes to helping people. He can’t see someone in trouble and not do something. He’s such a stereotype that way—you don’t even see people like him in manga anymore. All you have to do is look at how many people here have been touched by his life to see what an old-fashioned helpful guy he is.”

  Anri thought back on the events of the day.

  After the news about Kadota’s accident, she tried to help Karisawa calm down the panicking Azusa and others, then followed them to the hospital. The visiting hours for the hospital were long over, but there was a group of ten to twenty people outside the hospital regardless. When she learned they were all people who rushed here out of concern for Kadota, Anri was amazed at the sheer power Kyouhei Kadota held.

  Once it was revealed he wasn’t in critical condition anymore, some of the people trickled away, but from what she’d heard, his visitors had been coming and going throughout the following day, and there had always been at least one person present for Kadota’s sake at any time.

  “Even though there’s no way to see him yet. Must be annoying for the hospital to have people constantly flowing in and out at all hours. Well, whaddaya gonna do?” Karisawa laughed, so gently that it would be easy to forget about the bags under her eyes.

  Anri could tell that her smile was helping ease her own nerves. But it also gave her another question to think about.

  Dozens of people had come to lend their support to Kadota over the course of the day. That said a lot about the feelings Kadota inspired, but there was something that bothered Anri about it: These people were those whom Kadota had helped in the past, but the most prominent of all had never shown up.

  She figured that person would be in the inner waiting room along with his family, but that didn’t explain why Karisawa was out here. After a few minutes agonizing over whether she should ask or not, Anri finally gave in to the unpleasant pressure burgeoning inside her.

  “Um…where are Yumasaki and, um, the van driver…?”

  Karisawa looked away for a few seconds. Instead of answering the question, she continued what she’d been saying earlier.

  “…You know, Dotachin acts all grumpy most of the time, but the truth is, he’s always searching for new ways to help.”

  “?”

  “Once he decides he’s on your side, even if you’re the kind of scumbag who ordinary people would cut ties with, he’s going to stick with you to the end. If you do something wrong, he’s going to chew you out,” Karisawa said, her voice steadily getting deeper and darker. Anri subconsciously held her breath. “You see, Dotachin’s our support…and our brakes.”


  “Brakes?” Anri wondered.

  Karisawa stared at the ceiling as she spoke. There wasn’t much of an expression on her face anymore, just like how she’d looked in her apartment, right after they first heard about the accident.

  “I guess it’s not entirely true that the reason I’m here is purely out of concern for him. I believe in my heart of hearts that Dotachin’s a lot tougher than the ordinary person.”

  “Then why…?”

  “The reason I’m here…is so that I can find the answer as soon as possible once he wakes up.”

  “?” Anri gave her a quizzical expression.

  Karisawa continued, “Then I’m going to call Yumacchi and Togusacchi and tell them all that Dotachin’s awake, and it’s all okay now.”

  Her voice was dry. There was no anger within it, but Anri found it intimidating nonetheless. A year ago, she might have been able to shrug that tone of voice off as someone else’s problem, but now that she was closer to a number of different people, she’d learned enough to sense the cold flames hiding behind it.

  Karisawa exhaled, glanced at Anri, then smirked self-deprecatingly. “Otherwise, they won’t stop.”

  “Won’t stop…?” Anri asked. Instantly, her brain told her she shouldn’t have asked this, but there was no going back now.

  In a voice so quiet no one else could hear, Karisawa admitted to her, “If they find out who did the hit-and-run before the cops do…I think they’re going to find the guy and kill him.”

  “…!”

  “Especially Yumacchi. Once he snaps, only Dotachin can stop him.”

  Anri knew this wasn’t an exaggeration. Because what Karisawa said next came with her typical smile.

  “That’s what I want to do, too.”

  Her smile told Anri’s instincts that this statement was the truth. The other girl could do nothing but allow Karisawa’s words to hang in the air as uncontested fact.

  The sounds of rain began filtering in from outside, moistening the mood within the quiet hospital. Naturally, Kadota was still unconscious—there’d been no word of the surgery being finished. Anri could feel the general unease around her generating into a different kind of fear.

  I wish I could be confident that I’m overthinking things…but this makes me worry that something bad might happen to Ryuugamine and Kida, too…

  It was just a nasty premonition with no evidence to back it up. But the ugly trend of events that she’d witnessed around her for the past six months seemed to be picking up momentum. She wanted to deny it, but there was nothing she could use to sweep the feeling away.

  The sound of the intensifying rain danced within her, matching the rhythm of the words of love that Saika sang from the inside.

  In a park, Tokyo

  At a central park in an area neighboring Ikebukuro, students from Kushinada High School were loitering in front of a convenience store close to the school.

  Kushinada was known in the area for having many delinquents. In the past, it had been a stout counterpart to Raijin High in Ikebukuro, but after Shizuo Heiwajima graduated, and Raijin combined with another school to become Raira Academy, it no longer had its old troublemaker reputation. That meant Kushinada High became the accepted kingpin of the schools in the area.

  The biggest thugs among the seniors were hanging out in front of the store when the rain began pouring down. The clouds that had been drenching Ikebukuro were over here now.

  “Aw shit, it’s raining.”

  “It’s not too bad yet.”

  “Damn, this new brand of pudding is so good.”

  The teenagers lounged around, largely unconcerned with the precipitation for now. They heard the sound of a car entering the parking lot. A van was coming their way.

  Normally, they wouldn’t care, but this vehicle had one extremely prominent feature that caught the delinquents’ attention.

  “Dude, are you shitting me?”

  “That is hella anime right there.”

  Drawn on the side door of the van was a beautiful anime girl, so prominently that no one could look away from it. That was the only part of the van that had any kind of anime print on it—the rest was ordinary. In that sense, anyone who was familiar with the concept of gaudily decorated itasha cars would consider this to be half-assed, but these teenagers had never even heard of the term, so it was all the same to them.

  “C’mon, let’s clown on this nerd.”

  They approached the vehicle as a pack and got ready to accost the driver when he stepped out of the van. Maybe they could even hit him up for his cash—but when the driver got out, the nearest boy was taken aback.

  Instead of an otaku dweeb getting out of the car, they saw a young man with mean eyes and an attitude that said he was clearly used to fighting and not keen to mess around.

  Ahh, might as well.

  They decided to go ahead with the plan anyway, but before they could accost him, the van driver said, “That’s Kushi High’s uniform, yeah?”

  “Huh? What you want, old man?”

  “Yeah, what’s it to you?”

  They crowded closer. The driver said, “You’re on summer vacation, but you’re wearing your uniforms to go out and harass people. Man, you guys never learn.”

  “What?! You disrespectin’ us, bitch?”

  In an instant, they had him surrounded. Tension was thick in the air.

  After a few seconds of intense stare downs, the situation was defused by a large youth who popped his head out of the store. “What the hell are you guys doing?”

  “Huh? Oh, this guy was starin’ us down, so…”

  The way they explained themselves made it clear that this new kid was the leader of their little group of hoodlums. All the group fury that had been ready to explode on the driver vanished as they waited for their orders.

  “What…?” The leader of the group squinted at the man they were surrounding. Then his eyes widened. “Oh, shit…that’s Mr. Togusa!”

  “Huh?!”

  The boys surrounding their target turned as one and gaped at Saburo Togusa.

  “Yeah… You’re the youngest Kurakawa brother, right?” Togusa asked.

  “You used to be like a hero to my brother! What’s the matter? Did these idiots say anything to you?”

  “I’m s-so sorry! I had no idea you were from our school!” the teens stammered, bowing their heads in apology upon a fierce glance from the larger boy.

  Togusa held up a hand to keep them from getting down on the ground to beg. “Don’t worry about it. I’m honestly just an alum now, that’s all. I didn’t come back here after five years to act like a big shot around the current students.”

  “Th-thank you, sir!”

  The younger students bowed and scraped repeatedly to him; the school was apparently quite strict on hierarchy. The leader, the one named Kurakawa, gave him just a single bow before asking, “So what brings you here today? You’re not just passing by, are you?”

  “No…I came by to see if I could ask something…”

  “…Is it about Kadota?”

  “Oh, so the news reached you, too?” Togusa chuckled with a little shrug. There was no mirth in his eyes.

  “Listen…we’d love to help you catch whoever did it, but…,” Kurakawa mumbled, trailing off.

  Togusa waved his hand. “No, I get it. I’m in the Dollars. You don’t want stories spreading around about Kushinada High bein’ part of the Dollars, do you? As a graduate myself, I get why that wouldn’t be great.”

  “…Sorry, sir. I appreciate it,” said Kurakawa, bowing again. That had saved him the trouble of having to admit something rather uncomfortable. Then the question occurred to him again. “Wait, but…then why are you here today?”

  Togusa gave him a gentle grin and said, “Actually, I was worried I might affect your ability to find a job and live your life.”

  “?”

  “Look, a graduate committing vehicular manslaughter isn’t going to help Kushinada High’s reputation
get any better, is it? I figured I should go and apologize to y’all first, rather than the teachers and staff, since you’re the ones who’ll be affected. If the worst should happen, I want you to pass the message on to everyone else.”

  “…?!”

  Kurakawa reacted to this statement of intent by glancing over at his buddies. “M-manslaughter…? You gonna kill the guy who ran over Kadota? That’s a joke…right?”

  Togusa didn’t answer the question. He watched the sky, where the raindrops were getting larger and fatter. “Well, Ruri didn’t get seriously hurt, so I was figuring her stalker could get off easy with just getting killed by a car…”

  Who’s Ruri? His girlfriend? they wondered. But his quiet pressure filled the air, and they couldn’t interrupt him to ask.

  “But this guy ran over one of our guys and drove away. Obviously, he’s gonna have to suffer hell. Am I wrong?” Togusa asked, flashing a smile. They couldn’t say a word. He continued, “So if whoever did that hit-and-run is one of your group, I don’t want you to hide ’em. That’s all I’m asking for.”

  As the rain beat harder and harder on the roof of the van, Togusa gave the younger kids one last warning and got back into the driver’s seat, leaving them speechless.

  “I’d hate to have to run over some kids from my old school.”

  The van left, and the rain came down even harder, but the teenagers were stuck in place. The sensation of cold water on their skin brought them back to their senses.

  The van with the anime print was gone. They had to wonder if what had just happened was nothing but an illusion.

  Part of the reason for that was the hope that the deep, homicidal glint in the other man’s smile was nothing but a dream.

  Parking garage, Tokyo

  As rain lashed the city, about ten boys were hanging out in a large karaoke room just outside the neighborhood. They didn’t show up there as a group but instead trickled in over time.

  They wore different outfits when they walked in, but once inside, they all took out new items to attach to themselves.