Durarara!!, Vol. 6

by Ryohgo Narita

  “So, um, who is…?”

  Just at that moment, the phone in his shirt pocket started buzzing.

  —!

  That sound dragged Mikado back to reality.

  The shock of their carriage escape had driven out all thoughts of the Dollars and the danger facing them and him both, a fact that he recalled at last.

  What…what should I do?

  The sense of confusion from the factory returned at once. But if he bottled it all up himself, he would only repeat his anguish from that scene all over again.

  He looked at Celty. His problem seemed like the kind of thing he couldn’t tell anyone about, but here was someone who actually knew that he was a founder of the Dollars. He made up his mind to ask her…

  “Oh, this is Akane. She seems to know Mr. Heiwajima somehow,” Anri said, picking up on what Mikado started to ask earlier and introducing the girl to him.

  “Huh? Oh, uh, right.” Mikado came back to his senses. If he told Celty all about his problems, Anri would learn everything. And in doing so, he would involve her in his mess just by her presence here.

  What the hell am I doing? How could I not realize something as basic as that?

  He was even more confused than he realized. Mikado decided that what he needed most was to rest his mind.

  Yes, I was the one who started the Dollars. So I’m responsible for what happens…

  He’d had this thought in one form or another for a long time. But this particular instance was too much for him to handle on his own, and the stakes were too high for him to keep it to himself.

  He knew that. Mikado knew that.

  Which raised the question: Who to tell?

  Celty would be the quickest answer, as she knew who he was, but between those stone-faced men earlier and this little girl, she seemed to have some issues of her own to deal with.

  Another person who knew him as a founder of the Dollars was Izaya Orihara, but they’d just talked on the phone this morning. He couldn’t call him again for help so quickly.

  But this probably isn’t the time to hesitate about………

  Then, he remembered one other person who probably knew about him.

  Masaomi…

  He didn’t know how much Masaomi had learned through that squabble between the Yellow Scarves and Dollars. But he probably should assume that his status as founder was a known fact. For example, that warning from the chat room yesterday could be taken as a prediction of today’s events happening to Mikado.

  Thanks, Masaomi. If it wasn’t for that warning…I might have been intimidated by Aoba into doing what he wanted, Mikado thought, not realizing that the Bacura he was thanking wasn’t actually his longtime friend.

  But Aoba isn’t…normal. At this rate, he’ll get what he wants from me…and take over the Dollars.

  That’s the last thing I want.

  The Dollars can’t belong to someone specific. That’s not how it works.

  He murmured a few generic comments to convince Anri that he was listening, but on the inside, Mikado was steeling his resolve.

  I’ll talk to Izaya.

  I can’t ask him to solve everything for me, but if I talk to him, I might see a direction to move forward.

  He had no idea that this was the same route his former best friend Masaomi had already taken.

  And without realizing that this same course of action led Masaomi to disaster—Mikado began to feel a kind of safety in the idea of Izaya.

  While this was going on, Celty was trying to type up an explanation of why the girl was here.

  “Well, how do I explain this? I was asked to protect her for a job. I can provide more detail when we get up to Shinra’s apartment.”

  Mikado’s phone vibrated at that moment. It had gone off a number of times while he was strapped into the carriage, but naturally, he hadn’t been in any state to check his text messages.

  It could be about Aoba’s group getting up to no good after he ran off. He had no idea what was happening in that abandoned factory right now.

  He opened the messages list, wondering if he’d find out new information about that, and selected the most recent one at the top.

  It came from one Nakura.

  Oh, I recognize that name. They write on the Dollars’ board sometimes, Mikado recalled, but that was the extent of his connection to the name.

  But the title, “Crucial intel!” naturally piqued his interest.

  It might be a dud, but Nakura had been registered on the Dollars’ site from a fairly early stage of its existence.

  The e-mail contained both the message body and a photo attachment.

  “…?”

  Mikado’s face went briefly blank when he saw the contents.

  With his wits already slightly scrambled in this situation, he didn’t have the ability to put together what this Nakura person was saying.

  Or perhaps he did—and just didn’t want to admit it.

  “…No way,” he gasped the moment the meaning of the message sank in.

  “…Mikado?” Anri asked with concern.

  “What’s the matter?” Celty added.

  But Mikado’s ears and eyes did not take in these words.

  His every nerve was focused on the screen of the phone, trying to formulate a hypothesis that might explain that it was just a mistake.

  But no matter how many times he reread the text, the letters stayed the same, and the faces in the attached photo were still there.

  “No…no, you can’t!” he mumbled in disbelief. He looked up with a violent start, then bowed to Celty and Anri. “I’m sorry, Celty! I—I’ve got to go somewhere, right now! Sorry to you, too, Sonohara! You should just head home; I don’t think I’ll make it out of this today! Also, if Aoba tries to contact you, whatever you do, don’t answer!”

  “Huh…? M-Mikado?”

  “Hello?”

  Anri and Celty were confused by Mikado’s sudden change. Akane twitched.

  But he merely bowed to the three women—and like a fugitive under pressure darted out of the parking garage.

  Near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building vicinity

  On a side street right off a busy national route, two motorcycles were parked in a hidden spot with a good view of Shinra and Celty’s apartment building.

  At the mouth of an alley, one of the riders had a map open, suggesting to any passing drivers that they were looking for a shortcut around the busy area.

  As a matter of fact, the map was camouflage—Vorona and Slon were looking over it toward the place where the black station wagon had entered.

  As they tracked the Black Rider’s strange carriage, it suddenly entered a side alley. The bikers continued to prowl around the block, pretending to have been thrown off the trail so they could watch the far exit of the alley. Instead, they saw a strange black station wagon emerge. It was hard to tell from a distance, but the vehicle gave off no reflection, as if it were absorbing all light.

  They watched the station wagon until it slipped into the basement garage, waited to confirm that no other vehicles emerged, and decided that they’d found the right building. But…

  “Someone just came out,” Slon noted.

  Vorona glanced over without moving her head. “It’s the boy Black Rider was ferrying. Actions seem to be solitary…”

  “In any case, we can pretty much assume that building is the Black Rider’s hideout.”

  “Too soon. Perhaps they merely hid in the parking lot temporarily.”

  “All right… What about the boy, then?” Slon asked.

  Vorona hesitated. He had no direct connection to their contract. But given that he was surrounded by three different targets—the Black Rider, Akane Awakusu, and the mysterious girl in glasses—he couldn’t just be a random passerby. Perhaps they could turn him into bait to lure out one or more of the targets.

  Vorona noted the boy’s alarmed behavior and decided, “Boy’s identity is target for consideration. I will follow him. Request Slon remains
here to continue pursuit of Black Rider and bespectacled girl. Please understand.”

  “Understood—I’m on it.”

  Vorona rode forward onto the national route and rolled along slowly, following the boy without overtaking him.

  The gaze that she poured onto his back was that of a cold-blooded predator tracking frantic prey.

  Basement garage

  “Ah…M-Mikado!” Anri called out, startled by his sudden departure.

  But he continued without stopping up the ramp to the surface and vanished.

  “I wonder what happened…,” she murmured nervously.

  Behind her, Celty’s helmet tipped downward in thought. What could it be? It looked like he was examining a Dollars message…

  It was probably a notice that Yumasaki or one of his other acquaintances was under attack by Toramaru, she expected, and she opened her own phone to check.

  Let’s see. The newest message is…

  Celty froze.

  As soon as the e-mail body and photo attachment loaded, she understood why Mikado just took off running.

  In fact, she wanted to go racing away, too, but Akane’s worried look came into view, giving her the power she needed to stifle that impulse.

  “Um, what’s the matter, Celty?” Anri asked. Celty wondered whether or not she should show it to her.

  But Anri’s piercing gaze won out, and Celty dropped her shoulders in defeat—and showed her the phone.

  When the girl took it and glanced at the screen, she saw…

  FROM: Nakura

  SUBJECT: Crucial intel!

  BODY: So the Dollars are under attack by this motorcycle gang called Toramaru.

  Well, I just saw their leader’s GF eating out in Ikebukuro!

  I don’t have the guts to attack them, but if anyone else can, good luck!

  It’s the girl on the left in the photo!

  The message was simple.

  The attached photo was of a number of young women.

  It was from a camera phone and framed so that anyone familiar with Ikebukuro could instantly tell where they were.

  The photo was taken clandestinely while they were eating, so no one was looking at the camera.

  The girl on the far left of the picture looked youthful and naive.

  Huh? Wait a minute…

  Anri saw the face inside her picture frame to the outside world.

  She realized that she’d actually seen this face before and quite recently.

  But before she could recall why the girl looked familiar, she noticed the girl on the right edge of the photo.

  …Oh…

  Kamichika…?

  It was Rio Kamichika—the very girl she’d run into at random just minutes earlier. It was indeed Anri and Mikado’s classmate in the picture, but Anri was able to remain calm.

  Let’s see… And this Nakura person in the Dollars…is saying that they should capture Kamichika’s friend on the side…

  It was happening in the world inside the frame. To Anri, this event might as well be happening on the other side of the planet.

  But the boy Mikado had seized Anri’s arm from her spot before the painting—and started to drag her into the other side.

  Whether Mikado actually wanted this to happen or not was irrelevant to Anri.

  “Celty,” she said, suppressing a particularly violent wave of cursed chanting and staring at the dullahan with great purpose, “I’m going, too.”

  Celty considered forcing the girl back but realized that Anri probably wouldn’t listen to her, anyway. She gave up and typed, “The people from yesterday might attack again, so don’t go anywhere without folks around. I don’t think even you can handle being shot with guns. And I recommend being back by nightfall.”

  “Of course…oh, and…thank you! Don’t worry, Akane. She’s very nice, so you can wait here with the doctor, okay?”

  And just like Mikado had done moments before, Anri bowed and rushed off.

  Her pace was much faster and stronger than her appearance and manner would lead one to imagine.

  “Do you read me, Vorona?”

  “Affirmative.”

  Slon was testing that the wireless communication devices in their helmets were working.

  Vorona’s motorcycle was just barely within sight for him, but the boy they were tracking was invisible behind the passing cars.

  Slon glanced in that direction for just an instant, then back to the girl running down the sidewalk on the far side of the street.

  “It’s the target girl with the glasses. She’s racing like hell after the kid.”

  “Chasing after the boy? Absence of mistake?”

  “…Yep, seems pretty certain to me. I’m not seeing the Black Rider yet, though.”

  “Understood. I will follow both the boy and the girl. Catch two birds in a bush,” Vorona replied simply.

  Slon joked, “That’s not how the saying goes. I’m sure you can handle it, but remember, we don’t know anything about the boy, either. It’s hard to believe that girl produced a katana from her stomach, but we’ve seen that Black Rider monster in action, too. Watch out if his hand suddenly turns into a gun.”

  “Affirmative. He will be worthy opponent.”

  Vorona’s voice lilted somewhat through the wireless, revealing to Slon that she was in a state of excitement.

  “…Enjoying yourself, Vorona?” he muttered.

  Her expression did not change, but there was an element of ecstasy to her voice as she murmured something to herself.

  “Presume the boy is also unnatural. I welcome that situation for its own merit.”

  Somewhere in the Kanto region

  Izaya made his way through the express train packed with vacationers from car to car as it took them away from Tokyo.

  At the connection to the two-story green car, right where the stairs separated the two floors, he quietly pulled out his phone to check his messages.

  This was not from the Dollars’ mailing list, but Izaya Orihara’s own information network.

  He checked over some reports, and his face twisted with pleasure.

  So, Mikado…which path will you take?

  Whichever one you choose, it is certain to entertain.

  Ahh, I just can’t wait. This is why I can never give up people watching.

  He grinned gleefully, but that expression changed dramatically when another face floated into his head.

  …Seems like Shizu’s doing his best to stay on the run. He should just fight back.

  That weirdly calm part of him is detestable.

  At that point, his phone buzzed with a new call.

  The incoming call screen read: “Awakusu-kai Shiki.”

  Izaya thought it over, then powered down his phone and muttered to himself.

  “Out of respect to your fellow passengers, please do not engage in phone calls while on the train…”

  Near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building, Shinra and Celty’s place

  “…No answer.”

  Shiki shut his phone.

  “Were you calling someone in your group?”

  “No, Doctor, your friend. The one who isn’t Shizuo,” Shiki murmured coolly.

  Shinra shrugged and protested, “You make it sound like I only have two friends to choose from.”

  “There’s more?”

  “No,” he admitted.

  But Shiki was already lost in thought.

  I figured that Izaya would know something about this…

  Something’s wrong. If it wasn’t Shizuo Heiwajima who hit our guys…then who was it?

  As a matter of fact, Shiki himself was starting to doubt the assumption that Shizuo Heiwajima was their culprit. Part of that was what Shinra had said earlier, but more importantly, Shizuo had no motive.

  But what reason would there be to kill men of their stature with bare hands?

  …Was it the serial killer Hollywood? he wondered, recalling the freak they’d been chasing a while back.

  Hollywo
od’s true identity is Ruri Hijiribe. It’s hard to believe because I didn’t see it myself, but if the other guys can be trusted, she’s got some kind of superhuman strength. And Ruri Hijiribe is in a relationship with Yuuhei Hanejima, Shizuo’s little brother…

  So there’s a connection, but it’s a very unnatural one. First of all, why would Ruri Hijiribe kill the Awakusu-kai now, of all times, especially when they were no longer after her? If it was meant to be a warning, wouldn’t she allow herself to be seen for the message to be clear?

  …Let’s ask a different question: Who would stand to gain if our guys…no, if Director Mikiya’s guys got killed?

  It was an occupational hazard that Mikiya, the waka-gashira and future head of the Awakusu-kai, had many enemies.

  If they looked at this aggression as being against the Awakusu-kai as a whole, rather than a pointed move against Mikiya’s agents, the number of potential suspects would skyrocket.

  But if this was a direct play against Mikiya himself, a number of those close by might rise to the top of the list.

  I don’t want to think about that.

  Now that Mikiya, the company president’s son, was set to inherit the lead, there would naturally be some other senior members who did not think highly of this favoritism.

  Aozaki chief among them. Akabayashi…might seem to have little interest in leading at first glance, but…

  The officers Aozaki and Akabayashi were very different men, but they were both famed and feared battlers who’d been known for years as the “Blue Ogre and Red Ogre of Awakusu,” respectively. Their presence or absence would have a significant effect on the sheer muscle power of the organization.

  Aozaki indeed had his doubts about the worthiness of Mikiya to lead the group in the future, especially when compared to his own prowess. In deference to Dougen Awakusu, their boss, he followed Mikiya’s orders, but they often clashed over this and that.

  Akabayashi, unlike the straightforward and easy-to-read Aozaki, was an aloof man whose motivations were often inscrutable. His flashy-patterned suits and bizarre canes were meant to give him the appearance of a clown and helped him hide his true intentions.