And just as Vorona started to move back to the truck’s rear door—Shizuo was airborne.
He leaped into the truck at a diagonal angle from above.
From Vorona’s perspective, he might as well have teleported there.
She swung her gun to face him without missing a beat, but Shizuo’s absolute speed was a hair faster. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle and clenched his hand. It bent as easily as if it were a plastic straw. Vorona judged that firing might cause an explosion and promptly let go of the weapon.
She crouched down, sweeping her leg in an attempt to knock him down out of the truck bay—but he steadied himself against the wall and caught her kick right where it was aimed.
…!
A painful sensation shot through Vorona’s leg, as if she had kicked the wall of the truck herself—or more accurately, kicked a large hunk of metal welded to the truck.
Hand-to-hand combat…is pointless.
She pushed back on her numb foot to put space between her and Shizuo, pulling a spare pistol from near her feet and pointing it at him…
But where do I aim?!
The gun in her hands was quite small caliber, and the bullets loaded didn’t have much piercing power, either. Ordinarily, that actually made them more lethal to humans, but in this particular individual’s case, she had no confidence that it would pierce his wall of muscle. And her attempt to stab him with the Spetsnaz knife had stopped just under the skin.
…But he cannot strengthen his eyeballs.
Vorona instantly shifted her aim to his face.
I wish we could have had a proper fight. I’m sorry…
Was that silent apology meant for her opponent or herself for failing to satisfy her desire?
But this was not the time to hesitate. Before Shizuo could react, she pulled the trigger…
Pulled…
Pulled…
But not all the way.
?!
The trigger would not move farther.
She glanced down and saw—a black shadow tangled right around her gun.
Impossible! It’s the Black Rider!
She spun around to see that there was the Black Rider’s motorcycle, right behind them.
That completely silent bike.
Vorona had never even conceived of a vehicle with such excellent sneaking ability.
Just then, a voice came through her helmet.
“Hold on tight!”
Celty felt relief flood into her breast when she confirmed that the woman’s gun was not going to fire. Even Shizuo couldn’t walk away from being shot in the face at that range, she suspected.
I mean…normally that would be fatal. But anyway…good boy, Shooter! Way to not make any noise! Now, if I can just subdue that strange woman with my shadow…
She raised her right hand and prepared to exude a fresh one. But before she could, the truck went from moving along at a good clip to a sudden slam on the brakes.
Oh no…!
The rear of the truck rushed up to meet her, and Celty had to pull sideways in an emergency brake. She was just a bit too late—Shooter made contact with the truck and toppled over.
Celty quickly exuded shadow toward the asphalt, creating a temporary training wheel that helped push up the fallen motorcycle into a standing position again.
Absolute insanity! What about Shizuo…?
She turned to face the truck again.
Inside the rear…
The moment the truck hit the brakes, Shizuo promptly punched through the side wall of the vehicle. That successfully kept him from being thrown out of the car, and he took that moment to glance again at the girl stashed at the innermost part of the rear bay.
Yep. That’s Akane, all right.
Then, he noticed that the truck’s sudden braking had caused part of its stack of cargo to collapse. A box fell down onto the table, upon which was an array of knives, some of which flipped upward and started to descend right toward the helpless girl.
!
The next thing he knew, Shizuo had ripped his arm free of the wall and was jumping forward. The force of his jump was so powerful that a piece of the floor was pulverized. It propelled him through the air so that he shot to cover Akane’s body like a cannonball—and the knives hit his back instead.
He felt a faint twinge of pain at the impact but turned back toward the rear door of the truck, otherwise unaffected.
There was Celty, recovered from her fall and sidling up to the vehicle again. Shizuo picked up Akane, bolted to his feet, and leaped with the strength of a wildcat.
!
Vorona tensed, certain he was going to attack her—but he had no thought for her at all. Shizuo jumped straight out of the truck altogether.
This action might have been unthinkable for Shizuo just a few years earlier.
Who would have predicted that he would not give in to a thunderous rage, but instead prioritize the safety of another person—a girl he barely knew, in fact?
But his troubles with Saika had taught Shizuo how to utilize his strength, and now he was leaping out of the truck to keep Akane safe.
Normally, jumping out of a moving car would seem to be the opposite of keeping her safe—but Celty saw him leap out and fashioned a net of shadow that caught the two in midair.
He was enveloping the girl’s tiny body to keep it safe, and there was a good chance he’d have been successful, even without Celty’s help. But the dullahan couldn’t help but feel a cold sweat at her friend’s sheer recklessness.
…If there had been a dump truck coming up behind us, the poor girl could have died—and he’d still be fine…
While Celty lowered the two to the ground, the truck made its way onto Meiji Street. For the same reason as yesterday, she decided not to go in too deep.
…Akane’s safe, and that’s what matters, she told herself and glanced over at Shizuo. He had Akane untied now, and she clung to him, her eyes and shoulders trembling with emotion.
Thank goodness, Celty thought. But she was confused by what Akane said next.
“Why…?”
Shizuo looked back at her in confusion.
“Why…did you save me? I’m trying…to kill you…”
“…Wow, still present tense?” he snorted, but she looked at him doubtfully.
Huh?
“I mean…I mean…”
“Well, whatever… Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“That’s good to hear,” he said and smiled, not in the false way he did this morning, but a proper, hearty smile. He patted her head.
“If you got hurt, you certainly wouldn’t be able to kill me, then.”
She gazed at that smile uncertainly, but then her lips curved a bit, too, and she said, “Yeah…”
…
What are they talking about?
Wait, um…what’s going on?
And weren’t Shiki and Akane talking about something like this earlier…?
Without having the full context of the situation, all Celty heard was a rather violent and ominous conversation.
But they were both smiling, so she considered this a good sign and decided to send Shiki a message.
Raira Academy Field Two
“So what was today all about, anyway?” Yumasaki asked.
Kadota started to explain, but all that he could summon from his throat was a sigh. “Look…I’ll tell you over dinner.”
The hoodlums had run off, and Chikage had ordered his Toramaru mates to disperse, so out of the forty-plus who had been here previously, just Kadota and his friends remained. After their temporary evacuation, the hostage girls left, too, once they realized they were safe. They were talking about their plans to inform the police, so sooner or later, the unconscious man still stuck through the fence would get hauled in.
“Speaking of which, if we don’t move soon, we’ll get dragged in, too… What should it be? Simon’s?”
“I think Russia Sushi is temporarily closing early this evening.”
“Damn, really?” Kadota asked, slightly crestfallen.
Karisawa suggested, “Then, how about that Taiwanese place right near Russia Sushi? The one above the arcade.”
“Oh, the one at the bowling alley…? Good idea. Dang, we should have invited Chikage, too,” Kadota lamented.
The plan seemed settled, but then Karisawa stepped over a line. “You know, after your fight with that…Chikage guy? I saw some friendship budding there.”
“Please don’t get started on any corny shit.”
“Look, I’m just saying! From my perspective, that’s some real juicy shipping material right there!”
“…I get the feeling there’s a lot of stuff you won’t ever understand until you die a time or two,” Kadota grumbled.
Yumasaki joined the conversation to protest, “Karisawa! You know, it’s people like you who always see Boys Love material in honest rivalry and male friendships that are ruining things! That’s why whenever there are a ton of male characters, jerks just assume, ‘Oh, it’s just a fangirl bait series.’ Apologize! Repent for your actions!”
“Why? I mean, you can ship objects on objects and make it gay. Remember the other day, when we were arguing about which was the top and which was the bottom when pairing CD and DVD?”
“Just shut your mouths. You’re not even arguing the same topic!” Kadota snapped.
Things seemed back to normal already. The swelling around Kadota’s eye and the blood dripping from his mouth were ugly, but there was no pain or regret in his expression.
The others gathered around and were starting to debate whether the meal should be split evenly or all on Kadota when Yumasaki noticed Anri loitering around nearby and called out, “Oh, are you in, too, Anri?”
At that very moment, Karisawa snuck up and grabbed Anri from behind.
“Eek!”
“That’s right, Anri. I have so many questions for you today!” Karisawa leered, groping the poor girl all over. “Where did you hide that katana, huh? Are you really a Flame Haze? Or just a girl with glasses who loves to cosplay? Perhaps a busty, beautiful incarnation of the cursed blade Muramasa?”
“Knock it off, you lecherous creep,” Kadota said, pulling the older girl off Anri.
When Karisawa noticed how troubled Anri looked, she cracked a smile and said, “Or if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool. All girls have their secrets, after all.”
“That’s right. Even if you were a wicked demon lord plotting world domination, I bet we could treat you the same way we always have! In fact, a cute demon lord with glasses might make me want to get closer than—mlph!”
Kadota put his hand over Yumasaki’s mouth to shut him up and asked Anri, “What’s up? Looking for something?”
“Uh…sorry…,” Anri mumbled and bowed. She swiveled around on the spot.
“I don’t see…Mikado anywhere…”
On the street, next to Raira Academy Field Two
“Hey Rocchi, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I feel amazing. Your gentle caresses healed all my wounds, Non.”
“You liar. I hope Kiyo-puu or one of them chew you out again tomorrow, Rocchi,” Non protested, her cheeks flushed.
Chikage smirked. “If I kiss you, will you forgive me? Will Kiyo-puu forgive me, too?”
“I think you should probably just die.”
The couple walked along the narrow street toward the train station, flirting and pretend-arguing.
Chikage had already sent the Toramaru guys back home. Some of them had gotten knocked out at the abandoned factory, but the healthy ones collected them up, and Kadota was informed that they were leaving, thus ending the day’s hostilities.
It was hard to believe that the couple had been in the midst of violence and danger just minutes before.
They were interrupted by a youthful voice.
“H-hey, wait!”
“Hmm…?”
Chikage looked back and saw a boy standing in the middle of the alley, out of breath, bruised and beaten. “What’s up, kid? Coming back from a fight?” he asked.
He looked like he was either in middle school or early high school. Chikage had no idea what he was after, but he stopped and faced the boy.
Despite the unhealthy paleness in his cheeks, the boy looked at Chikage with bold intent and spoke.
“…I will…take responsibility.”
“Huh? For what?” the leader of Toramaru asked. Mikado tried to respond, but—
“Oh, Rocchi! That’s the kid I mentioned. The one who tried to save me, even though he was in the Dollars.”
“…!”
Non’s statement caused Mikado to close his mouth.
“Ah, gotcha… So you’re taking responsibility ’cause you couldn’t protect Non? That don’t matter. If anything, I wanna thank you.”
“N-no…it’s not…it’s not that!” Mikado protested. He summoned strength from the pit of his stomach. “I’m…I…I founded the Dollars.”
“…What?”
“I know what the Dollars did…to you and your friends… So the root cause of this whole war was me! So go ahead…do whatever you want to me. Just…please don’t mess with Ikebukuro anymore! I’m begging you…!”
Mikado was half expecting to be killed on the spot, such was the measure of his determination. He started to get down on the ground to prostrate himself.
But then Chikage’s hand grabbed his arm.
“Stop it. A man shouldn’t just grovel like that. Especially not in front of a woman—even if she’s already my girl.”
“…B-but…”
“You think this doesn’t make me look like a chump, having a kid begging to me like I’m a big shot, while I’m out with my girlfriend? And besides…you really expect me to believe a scrawny-lookin’ kid like you is the leader of the Dollars?”
“…”
Those words gouged at Mikado’s heart with their painful truth. He stared forward, holding his silence, and Chikage grinned a bit.
“But you don’t look like you’re lyin’ to me.”
“Th-then…”
“However. That doesn’t mean I can just take you at your word.”
“Huh…?”
“In my mind, the guy who started the Dollars is a real piece of shit who stays out of danger, watches his team grow, and pits them against one another…treats it like it’s all a big game.”
Mikado fell silent again; he wasn’t sure what that accusation meant. But the concept of a scumbag treating it all like a game was a shock to him. He realized that perhaps there was a part of that inside him.
Chikage put a hand on Mikado’s shoulder. He spoke slowly, letting his message sink in.
“There’s no way a guy with eyes this honest is the head of the Dollars.”
“…!”
“If you’re sayin’ you were actually the ‘start’ of the Dollars…then I got a warning for you. Let them go now. You’re too pure to shoulder that load.”
“Wha…?”
“The ordinary life suits you, kid. From my perspective, just bein’ able to live the proper life makes you worthy of respect… Guys like you shouldn’t be goin’ out of their way to come to this side.”
Did Chikage realize what he was saying, or was it all just a coincidence? His words were a blunt denial of Mikado’s entire existence. The boy could say nothing.
Before he left, Chikage said, “But if that doesn’t work for you, come to Saitama. You wanna go one-on-one, I’ll be there… Well, as long as I don’t have a girl with me. In either case, I’m not into hitting defenseless folks.”
Mikado watched him go—and never found a response.
He had no answer.
He didn’t understand the emotion flooding up inside of him.
He almost identified it as “frustration,” but he was so afraid to face that truth that he emptied his mind instead and stared into the sky.
Objectively, Mikado’s silence lasted less than a minute.
But t
o him, it felt like a compression of hours, days—even months of time.
If he admitted it to himself, his life would change. And that knowledge required enough mental fortitude that it squashed all that time into just a few seconds.
No…I wasn’t afraid of the Dollars changing and leaving me behind.
I was afraid of this city leaving me behind.
He crossed to the side of the street, rested an arm on a nearby light pole, and buried his face in his elbow.
But…I made a terrible mistake.
Before he faced off with Chikage, Mikado checked the latest Dollars update on his phone.
It said that the various squabbles around the area were being forcibly ended by the sudden arrival of Awakusu-kai muscle.
Most likely, some in the Awakusu got wind of the information and decided to clean up the incident before any of it made its way upward, like swatting at pesky flies.
In the end, all the trouble that surrounded them was essentially ordinary business for the adults in the Awakusu-kai, lurking deeper than the Dollars ever could.
That was what Mikado thought.
What he assumed.
It was my imagination that the city was passing me by.
I never caught up to the extraordinary parts of this city to begin with.
He just stood there, alone, tears flowing.
He bit his lip, stifling the sobs down in his throat.
And the boy cried amid the city of Ikebukuro, as though trying to devour all the sadness himself.
There was just one person watching him.
Mikado…
One young man who watched the boy from behind, fists clenched.
A youth about the same age as him: Masaomi Kida.
It was half coincidence that brought him to be present for this moment and half fate.
He had returned to Ikebukuro to assist his old friend Mikado from the trouble that plagued him. Through some connections, he found out what was happening with the Dollars and rushed to Raira Academy Field Two.
Somehow, he happened across that very scene between Mikado and Chikage on the way.
Masaomi hid around the corner out of sight, watching them. He heard Mikado’s statement of intent and the conversation that followed, and it made it impossible for him to emerge.
Durarara!!, Vol. 6 Page 19