Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel)
Page 13
But then she introduced herself.
“My name is Haruna Niekawa.”
Near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building
“Saika loves by cutting? So she is a sadist, after all.”
“No, it’s not quite the same thing. To put it simply, she’s a cursed blade. Her voice can only reach her master, the one wielding her.”
“Right. So why doesn’t she just love her master?”
“The thing is, Saika wants to love all of humanity.”
“…?”
“Not a specific human. She fell in love with all of humanity as a species. For us, it would be like a dog lover. A dog person doesn’t just love one specific dog, they love all dogs. But that hardly ever advances to feelings of romance. No matter how much you love dogs, hardly anyone wishes to get married to their dog, and anyone who gets sexually turned on by a dog is a pervert. Then again, some people are like that…”
“Don’t get distracted.”
“Sorry, sorry! But don’t you see how crucial this is? Anyway, Saika fell in love with people. At first, it was just something she kept to herself. But after loving and loving and loving and loving and loving and loving and loving and loving and loving…thinking of just one human no longer satisfied her. So she began loving all of humanity, but that sentiment eventually came to a standstill… She wanted to express her love through action.”
“Action?”
“Yes, action. Humans express love in various ways, right? Through words, actions for the sake of the other, risking one’s life, offering protection, luring with money, giving in to lust, doing nothing, picking on or teasing, even killing them to ensure that they’re yours forever.”
“…And the latter is supposed to be ‘love’?”
“Twisted or not, as long as someone considers it a form of love, then it is. But Saika is a demonic blade. It has no body with which to love.”
“…”
“All she wanted was to touch someone. She wanted to unite herself with the flesh of the humans she loved. She wanted to sink into them. She wanted to insert herself into them.”
“This is starting to get vulgar. But…wait, doesn’t this mean…?”
“Yes.”
“In order to express her love, Saika chose to simply slash all of humanity. That moment of dissection is the only moment in which she is able to touch humankind. From flesh to blood to heart to life. See?”
Anri’s place
“Miss Sonohara…do you know why I came…to meet you?”
Anri and Haruna were sitting across from each other at the cheap little table. Haruna wore a fantastical, confident smile, while Anri’s face was plain with troubled concern.
Haruna Niekawa. It was the very person whom Anri had wandered the streets hoping to find earlier that night, but she had no idea why the girl was here. How had she even found her address?
Haruna was rumored to be Nasujima’s lover but had transferred to another school, those same rumors said. Anri didn’t know any details beyond that. She wanted to make contact with Haruna to learn what those details were—but now that they were face-to-face, she found it hard to ask.
But now there was an opening. Haruna herself had just asked the question: Why did she come to visit Anri? There was only one obvious commonality they shared.
“Is it about…Mr. Nasujima?” Anri summoned up her courage to ask. Haruna gifted her with an angelic smile. Anri took that as an affirmative and hastily clarified, “Oh, um, but you know I don’t like him at all, right? It’s just dumb rumors…”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Haruna answered swiftly.
Anri felt relief spread throughout her body. However…
“But I still love Takashi.”
“Huh…?”
Takashi was Nasujima’s first name. It was very strange to hear a girl just one year older than Anri, still wearing her school uniform, refer to him in such an informal way.
Feeling that this conversation might be going in an uncomfortable direction, Anri prompted the older girl.
“Um…were you in a relationship?”
“It was more than just a ‘relationship.’ We were madly in love. We were happy just confirming that fact, day after day. Forever. Forever and ever…”
Haruna’s eyes stared at nothing as she spoke, positively glowing. She must have been reliving past memories in her mind.
But just as quickly, her expression clouded over into sadness, and there was almost mourning in her voice as she looked straight into Anri’s eyes. Her eyes were beautiful and clear. But there was something eerie about them, an unfocused nature that made it hard to tell what she was actually looking at.
“But then one day, he rejected me… I was just trying to confirm my love for Takashi, like always. All I did was try to help our love take shape…”
Near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building
“Saika manipulates her wielder into attacking over and over. Over and over, she tries to confirm her love. In order for her love to take shape. In order to make sure her lover never forgets her…she pierces and wounds her victim’s body and mind at the same time.”
“As proof of love…?”
“Exactly. That’s how she’s loved. But those incidents only spanned a period of ten years or so. As the years went on, Saika vanished entirely. It would be one thing if she’d grown tired of loving and had simply lost interest in humans…but based on the posts on the Net, I’d say she’s still overflowing with love.”
“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. If she’s been around humans for years and years, then why were her first messages in the chat room so primitive? That was Saika possessing a human body and making them type, right?”
“That’s the thing. Could she have forgotten Japanese in the time that she was gone from human society? This knife is…hmm?”
“What’s up?”
“Huh? Wait…”
Shinra looked back at the knife on the table, exclaiming with curiosity. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed the handle.
What?!
Celty hurriedly tried to snatch it away from him, but Shinra held tight.
He asked, “Celty…you didn’t examine this in the light, did you?”
“Um, no, I picked it up outdoors. Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t feel like it’s tightening its grip on your heart or anything?!”
“Not in the least,” he laughed, then dropped a bombshell. “This isn’t Saika.”
“What?!”
“Here, look at this.”
He pointed at a spot on the handle of the knife. There was a small piece of text carved into the grip.
MADE IN JAPAN 2002
Anri’s place
“Um…what do you mean by…tried to make your love take shape…?”
A cold sweat began to break out on Anri’s palms. The other girl’s abnormal nature was becoming apparent.
Haruna never let her beautiful smile fade as she spoke. It was as though she didn’t even hear Anri’s question.
“But then Takashi rejected me. But I don’t hate him for that. After all, I’m in love with him. I forgive him for everything, including his rejection of me. I love him so much, I can accept everything he does.”
“Uh, I was asking…”
“But I cannot forgive anyone other than Takashi.”
The smile remained, but her words filled with madness. Anri could sense this shift, and the sweat began to trickle down her back as well.
“I can forgive Takashi for falling in love with something other than me. But…I cannot forgive the thing he falls in love with.”
“Uh…”
“Miss Sonohara, you might love Takashi, or hate him, or not care about him at all—but none of that matters.”
Anri got to her feet as the words of madness reached her ears. Her instincts were screaming at her that remaining sitting was a dangerous course of action.
“I’m not going to apologize to you, Miss Sonohara. I mean…everything I do is for the right reas
ons, for the sake of my love. Why should anyone apologize for doing the right thing? Why should anyone feel wrong for that?”
She wanted to flee the scene and leave it all behind. But Haruna was not likely to allow her to do that.
“…”
Anri had already given up on reasoning with Haruna. She knew it wouldn’t work.
Haruna watched her closely and said, “But you know…it’s not right to use people. If I want love, I need to take action myself. This is good proof of that…”
Near Kawagoe Highway, top floor of apartment building
“Why would a demon blade that’s been around for decades be made in 2002?”
“No, wait. You have to believe me. I know what I saw.”
“I believe you, Celty. I would never doubt your word. This means the slasher was always crazy. It had nothing to do with the weapon. He probably just heard about the legend of Saika from somewhere.”
“I don’t know if I buy that… The man himself was also a victim of the attacks. Either he was possessed at that time or the demon blade ordered him to cut himself and thus remove himself from police suspicion…”
“Was it someone you knew?”
“Well, not exactly… It was the magazine writer who came to ask me about Shizuo at the end of last month. I heard he was attacked later that night, according to the chat room… When I looked further into it, the attack occurred right outside his own house.”
“His name was…oh yeah, Niekawa. His name was Shuuji Niekawa.”
Anri’s place
“I thought my dad could do the job better than anyone else…but it didn’t quite work out.”
What is she talking about?
Anri had no idea what Haruna was saying at first. But what came next, combined with the look on her face, told Anri exactly what she meant.
Exactly.
“So now…I’m forced to handle my own business. To get rid of my rival in love.”
Haruna reached behind her back and pulled out a knife.
“Using the power of my very special partner.”
The blade wasn’t even eight inches long. Compared to what the slasher had earlier, it was much less imposing.
But Anri understood. The girl with her inside the apartment was actually far more menacing than the slasher. After all…
“I might not love you. But Saika, on the other hand, has all the love in the world for you…”
After all, when she pulled out the knife, her eyes went a shade of red much, much, much, much, much deeper and more crimson than the slasher’s had ever been.
Near Kawagoe Highway, top floor of apartment building
“I know, the chat! What is the chat saying?”
Talking about the writer had reminded Celty of the chat room, so she loaded the page right away to see if anything had changed.
And change it had.
“What…the heck?”
What she found was not terror. Or unease.
It was simply chilling. A chill that ran straight through her back.
Deep, deep darkness that shunned all.
Something that froze Celty to her core.
Chat room
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|I screwed up. I screwed up.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|The timing was all wrong.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|How dare you break my sister.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|Mother’s orders are absolute.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|The reasons I’ve stayed hidden are all gone now.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|Now I can use forceful means.|
|I finally met Shizuo.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|But the connection was lost.|
|I can’t feel her presence anymore.|
|I can’t feel her presence.|
|The timing was all wrong.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up.|
|But I won’t fail this time.|
|I will give my love to Shizuo Heiwajima.|
|If I can love Shizuo, then I’m sure I can love every human in this town.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|I can love this place humans created called Ikebukuro.|
|Come to me.|
|Come to me again, Shizuo.|
|Come to me and my sisters.|
|We will love you so much more this time.|
|My sisters are the same being as I.|
|This time we will love you all at once.|
|Come to me.|
|Shizuo Heiwajima.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|Shizuo|
|Shizuo|
|Shizuo|
|If you don’t show|
|I’ll love someone else.|
|I’ll love anyone, anyone, anyone.|
|Everyone, all at once.|
|I’ll love the people of Ikebukuro, love, love, lovelovelovelo|
|velovelovelov|
|elovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove|
|love|
|lovelovelove|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|I’m waiting.|
|I’m waiting.|
|wait|
|I’m waiting.|
|At South Ikebukuro Park|
|At South Ikebukuro Park|
|I’ll be waiting all night at South Ikebukuro Park.|
|Waiting for you, Shizuo.|
|I won’t let the police or ordinary civilians come near the park.|
|There will be plenty of distractions.|
|So don’t worry, Shizuo.|
|Ikebukuro will roil with chaos tonight.|
|But don’t worry, Shizuo.|
|I will be there to love you.|
|I’ll love you, too.|
|I’ll love you, too.|
|And me.|
|And me.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
|I’ll love you, too.|
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
—SAIKA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT—
.
.
.
.
.
And just after Celty checked on the chat room…
Ikebukuro suffered one of the worst cases of assault in its history, as fifty-four people were attacked randomly on the street at a variety of locations.
Chapter 6: Sword and Stress
It drifted.
And drifted.
Everything drifted away from the boy.
He only wanted to be loved by someone.
He only wanted to love someone.
The shy boy didn’t even have the bravery to control himself.
He was afraid of hurting the one he loved.
So he decided not to love anyone.
Feared, feared, and unloved.
Time evolved the boy into a monster.
If there was a god in this world whose p
urpose was to control violence,
then the boy must have earned this god’s love.
More than anyone and anything.
Shinjuku
“And why would Shizu be standing right outside my apartment building?” Izaya Orihara wondered with a smile that could only be described as bitter.
“…Because I’m here to kick your ass, obviously,” replied Shizuo with a humorless smile. Every other part of his being was overflowing with rage.
They were outside the high-class apartment building in the middle of the night. Izaya had returned from a trip to the convenience store to find Shizuo just about to kick the front door of the building down.
He could have left the scene as it was and gotten the police to arrest Shizuo, but Izaya considered another possibility and realized he had to show himself to his foe.
I don’t want him barging into my place and finding the head before the police arrive.
“And why do I deserve a beating?”
“Because I’m feeling pretty aggravated right now.”
“You know, you’re really much too old to be engaging in this kind of childish logic, Shizu.”
“Shut up. If I had to give another reason…it’s because you’re too damn fishy,” Shizuo shot back.
A grimace spread over Izaya’s features. “Fishy? What about?”
“This street slasher who’s tearing up my hood… How involved are you?” he asked directly.
Izaya shook his head exasperatedly. “Why would I be involved?”
“Because ninety-nine percent of all the bizarre and violent things that happen here are your doing.”
“What, you’re not gonna trust that this one is in the other one percent?”
“If I were able to trust you with even one percent of my being, I think you and I would get along better… Right, Izaya?”
The veins on Shizuo’s face bulged and popped as he recalled events from the past. The sight was so grotesque that someone who didn’t know any better would assume he had some kind of condition.
“And even if there weren’t this slasher going around, ’Bukuro’s been weird lately. And that’s your fault, ain’t it? What are you plotting?”
“This is quite an accusation,” Izaya stated with a wide smile. He already had a knife clutched in his hands. Shizuo looked at it and grinned, then put a hand on the guardrail out in front of the building.