DURARARA!! Vol.4 CHAPTER 5, PART II
WARNING: UNBETA-ED.
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The entrance of Hanejima Yuuhei's apartment building
"Oi, they're here."
"What should we do about the guy?"
"Put him to sleep somehow."
"Shhh...let's go."
Four men in overalls walked out of the shadow from a dark alleyway.
They ran noiselessly in the dark while keeping an eye on their surroundings until they got close enough to the target duo.
Their plan, which they were sure was going to work, was to corner the female and attack from her back -
But they were frozen on their spots by flashlights and sounds of camera shutters being closed -
"!?"
The four men had to narrow their eyes at the uncalled-for assault of light.
What they saw there -
Was more than a dozen cameramen and reporters who had apparently popped out of nowhere.
And the two top idols locked in an embrace right in front of them.
- W - What......w - when did they......
- Just now...our faces have been captured on film!
They had been paying attention to their surroundings.
Unfortunately for them, the cameramen who had only tomorrow's headlines in their minds had been doing the same.
Ruri lowered her head as if embarrassed in the rainstorm of flashlights; Yuuhei, on the other hand, asked the reporter closest to him in a voice completely devoid of emotion:
"How did you know?"
As if finally getting their signal - reporters rushed towards the duo like water going through a broken dam.
They were probably aware that Yuuhei was the sole resident in this apartment building, seeing as how they had apparently no intention to stop with the questions and flashlights despite the fact that it was close to midnight.
"We got reports from anonymous sources a while ago."
"Could you tell us about it?" "When did you start dating?"
"How did the two of you meet - " "When will the press release be - "
"How did your agencies react - " "When are you getting married - "
"A man in a white coat just left this apartment building - " "Is he involved in some way?"
"He escaped, dammit." "Go get him!" "Send another team to look for the guy in the white coat -------- "
The four men about to kidnap Ruri felt themselves go green as these voices ravaged their eardrums.
It would be impossible to even begin to confiscate the films when they were outnumbered and trapped in the commotion.
There was no way they would be able to kidnap someone when surrounded by a huge crowd like this.
Yuuhei, ignoring the men as they gritted their teeth at him, continued in his flat voice:
"I'm really sorry, but the time is late. Please allow me to explain it in more detail on a better day. As for now, I hope you could leave us to our own devices as we go out for a ride."
Yuuhei explained a few other things before putting his arm around Ruri's shoulder and walking back into the apartment building with her. A few minutes later, they were seen driving out in a car and heading God alone knew where.
Several reporters tried to follow them, but almost all of their cars were preoccupied with tracking down the Black Motorbike after King Television struck gold with its report of that incident.
Leaving the reporters and the kidnappers far behind -
The top idol and the killing monster had disappeared in a perfect legit manner into the night.
♂♀
Now - under a certain overpass in Ikebukuro
What Celty had made was in fact a giant net she planned to round up the bousouzoku with.
With the elastic net, she was able to make the soaring motorbikes stop.
The timing was the hard part - she had overcome that. Additionally, the net would have been rendered useless had the bousouzoku detected it in advance and chosen to go by another route. But Celty's shadows succeeded in forming the best possible trap and stopped the rampaging bousouzoku despite all these difficulties.
"Guahh!? What the hell!?"
"Duhrahhhh!"
The motorbikes bumped into the resilient net one after another.
Behind them the traffic was forced to come to a stop as well. The tunnel under the overpass had become the dividing line between the safety and danger zones; on the danger side the road was jammed with unmoving motorbikes.
She could have left things at that and made a run for it, but that wouldn't have solved the problem.
Should she take it a step further and instill a fear bearing her name in their hearts?
Or should she let them catch her and claim that ten-million-yen reward? Celty was undecided.
Either way, she had at least succeeded in making sure that Kadota and his gang got away safely.
She watched the van as it disappeared into the alleyway on the west side of the Ikebukuro Station and told herself to let the Heavens decide what was going to happen to her.
And the town - Ikebukuro, was enjoying its holiday to the fullest.
♂♀
At the same time, inside the van
"OK, now, get off the van and run. Run into the Station or the police station nearby...either way, just say you have no idea what's happening and you were just caught in the middle of everything for no reason - you'll be fine!"
Kadota opened the door at the rear of the van and said to Mikado and the others after they had made it out of the tunnel and checked that there were no motorbikes on their tail. Mikado wanted to stay behind but ended up being pushed off the van by force.
"Speaking of which, Dotachin, what are you gonna do?"
Karisawa asked. Kadota lowered his gaze for a second and let out a slight sigh.
"That Celty...she's Shinra's girlfriend, isn't she?"
"Ah~yeah. She's so tsundere it hurts."
"She's not, Karisawa-san! I told you over and over that she's the 'older-younger-sister' type!"
Kadota ignored the duo as they began to bicker and said to Togusa in the driver's seat instead:
"Really...I have no idea what Shinra's like since I've hardly spoken to him in high school......but I'm kind of jealous of that bastard."
Smiling as if something was pleasing him, he continued in a cheerful tone:
"Celty......is a real woman. Ahh, she is. Don't you think so, Togusa?"
"Eh? The Black Motorbike's a woman?"
"......Yeah, that's right. Can't just let a woman wipe our asses for us, can we?"
Togusa, who seemed to understand what Kadota was trying to say, put his hand on the gear shift and laughed hollowly:
"......So are we going back to rescue the Black Motorbike and then run? Or just to back her up?"
The corners of Togusa's mouth curled upwards as he said this while restarting the engine.
♂♀
Under the overpass
- What now?
A small rebellion had broken out in Celty's shadow net.
Some were trying to break free from the net; since bousouzoku from several different gangs were trapped now in one place, they even began to fight amongst themselves.
"Screw it! Aren't there more of our people out there? Get all of them to come!"
"Can't! They said they were in front of the Station...! Looks like the White Motorbike crushed a lot of them......!"
"Bastard! What are they playing at? Did Captain* answer the phone at all......?"
"No! He's probably mad that we came here without his permission......"
"Gahhhhh! Then we're at least gonna kill the Black Motorbike and get that money!"
- Ehhhh!? But I really don't think the offer says I'm wanted dead or alive!?
It didn't look like negotiation was still an option. Celty considered just making a run for it and turned her sensors to her back -
And saw the bousouzoku subgroups coming after her.
These were probably the reinforcement each of the gangs had summoned to this spot.
They were the luckier ones who had been able to escape from the White Motorbike and merge with their gangs via another route at her side.
- This is bad...if I conjure a net on the other side as well to stop them...I'll end up rounded up by the police after I've dealt with these bousouzoku......and that thing in my baggage will be the fatal incriminating evidence......!
Then -
She saw the van coming back from behind the horde of motorbikes.
- Why did they come back!? Didn't I tell them to run?
The students had probably already taken refuge somewhere safe. But Celty had intended for Kadota and his gang to run for themselves as well.
She stopped in her tracks for a second as she saw them coming back -
But as soon as she realized that some of the bousouzoku had gotten off their motorbikes and were trying to get out of the net, she turned around hastily.
Celty conjured once again the giant blunt shadow scythe and was about to take them down with it when -
She noticed something weird.
About her own motorbike.
Namely, that there was now a figure she did not know standing beside it.
She turned her gaze carefully towards the figure - and saw that it was a male with bandages all over his face, making him look like a mummy.
He had stood up in the side car.
- With his feet in the now-empty black bag -
The male, who until a second ago had been a piece of baggage, said in a flat voice:
"......Leave this to me...you guys, run for your lives."
♂♀
The past - half a day ago, inside Russian Sushi
"...My, my, you gave me such a difficult patient to deal with."
They were in the sushi restaurant run by two Russians who had long since made themselves comfortable in Ikebukuro.
A raw smell that wasn't fish had filled the now-closed restaurant.
In the innermost tatami room, a man with a badly damaged face lay on the sheets as Kishitani Shinra - the underground doctor in the white coat - tended to his wounds.
"I'm charging him 200,000 yen for this."
"He'll pay you later."
"He doesn't have that option. He lost me my only opportunity to stay at the side of Hijiribe Ruri for the night."
"What the hell are you talking about......"
Simon cut in as the Caucasian man who owned the place began to quarrel with Shinra.
"Oh, you two, fighting is not good. Igor's wounds, must make his hurt-hurt fly away. Please, now is the time 100%!"
"All right all right. Anyway, you have to get the money ready......by the way, is that the patient's name? Igor?"
"Yeah. He was in the same organization as we were back in Russia...but I don't think that even matters now."
Orihara Mairu, who was listening to the conversation from the counter in front of which she stood with her sister, was speaking on her cell phone.
"......Ah! He picked up! Hello hello, Iza-nii? I have a question for you! Ne, does the name Celty Sturluson ring any bell to you?"
Mairu awaited the answer expectantly as she looked at the name on the envelope that held the money.
But -
"...... - ......Eh? 'It's too early for you'? - What does that even mean? You know something about it, right? Iza-nii, you're horrible! You're so horrible, such a nice smooth bastard - nice - smooth - bastard - ohhh! ......Ah!?"
Mairu stared at her cell phone as if she couldn't believe what had just happened - and stomped her feet in rage.
"......What (What just happened)?"
"Ah - this is just - unbelievable! Iza-nii just hung up on me! Urgh...since he's making me do this...well......"
Mairu pouted and adjusted her grasp on her cell phone -
- And, after selecting a different number, pressed the "TALK" button with a fearless smile on her face.
♂♀
Now - outside the Ikebukuro Station
"Ahhh, where did Ryuugamine-sempai and Sonohara-sempai go?"
After they had gotten off the van -
Mikado had run off with a "I'll leave Sonohara-san and these girls with you!", and Anri had somehow disappeared as well when Aoba looked around for her.
"......Speaking of which, just like I thought, Ryuugamine-sempai is the...actually, that can wait till later."
Kururi and Mairu stood holding each other's hand behind the flustered Aoba as he looked around wildly.
"Go (What should we do)?"
"Hmm~why not go check out what's happening first? Though I have no idea why things turned out like this, it's just awesome that we can see 'her' from so close!"
"......"
Kururi was staring at the road under the overpass with a stern look on her face.
Mairu, on the other hand, wore a refreshing smile as she began to say as if to herself -
- with but a slight trace of venom in all that refreshing-ness -
"So - ...will we be able to say a proper 'hi' to Celty-san?"
♂♀
The past - half a day ago, inside Russian Sushi
"Uhhhh......"
The male looked around with eyes not quite ready to perceive after waking up in the tatami room.
"Ah, he's awake."
His dizzy head matched the sight of the male in front of him with one name:
"......Shingen?"
"Eh?"
Shinra looked at the man's face in bewilderment as his father's name got called. - Except that it could hardly be called a face now since it was almost completely concealed under layers of bandage.
"......Oh, I'm sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else......"
"......"
Shinra bent down and looked at his face carefully as if he was contemplating something -
- before straightening up abruptly and making for the counter while taking out his cell phone.
Like a changing of the guards, two girls ran into the Japanese-style bedroom from in front of the counter and taken the place Shinra had just left vacant.
"Health (Are you all right)......?"
"Yahoo! Feeling better now, onii-san? Awesome! You're looking great! Plastic surgery nowadays works wonders! And you look manly with these bandages on, too!"
"Oh...I haven't thanked you two yet. Thank you so much."
Igor was still a gentleman even though his gaze seen from between the bandage tapes was extremely sharp .
Simon and the owner of the restaurant looked relieved that their old acquaintance was no longer in a critical condition. They talked to Igor in fluent Russian.
"××××" "××" "×××××" "××!"
After a while, the owner's face turned dark.
"What's the matter?"
Mairu asked. The owner answered in a tone of resignation:
"Well...he's broke."
"......I'm sorry. I wasn't able to finish my job......I should have made him pay me something in advance. I regret it now......"
"What should we do...we can't just pay 200,000 for you, otherwise we'll be left with no money to pay the caterer tomorrow......actually...I guess we can just close the restaurant for tomorrow...but......"
"Oh~a holiday, good. Tomorrow is Sushi-Go-Die anniversary, come eat ramen, come eat mochi."
"Stop fooling around."
Ignoring the owner who was fuming and muttering things to himself, Mairu stepped into the tatami room and squatted down.
"Ne ne..."
The girl pulled at Igor's sleeve. He tilted his head towards her in silence:
"......? Is there something you want?"
Mairu smiled the smile of an angel to the patient with a surprised look on his face and said:
"How about......we pay that 200,000 for you?"
♂♀
Now - under a certain overpass near Ikebukuro Station
Celty was baffled.
The "baggage" she was supposed to be transporting had awaken and begun to take down swarms of bousouzoku with bare hands.
His movements had far surpassed what the word "smooth" could be used to describe.
He swirled past the throng of men like a puff of human-shaped smoke riding on the wind.
The men were falling to the ground just as they thought they had missed him by inches; it looked as if he were teaching scores of monkeys to dance.
Having given up on making sense of this new situation, Celty turned towards the van instead.
She wanted to check if Kadota and his gang were safe - but before she could do so, she saw something even more unsettling.
A figure was running towards them on the downward slope heading in the direction of the overpass.
- Mikado-kun!?
The boy was running towards them at full speed. Celty was about to gesture wildly to tell him to go back - but she realized that it was not the best time to do so. Besides, it would only have added to Mikado's troubles if she drew the attention of the gangs towards Mikado.
Plus, she had noticed that behind Mikado -
On the further side of the road, there was a bespectacled and stacked-up girl.
- Anri-chan!
True, Anri was formidable.
If she were to release the full power of the demon blade "Saika", she would probably be harder to deal with than Celty herself.
- But this is not the time!
She had concealed the fact that she was "Saika" and lived her life that way. If she was planning to reveal her hidden power on this very street - when so many cameras were focused on them -
Celty tried desperately to think with her muddled brain -
But the Ikebukuro holiday was about to baffle her even further.
Suddenly, an explosive noise shook the overpass - and everyone turned in the direction from which it had come.
On the other side of Celty's black net, the bousouzoku were about to break through without their motorbikes, and behind them was -
- a motorbike that looked as if it were disintegrating from having crashed into a car, and -
- a figure who had plucked the engine off the motorbike and was playing with it in one hand -
- a figure dressed in a medieval suit of armor with nothing above its neck.
- Eh?
Confusion took over.
Confusion took over.
- One of...us......?
The first possibility that struck her was that one of her own kind might have come to Ikebukuro.
Back in Ireland she was able to sense several other dullahans from afar.
But why here? Why now?
A new tornado of bewilderment and doubt formed inside her heart - but somehow her head cooled at the center of the accelerating vortex of confusion.
- No...this vibe...doesn't feel like one of "ours"......
- But...there's something else...in this mostly human vibe......
And then Celty remembered.
She had sensed this vibe before -
Just hours ago, she had sensed it while she was going about her morning's work.
- This vibe belongs to......!
- The person I transported just this morning -
♂♀
Several hours ago, a certain warehouse in Ikebukuro
Warehouses lined the street far removed from downtown Ikebukuro.
Celty met her client in one of these vacant warehouses.
She had never met this client before; it seemed like the client knew her from Heiwajima Shizuo.
- It's rare that Shizuo would refer someone to her.
Her client was a female who had concealed her face under a cap, a muffler and a pair of sunglasses. Her request was for Celty to take her to a certain apartment.
She didn't tell Celty the reason, but it looked like she was under the threat of a certain violence organization. She might even get intercepted by their people en route.
At first Celty found herself trying to guess what kind of "person" her client was -
She couldn't help but ask as she felt the "vibe" coming from her client.
[Do you have...some sort of power that others don't?]
"......Eh?"
Hijiribe Ruri - the female who hid her face from view - was surprised.
She looked closely at the Black Motorbike in front of her.
She had made up her mind to go back to her own apartment and get ready for her next move.
But she knew she was too famous to be able to just walk back to her apartment without causing a commotion.
- Not to mention...that the Caucasian man might still be somewhere nearby.
She made her appearance in this town as "Hollywood" because of a call he had made to her apartment.
"I know your secret. Let's go see a movie, a Hollywood one with monsters in it."
After that message, he fixed a time and place with her - and then, in the park, she met this man who appeared to be an assassin - and then, she met a real monster.
Although it hardly mattered to her now, Yuuhei had pretty much hinted that the monster was a relative of his.
That was probably why he had saved her life out of a sense of guilt.
Yuuhei had mentioned one name to her in his flat voice as Ruri considered all this.
He had said "Brother used to tell me about this courier he knew. I'll ask Brother to contact that courier for me." and that was how she ended up meeting the Black Motorbike.
She found it curious that this "being", abnormal in every way from head to foot, had seen through at once her abnormality.
- As well as the fact that Ruri's body was probably not human.
♂♀
The past - yesterday midnight, inside Russian Sushi
Conversation between two underground doctors, father and son -
"So what exactly happened? Please explain, father."
"......Coincidences are a nuisance sometimes. I think I'm beginning to understand how Izaya-kun feels."
"? Whatever. How come that Russian knows you, father?"
"......He's...um...kind of a freelancer who does whatever is asked of him. He's a mystery because no one knows who he actually is. Aren't we Nebula something for knowing how to reach someone as mysterious as this guy? Try to marvel for once at how great your father is."
"So basically you know how to get hold of this assassin who sounds kind of scary. And?"
"......I see I spent all these years raising a son with no sense of humor. Well, we'll talk about that later. I asked him to capture a certain female for me."
"A female?"
"Yeah...you'll know what I'm talking about if I say it's 'Hollywood', right?"
"......"
"I thought there was something supernatural like Celty-kun or Saika involved in those serial killings. So I used Nebula to do the research - and found there was this female with a little bit of 'alien' blood like Celty's mixed into her lineage several generations ago. The monster had used its power to strike a fortune after it gave birth to a human child. I guessed that the genetic traits from that monster might have manifested themselves in her - though I have no idea if they're manifest in every generation or just every other one. Wouldn't it be much better for us to protect her from the police who would have just put her to a death sentence? That way we can have loads of fun with her involving lots of dissecting and injecting...OK?"
"......I think you should try to behave for a change in a lot of ways, father."
"Hmm...you're hardly in a position to say that to me though, Shinra. But whatever. ......Anyway......Nebula's observers had said that she was probably not the material for such experiments since she wasn't even able to withstand a human's blow. The higher-ups have given me the orders to just let her be."
"Hey......that girl...is her name Hijiribe Ruri?"
"How did you know!? Shinra...did you just read my mind? Did some kind of hidden power awaken in you from spending so much time with Celty - beep - beep - beep - "
♂♀
The past - morning of the same day
Celty typed happily on her PDA after she had taken her client safely to the apartment.
[That was a good ride.]
- We had a safe trip. Good.
- It looks like I don't have to worry too much about being wanted after all.
If she had a nose she would be humming now. The client nodded and thanked her as Celty felt almost obscenely relaxed.
"T - T - Thank you so much......! And...about your pay......"
[No, this time it's for free.]
"Eh......?"
[I'm kind of happy today. I've hardly ever had the chance to meet someone like you in this city.]
Ruri's curiosity got the better of her when she heard Celty mention this again.
"Sorry...but since you mentioned it...um..."
She finally brought herself to ask the question she had been holding back out of embarrassment.
"Are you...not human...just like the TV says?"
[That's right. Want me to convince you?]
The crisp and affirmative reply from the Headless Rider sounded almost like a joke. As if proud of the fact that she was a monster, she took off her helmet.
Several minutes later -
After Celty had left, Ruri stood in the safety of her home and scrutinized herself in front of the mirror.
She was not looking her healthiest, but she didn't look ill per se, either.
The dull pain in her body had disappeared, reminding her of the fact that her body was not normal.
With her pinky she lifted the 20-kg dumbbells at her side and played with it. She was reminded of the fact that her "strength" was not normal, either.
She was not human.
Neither could she become a monster.
She was something "in-between".
"Ahah......."
Before, she had felt dejected whenever she was reminded of what she was -
But today, it simply made her laugh.
"Ahahahahah! "
She felt like she had never laughed as happily before in her life. She remembered the way Celty, the Headless Rider, had looked - and laughed with tears trickling down her cheeks.
- Ahh, I see...so that's how it is...
- Turns out this world...this world is more understanding than I thought it would be.
- Even fairies...even monsters...can enjoy their lives.
- Even me, even people like Yuuhei-san, even that Headless Rider!
- Why...why didn't I realize this before......!
- I......!
Several hours later.
Ruri, whose tears and laughter had at last stopped, turned on the TV for a lack of anything better to do.
The news currently on air read "Ten Million Yen for the Weirdo of Ikebukuro?" and in it was mentioned that many gangs of bousouzoku had flocked to Ikebukuro and that a major fight was about to break out.
"......"
She walked into the "changing room" in the innermost corner of her apartment.
An hour later -
Ruri, who was now in her "costume", found four men waiting outside her door, looking intimidating.
"You're Hijiribe Ruri, aren't you..............Huh? Oi, what are you playing at putting on that costume gohhh!?"
She treated each of them to a punch in the chest, just powerful enough to silence them.
She might have broken a rib or two. But hell if she cared.
The monster named "Hollywood" flew downstairs from her apartment on the fifth floor in higher spirits than she had ever been in.
- Laughing loud and clear.
Incidentally, her descending figure reminded one of the Headless Rider's as she soared down the wall of a building one year ago.
♂♀
Now - under an overpass in Ikebukuro
Celty, who was shocked at the sight of the sudden appearance of that "being", began to move in its direction -
The Headless Rider slowly raised its thumb at her.
Even so, Celty still looked like she was trying to say something. The Rider said in a faint voice that only Celty could hear:
"......Let me at least pay you back for your free ride."
"......"
Celty froze on the spot. "Hollywood", who was dressed up as a "Headless Rider", charged at the bousouzoku on the asphalt road.
Unlike Igor, she reminded one of a huge iron bullet moving at full speed in a straight line.
She sent a motorbike flying into the air with her kick - whether she had mercy on it one could never guess - and ripped the engine off the motorbike with her hand. The next second, she caught a steel pipe thrown at her face and twisted it.
As she petrified the bousouzoku with bone-chilling fear -
"Hollywood" was singing to herself inside her heart.
It was a song she could never sing as an idol. It was a song dedicated to herself.
- I'm a monster, I'm a human.
- It doesn't matter what I am. It doesn't matter.
- I can't choose my life. I can't choose how to begin it. I can't even choose how to end it.
- So I'll choose how to live it. I'll simply choose how to live it.
- What the Courier did for me this morning -
- Was worth all my wealth and more.
- It doesn't matter if my life ends tomorrow,
- Or continue on for a thousand years,
- As a monster, as a human,
- Whether I try to resist or accept my fate -
- I'm going to enjoy it all.
"Hollywood" held back her urge to yell for all the world to hear. She simply continued her undeterred rampage under the overpass.
The man in the bartender suit.
Hanejima Yuuhei.
Celty Sturluson.
To express her gratitude and respect for these three "monsters" she had met within the past 24 hours -
She simply danced a dance named "Hollywood", on and on.
♂♀
The bousouzoku and Celty weren't the only people who were shocked at the sudden appearance of these weirdoes.
Kadota and his gang, who were getting out of their van, as well as Mikado and Anri, who were running towards the spot, all stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the blatant intruders on the scene.
The two weirdoes were taking down the bousouzoku in very different ways but with the same fierceness.
"Uh, these are probably underlings in gangs like 'Toramaru' who can't make it into the regular team......speaking of which...um...what the hell's happening?"
Kadota was saying in a low voice in the van. Nobody was able to answer him, though.
Celty was at a loss as to what to do, but she lost no time in using her shadow to tie up the hands and feet of the bousouzoku -
Somehow the bandaged man was already standing next to her again and whispering things into her ear.
"Take, Mother, quickly, please."
- Mother?
For a moment she didn't quite get what he was saying; but she did immediately once she turned her gaze towards his face.
The male's eyes, which could be seen from in-between tapes of bandage, went a fierce shade of red from an inflow of blood.
- Saika!?
Shocked, Celty turned to look in Anri's direction - but Anri was standing at the entrance of the tunnel with a dumbstruck expression on her face as well.
Convinced that it was safe to leave everything else to the two weirdoes who looked like they wouldn't overdo it, Celty decided to leave even though she had no idea what was happening.
Before taking off, she typed quickly on the PDA and showed the screen to the two weirdoes with the help of her shadow.
[I'll give you two pieces of advice - ]
But they turned out to be nothing more than irony for the weirdoes -
[If you see a white motorbike, run. Those could turn out to be monsters.]
For Celty, the second piece of advice was the more important.
[The other thing is - though it's not impossible to communicate with him...]
- Except that it came almost a whole day too late.
[Never pick on a man wearing a bartender suit. Never!]
♂♀
Celty signaled to Kadota before leaving the danger zone.
Anri left with her on her motorbike; Kadota and his gang had to drag Mikado into their van and drive away from under the overpass.
She let the shadow that formed the net go back inside her. Not that the net was all that necessary now since the bousouzoku were all busy trying to get away from the two weirdoes.
Kuronuma Aoba, who watched the scene from afar, tilted his head and muttered:
"......Um...what exactly is going on?"
The twins, not being able to answer his question, could only tilt their heads as well and look at each other.
Though to be fair, none of the people involved in this incident actually had an idea of what was going on.
♂♀
Several minutes later -
The bousouzoku who had been lucky enough to escape from the two weirdoes were moving stealthily along the street in order to avoid being spotted by the White Motorbike.
According to what they had heard on the wireless, many of their friends in the gang had already been arrested by the White Motorbike's team.
"This sucks...we can't just go back like this...Captain would kill us."
The man in the striped tokko-fuku who looked like the leader of this crusade was saying to around fifteen subordinates who gathered around him.
A motorbike gang their size would have drawn the attention of the police within minutes if they were to ride on the road - but that was low on their list of concerns right now.
"We have to at least show the local gangs who we are......"
Driven by twisted desires of self-exhibition, they soared on the streets with an almost complete disregard of their injuries.
As they turned onto a street near Sunshine Building, they saw two men who looked like local delinquents. One man parked his motorbike on the sidewalk and approached them in an intimidating manner:
"Oi, I have something to ask you. Which ones are the biggest gangs in this neighborhood?"
One of the delinquents he spoke to seemed to consider the question for a moment before answering:
"Well, there are lots of them...if you're talking about bousouzoku, there's 'Jyan Jyan Jyan' who works for Awakusu-kai, and 'Dragon Zombie' who are more interested in street races...but after that freakishly strong White Motorbike came they all kind of went low-profile."
"Very good. Take us somewhere where we can find them."
"Are you going to pick on them?"
"So what? We're at least not picking on you!"
The man in the tokko-fuku tried to act intimidating, but the delinquent shook his head.
"You guys are 'Toramaru' from Saitama, aren't ya? I don't think your Captain would approve if you did something like that. Your Captain might be a skirt chaser, but from what I heard he should have more principles than that."
"Shut up! This has nothing to do with our Captain!"
"We'll be independent from him once we catch the Black Motorbike, get the money and give it to him!"
"......You guys...don't tell me you're actually planning to give ten million yen away to yakuza? Seriously? If I had that kind of money I'd definitely keep it. There's no point in being a bousouzoku if you're that rich. If you want a racing car, just buy one."
The delinquent with dreadlocks delivered his advice in such a nonchalant voice that it was hard to tell if he was laughing at them or just trying to help them.
"......You bastard! Are you making fun of us the penkoro* way?
Since they had come from a different prefecture, they felt like they were free to pick on local delinquents.
Since they didn't have to worry about future retaliation, they let their fury slowly fuel their blood-thirst.
"What is 'penkoro' supposed to mean?"
"Don't mind them, Tom-san. Let's go. I'm hungry."
"Ah~you're right. That Manager should have treated us to some dinner...really......"
The bousouzoku felt their fuses burn out at the casual conversation between the delinquents.
"Bastards...DON'T THINK YOU CAN JUST IGNORE US - !"
One of them grabbed the steel pipe on the side of his motorbike and tried to knock out the man with the dreadlocks with it.
"Oops, that was close~"
He dodged it expertly.
The steel pipe didn't lose its momentum - and, in the same way it had torn Celty's luggage bag open in the afternoon -
It tore open the sleeve of the bartender suit the other delinquent was wearing.
"Ahh."
"My clothes......"
The man in the bartender suit murmured in a quiet voice.
The man with the dreadlocks were already running away as fast as he could - and, as if praying that the bousouzoku would fare well on their journey after death, he draw a cross on his chest with his hand and clapped his hands afterwards.
The next second -
"Hyoiii - "
That was about the only way to romanize the sound that could be used to mimic the situation.
The man had, with just one hand, lifted with ease the motorbike with the rider still on it over his head -
And threw it at the other bousouzoku as if he were passing a baseball at another player.
Nope, the bousouzoku were not aware.
- That in Ikebukuro, there is a human being you "simply do not pick a fight with".
- Not even if you're an assassin, a killing monster, the president, an alien, a vampire or a headless monster - you simply do not pick a fight with him.
And then - the "thunder" cut into the scene.
"MY BROTHER GAVE ME THESE CLOTHES......YOU SCUM --------------- !"
The man in the bartender suit had uprooted the street lamp that had stood next to him a second before - and swung it like a baseball bat at the bousouzoku.
Motorbikes and men were sent flying in the air after what sounded like rolling thunder.
With that all-too-familiar sight Ikebukuro ended its holiday.
No one knew if the city had enjoyed it or not -
But anyhow -
Today, the city called Ikebukuro was as peaceful as ever.
END OF CHAPTER 5
♂♀
The entrance of Hanejima Yuuhei's apartment building
"Oi, they're here."
"What should we do about the guy?"
"Put him to sleep somehow."
"Shhh...let's go."
Four men in overalls walked out of the shadow from a dark alleyway.
They ran noiselessly in the dark while keeping an eye on their surroundings until they got close enough to the target duo.
Their plan, which they were sure was going to work, was to corner the female and attack from her back -
But they were frozen on their spots by flashlights and sounds of camera shutters being closed -
"!?"
The four men had to narrow their eyes at the uncalled-for assault of light.
What they saw there -
Was more than a dozen cameramen and reporters who had apparently popped out of nowhere.
And the two top idols locked in an embrace right in front of them.
- W - What......w - when did they......
- Just now...our faces have been captured on film!
They had been paying attention to their surroundings.
Unfortunately for them, the cameramen who had only tomorrow's headlines in their minds had been doing the same.
Ruri lowered her head as if embarrassed in the rainstorm of flashlights; Yuuhei, on the other hand, asked the reporter closest to him in a voice completely devoid of emotion:
"How did you know?"
As if finally getting their signal - reporters rushed towards the duo like water going through a broken dam.
They were probably aware that Yuuhei was the sole resident in this apartment building, seeing as how they had apparently no intention to stop with the questions and flashlights despite the fact that it was close to midnight.
"We got reports from anonymous sources a while ago."
"Could you tell us about it?" "When did you start dating?"
"How did the two of you meet - " "When will the press release be - "
"How did your agencies react - " "When are you getting married - "
"A man in a white coat just left this apartment building - " "Is he involved in some way?"
"He escaped, dammit." "Go get him!" "Send another team to look for the guy in the white coat -------- "
The four men about to kidnap Ruri felt themselves go green as these voices ravaged their eardrums.
It would be impossible to even begin to confiscate the films when they were outnumbered and trapped in the commotion.
There was no way they would be able to kidnap someone when surrounded by a huge crowd like this.
Yuuhei, ignoring the men as they gritted their teeth at him, continued in his flat voice:
"I'm really sorry, but the time is late. Please allow me to explain it in more detail on a better day. As for now, I hope you could leave us to our own devices as we go out for a ride."
Yuuhei explained a few other things before putting his arm around Ruri's shoulder and walking back into the apartment building with her. A few minutes later, they were seen driving out in a car and heading God alone knew where.
Several reporters tried to follow them, but almost all of their cars were preoccupied with tracking down the Black Motorbike after King Television struck gold with its report of that incident.
Leaving the reporters and the kidnappers far behind -
The top idol and the killing monster had disappeared in a perfect legit manner into the night.
♂♀
Now - under a certain overpass in Ikebukuro
What Celty had made was in fact a giant net she planned to round up the bousouzoku with.
With the elastic net, she was able to make the soaring motorbikes stop.
The timing was the hard part - she had overcome that. Additionally, the net would have been rendered useless had the bousouzoku detected it in advance and chosen to go by another route. But Celty's shadows succeeded in forming the best possible trap and stopped the rampaging bousouzoku despite all these difficulties.
"Guahh!? What the hell!?"
"Duhrahhhh!"
The motorbikes bumped into the resilient net one after another.
Behind them the traffic was forced to come to a stop as well. The tunnel under the overpass had become the dividing line between the safety and danger zones; on the danger side the road was jammed with unmoving motorbikes.
She could have left things at that and made a run for it, but that wouldn't have solved the problem.
Should she take it a step further and instill a fear bearing her name in their hearts?
Or should she let them catch her and claim that ten-million-yen reward? Celty was undecided.
Either way, she had at least succeeded in making sure that Kadota and his gang got away safely.
She watched the van as it disappeared into the alleyway on the west side of the Ikebukuro Station and told herself to let the Heavens decide what was going to happen to her.
And the town - Ikebukuro, was enjoying its holiday to the fullest.
♂♀
At the same time, inside the van
"OK, now, get off the van and run. Run into the Station or the police station nearby...either way, just say you have no idea what's happening and you were just caught in the middle of everything for no reason - you'll be fine!"
Kadota opened the door at the rear of the van and said to Mikado and the others after they had made it out of the tunnel and checked that there were no motorbikes on their tail. Mikado wanted to stay behind but ended up being pushed off the van by force.
"Speaking of which, Dotachin, what are you gonna do?"
Karisawa asked. Kadota lowered his gaze for a second and let out a slight sigh.
"That Celty...she's Shinra's girlfriend, isn't she?"
"Ah~yeah. She's so tsundere it hurts."
"She's not, Karisawa-san! I told you over and over that she's the 'older-younger-sister' type!"
Kadota ignored the duo as they began to bicker and said to Togusa in the driver's seat instead:
"Really...I have no idea what Shinra's like since I've hardly spoken to him in high school......but I'm kind of jealous of that bastard."
Smiling as if something was pleasing him, he continued in a cheerful tone:
"Celty......is a real woman. Ahh, she is. Don't you think so, Togusa?"
"Eh? The Black Motorbike's a woman?"
"......Yeah, that's right. Can't just let a woman wipe our asses for us, can we?"
Togusa, who seemed to understand what Kadota was trying to say, put his hand on the gear shift and laughed hollowly:
"......So are we going back to rescue the Black Motorbike and then run? Or just to back her up?"
The corners of Togusa's mouth curled upwards as he said this while restarting the engine.
♂♀
Under the overpass
- What now?
A small rebellion had broken out in Celty's shadow net.
Some were trying to break free from the net; since bousouzoku from several different gangs were trapped now in one place, they even began to fight amongst themselves.
"Screw it! Aren't there more of our people out there? Get all of them to come!"
"Can't! They said they were in front of the Station...! Looks like the White Motorbike crushed a lot of them......!"
"Bastard! What are they playing at? Did Captain* answer the phone at all......?"
"No! He's probably mad that we came here without his permission......"
"Gahhhhh! Then we're at least gonna kill the Black Motorbike and get that money!"
- Ehhhh!? But I really don't think the offer says I'm wanted dead or alive!?
It didn't look like negotiation was still an option. Celty considered just making a run for it and turned her sensors to her back -
And saw the bousouzoku subgroups coming after her.
These were probably the reinforcement each of the gangs had summoned to this spot.
They were the luckier ones who had been able to escape from the White Motorbike and merge with their gangs via another route at her side.
- This is bad...if I conjure a net on the other side as well to stop them...I'll end up rounded up by the police after I've dealt with these bousouzoku......and that thing in my baggage will be the fatal incriminating evidence......!
Then -
She saw the van coming back from behind the horde of motorbikes.
- Why did they come back!? Didn't I tell them to run?
The students had probably already taken refuge somewhere safe. But Celty had intended for Kadota and his gang to run for themselves as well.
She stopped in her tracks for a second as she saw them coming back -
But as soon as she realized that some of the bousouzoku had gotten off their motorbikes and were trying to get out of the net, she turned around hastily.
Celty conjured once again the giant blunt shadow scythe and was about to take them down with it when -
She noticed something weird.
About her own motorbike.
Namely, that there was now a figure she did not know standing beside it.
She turned her gaze carefully towards the figure - and saw that it was a male with bandages all over his face, making him look like a mummy.
He had stood up in the side car.
- With his feet in the now-empty black bag -
The male, who until a second ago had been a piece of baggage, said in a flat voice:
"......Leave this to me...you guys, run for your lives."
♂♀
The past - half a day ago, inside Russian Sushi
"...My, my, you gave me such a difficult patient to deal with."
They were in the sushi restaurant run by two Russians who had long since made themselves comfortable in Ikebukuro.
A raw smell that wasn't fish had filled the now-closed restaurant.
In the innermost tatami room, a man with a badly damaged face lay on the sheets as Kishitani Shinra - the underground doctor in the white coat - tended to his wounds.
"I'm charging him 200,000 yen for this."
"He'll pay you later."
"He doesn't have that option. He lost me my only opportunity to stay at the side of Hijiribe Ruri for the night."
"What the hell are you talking about......"
Simon cut in as the Caucasian man who owned the place began to quarrel with Shinra.
"Oh, you two, fighting is not good. Igor's wounds, must make his hurt-hurt fly away. Please, now is the time 100%!"
"All right all right. Anyway, you have to get the money ready......by the way, is that the patient's name? Igor?"
"Yeah. He was in the same organization as we were back in Russia...but I don't think that even matters now."
Orihara Mairu, who was listening to the conversation from the counter in front of which she stood with her sister, was speaking on her cell phone.
"......Ah! He picked up! Hello hello, Iza-nii? I have a question for you! Ne, does the name Celty Sturluson ring any bell to you?"
Mairu awaited the answer expectantly as she looked at the name on the envelope that held the money.
But -
"...... - ......Eh? 'It's too early for you'? - What does that even mean? You know something about it, right? Iza-nii, you're horrible! You're so horrible, such a nice smooth bastard - nice - smooth - bastard - ohhh! ......Ah!?"
Mairu stared at her cell phone as if she couldn't believe what had just happened - and stomped her feet in rage.
"......What (What just happened)?"
"Ah - this is just - unbelievable! Iza-nii just hung up on me! Urgh...since he's making me do this...well......"
Mairu pouted and adjusted her grasp on her cell phone -
- And, after selecting a different number, pressed the "TALK" button with a fearless smile on her face.
♂♀
Now - outside the Ikebukuro Station
"Ahhh, where did Ryuugamine-sempai and Sonohara-sempai go?"
After they had gotten off the van -
Mikado had run off with a "I'll leave Sonohara-san and these girls with you!", and Anri had somehow disappeared as well when Aoba looked around for her.
"......Speaking of which, just like I thought, Ryuugamine-sempai is the...actually, that can wait till later."
Kururi and Mairu stood holding each other's hand behind the flustered Aoba as he looked around wildly.
"Go (What should we do)?"
"Hmm~why not go check out what's happening first? Though I have no idea why things turned out like this, it's just awesome that we can see 'her' from so close!"
"......"
Kururi was staring at the road under the overpass with a stern look on her face.
Mairu, on the other hand, wore a refreshing smile as she began to say as if to herself -
- with but a slight trace of venom in all that refreshing-ness -
"So - ...will we be able to say a proper 'hi' to Celty-san?"
♂♀
The past - half a day ago, inside Russian Sushi
"Uhhhh......"
The male looked around with eyes not quite ready to perceive after waking up in the tatami room.
"Ah, he's awake."
His dizzy head matched the sight of the male in front of him with one name:
"......Shingen?"
"Eh?"
Shinra looked at the man's face in bewilderment as his father's name got called. - Except that it could hardly be called a face now since it was almost completely concealed under layers of bandage.
"......Oh, I'm sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else......"
"......"
Shinra bent down and looked at his face carefully as if he was contemplating something -
- before straightening up abruptly and making for the counter while taking out his cell phone.
Like a changing of the guards, two girls ran into the Japanese-style bedroom from in front of the counter and taken the place Shinra had just left vacant.
"Health (Are you all right)......?"
"Yahoo! Feeling better now, onii-san? Awesome! You're looking great! Plastic surgery nowadays works wonders! And you look manly with these bandages on, too!"
"Oh...I haven't thanked you two yet. Thank you so much."
Igor was still a gentleman even though his gaze seen from between the bandage tapes was extremely sharp .
Simon and the owner of the restaurant looked relieved that their old acquaintance was no longer in a critical condition. They talked to Igor in fluent Russian.
"××××" "××" "×××××" "××!"
After a while, the owner's face turned dark.
"What's the matter?"
Mairu asked. The owner answered in a tone of resignation:
"Well...he's broke."
"......I'm sorry. I wasn't able to finish my job......I should have made him pay me something in advance. I regret it now......"
"What should we do...we can't just pay 200,000 for you, otherwise we'll be left with no money to pay the caterer tomorrow......actually...I guess we can just close the restaurant for tomorrow...but......"
"Oh~a holiday, good. Tomorrow is Sushi-Go-Die anniversary, come eat ramen, come eat mochi."
"Stop fooling around."
Ignoring the owner who was fuming and muttering things to himself, Mairu stepped into the tatami room and squatted down.
"Ne ne..."
The girl pulled at Igor's sleeve. He tilted his head towards her in silence:
"......? Is there something you want?"
Mairu smiled the smile of an angel to the patient with a surprised look on his face and said:
"How about......we pay that 200,000 for you?"
♂♀
Now - under a certain overpass near Ikebukuro Station
Celty was baffled.
The "baggage" she was supposed to be transporting had awaken and begun to take down swarms of bousouzoku with bare hands.
His movements had far surpassed what the word "smooth" could be used to describe.
He swirled past the throng of men like a puff of human-shaped smoke riding on the wind.
The men were falling to the ground just as they thought they had missed him by inches; it looked as if he were teaching scores of monkeys to dance.
Having given up on making sense of this new situation, Celty turned towards the van instead.
She wanted to check if Kadota and his gang were safe - but before she could do so, she saw something even more unsettling.
A figure was running towards them on the downward slope heading in the direction of the overpass.
- Mikado-kun!?
The boy was running towards them at full speed. Celty was about to gesture wildly to tell him to go back - but she realized that it was not the best time to do so. Besides, it would only have added to Mikado's troubles if she drew the attention of the gangs towards Mikado.
Plus, she had noticed that behind Mikado -
On the further side of the road, there was a bespectacled and stacked-up girl.
- Anri-chan!
True, Anri was formidable.
If she were to release the full power of the demon blade "Saika", she would probably be harder to deal with than Celty herself.
- But this is not the time!
She had concealed the fact that she was "Saika" and lived her life that way. If she was planning to reveal her hidden power on this very street - when so many cameras were focused on them -
Celty tried desperately to think with her muddled brain -
But the Ikebukuro holiday was about to baffle her even further.
Suddenly, an explosive noise shook the overpass - and everyone turned in the direction from which it had come.
On the other side of Celty's black net, the bousouzoku were about to break through without their motorbikes, and behind them was -
- a motorbike that looked as if it were disintegrating from having crashed into a car, and -
- a figure who had plucked the engine off the motorbike and was playing with it in one hand -
- a figure dressed in a medieval suit of armor with nothing above its neck.
- Eh?
Confusion took over.
Confusion took over.
- One of...us......?
The first possibility that struck her was that one of her own kind might have come to Ikebukuro.
Back in Ireland she was able to sense several other dullahans from afar.
But why here? Why now?
A new tornado of bewilderment and doubt formed inside her heart - but somehow her head cooled at the center of the accelerating vortex of confusion.
- No...this vibe...doesn't feel like one of "ours"......
- But...there's something else...in this mostly human vibe......
And then Celty remembered.
She had sensed this vibe before -
Just hours ago, she had sensed it while she was going about her morning's work.
- This vibe belongs to......!
- The person I transported just this morning -
♂♀
Several hours ago, a certain warehouse in Ikebukuro
Warehouses lined the street far removed from downtown Ikebukuro.
Celty met her client in one of these vacant warehouses.
She had never met this client before; it seemed like the client knew her from Heiwajima Shizuo.
- It's rare that Shizuo would refer someone to her.
Her client was a female who had concealed her face under a cap, a muffler and a pair of sunglasses. Her request was for Celty to take her to a certain apartment.
She didn't tell Celty the reason, but it looked like she was under the threat of a certain violence organization. She might even get intercepted by their people en route.
At first Celty found herself trying to guess what kind of "person" her client was -
She couldn't help but ask as she felt the "vibe" coming from her client.
[Do you have...some sort of power that others don't?]
"......Eh?"
Hijiribe Ruri - the female who hid her face from view - was surprised.
She looked closely at the Black Motorbike in front of her.
She had made up her mind to go back to her own apartment and get ready for her next move.
But she knew she was too famous to be able to just walk back to her apartment without causing a commotion.
- Not to mention...that the Caucasian man might still be somewhere nearby.
She made her appearance in this town as "Hollywood" because of a call he had made to her apartment.
"I know your secret. Let's go see a movie, a Hollywood one with monsters in it."
After that message, he fixed a time and place with her - and then, in the park, she met this man who appeared to be an assassin - and then, she met a real monster.
Although it hardly mattered to her now, Yuuhei had pretty much hinted that the monster was a relative of his.
That was probably why he had saved her life out of a sense of guilt.
Yuuhei had mentioned one name to her in his flat voice as Ruri considered all this.
He had said "Brother used to tell me about this courier he knew. I'll ask Brother to contact that courier for me." and that was how she ended up meeting the Black Motorbike.
She found it curious that this "being", abnormal in every way from head to foot, had seen through at once her abnormality.
- As well as the fact that Ruri's body was probably not human.
♂♀
The past - yesterday midnight, inside Russian Sushi
Conversation between two underground doctors, father and son -
"So what exactly happened? Please explain, father."
"......Coincidences are a nuisance sometimes. I think I'm beginning to understand how Izaya-kun feels."
"? Whatever. How come that Russian knows you, father?"
"......He's...um...kind of a freelancer who does whatever is asked of him. He's a mystery because no one knows who he actually is. Aren't we Nebula something for knowing how to reach someone as mysterious as this guy? Try to marvel for once at how great your father is."
"So basically you know how to get hold of this assassin who sounds kind of scary. And?"
"......I see I spent all these years raising a son with no sense of humor. Well, we'll talk about that later. I asked him to capture a certain female for me."
"A female?"
"Yeah...you'll know what I'm talking about if I say it's 'Hollywood', right?"
"......"
"I thought there was something supernatural like Celty-kun or Saika involved in those serial killings. So I used Nebula to do the research - and found there was this female with a little bit of 'alien' blood like Celty's mixed into her lineage several generations ago. The monster had used its power to strike a fortune after it gave birth to a human child. I guessed that the genetic traits from that monster might have manifested themselves in her - though I have no idea if they're manifest in every generation or just every other one. Wouldn't it be much better for us to protect her from the police who would have just put her to a death sentence? That way we can have loads of fun with her involving lots of dissecting and injecting...OK?"
"......I think you should try to behave for a change in a lot of ways, father."
"Hmm...you're hardly in a position to say that to me though, Shinra. But whatever. ......Anyway......Nebula's observers had said that she was probably not the material for such experiments since she wasn't even able to withstand a human's blow. The higher-ups have given me the orders to just let her be."
"Hey......that girl...is her name Hijiribe Ruri?"
"How did you know!? Shinra...did you just read my mind? Did some kind of hidden power awaken in you from spending so much time with Celty - beep - beep - beep - "
♂♀
The past - morning of the same day
Celty typed happily on her PDA after she had taken her client safely to the apartment.
[That was a good ride.]
- We had a safe trip. Good.
- It looks like I don't have to worry too much about being wanted after all.
If she had a nose she would be humming now. The client nodded and thanked her as Celty felt almost obscenely relaxed.
"T - T - Thank you so much......! And...about your pay......"
[No, this time it's for free.]
"Eh......?"
[I'm kind of happy today. I've hardly ever had the chance to meet someone like you in this city.]
Ruri's curiosity got the better of her when she heard Celty mention this again.
"Sorry...but since you mentioned it...um..."
She finally brought herself to ask the question she had been holding back out of embarrassment.
"Are you...not human...just like the TV says?"
[That's right. Want me to convince you?]
The crisp and affirmative reply from the Headless Rider sounded almost like a joke. As if proud of the fact that she was a monster, she took off her helmet.
Several minutes later -
After Celty had left, Ruri stood in the safety of her home and scrutinized herself in front of the mirror.
She was not looking her healthiest, but she didn't look ill per se, either.
The dull pain in her body had disappeared, reminding her of the fact that her body was not normal.
With her pinky she lifted the 20-kg dumbbells at her side and played with it. She was reminded of the fact that her "strength" was not normal, either.
She was not human.
Neither could she become a monster.
She was something "in-between".
"Ahah......."
Before, she had felt dejected whenever she was reminded of what she was -
But today, it simply made her laugh.
"Ahahahahah! "
She felt like she had never laughed as happily before in her life. She remembered the way Celty, the Headless Rider, had looked - and laughed with tears trickling down her cheeks.
- Ahh, I see...so that's how it is...
- Turns out this world...this world is more understanding than I thought it would be.
- Even fairies...even monsters...can enjoy their lives.
- Even me, even people like Yuuhei-san, even that Headless Rider!
- Why...why didn't I realize this before......!
- I......!
Several hours later.
Ruri, whose tears and laughter had at last stopped, turned on the TV for a lack of anything better to do.
The news currently on air read "Ten Million Yen for the Weirdo of Ikebukuro?" and in it was mentioned that many gangs of bousouzoku had flocked to Ikebukuro and that a major fight was about to break out.
"......"
She walked into the "changing room" in the innermost corner of her apartment.
An hour later -
Ruri, who was now in her "costume", found four men waiting outside her door, looking intimidating.
"You're Hijiribe Ruri, aren't you..............Huh? Oi, what are you playing at putting on that costume gohhh!?"
She treated each of them to a punch in the chest, just powerful enough to silence them.
She might have broken a rib or two. But hell if she cared.
The monster named "Hollywood" flew downstairs from her apartment on the fifth floor in higher spirits than she had ever been in.
- Laughing loud and clear.
Incidentally, her descending figure reminded one of the Headless Rider's as she soared down the wall of a building one year ago.
♂♀
Now - under an overpass in Ikebukuro
Celty, who was shocked at the sight of the sudden appearance of that "being", began to move in its direction -
The Headless Rider slowly raised its thumb at her.
Even so, Celty still looked like she was trying to say something. The Rider said in a faint voice that only Celty could hear:
"......Let me at least pay you back for your free ride."
"......"
Celty froze on the spot. "Hollywood", who was dressed up as a "Headless Rider", charged at the bousouzoku on the asphalt road.
Unlike Igor, she reminded one of a huge iron bullet moving at full speed in a straight line.
She sent a motorbike flying into the air with her kick - whether she had mercy on it one could never guess - and ripped the engine off the motorbike with her hand. The next second, she caught a steel pipe thrown at her face and twisted it.
As she petrified the bousouzoku with bone-chilling fear -
"Hollywood" was singing to herself inside her heart.
It was a song she could never sing as an idol. It was a song dedicated to herself.
- I'm a monster, I'm a human.
- It doesn't matter what I am. It doesn't matter.
- I can't choose my life. I can't choose how to begin it. I can't even choose how to end it.
- So I'll choose how to live it. I'll simply choose how to live it.
- What the Courier did for me this morning -
- Was worth all my wealth and more.
- It doesn't matter if my life ends tomorrow,
- Or continue on for a thousand years,
- As a monster, as a human,
- Whether I try to resist or accept my fate -
- I'm going to enjoy it all.
"Hollywood" held back her urge to yell for all the world to hear. She simply continued her undeterred rampage under the overpass.
The man in the bartender suit.
Hanejima Yuuhei.
Celty Sturluson.
To express her gratitude and respect for these three "monsters" she had met within the past 24 hours -
She simply danced a dance named "Hollywood", on and on.
♂♀
The bousouzoku and Celty weren't the only people who were shocked at the sudden appearance of these weirdoes.
Kadota and his gang, who were getting out of their van, as well as Mikado and Anri, who were running towards the spot, all stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the blatant intruders on the scene.
The two weirdoes were taking down the bousouzoku in very different ways but with the same fierceness.
"Uh, these are probably underlings in gangs like 'Toramaru' who can't make it into the regular team......speaking of which...um...what the hell's happening?"
Kadota was saying in a low voice in the van. Nobody was able to answer him, though.
Celty was at a loss as to what to do, but she lost no time in using her shadow to tie up the hands and feet of the bousouzoku -
Somehow the bandaged man was already standing next to her again and whispering things into her ear.
"Take, Mother, quickly, please."
- Mother?
For a moment she didn't quite get what he was saying; but she did immediately once she turned her gaze towards his face.
The male's eyes, which could be seen from in-between tapes of bandage, went a fierce shade of red from an inflow of blood.
- Saika!?
Shocked, Celty turned to look in Anri's direction - but Anri was standing at the entrance of the tunnel with a dumbstruck expression on her face as well.
Convinced that it was safe to leave everything else to the two weirdoes who looked like they wouldn't overdo it, Celty decided to leave even though she had no idea what was happening.
Before taking off, she typed quickly on the PDA and showed the screen to the two weirdoes with the help of her shadow.
[I'll give you two pieces of advice - ]
But they turned out to be nothing more than irony for the weirdoes -
[If you see a white motorbike, run. Those could turn out to be monsters.]
For Celty, the second piece of advice was the more important.
[The other thing is - though it's not impossible to communicate with him...]
- Except that it came almost a whole day too late.
[Never pick on a man wearing a bartender suit. Never!]
♂♀
Celty signaled to Kadota before leaving the danger zone.
Anri left with her on her motorbike; Kadota and his gang had to drag Mikado into their van and drive away from under the overpass.
She let the shadow that formed the net go back inside her. Not that the net was all that necessary now since the bousouzoku were all busy trying to get away from the two weirdoes.
Kuronuma Aoba, who watched the scene from afar, tilted his head and muttered:
"......Um...what exactly is going on?"
The twins, not being able to answer his question, could only tilt their heads as well and look at each other.
Though to be fair, none of the people involved in this incident actually had an idea of what was going on.
♂♀
Several minutes later -
The bousouzoku who had been lucky enough to escape from the two weirdoes were moving stealthily along the street in order to avoid being spotted by the White Motorbike.
According to what they had heard on the wireless, many of their friends in the gang had already been arrested by the White Motorbike's team.
"This sucks...we can't just go back like this...Captain would kill us."
The man in the striped tokko-fuku who looked like the leader of this crusade was saying to around fifteen subordinates who gathered around him.
A motorbike gang their size would have drawn the attention of the police within minutes if they were to ride on the road - but that was low on their list of concerns right now.
"We have to at least show the local gangs who we are......"
Driven by twisted desires of self-exhibition, they soared on the streets with an almost complete disregard of their injuries.
As they turned onto a street near Sunshine Building, they saw two men who looked like local delinquents. One man parked his motorbike on the sidewalk and approached them in an intimidating manner:
"Oi, I have something to ask you. Which ones are the biggest gangs in this neighborhood?"
One of the delinquents he spoke to seemed to consider the question for a moment before answering:
"Well, there are lots of them...if you're talking about bousouzoku, there's 'Jyan Jyan Jyan' who works for Awakusu-kai, and 'Dragon Zombie' who are more interested in street races...but after that freakishly strong White Motorbike came they all kind of went low-profile."
"Very good. Take us somewhere where we can find them."
"Are you going to pick on them?"
"So what? We're at least not picking on you!"
The man in the tokko-fuku tried to act intimidating, but the delinquent shook his head.
"You guys are 'Toramaru' from Saitama, aren't ya? I don't think your Captain would approve if you did something like that. Your Captain might be a skirt chaser, but from what I heard he should have more principles than that."
"Shut up! This has nothing to do with our Captain!"
"We'll be independent from him once we catch the Black Motorbike, get the money and give it to him!"
"......You guys...don't tell me you're actually planning to give ten million yen away to yakuza? Seriously? If I had that kind of money I'd definitely keep it. There's no point in being a bousouzoku if you're that rich. If you want a racing car, just buy one."
The delinquent with dreadlocks delivered his advice in such a nonchalant voice that it was hard to tell if he was laughing at them or just trying to help them.
"......You bastard! Are you making fun of us the penkoro* way?
Since they had come from a different prefecture, they felt like they were free to pick on local delinquents.
Since they didn't have to worry about future retaliation, they let their fury slowly fuel their blood-thirst.
"What is 'penkoro' supposed to mean?"
"Don't mind them, Tom-san. Let's go. I'm hungry."
"Ah~you're right. That Manager should have treated us to some dinner...really......"
The bousouzoku felt their fuses burn out at the casual conversation between the delinquents.
"Bastards...DON'T THINK YOU CAN JUST IGNORE US - !"
One of them grabbed the steel pipe on the side of his motorbike and tried to knock out the man with the dreadlocks with it.
"Oops, that was close~"
He dodged it expertly.
The steel pipe didn't lose its momentum - and, in the same way it had torn Celty's luggage bag open in the afternoon -
It tore open the sleeve of the bartender suit the other delinquent was wearing.
"Ahh."
"My clothes......"
The man in the bartender suit murmured in a quiet voice.
The man with the dreadlocks were already running away as fast as he could - and, as if praying that the bousouzoku would fare well on their journey after death, he draw a cross on his chest with his hand and clapped his hands afterwards.
The next second -
"Hyoiii - "
That was about the only way to romanize the sound that could be used to mimic the situation.
The man had, with just one hand, lifted with ease the motorbike with the rider still on it over his head -
And threw it at the other bousouzoku as if he were passing a baseball at another player.
Nope, the bousouzoku were not aware.
- That in Ikebukuro, there is a human being you "simply do not pick a fight with".
- Not even if you're an assassin, a killing monster, the president, an alien, a vampire or a headless monster - you simply do not pick a fight with him.
And then - the "thunder" cut into the scene.
"MY BROTHER GAVE ME THESE CLOTHES......YOU SCUM --------------- !"
The man in the bartender suit had uprooted the street lamp that had stood next to him a second before - and swung it like a baseball bat at the bousouzoku.
Motorbikes and men were sent flying in the air after what sounded like rolling thunder.
With that all-too-familiar sight Ikebukuro ended its holiday.
No one knew if the city had enjoyed it or not -
But anyhow -
Today, the city called Ikebukuro was as peaceful as ever.
END OF CHAPTER 5