DURARARA!! Vol.6 CHAPTER 5, PART IV
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Underground parking lot, an apartment building on Kawagoe Highway
A giant shadow leaped into the quiet underground parking lot.
- Well done! Well done! Thank you.
Celty patted the headless horse on the back appreciatively and parked the chariot in a corner.
Apparently everyone had driven their cars away for Golden Week. There was not a single vehicle in sight in the parking lot.
Celty released Mikado and Anri from the shadow seat-belts and put Awakusu Akane's feet back on the ground.
The little girl looked blank more than anything. Her frame trembled as she made a step forwards, and her body threatened to gave away.
- Oops, are you alright?
Celty caught the girl before she fell. But Akane was shaking terribly.
- …Well, I can hardly blame her.
A suspicious creature that spewed shadow from its body had suddenly tied her to its back and drove a chariot like crazy on the Ikebukuro streets. Though Akane could hardly have been paying attention, Celty even took the desperate measure to make temporary archways out of her shadow to drive through red traffic lights twice on their way here.
- If I put my mind to it, I can do it.
Celty was extremely satisfied with her own performance. She wasn't sure whether she would succeed, but fortunately none of the cars that hit their brakes at the sight of her shadow archway ran into any accidents. Celty was relieved.
The hard part was getting them into this underground parking lot.
It was during the daytime and Golden Week. The chariot was bound to turn heads even if she didn't want it to.
Were she to ignore the looks from the crowd and return straight to her own apartment, the police and the media would almost certainly be after her. She was usually able to avoid being seen, but with the chariot it was close to impossible.
Celty came up with an idea. Before making her way into the apartment she turned into a narrow alleyway. Once she had made sure that no one could see them, she made the body of a black van out of her shadow and hid the chariot inside.
Were anyone to look closely, they would of course have been found out. But from afar the shadow simply looked like a strange, big van. That was how Celty was able to drive them into the underground parking lot before anyone noticed.
[It's OK, Akane-chan. I'm on your side, so don't worry.]
Having no idea how many kanji a kid like Akane could read, Celty chose to type everything in hiragana on her PDA before she showed it to Akane.
At first Akane was shaking from head to foot in fear, but after she saw what was on the PDA, she finally relaxed somewhat and said to Celty:
"Onii-san, are you a good person…?"
[It's not "onii-san", it's "onee-san".]
Akane, looking surprised, began to nod her head in apology.
"I'm sorry! Onee-san!"
[It's OK. I don't mind.]
Akane seemed to feel relieved at Celty's reply as she raised her face slowly -
At the sight of the headless horse, however, she let out a small gasp and hid herself behind Anri.
- Ah, my bad.
Celty looked back at her partner and realized that the sight of a headless horse was still too much for a child.
And -
- Hm?
The headless horse began to rustle at Akane's terrified sound. It moved to the back side of the chariot and sank to the ground as if trying to conceal its headlessness from sight.
- Ah, Shooter, are you feeling dejected?
Shooter, probably smarter than the average horse, looked as if he knew that Akane was afraid of his looks. He could hardly be blamed for feeling dejected when someone he had worked so hard to bring here was so afraid of him.
In fact, the way his headless neck hung from its base right now was the perfect illustration of "crestfallen".
Celty hastened to stroke the horse's back as she typed words onto the PDA with her other hand. After she was done typing, she walked to Akane again and showed the PDA to the scared girl.
[There's nothing to be afraid of, Akane-chan. See? Like that Anpanman who fights Baikinman*, Mr. Horse is just changing his face to a new one. So there's no need to be afraid.]
* Anpanman, Baikinman: The hero and the antagonist respectively of the popular children's anime series Anpanman written by Takashi Yanase.
Celty returned to Shooter's side. Using her shadow, she made a piece of armor shaped like a horse's head that even had a unicorn's horn on it. Shooter's headlessness was concealed perfectly.
She brought Shooter, who now looked like a cyborg horse, slowly back to Akane.
Though it was only a piece of armor, the girl still looked relieved that the horse finally had a head. No longer looking as afraid as she did before, she began to observe the horse from behind Anri's body.
[See? Nothing to be afraid of.]
As Celty tried to persuade her further, Akane looked at Anri's face.
"It's OK. Mr. Horse is really nice."
Anri, who had been on the headless horse several times before, smiled reassuringly at Akane and Shooter.
Shooter swished his tail as if he understood Anri.
Akane finally looked convinced at Anri's words. She turned her gaze towards Shooter's body and even tried to touch his legs.
The headless horse, feeling that the girl was no longer afraid of him, shook his body in delight and bent his knees to make it easier for Akane to stroke him.
- Really, Shooter, you have such changeable moods.
Celty felt both relieved and surprised that the horse's feeling of dejection went away so completely.
On the other hand -
Mikado, who had been looking at them, felt that there was something strange about the girl who was now stroking the horse's back.
- Even if the horse's headlessness was now concealed, she was convinced far too readily.
Mikado could not help feeling that the girl was a little unusual. Was she born with above average ability to accept unusual happenings like that, much like he was?
His guess wasn't right, but it was not that far off.
There was no way he could have known that part of Awakusu Akane's mentality had already collapsed. Another question, however, popped into the boy's head.
- Speaking of which, who is this girl?
- Looks like she knows Sonohara-san and Celty-san, but…
Mikado felt somewhat unsettled at the thought that only he appeared to be left "out of the mosquito curtain".
As he caught himself feeling unsettled, he was reminded of what Izaya had said to him early this morning.
- "…You're not fearing that Dollars will go rampant. Am I right?"
- "You're fearing that you will fall into the position of a mere bystander while Dollars keeps changing, aren't you?"
He had denied it right away.
Though his spinal reflex had made him shout "No", it was by no means a well-considered denial. He simply let it escape his lips first.
As a result, he couldn't decide whether it had been a truthful denial or not.
As he was reminded of that conversation, Mikado had to remind himself that it had nothing to do with what was happening before his eyes. He decided to ask the other two about the girl.
"Um, I'm sorry, but this is…?"
Right at that moment, however, the cell phone in his breast pocket began to vibrate.
- !
The ringtone pulled him forcefully back to reality.
The shock from his chariot ride finally died away. He remembered the crisis situation he and Dollars was in.
- What…
- What should I do?
The confusion he had felt in the abandoned factory took hold of him once again.
If he continued to keep everything to himself, he would just be trapping himself in the agony he was in back inside that factory.
In that second, Mikado turned his gaze towards Celty.
He had thought that there was no one for him to talk to. But right now in front of his eyes stood someone who knew that he was the founder of Dollars.
Just as he was about to say something to Celty -
"Um, this is Akane-chan. Looks like she knows Heiwajima-san, but…"
In reply to the sentence he had muttered but not finished, Anri began to introduce the girl next to her to Mikado.
"Eh? Ah, ah."
At her words Mikado came to his senses.
If he tried to talk to Celty about this right now and right here, Anri would know everything. In fact, he could be getting her into danger just by staying in this place with her.
- What am I doing?
- Why did it take so long for me to realize something as simple as that?
It looked like his judgment was more muddled than he had expected.
Upon realizing this, Mikado decided that the first priority would be to let his mind rest for a while.
- I founded Dollars. This is true. That's why I have to shoulder the responsibility…
In fact, there had long been something resembling such resolution inside the boy's mind. But the knowledge of what was going on in Ikebukuro right now was still too much for him to bear alone. Keeping it to himself was not the solution, either.
He knew it.
Mikado knew it very well.
But the question remained: "So who should I talk to?"
Celty was doubtlessly the best person since she knew that he was the founder of Dollars. But from the encounter with the formidable-looking men and the girl, he realized that Celty must be dealing with quite a bit of troublesome happenings herself.
There was Orihara Izaya, who also knew that he was the founder of Dollars. However, Izaya had talked to him over the phone just this morning. Would he be bothering Izaya too much if he called again?
- But it's hardly the time to be thinking about trivial things like that.
- …
Mikado remembered someone else who might be aware of his true identity.
- Masaomi…
He had no idea how much Masaomi had come to know about him after all the trouble Dollars got into with the Yellow Turbans.
But it was probably better to be prepared to think that Masaomi had already found out about him being the founder of Dollars.
Now that he thought about it, the way Masaomi had warned him in the chatroom yesterday sounded as if he had known that things would happen to Mikado the way they did.
- Thank you, Masaomi.
- Had you not warned me yesterday…I might have already been scared into submission by Aoba-kun and his friends.
Having no idea that the warning had not come from Masaomi himself at all, Mikado thanked him in his heart.
- But Aoba-kun is not…usual.
- If he's to have his way…
- Then he'll probably take over Dollars.
- No, I can't let that happen.
- I can't let Dollars belong to a specific someone.
Murmuring such thoughts in his heart, Mikado continued to talk with Anri as he made up his mind deep down in his heart.
- I'm going to talk to Izaya-san.
- I know I can't rely on him for everything, but I feel like I'll be surer of where I should be going after I talk to him.
The boy had no idea.
The path he was on right now was exactly the one his friend Masaomi had walked before.
As a result, Masaomi met his downfall - but Mikado didn't know that either. In fact, Izaya's existence even reassured him to a degree.
Just as Mikado was preoccupied with these troublesome thoughts, Celty kept typing on her PDA to explain how she had come to know the girl.
[Um, she's…how should I put it…someone asked me to be her bodyguard for a while. I'll tell you more when we get back to Shinra's place.]
At that moment, Mikado's cell phone was heard vibrating in his pocket.
It had rung several times before, but Mikado was, of course, unable to check the messages during their chariot ride.
Aoba-kun and his friends might be already trying to do something after he escaped with Celty. Right now he didn't even know what had happened in that abandoned factory after he had left.
Expecting to get some new information, Mikado opened his inbox and clicked on the most recent incoming message.
The sender was "Nakura".
- Ah, that person would sometimes post something on Dollars's message board.
That was all Mikado knew about this person.
But the title naturally drew his attention. It said: "IMPORTANT INFORMATION!"
The sender could just be putting these words for fun, of course. But "Nakura" was in fact one of the first members to register themselves at Dollars's website.
Attached to the message he also found a photo.
"…?"
Mikado's face froze for a second after he had read the message.
His mind was far from calmed down. What "Nakura" had written in the message was, at this moment, beyond his comprehension.
Or rather, he understood what it said, but refused to accept it.
"…It can't be true."
As soon as Mikado had digested the message, a desperate sound escaped his throat in his denial.
"…Mikado-kun?"
[What happened?]
Anri asked in a concerned voice. Celty, too, typed these words on her PDA. But Mikado was neither looking at nor listening to them.
He concentrated his entire being on the display screen, assuming that he must have read it wrong.
But no matter how many times he reread it, the message looked the same, and the photo was, of course, non-vanishing.
"No…just, NO…!"
After he had muttered these words for a second time, Mikado raised his head suddenly and nodded apologetically to Celty and Anri.
"I'm sorry, Celty-san! I…I got somewhere to go that cannot wait. I'm going to excuse myself. Sorry to you too, Sonohara-san! I don't think I can go with you today. It would be better if you went home right now. Also, no matter what Aoba-kun says, don't go meet him!"
"Eh…? M-Mikado-kun?"
[What?]
Anri and Celty acted confused at the sudden change in Mikado's attitude. Akane shuddered.
However, Mikado only nodded his head in apology again in front of the three confused females, and -
As if someone were on his tail, he ran out of the underground parking lot without a backward glance.
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Close to an apartment building on Kawagoe Highway
This was a side road to the national highway with its heavy traffic.
In a place where Shinra and Celty's apartment could be seen, two motorbikes were parked rather inconspicuously.
The riders were standing at the entrance to a rather narrow alleyway, and one of them had a map open in front of him. Any passing driver would think that they just happened to ride their motorbikes into this alleyway and were trying to find a way out.
In fact, the map was but camouflage. The riders - Vorona and Slon - were keeping an eye on the apartment the black van had just disappeared into.
They took the turn into this alleyway when they had followed the motorbike-turned black chariot here.
If they continued to follow the chariot they would almost certainly be seen. Instead, they chose to stay around the entrance to this alleyway while keeping an eye on it. As they did so, they saw a strange black van emerge from the alleyway. It was hard to tell from afar, but the black van did not shine at all under the sun; it looked as if it absorbed all light.
The black van disappeared into the underground parking lot of one of the apartment buildings. No other vehicles came out of it. Though they were able to narrow the likely places down to only this parking lot -
"Someone's coming out."
Said Slon. Vorona turned her eyes towards the general direction but remained otherwise unmoved.
"…The boy Black Motorbike took with him earlier. Looks like he's moving on his own, but…"
"Whatever. So should we assume that this is the Black Motorbike's hideout or something?"
"Assumption too posthaste. We do not know if he's only concealing himself in the parking lot momentarily."
"I see…so what should we do about the kid?"
Asked Slon. Vorona did not know what to say.
The boy was not related to any of the tasks they'd been asked to do.
However, it was hard to assume that he was just an average passer-by when he was surrounded by the Black Motorbike, Awakusu Akane and the bespectacled girl - their three targets. There was a possibility that they could use him as a bait to lure one of their targets out.
In addition, Vorona could not help but sense that there was something out of the ordinary about the boy. She nodded calmly.
"The true identity of the boy is the object of consideration. …I am going to follow the boy. Slon, I request that you continue to track down the Black Motorbike and the bespectacled girl. Please acknowledge your understanding of this request."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
Racing her motorbike forwards and turning onto the national highway, Vorona stayed on the boy's tail.
As she fixed her gaze on the boy, the look in her eyes -
Was that of a predator's as it ran after its prey that was blindly trying to escape.
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Underground parking lot
"Ah…M-Mikado-kun!?"
As if trying to stop Mikado from running away, Anri called out to him.
However, Mikado did not slow down or turn around. His figure soon disappeared on the slope to the entrance of the underground parking lot.
"I wonder what happened…"
Celty tilted her helmet and tried to think as Anri murmured in a concerned voice.
- What could have happened?
- I saw him checking a message from Dollars…
Was Yumasaki's lot or anyone else he knew from Dollars attacked by Toramaru?
Celty considered this as she went on to check her own cell phone.
- Let's see.
- The most recent incoming message…
The next second, Celty froze.
As she checked the photo attached to the message, Celty understood immediately why Mikado had rushed out of the parking lot.
In fact, Celty was about to rush out of the parking lot herself when she remembered that Akane was still by her side, looking nervously at her. She had to fight back that impulse.
"S-Sorry, Celty-san, but what happened?"
Asked Anri. Celty hesitated as to whether to show her the message.
But the seriousness in Anri's eyes made her shoulders fall in resignation. She handed the cell phone over to Anri.
What Anri saw on the cell phone was -
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Sender: Nakura
Title: IMPORTANT INFORMATION!
Message: This is about those bousouzoku called Toramaru who are attacking Dollars right now - I saw one of their Captain's girlfriends having lunch in Ikebukuro just now! I'm too afraid to try kidnapping her, but if you feel like you can, please give it a go! She's the one on the left!
♂♀
The message was short and simple.
The picture attached to the message showed several girls.
It was taken with a cell phone, but it was taken in a way that made it easy for anyone who was familiar with Ikebukuro to tell where exactly the restaurant was.
It looked like the photo was taken without permission while the girls were eating; none of them were looking at the camera.
The one on the left was an innocent-looking girl who still looked sort of pre-pubescent.
- Eh?
- This girl…
It was a face she had seen on the "other side of the picture frame".
Anri remembered that she had seen this face only shortly before.
Before she could recall exactly where, however, the girl on the right side of the photo caught her attention.
- …Ah…
- Kamichika-san…?
The girl on the photo was none other than Kamichika Rio, the girl she had run into earlier in the day.
Even after she saw the face of her and Mikado's classmate on the photo, Anri remained calm as she tried to think further.
- Um…
- This, um, person called Nakura in Dollars…
- Said that they should kidnap Kamichika-san's friend…
For Anri, these were all things happening on the "other side of the picture frame". To her they felt as if they were happening in a distant world.
However, Mikado had grasped Anri's arm, pulled her out of the picture frame and into "the other side".
Whether or not it was Mikado's intention to get Anri involved was irrelevant.
"…Celty-san."
Suppressing the intensifying surge of "cursings" in her chest, Anri looked at Celty with determined eyes and said:
"I need to go too."
Celty thought about stopping her, but knowing that Anri would probably still go no matter what she said, she typed onto her PDA in resignation:
[The ones who attacked you yesterday may still come back. It's better to not go anywhere with no one else around you. Even Anri-chan wouldn't be able to take a bullet as if it's nothing. Also, make sure to go back home before it gets dark.]
"I will…um, t-thank you very much! Akane-chan, this onee-san here is extremely nice, so just stay with her and the doctor and wait for us to come back!"
Saying these words to Akane -
Anri nodded apologetically just like Mikado did a moment ago and rushed out of the parking lot.
Her speed and force was unimaginable to anyone who had only seen the way she looked and usually behaved.
♂♀
"Vorona, you hear me?"
"I affirm."
Slon asked Vorona via the wireless installed on the inside of their helmets.
He was still able to see Vorona's motorbike, but the boy's figure was lost to him in the flow of the traffic.
As soon as he was about to turn his gaze back to the entrance to the parking lot, the girl running on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road in front of his eyes caught his attention.
"It's our target, the bespectacled girl. She's running after the boy. God, she's fast."
"Running after the boy. Mistakes not present?"
"…Yeah, she definitely looks like she is. No sign of the Black Motorbike coming out, though."
"I acknowledge that I understood. The boy and the girl, I will follow them both. Falling on both stools."
Vorona replied in a calm voice. Half-jokingly, Slon said:
"That's not even an idiom. Anyway, I know you can probably handle it, Vorona, but we have no idea what that boy's capable of. The girl can pull a katana out of her belly, and the Black Motorbike is simply a monster. I won't be surprised if that boy can turn his right arm into a machine gun or something."
"I affirm. No deficiency present on the opponent's part."
Vorona's voice sounded somewhat elated on the other end of the wireless. Slon understood that she was probably ecstatic.
"…You sound happy, Vorona."
It was all Slon could think of saying. Vorona, still expressionless, let a trace of her ecstasy slip its way into her voice as she muttered to herself as if even the job was no longer important to her:
"Assuming that the boy is a monstrosity also. To me, the situation would be much welcome."
(TO BE CONTINUED IN PART V)