DURARARA!! Vol.9 Chapter 3, Part II
♂♀
Same time, on the rooftop of a building in Ikebukuro
"Hi. It's been a long time, Courier."
Under a sky where the stars were mostly wiped out by the neon light from the city stood Celty, whose completely black outfit absorbed even the neon light. Opposite her Izaya raised a hand leisurely in greeting.
"How's Shinra been doing? With Nebula's newest equipments I figure he's at least going to recover faster than at Raira General Hospital? …But then, having him recuperate at home afterwards may eventually cancel out whatever good that did depending on the quality of care he receives, I guess."
[…How did you know about all that?]
"I have my own information network, that's how. You're absolutely free to speculate that I sent a spy into Nebula or something like that. I don't think it's going to be worth the trouble, though. Even if you do find the spy you won't be able to do anything about it."
Nothing had changed.
Izaya behaved in the same way he had always behaved when asking Celty to do work for him.
But that was exactly what was making Celty so mad.
Shinra had called a man like this his "friend".
Yet this man had acted like nothing had changed when Shinra had been so severely injured and he had known everything about it.
[If you are behind the attack on Shinra, I think it will definitely be worth the trouble to find this spy.]
So she poured her irritation, mixed with sarcasm and suspicion, into the words she typed and pushed them in Izaya's face. But not even that had an effect on the way Izaya behaved.
"Oops, you scare me. Didn't I tell you already? I'm not behind the one who attacked Shinra. I don't see any point in doing something like that."
[Aren't you the kind of person who'd just do anything if you think it's fun?]
"My, that stung. Do I look like I'm that much of a hedonist to you? I'm not omnipotent enough or free enough to be able to do whatever I please just for the fun of it. I won't expect a monster like you to understand, but the lives of us humans are bound by a variety of fetters. Unadulterated freedom is a privilege of the ones who are determined to go on until they fall dead on the street. But I don't want to die yet. That's how simple it is."
Celty, getting even more irritated as she listened to Izaya ramble on, typed forthright sentences on her PDA:
[…Shinra was severely injured. Do you just not feel anything at all?]
"Earlier when I was stabbed Shinra simply hung up on me with a 'Bye!', you know. All I'm doing now is just being appropriately cold to him in return."
[You…he was worried about you after that call! And what did you do? You had the police call us and everything…! If you didn't want to be treated that way, you should have known to not treat others that way yourself! Speaking of which, since it's you you probably deserved that stabbing in the first place!]
"Oh? Are you saying that Shinra didn't deserve his?"
Celty shot back fearlessly at Izaya's calm riposte.
[I'll find out. That's exactly what I came here and requested information about the culprit for, didn't I already tell you that? If you lie to me, I'm going to tie you up and put you in front of Shizuo for real.]
"True, I lie to both myself and other people. But I never lie when I'm doing business, otherwise I would have gone bankrupt already. You can think of lying as one of my hobbies."
[You have a habit of making your hobbies your business, though.]
"Oops, you said it. Well. Let's talk business first, shall we?"
Izaya, who had been leaning back onto the rooftop fence, began to walk in Celty's direction.
As if to stop him, however, Celty kept her watch on the surroundings as she asked Izaya:
[Wait a moment.]
"What is it?"
[…Those people around us - who are they?]
What Celty was looking at turned out to be men who were watching them from the shadow of the water tank or leaning against the walls.
As she saw their jackets with skeleton patterns on them, Celty thought of a certain name.
[Oi, aren't those people from 'Dragon Zombie'?]
Izaya clapped his hands as he heard her and answered cheerfully:
"Bingo! I'm surprised that you remember them. They haven't been on the roads at all recently."
Dragon Zombie was a bousouzoku group that had been active in all the 23 municipalities of Tokyo. It was said that they had a rivalry with "Jyan Jyan Jyan", a group rumored to be connected to Awakusu-kai. Lately, however, they had disappeared from the city almost completely.
Since Jyan Jyan Jyan had disappeared at about the same time, Celty had concluded on her own that it must be because they were scared of that horrible White Motorbike. Little did she expect to see them here on the rooftop of a building where motorbikes almost never went.
[Why are they here?]
- Don't tell me he really was behind the attack on Shinra?
- Did he gather those people here to finish me off?
Celty stayed vigilant as suspicions swarmed in her mind. She made the shadows creep around her body.
Should the worst come to worst she would just cover the entire rooftop with her shadow. This plan took shape in Celty's mind as Izaya waved his hand with an expression free of malevolence.
"Ah, it's okay, it's okay. There's no need to be so alarmed. They're kind of both my means of transportation and my bodyguards, that's all."
[Bodyguards…?]
"Didn't I tell you I was stabbed? I haven't found the one who did it yet. Look, don't people tend to hate me when I only meant well? That's why I paid them to be my guards. …The crackdown on bousouzoku gangs is kind of severe recently, you see."
[I agree, but…]
Celty shuddered as she remembered the intense chase half a day ago with Kuzuhara Kinnosuke on her tail. She continued to type on her PDA:
[But I'm pretty sure you don't usually mean well.]
"I was just kidding. With my job and my personality I more than deserve all the hate I get. That's something even I would readily understand."
[If you understand, can't you at least try to change your personality for a bit?]
"If I ever feel like it, sure."
Izaya didn't look interested as he said it. Celty looked like she had given up trying to persuade him further.
[Anyway, fine, I won't ask any more questions about those people around us. So what is it that you wanted me to transport?]
"Well, first things first, I guess. This job is going to take several days."
[Oi, wait. I need to take care of Shinra! I can't afford to be away from home for several days in a row!]
Celty protested. Izaya, however, shook his head as if to say it was not a problem.
"It's going to be fine. You won't have to be there the entire time. I said several days, but actually you'll only have to work for a little while on one of those days."
[A little while?]
"Yeah, in short, I want you to be my assistant. There's a case for which I must look into a lot of things. That's why I want someone who is not bound by things like identity and family registration and therefore can do a lot of things I can't."
[Can't you just ask the Dragon Zombie people over there?]
Izaya's expression did not change when Celty asked the natural question.
"I would be in trouble if they don't concentrate their efforts on being my bodyguards. My life is important to me."
[Even if you say so, asking a courier to collect information for you is just not right. It's outside my area…]
Though hesitating, Celty had realized that she had no choice but to accept this job.
In exchange, she would obtain information on the one who attacked Shinra.
Even if she were to tie Izaya up and threaten him, he wouldn't have given her that information.
Celty understood that if there was anything Izaya was ridiculously not lacking in, it would be that kind of mental durability. She continued to negotiate in her own way though half of her had already given up.
[I'm going to do everything I can, but you can't deny me the payment even if I fail your expectations.]
"I know. Well, as long as you don't betray me or slack off too much, I will give you the information you want. Also, I don't think the job is going to be that different from your duties as a courier. In fact I wanted to ask you to do this as a courier."
[What is it exactly?]
Celty asked in irritation as Izaya beat around the bushes once more.
Izaya smiled in a child's schadenfreude as he put his hand on Celty's shoulder and landed in a sitting position on the top of the rooftop fence.
Usually one would have been worried that he might fall off the building, but Celty didn't try to talk Izaya out of it. Instead she simply waited in silence for Izaya to continue.
Izaya looked down at Celty from the slightly higher place and clapped his hands loudly together.
"That is to say, what I want you to transport this time, Courier…
…is information."
♂♀
An hour later, a clubhouse somewhere in Tokyo
The interior of this place looked so typical of a clubhouse that it reminded one of certain Hollywood movie settings.
Sultry music flowed in the dimly-lit hall as sabers of light cut through the darkness in a drunk fashion. On the third floor, secluded from the noise and light, was a certain room -
Several college students who looked like they did not belong in this place were gathered inside.
The walls were painted a shade of blue reminiscent of the city's night view.
The table was made of white marble with soft, black leather sofas placed around it, underscoring the fact that this place is, for some reason, special.
"Good place, isn't it?"
The one who said it was a man with a dart in his hand.
A heavily used dartboard hung on the wall. An air of anachronism arose from the fact that the games in this room were not digital.
"The second floor was a gathering place for people who did the same things as us until the end of last year. I don't remember if it was the end of last year or the beginning of this year, but somehow they caught the attention of Awakusu-kai and the cops and they were crushed."
"Oi oi, isn't that bad luck?"
"Why not think of it the opposite way? That those folks took all the back luck with them when they left this place, for example. My father owns this club, so we can have a lot more flexibility here. I told him we needed the study space, so he's letting us use this room as long as it's not reserved."
The young man who spoke looked like a model student who would never even enter a nightclub. He threw his dart at the target.
Dang. A crisp sound was heard in the room and the assembly fell silent.
The young man did not move an inch in front of the dart, which had pierced straight into the bullseye. Though he looked like a model student, he was by no means thin or frail; in fact, judging by the kind of muscles he had, he had probably been doing some sports. With a body and a face that both gave off the vibe of someone born to a distinguished family, the young man stood like a portrait in the elegantly furnished room.
His own words finally put an end to this silence.
"…But still, are you saying that the guy called Heiwajima Shizuo actually bought it? He bought the huge fat lie that my girlfriend was stolen or something?"
The young man who stood at the entrance - it was the same man who had been talking to Shizuo earlier in the park - smiled obsequiously as he scratched his head and said:
"Yeah, I can't believe how easily he bought it. That guy is a monster like the rumors said, but we were so lucky that his head works the way it works! We also found out more about that bastard Orihara Izaya! Well, to be frank, it's true that he's an information broker and all, but I don't think he's tricky enough to be worth your attention, Shijima-san."
"Ah, you found a girl who looked like his sister…right?"
"Yes, we did! We heard that kid in glasses say 'Iza-nii', loud and clear! The girl next to that kid looked a lot like her, so she might be his sister as well!"
"Heh, I see. His sisters. True, they're very promising bargaining material."
The man who had just been called Shijima took a new dart and aimed it at the target.
"So? Where does this kid live?"
"Eh?"
As he heard the natural question, the young man who appeared to be the subordinate froze.
The reason was simple enough: he did not have an answer to that.
"Isn't it why those kids are not here yet? Isn't it because you are planning to bring them here later somehow? If so, then you must have found out where they lived, haven't you?"
"Ah, no…well, that Shizuo bastard was getting mad at us so we kind of just ran…"
"Is that so? Too bad. We'll look into that tomorrow, then."
Shijima laughed brightly. The subordinate forced himself to laugh as well.
The next second, however, Shijima tilted his head and asked the young man:
"…Hm? What is that on your eyes?"
"Eh?"
"There's something that looks like a blemish on your eyelid…close them for me for a moment."
"Ah, sure, sorry about it."
As he closed his eyes as he was told, however -
Less than a second later, he felt something hit his nose.
"!? Argh…what!?"
The young man opened his eyes not knowing what was going on.
As he did so, he saw in the center of his vision two stick-like objects between his left eye and his right. No, there was just one. He must have seen two because it was so close to his eyes that they couldn't focus properly.
At first it felt as if he had been bitten by a tiny lizard or stung by a bee. He hastened to drive the shadow away with his hand.
When he tried to chase it off from the side with his hand, however, pain exploded from inside his face as if someone was trying to bore a hole in the flesh of his nose.
"Eh!"
The object that had been in his nose a moment ago, however, looked like it fell and rolled off after the impact.
The man covered his bleeding nose with his hand and looked at the object on the ground.
"Eh…"
- Is that…the sharp end of a dart…?
As soon as he realized this, a black shadow had walked toward him from the side.
"Shi-Shiji-…ma-…san? !? Arrrrgh! ~~~~~~!"
He did not know when Shijima had moved from the center of the room to suddenly appear before his eyes and thrust a dart into his shoulder.
The pain from his nose and his shoulder enhanced each other in his brain and almost drove him crazy.
Before he could understand what had happened, his body was already taken over by the pain.
"W-What! I, what did I! What!"
Pressing his hand to his shoulder the subordinate turned around hastily to shout the incoherent question as he leaned into a corner of the room. Among the other men in the room some were swallowing as they watched, some chuckled, others reacted still differently.
"Ah, did you mean to ask 'What did I ever do to deserve this'?"
Shijima completed the man's sentence for him and answered the question himself.
"It's because you did nothing, of course."
Shijima said simply and went on to pick up the dart rolling on the floor next to him.
Without the slightest hesitation, he threw it at the man shaking in the corner of the room.
"Wha - !?"
The man yelped in fear - and then, immediately, in pain.
Shijima marched forward and swung his leg up to grind the tip of the dart deeper into the man's thigh.
"Gahhhh!? Arrrrrrrrrgh!"
The voice heard in the room was no longer capable of a human language.
Just like they blocked out the music from the hall, however, the soundproofed walls made sure that the man's cries couldn't be heard outside this room.
The pain stimulated his spinal cord. Tears began to flow from his eyes already filled with fear and confusion.
Shijima smiled his refreshing smile at the pathetic-looking man - and began to talk with his foot still on the dart in the man's thigh.
"You think you were lucky that Heiwajima Shizuo's got the head he's got…? Well, I guess your brain tissue is made of even more golden luck, then…? We can't afford to lose even a second here. We can't afford to. We, can't, afford, to. You, hear?"
As he uttered each one of these last six words he pushed the dart once with his foot.
Groans escaped the man's throat as if it were some sort of broken instrument in accordance with the movements of his foot.
"I want you to thank me. Had I not told you to close your eyes you could have lost either your left eye or your right if my hand wasn't steady."
After he said these words Shijima withdrew his foot and turned his back toward the man who continued to groan.
As if no longer interested in that particular subordinate, the man who looked like he was a son of some distinguished family began to address the entire assembly in the room.
"If you think this is just a university club or something, I will be very concerned… No, actually, I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that, really, but…in the end the one who will have to deal with Kumoi-san's temper is me."
Kumoi.
The air in the room froze upon the very mention of this name.
The assembly had not felt so pressured even when the dart had pierced into the nose of the young man who was just punished in front of them. As soon as the name Kumoi reached their eardrums, however, even those who had been grinning at the sight of blood fell silent.
The cries and groans of the lone man could hardly make an impression on either their eardrums or their brains at this point.
That was just how focused their minds were on the name Kumoi.
"H-Hey, Shijima. Has Kumoi-san contacted you recently?"
"Of course he has."
Shijima smiled brightly at his companions seated on the leather sofas.
"…How could Kumoi-san not have noticed…when those fools not only failed to finish off that Akabayashi from Awakusu-kai but also got into a fight with some completely irrelevant yakuza organization, not forgetting to get themselves into the news in the process?"
Shijima's lighthearted expression stayed in its place as a drop of cold sweat crept down his face. He muttered:
"…We've been such a disgrace to 'Heaven Slave', we have."
As he said these words, Shijima unbuttoned the right sleeve of his shirt and rolled it all the way up his arm.
"…"
Silence reigned in the room again.
Some people averted their gazes as others stared in disbelief.
On his right arm they saw strange scars, long and red.
Starting from close to his wrist several long, parallel red lines meandered all the way up to the top of his shoulder.
- It almost looked like some sort of musical score.
One of them thought so before he hastened to correct it -
It didn't 'almost' look like one -
That was 'exactly' what those scars were: a musical score with five parallel lines.
In-between the five lines distorted by the creases on his arm, red dots could be seen here and there. Some of them were even carefully crafted into a "♪" shape.
"T-Those scars…how come…how did…"
"Hm? Ah, Kumoi-san just did it on me."
"With a…knife or something?"
The man probably feared that he would be swallowed up by the abnormality in front of him if he didn't try to ask this question.
He had chosen to say "knife" because it seemed like it could get him an answer he would be content with.
- Yeah, those are knife scars.
- If so, then they're nothing out of ordinary. Delinquents sometimes do that to themselves when they go funny in the head.
- It's kind of like burning people with cigarettes to test their guts.
- Yeah.
- It's no big deal.
- I bet you can find things worse than that in any TV series or manga you pick up.
- It's nothing compared to getting your fingers cut off, for instance.
These thoughts surfaced and disappeared in turn in his mind.
But the scars before his eyes spoke of "pain" more eloquently than anything he could conjure up in his imagination.
Even if they were indeed better than losing a finger or an arm, the scars did not look like mere scratches on the skin. To leave that kind of scars the wound could easily have been deep enough to reach his muscles.
The men could not help but be made to imagine.
Imagine that this was one of the lighter forms of punishment they could get.
As if to knock these men out of their escapist attitude, Shijima shook his head slightly.
"Had he used a knife they would have healed faster, perhaps."
Shijima glided toward the dartboard in a room of people who had frozen simultaneously as they heard him.
Pulling three darts off the target, he rolled them in his hand and answered:
"With the tip of this dart, you see, he etched all those lines one by one in my arm."
"…"
A chill crept down the men's spines as they felt themselves sweat.
Destroying muscle cells to compose this musical score with a tool not even meant for cutting. Just picturing it in their minds made the men feel like their lower bellies were being pressed against by something hard and chilly.
"Ah, but it was still loads better than when he drilled a hole in my front tooth without anesthesia. Though he did order me to do something impossible like 'Sing along to the notes with your screams'. Really, Kumoi-san always has the best jokes."
Shijima laughed innocently. No one laughed with him.
It seemed that the man named Kumoi was the leader of this group and that most of his punishments were meted out to Shijima, who appeared to be second in command.
"'We're like Dollars's shadow.' That's what Kumoi-san said to me."
Shijima alone was speaking with warmth in his voice as the temperature in the room seemed to have fallen below the freezing point. He turned to face the dartboard again.
"It's OK that we're No.2. We can hide ourselves behind Dollars's enormous body and remain just a shadow… The only problem is that we need to step up our efforts a little if we want to secure that place."
Dang. A crisp sound was heard as the dart pierced into the bullseye again.
"…'Heaven Slave' is going to take over the entire system of 'Amphisbaena' and make it its own."
Dang. His eyes narrowed fanatically as he threw another dart into the bullseye.
"Because that's what Kumoi-san wants."
Dang. His last dart shook the target -
Shijima spoke words of what sounded like despair in a voice that resounded within the room.
Only the speaker himself was smiling very, very cheerfully.
"For us, there is no turning back now."
CHATROOM
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No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
Saika-san has joined the chat.
Saika
Good evening
Saika
Nice to see you
Indoor Scholar-san has joined the chat.
Indoor Scholar
Nice to meet you, my name is Indoor Scholar!
Indoor Scholar
Um, actually this is my first time coming to this chatroom
Indoor Scholar
I've come to visit per Setton-san's introduction! Nice to meet you all!
Saika
Nice to meet you
Saika
My name is Saika
Saika
It's great to know you
Saika
Do you know Setton-san?
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
It's me, Anri-chan.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I just remembered that Celty tried to get me to join.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Things happened. Now I'm kind of trapped in a staring game between me and the laptop
Indoor Scholar
Well, yes, kind of! Nice to meet you!
[Private mode] Saika
Is it Kishitani-sensei?
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Bingo! But then it's not like Celty had anyone else she could invite.
[Private mode] Saika
Are your injuries alright now
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Oh I see, did you hear about it from Celty?
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Anyway, lately it's become able for me to type on the laptop like this.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Though I can only do it while lying on my back on the bed and with the aid of this special table.
[Private mode] Saika
Please take good care of yourself
[Private mode] Saika
I wish you good health
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Thank you, I will. Anyway, you don't have to worry about it too much.
[Private mode] Saika
I see Thank you
[Private mode] Saika
By the way I noticed that you were using the private mode from the very start
[Private mode] Saika
That is so cool
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Well, I'm pretty used to computers so more or less I know my way around one.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I was thinking I should say hello to the other people too for what it was worth, but it looks like they aren't here.
[Private mode] Saika
I'm sorry
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Anri-chan, you don't…sorry, I should have said Saika-san. There's nothing you should apologize for lol
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Speaking of which, are you typing on a cell phone? Must be a lot of trouble.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Yeah, it must be hard for you seeing as how you're typing only in hiragana.*
* Anri types only in hiragana in the chatroom. All other members know how to convert hiragana into kanji or katakana when necessary.
[Private mode] Saika
I'm sorry
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I told you, you didn't have to apologize lol
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
If I'm making you apologize all the time Celty will get mad at me later!
[Private mode] Saika
How is Celty-san doing
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Ah, she's doing very well. She's still not home today though.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Oh that reminds me, if you want to learn how to convert hiragana into kanji on your cell phone or computer
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Can't you get Mikado-kun or someone else to teach you how?
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Mikado-kun looks like he knows such stuff well.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Actually, can't you just talk to him about it in this chatroom? I'm sure no one's going to complain.
[Private mode] Saika
I'm sorry
[Private mode] Saika
I have thought about it too
[Private mode] Saika
But I don't want Ryuugamine-kun to know that I'm using the name Saika
[Private mode] Saika
I am not mentally ready
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I see. Well, I understand how you feel.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Mikado-kun seems aware that Saika has something to do with the Slasher incident.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
It's true. If he knows that you're using the name of that Demon Blade as your handle, Anri-chan, you may be in trouble.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
But then you can take your time, I think.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
You and Mikado-kun are not like me. You're both reticent types.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
But if you have anything you want to talk about, like living your life as that Demon Blade, or living your life in general…
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
or if you want to tell Mikado-kun the truth or something…
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
feel free to talk to Celty and me at any time.
[Private mode] Saika
Thank you very much
[Private mode] Saika
I'm happy to hear this
[Private mode] Saika
I can only talk to Celty-san and you about Saika
[Private mode] Saika
It's really encouraging
[Private mode] Saika
But are you sure it won't be too much trouble for you
[Private mode] Saika
I don't want to get you and Celty-san into trouble because of me Kishitani-sensei
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
It's nothing to worry about, really
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Celty considers you a very important friend, you know.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
And Celty's friends are my friends also.
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Well, you'll have to pick a time good for both Celty and me, but definitely come talk to us
[Private mode] Saika
I'm happy to hear this
[Private mode] Saika
I'm really happy
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I feel kind of embarrassed when you thank me so straightforwardly lol
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
I'll be saying goodbye for today
[Private mode] Indoor Scholar
Going out of the private mode for a moment!
Indoor Scholar
Bye for now! I'll be coming to say hello again when there are more people!
Indoor Scholar
Saika-san, thanks for being the first to talk to me!
Saika
Thank you
Saika
I appreciated it
Indoor Scholar
Me too! Goodbye, then…
Indoor Scholar-san has left the chat.
Saika
Thank you
Saika
I think I'll be leaving for the day too
Saika
Thank you so much
Saika
I hope we can all gather to talk someday
Saika
I'll try hard
Saika
Goodbye then excuse me
Saika-san has left the chat.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
No one is in the chatroom right now.
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END OF CHAPTER 3