DURARARA!! Vol.9 Chapter 5, Part II
Dark Place
"Alas, it feels so great listening to you going all nervous on the other end of the phone."
Shijima clenched his teeth more forcefully as he heard the voice on the phone. He maintained his composure as he said:
"What do you want?"
"What do I want? Let's see. Why not start with...asking Earthworm-chan - that's the Amphisbaena girl - to pick up her phone for me nicely? I think she kind of dropped it. I can't continue the conversation otherwise, you know."
Shijima clicked his tongue impatiently in his heart. He walked toward the woman who was still desperately trying to tear the linen bag open.
"...He said he wanted you to pick up the phone."
"What is that...I have nothing to say to him...ahh, I can't stand this!"
She was probably fighting against herself. As her left hand kept working on the linen bag, her right hand picked up the phone again.
"Hey, I hear someone breathing. Is that you picking up the phone? Finally?"
"…Wait...who is this guy?"
Earthworm had lost her calm completely. She asked in a highly anxious tone.
The person on the other end of the phone, however, announced still more cheerfully:
"And that brings us to - Quiz Time~!"
"Huh?"
"Are you messing around with us?"
"Question One: what does Lizard-san, the head of 'Amphisbaena', and Kumoi-san, the head of 'Heaven Slave', have in common?"
Both Earthworm's and Shijima's heartbeats stopped for a second.
It probably felt like having a bucket of cold water poured down their necks.
That was the kind of icy horror the question was to their ears.
"How...how did you know that 'Owner''s nickname is Lizard..."
Ignoring Earthworm's whimper, the talk show host on the other end of the phone laughed:
"Beep~too bad, time's up. The correct answer is: 'He has two symmetric moles under the corners of his eyes'! Question Two!"
"How...how did you know what...'Owner'...looks like!?"
"..."
Earthworm yelped. Shijima, on the other hand, went pale and remained speechless.
Not knowing what was going on in their phone conversation, the people around them - Earthworm's and Shijima's subordinates alike - looked confused as they waited.
"So, that man under the linen bag now sitting with you...are there or are there no such moles on his face?"
"Eh...?"
"...!"
"Why not let us throw in a Question Three? So who exactly is under that bag - Lizard-san or Kumoi-san?"
The two of them stopped thinking completely for a moment.
Earthworm did not want to understand the sentence she had just heard.
Shijima, meanwhile, was seized by a different kind of fear.
- He's kidding, right?
- Orihara Izaya...did he really put Kumoi-san...?
- If he did, it would be bad. Very bad.
As soon as he recovered from the momentary inability to think, Shijima had a new question on his mind. He decided to act immediately.
"I-Impossible! It can't-can't be 'Owner'! Liarrrr!"
Earthworm fell to the floor with her hands on her head as she remembered everything she had done to the man under the linen bag.
Shijima, on the other hand, placed himself between her and the man under the linen bag. With feigned composure he said in an even tone:
"We're getting nowhere unless we do something. I'll cut the ropes."
He produced a small knife from his breast pocket and slowly moved it close to the nape of the man's neck.
But -
His arm was seized tightly by the hand of the man under the linen bag.
"Eh...?"
"What...?"
The man - whose hands should have been tied up and kept behind his back - had freed himself from the ropes.
He stopped Shijima's arm with his left hand and held his own knife, which he produced from God only knows where, in his right hand.
"What were you trying to do...just now?"
Still keeping Shijima at arm's length, he slowly inserted his knife into the narrow opening between the bag and his own neck.
After a slight grinding sound the rope around the bag was cut open, as was the bag itself.
The man closed his knife and slowly pulled the linen bag, now soaked in lamp oil, over his head.
What was revealed from underneath it - was a smile.
What appeared from under the linen bag was a smile neither condescending nor amicable. It was not even a smile of pleasure or a smile that could be called either eerie or refreshing. What was revealed from under the linen bag was a smile that made the observer think that it only served to conceal his emotions.
"Hey."
Said the smiling face.
No. Earthworm and Shijima were both aware that the object they were facing was not called a "smiling face". It had another name.
It was this knowledge that was driving their hearts over the precipice of confusion and almost straight into the abyss of complete darkness.
"Nice to meet you. At least I think that's what I should say."
"Orihara..." "Izaya...?"
Earthworm and Shijima said his names one after another.
The person sitting in front of them was doubtlessly the "Orihara Izaya" they had seen on the photos.
Who is the one on the phone, then?
And why is he here?
Why is he smiling?
Riddles, riddles, riddles.
So many incomprehensible things were happening one after another. Shijima remained somewhat calm because he arrived relatively late on the scene, but Earthworm looked like she was breaking down as she muttered to herself words like "'Owner'...help me, would you?"
"Alas, I really didn't expect someone to pour lamp oil on me. Ah, by the way, the odor of lamp oil does not make you faint like that of paint thinner."
"Eh?"
"Also - right, I still owe you a lot of answers. First off, are humans self-centered creatures or do they put others first? ...I think I'm going to answer that with your average 'It depends.' Things are interesting precisely because they differ from case to case. Are humans good or evil at heart? Which one will prevail, reason or desires? Which one will be the last to remain, hope or despair? Humans cannot answer these questions for sure - and that's why they're interesting."
One by one, Orihara Izaya answered with his unique smile the questions Earthworm had showered on him so far when she had kept talking as if to herself:
"Oh, I think the lethal dosage of water is between 10 and 30 liters. It depends on the person's weight and stuff, so for Kururi or Mairu even less than 10 liters could have been dangerous."
"......"
"About Sharaku Mikage-chan and me, well, to me she was one of my past followers. As for what Mikage-chan thinks of me, that's something I think you should ask her about. I involved her in a certain incident and she had to drop out of high school because of it...ahh. Maybe she has hated me all along."
"......"
From the second Izaya pulled the bag off his head, Earthworm's and Izaya's roles were completely reversed.
The young man was now talking non-stop and the woman left wordless.
Izaya's words confirmed that he was indeed the one who had been put under the linen bag.
"...Ah, eh? Mr. Information Broker?"
"Oh, so you're finally talking? Goodness, your way of torture was such great fun. I was prepared to have all my nails pulled out, but I didn't expect you to be so serious about not hurting me physically."
"...Uh, argh..."
"So? I'm sorry I'm not screaming as you would have liked, but is my voice at least what you've expected it to sound like? It looks like you like to get off by imagining how my face looks like under the linen bag, but rather than rely on my imagination I prefer to observe what there actually is - the reality, the results...yes, exactly, such as the dumbfounded expression on your face right now. Oh, when I said I liked it, I did not mean I had any love for you personally. That is the point."
Earthworm had just realized something -
This man's voice was very different from the one she had heard on the phone.
"Eh, ah, well...who...who was that on the phone?"
Earthworm's eyes darted from the cell phone to Izaya and back.
As her conversation partner heard them, however, his voice suddenly turned into a very different and lewd one as he laughed loudly:
"Haha...hahahahahahahah! So you know already? Bastards! But whatever! Here comes Question Four! Who...am I?"
At the same time the entrance door was pushed open to reveal a man with a cell phone pressed to his ear.
It was a man with burn marks over his right face. His eyes shone sharply behind his sunglasses.
Several men in rider's jackets with ribcage prints also appeared from behind him, making the bar look even more crowded despite its relative spaciousness.
The last one to walk in was a woman with short hair and trained muscles. But to Earthworm it was no longer important.
"W-What the heck...? Who are these...people...?"
Shijima's companions retreated to a corner as if feeling pressured by the newcomers. A strange triangle appeared in the spacious bar.
It was a very lopsided triangle in terms of power, however. "Heaven Slave" and "Amphisbaena" both recoiled in the face of the third gang centered around Izaya.
What should we tell them to do?
Shijima and Earthworm hesitated. Izaya, however, didn't take much notice of the change of the power balance as he continued:
"Hmm, what else did you ask...oh, right! About my weight and height, you didn't actually believe that insurance companies give away their information that easily, did you? It would have been another story if it were Tsukumoya, but I wouldn't expect him to accept your offer even if you asked."
"..."
"The weight and height you know were the numbers I told you myself. I don't look like I care about my health that much, do I? But I'll tell you what, I always weigh myself after my everyday showers."
"...Eh?"
Stop talking.
Earthworm almost wanted to shout, but her muddled brain was no longer capable of ordering her tongue to speak or take deep breaths.
"You, told, me, ...what? Argh?"
She sounded like she was talking in her sleep.
Izaya chuckled and asked her:
"That outstanding Information Broker B you hired, the one who has never let anyone know his name or see his face...it was someone who called himself 'Chrome' on the Internet, wasn't it?"
"Why, you, that..."
"There is no 'Why'. It was me."
"... ...? …Huh?"
Izaya pressed his hand against Earthworm's face as her body froze. Slowly, he said in a tone that sounded as if he was training puppies:
"Actually, I've already heard of you before Awakusu-kai asked me to do this job because you contacted the online information business I was running under another alias."
"You're lying..."
"I am so not. Alas, I was so amused when you sent me that request right after I started my work for Awakusu-kai. 'I want information on Orihara Izaya!' or something to that effect. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. The knife wound I got on my side this spring almost split open again."
Izaya rubbed his side and added another flavor to his smile.
A trickster-like, vicious flavor at that.
"And I've noticed something when I was doing business with you."
"Shut...up..."
"Your 'Owner' hasn't been contacting you at all recently, has he? Maybe he's already abandoned you..."
"Shut up!"
Earthworm bellowed. The bar, which had become somewhat noisier for a second, fell silent.
"Kill...him."
"Oops."
"Move! I don't care who, just kill this man and make him disappear!"
Earthworm yelled hysterically at her companions inside the bar.
Thinking that it was their chance, Shijima signaled to his companions to act as well.
With his chin he pointed toward the woman with the short hair, a silent command that told them to hold that woman hostage.
Taking Shijima's cue perfectly, five men pounced fiercely at the woman -
Pac!
The noise that rang throughout the bar sounded as if a cardboard box was being stomped to pieces.
"...That was not even a surprise attack, guys."
Sharaku Mikage - the woman with the short hair - muttered with a bored expression on her face.
The first man who tried to grab her by the collar had had his nose broken by a hit of Mikage's elbow as she turned around to meet him.
"Arghhh!?"
The men after him recoiled visibly in horror as they saw blood gushing out of their fallen companion's nose.
The next second - the tip of Mikage's foot hit another man forcefully in the temple.
It was a high kick delivered with her other foot as the axis. Since she was wearing her safety shoes with steel pieces inserted near the toes for protection, the man fell unconscious without a wail.
She did not lower her foot immediately afterwards. Instead she maintained her posture as she bent her knee.
With an amazing sense of balance she stood on her one leg and kicked yet another man's throat with the tip of her foot.
She did not pierce the flesh, but with a deflating sound air came gushing out of the man's mouth and nose at the same time. His eyes rolled upwards as he succumbed to gravity and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
"..."
She put her foot down without a word and waved her hand provocatively as she stared at the other drug sellers in "Heaven Slave".
The "Dragon Zombie" members standing slightly farther away seemed to know that she wouldn't need help. They looked on with their own thoughts on their minds.
"What's with that woman...?"
Shijima muttered to himself as he watched Mikage's fierce way of fighting. Izaya shrugged and answered:
"That's Mikage-chan, whom I kind of mentioned to you a moment ago. Let's continue, then..."
Before he could say more the sound of glass breaking came from behind Izaya's back.
Turning around, they saw Earthworm with a broken bottle in each of her hands glaring at Izaya with a hysteric flame in her eyes.
"What was that...you...why did you trick us...!? Why did you pretend that you were kidnapped...why...?!"
"Your voice sounds so natural now. I like it far better than the sweet fake voice you used on me before."
"Answer my question!"
"Well, let's just say that my purpose - is about the same as Shijima-kun's."
Shijima couldn't help but shudder as his name was mentioned.
Izaya, however, took no notice of him as he sat down leisurely on the counter and said in an even tone:
"I could have just told Awakusu-kai about this place and let them deal with you, you know. But it would have been too heartless to leave young people like you at Awakusu-kai's mercy. So instead I came here to persuade you to stop running those underground casinos…yeah, guess I'm not your enemy."
"...?"
"Well, I also wanted to observe humans. I was able to get a surprisingly good view of the outside from under that bag. There are few chances for me to closely observe a torture artist as cute and full of herself as you, you know. I'd gladly give up a nail or a finger for such a rare opportunity - so I allowed myself to be kidnapped. That is all."
Earthworm's face twitched at Izaya's straightforward reply. Hands still holding the bottles, she yelled to her companion behind her:
"What are you doing? Hurry up and make this guy..."
Her voice lost its momentum halfway, however.
"Make this...guy...?"
Finally she shut her mouth as she saw what her companions looked like.
"?"
Not knowing what was going on, Shijima turned to look at the "Amphisbaena" members - and froze like Earthworm did.
Izaya dangled his feet from his spot on the counter as he sat facing the two.
"Do you know why I arrived here completely uninjured? Why did no one even try to hit me? And why were my ropes tied into a loose knot I could easily free myself from?"
"...What, what are you..."
"You probably don't know. But then, you probably won't understand if I told you."
Izaya smiled and turned around to look himself -
All the whites in the eyes of the "Amphisbaena" members had now turned scarlet. With red eyes they smiled slightly as they stood there motionless.
"I could have spent a little more time on this and made your subordinates betray you for real. But I was running out of time since there was also this 'Heaven Slave' business to worry about, so I had to resort to a method that's kind of cheating. Though now that I think of it, using the Black Motorbike was cheating as well."
Realization hit Shijima as he heard the phrase "Black Motorbike".
- It can't be...
- When we stole his laptop...was that part of his plan as well...?
- To lure us here...no, to lure me here?
The question marks disappeared as he stood in front of the red-eyed army.
Shijima couldn't fathom what kind of supernatural phenomena it was, so he thought that they were under the influence of some sort of drug.
Earthworm seemed to have reached the same conclusion. Holding tightly unto the bottles, she turned around sharply to ask Izaya:
"Orihara Izaya...what did you do to my subordinates?"
"Haven't I told you already? It's something you are not likely to understand."
A flat reply.
As if feeling that it was enough of a reason for her to kill him, Earthworm sprang from the ground -
Explosive instantaneous power.
Her speed far exceeded Shijima's and other people's expections. Even Mikage, who was still fighting near the entrance, stopped her foot for a second and said, "Heh…"
As if eager to prove that she was not just a woman fond of torture, Earthworm didn't slow down as she thrust the weapon in her right hand hard at Izaya's throat.
Since she twisted her wrist at the same time, the broken glass bottle would have almost surely cut Izaya's artery open without mercy.
Izaya, however, dodged her attack by the breadth of a hair and rolled straight into the other side of the counter.
Earthworm followed him without hesitation. As she landed on the other side of the counter, however, there was no Izaya there.
"Where did you go!?"
Izaya, who had somehow sneaked to the other side of the counter, shrugged as if in resignation as a reply to the words she yelled at him. He said nonchalantly:
"You're making this difficult for me. Beating up girls is not my hobby at all."
"Funny you should say that, Orihara Izaya! Are you still trying to pretend that you're a feminist...? So you won't complain even if I beat you to death, right?"
"I don't think feminist was the word you were looking for. Of course, I don't want to be killed either."
Earthworm hopped onto the counter using her outstandingly strong legs and was about to land on Izaya as the latter chuckled -
"That's why I'm trusting this task to my friend instead."
As soon as Izaya said this, Earthworm felt a strong impact on her knee.
"Uhh...what!?"
Something inside her felt broken.
The moment she realized this, she fell on the counter with no feeling in her body from that knee downwards.
"~~~~~Urgh! Urgh!"
The severe pain from her knee made her entire body convulse. She could barely breathe, let alone make a sound.
The glass bottles slid from her open hands to the floor and broke into pieces with a loud sound.
What just happened? Earthworm tried desperately to think as the pain assaulted her.
The answer, however, came not from her mind but rather her eyes and ears.
"On the quiz...you scored a 0, didn't you?"
Turning around, she saw a man with his elbow on the counter looking down at where she lay fallen.
It was a voice she knew - the voice of the man who had just called and said that he was Izaya.
"So, you cute little thing, we're about to have some fun in the punishment game!"
"Uhhh...gah...you bastard..."
Earthworm had given up her feminine way of speech as she glared at the man while fighting the pain.
As if waiting for precisely this kind of moment, the man in sunglasses with burn marks on his right face hit the woman's fingertips mercilessly with a hard plastic hammer.
"---------------Urgh!!"
Where Earthworm's fingers were hit happened to be where she herself had pounded her enemies' fingers into bloody messes before.
Her own blood flowed onto the old blood stains.
As she opened her mouth to scream, Izumii Ran - the man in sunglasses - shoved something that looked like a piece of cloth into her mouth.
"Urgh!"
Earthworm immediately realized what the cloth-like thing was.
The rough feeling on her tongue and the odor of lamp oil in her nose - they told her that it was the linen bag that had been covering Izaya's head.
"Happyyyy Birthdayyyyyy--"
Izumii sang as he took out his lighter - and without hesitation as always he set the linen bag in Earthworm's mouth on fire.
Less than a minute later -
Earthworm lay at Izumii's feet with injuries all over her body.
To extinguish the fire on the linen bag shoved into her mouth, she rolled off the counter and onto the floor - and though the fire was indeed put out, the shards of broken glass littered across the floor left numerous injuries on her body.
What was more, her other knee, which remained uninjured a moment ago, was now likewise broken under Izumii's hammer. The pain made her lose her consciousness.
"Hahah, this...this sure brings back the old days. Am I right?"
Izumii laughed madly as he turned Earthworm's body into a supine position with his foot.
"Now that I can look more closely, she's actually a fine woman."
As if taking no notice of the crowd around him, Izumii reached for the woman's clothes -
"Stop that, Izumii."
Izumii's hands stopped abruptly as Mikage thundered from his side.
"What? Why are you stopping me? You know how many people that woman has tortured, right?"
"Yes, that's why I wouldn't say a word if you simply smashed her face to pieces with your hammer or burned her to death."
After uttering such shocking words in her even tone, Mikage continued without the slightest change in her expression:
"But if you're going to assault her as a woman...I will kill you, Izumii."
Though Izumii clicked his tongue rather conspicuously, he withdrew his hand from Earthworm's clothes.
"I have no obligation to listen to what you say...but let's just say I'm going to be nice for once. Since you owe me one you are going to play with me, right? Hmm?"
"If you think you can rape me, go ahead and try."
Izumii clicked his tongue again as he heard Mikage's murderous tone. Grinning, he left the room.
- ......
Shijima, who had seen everything, finally felt relieved as one of the dangerous figures departed the scene.
At the same time, though, it told him something else.
Namely, that every one of the "Heaven Slave" members who tried to attack Mikage had been beaten flat.
- W-What is this?
- What just happened...in front of my eyes...?
There was only one thing that even he understood clearly, though.
There was no one on his side left in this bar who was still capable of doing anything for him.
Orihara Izaya slowly approached him and whispered into his ear:
"Hey, looks like finally we can talk."
"......"
"You tried to stab me to death just now when I still had that linen bag over my head...didn't you?"
"...!"
Shijima shuddered as he heard Izaya and turned back to look around out of reflex.
His companions were either beaten into unconsciousness by Mikage or groaning on the floor. No one was even standing. It looked like none of them could have heard Izaya's words just now.
"It's OK, I'm not going to tell any of your people about this. Still, you were pretty gutsy for trying to stab me to death when you knew it could be Kumoi-san under that bag. That was a big decision on your part."
"......"
"It looks like the relationship between you and Kumoi-san is exactly like what I've guessed."
Izaya nodded in satisfaction. Palms sweating, Shijima asked anxiously:
"What...what are you planning to do with me?"
Izaya cast Earthworm a glance as he heard the youth's simple question and answered:
"If it sounds at all possible to you, you can just stop doing what was drawing Awakusu-kai's attention and join Dollars. I'll introduce you.
With Dollars's information network...you might even be able to find out what the leader of 'Amphisbaena'…and Kumoi-san are up to, you know."
♂♀
"Well done. You gained yourself the alliance of the bigwig's grandson."
Izaya had barely walked out of the bar when a woman standing next to the entrance said to him.
"Not really, but I wasn't in this for the bigwig anyway. He's just a happy bonus from my work for Awakusu-kai."
Niekawa Haruna - the woman with long hair - smiled slightly as she heard Izaya's reply and said:
"So, what should I do next?"
"I don't think I'll be able to persuade that Earthworm girl to join us. Could you do it for me?"
Haruna, who for some reason had bandages wrapped around her neck, smiled and smiled and smiled with a dazzling gleam in her eyes.
"Hey, if I do it for you, are you really going to let me see Takashi?"
"That depends on you. I'm just going to give you the information."
"Is that so..."
A sharp metallic sound broke out between them in the next second.
Izaya had stopped Haruna's blade with his own knife.
"...How disappointing. I was thinking that I could find out Takashi's whereabouts immediately...if I possessed you."
"I love humans, so I don't want to be possessed by any monsters that aren't human."
"Interesting how you can keep saying that when you're using that kind of monsters' power for your own purposes."
Izaya shrugged as he heard Haruna's straightforward reply and said:
"You're right - it was not really my intention to do something like that. But I've used the help of that monster called a dullahan on several occasions, so I have to bend my own rules a little. I've been trying hard to not use your power, but this time it would have been problematic if I didn't use it."
Izaya paused for a moment before telling Haruna something else:
"Also, as a human I've always had a lot of admiration for you. Unlike Sonohara Anri, who took Saika in completely and gave up on being human, you prevailed over Saika with your own power as a human being and made it your servant."
"My Saika is still very weak compared to that little thief's."
Haruna tilted her head sideways and giggled:
"And I didn't prevail over it with my own power...I did it with the power of my love for Takashi."
Izaya smiled himself as he saw her. Waving his hand dismissively he turned around and said:
"Don't worry. Your Saika may be weaker than Sonohara Anri's, but you are stronger because of it.
You've prevailed twice over Saika, after all."
♂♀
Several days later, somewhere in Tokyo, in an expensive-looking car
"...So as I was telling you, it seems that the 'Amphisbaena' people are no longer active. The leader, who calls himself 'Lizard', was nowhere to be found even before I started investigating. I think he absconded to somewhere far away. The casinos under Awakusu-kai's protection should be getting its customers back in no time."
As Izaya said in a carefree tone on the left side of the back seat, Shiki, who was sitting next to him, said in his usual voice:
"...So you don't know the whereabouts of the members other than the leader, either?"
"I did look into it, but they were mostly non-yakuza. I didn't think they would be able to tell me that much even if I asked. Since they're no longer active, I don't think they deserve to be punished that severely, do they?"
"That decision should be ours to make...but it's not that important. If they become active again, you will have to give us all their names for free."
"Thank you, then. I never did find out where their leader was, so you don't have to pay me extra. The down payment would suffice."
Izaya shrugged as if disappointed. Shiki chose this moment to raise a question:
"...By the way, the gang of student drug sellers…were suddenly nowhere to be seen on the market from the day before yesterday. Do you have any idea why?"
"Who knows? Maybe they and whatever remained of 'Amphisbaena' both died trying to bite each other's head off."
Izaya smiled cheerfully. Shiki smiled as well - and said in a voice infused with his own emotions:
"Informant...you'd better not be so confident that the things in the world will always go in the direction you want them to go."
These words were said with a smile but nevertheless heavy and sharp enough to reach one's entrails.
Izaya, however, met these words head-on and made his reply:
"No way. The world is interesting precisely because it doesn't always go where I want it to go."
Shiki turned his glance toward Izaya and with crossed hands said:
"You can't be thinking that we know nothing, right?"
"..."
Izaya's only answer was silence. Shiki didn't press the question further.
"So, back to business...ah, right. Akabayashi in our group wants a word with you. We hope that you can get in contact with him whenever it's convenient for you."
As Shiki switched back to business mode all of a sudden, Izaya replied without the slightest change in expression:
"I see. I'll get in contact with him right away."
A slight smile appeared on his face as he said somewhat sarcastically:
"After all it's what I do for a living - letting as many people use me for information as possible.
That for me is the happiness of being an information broker...no, being Orihara Izaya."
(END OF CHAPTER 5)