DURARARA!! Vol.9 Epilogue & Next Prologue
EPILOGUE & NEXT PROLOGUE
ME
- Well, well, Nakura-kun. Great work.
"..."
- I heard it all on the wireless. You were such a great actor, and as good at lying as ever.
"That's because I have been tricked by you too many times before."
- But still, "You'll know he's not normal as soon as you see him"? That was some interesting line you came up with on the spot there.
"Is there something wrong with it?"
- No, no. There's nothing wrong with it. But if you really did "know" that I was not normal from the very start, your name would still be yours, and you wouldn't have to be putting up such tasteless shows for me, either. I just find it rather funny.
"Please stop it, Izaya-san. You know there's no way that Kujiragi woman is actually working for an insurance company, right!? Have some mercy and at least leave me out of anything that has to do with yakuza, please!"
- My, my, you're getting better at reading people on your own. You're quite right, she was lying when she said she was talking to you on behalf of some insurance company. But she was not lying when she said her name was Kujiragi. Don't worry, her background is kind of different from yakuza.
"R-Really?"
- Yes, of course. Speaking of which, I really think you owe me some gratitude. You were this close to being hunted down by Awakusu-kai on both sides.
"...What?"
- Do you remember? In senior year of high school...you co-founded an organization called "Amphisbaena" with me. Remember?
"Y-Yes...it was based on the baseball gambling group back in middle school, right? We founded it but concealed our identities."
- Exactly. You called yourself "Lizard" back then, right?
"But it was soon disbanded, was it not...?"
- Among the members there was this girl nicknamed "Earthworm", do you remember?
"No, not a clue."
- Right? Not even I had an idea who she was. Maybe she was one of the subordinates of the subordinates or only joined because she looked up to some other member we had.
"What did that Earthworm girl do?"
- She used the name "Amphisbaena" to wreak havoc on Awakusu-kai's territory. Her gambling organization now is much bigger than ours back then.
"...Huh?"
- Oh, right, you know what's funny? You, Lizard, disappeared years ago...but she still calls you her "Owner". It looks like she worships you or something.
"Hang on a second please, what do you mean?"
- She probably thinks of herself as the Owner's...as your lover and convinced her subordinates to believe the same thing. Like she's the only one who knows how to contact you or something.
"No, I don't get a word of you're saying!"
- It's OK now. Don't worry. This case is solved.
"R-Really?"
- But what I would call the real masterpiece was...the one who was working against them...that Shijima.
"Eh!? S-Shijima...the same Shijima in that experimental legal drug club...we founded after college?"
- Exactly. The wealthy boy Shijima-kun. I never showed my face back then, but Nakura, you appeared before them as the founder of the association under the name Kumoi, didn't you?
"W-What did that guy do?"
- He was making illegal drugs instead of legal ones.
"...What?"
- And telling his people that it was all on "Kumoi-san's orders".
"W-Wait! Hang on! Wait! This is not, are you kidding me!?"
- That was some interesting reaction. Are you sleepy?
"No! W-Why did he use my false name like that!?"
- Shijima-kun knows what tricks to use. He made himself second-in-command and told his people that Kumoi had been "punishing" him. In that way he filled his members with fear for Kumoi.
"..."
- Still, he sure is something. He really did drill holes in his own front teeth and injured his own body with darts...I guess if something has the power to make you do that, then maybe you can call it some sort of faith.
"I don't want to hear about any more of it. Please! What should I do...please, save me...!"
- I already did, didn't I? You don't have to worry about Shijima-kun any more.
"Really...?"
- Yes. So there's nothing left to worry about.
- Anyway, I will still have to rely on your services.
"..."
- If worst comes to worst...just go to Shinra for some more plastic surgery. Hasn't he already taken off both of your moles and changed several other features on your face? I don't think either that Earthworm girl or Shijima-kun will be able to recognize you.
"What...what exactly am I to do?!"
- You don't have to do anything.
"......"
- If you ever feel regret, just blame your past self. We'll talk later.
"O-Okay, bye."
- Bye-bye.
"..."
"......Uwah!"
"Uwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Dammit, dammit, dammiiiiiiit!"
"Why…why did this have to happen to me…why…?!"
"What the hell is this! What-what did I ever do! Well, I-I...did, I did something, yes I did, uh, uh..."
"Why...why...why on earth did I do that...!"
♂♀
12 years ago, last day of summer vacation, Biology Room at Raijin Middle School
"So as I was saying, I still don't think baseball gambling is a good thing to do."
"Are you still not letting that go? You're pissing me off."
How long had this argument been going on?
Izaya stared somewhat impatiently at the President in front of him.
He had his own purpose when he volunteered to take care of the plants over summer as the Vice President of the Biology Club.
He used this Biology Room, to which he would come routinely, as the meeting spot for a group of baseball gamblers.
Usually students came to the Biology Room claiming that they came to see the carnivorous plants. Most of them were not here to see the carnivorous plants, however, but to meet Izaya, the leader of the group of baseball gamblers.
As long as they kept using the plants as an excuse they could do whatever they pleased without drawing the teachers' attention - but on the last day of summer vacation Kishitani Shinra, the President of the Biology Club, showed up unexpectedly and saw the gamblers.
Ever since that he had been trying to persuade Izaya to stop with dogged determination.
The President - Kishitani Shinra - did not ask Izaya to stop out of his sense of right and wrong.
That much Izaya understood.
He probably put himself in that righteous position in order to win approval from his "loved one".
Annoyed by Shinra's attitude, Izaya flatly refused to listen to what he said -
Shinra, on the other hand, was neither angered nor saddened by Izaya's recalcitrance. He simply kept trying to persuade Izaya to stop in his even voice.
“Are you a fool, Shinra? You sound like a puppet with no will of your own. Everything you do is for putting up a good show in front of your family.”
“I wouldn’t mind being a puppet if it means I can stay connected to my loved one.”
"You're not even making sense."
Izaya fumed. A brief silence fell after he had said these words -
The one to break this silence was neither Izaya nor Shinra, but a boy who quietly opened the door and appeared in front of them.
"...Izaya."
The boy called out in a low voice. Shinra waved his hand at him, smiling.
"Oh, Nakura-kun? Are you here to see the carnivorous plants?"
The boy with moles under the corners of his eyes ignored his classmate's greeting and walked slowly toward Izaya.
"...What is it? Today's round is already over."
It was obvious from what Izaya had said that Nakura frequented this place to take part in baseball gambling. Shinra's face did not change, however, as he looked from Izaya to Nakura and back.
"H-Help me out here, please. Lend me some money."
Nakura's expression was somewhat hollow. With trembling lips he walked toward Izaya with an expressionless face.
"I'm not running a personal loan business, you know."
"Then give me back the money I put in until yesterday...things are very bad, my dad could find out that I've been stealing money from his wallet any time now..."
"Wasn't it your own fault? I never forced you to come here and gamble, you know."
Izaya sneered. Nakura's lips twitched suddenly -
With hands shaking even harder than his lips he pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it tight.
"...Are you serious about this, Nakura-kun?"
Izaya's eyes narrowed. Nakura spit out his words one by one from in-between his trembling teeth:
"Get it out! I said get the money out! Give me, give...give me!"
He probably didn't even know what he was saying any more. Stuttering and with the knife in his hand, he walked step by step toward Izaya -
"To be honest with you, I don't think you're worth giving the money back to. I know that you tried several times to follow those who won home. People have complained to me about it, you know."
These facts had only just left Izaya's lips when Nakura charged shakily at him.
"I...I told you to give it back! Give it back...arghhh!"
"…You're such a fool, you are."
Izaya looked nervous for a second. He reached for the chair next to him, prepared to fight back -
Suddenly Shinra burst in and flung himself between the murderous duo.
"Wait-ahhhhhhhh!"
He was probably trying to say "Wait a second."
But Nakura did not stop even when Shinra flung himself in.
The powerful impact on his side made Shinra issue a strange cry of "Wait-ahhhhhhhh!" -
The other effect it had was to spill blood everywhere in the Biology Room.
As soon as he saw the knife in his hand covered in blood, Nakura's face lost its color -
"Ah...eh? N-No, it's not like that, I, I was just, I was just trying to threaten him…to threaten Izaya..."
Nakura probably didn't want to realize what he had just done. His lips trembled harder than ever as he shook his head desperately.
"It was not me! Not my fault! I, uwah, uwahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
He tossed the knife aside and ran out of the Biology Room as fast as he could.
Izaya ran to where Shinra lay fallen and turned to look at his side, where the knife looked like it was going for.
The wound was not serious enough to reveal the entrails, but Shinra was bleeding so hard that his clothes were drenched in red.
"Wait here! I'll call an ambulance..."
Izaya took out a cell phone, which was still a rare gadget back then, from his school bag. But suddenly Shinra grabbed his hand.
"Before you do that...go to the cupboard...and fetch me some duct tape..."
"Huh?"
"...I have to...stop the bleeding first..."
"...OK."
After seeing Shinra's assured way of giving orders even with such a gaping wound on his side, Izaya had to obey and fetch him the duct tape.
In an unusual way Shinra skillfully wrapped his wound up in the duct tape as he smiled at Izaya.
"Hahah. Looks like I'm, not, carved out to be a hero...after all."
"Wouldn't it be better for you to not speak?"
Said Izaya. Shinra looked embarrassed as he said:
"I was thinking...that my loved one would praise me if I became a hero...uwahh!"
"Oi oi..."
"It's fine. Wounds like these don't kill you that easily. My insides look like they are intact. It was a miracle that he didn't hurt my peritoneum...uhhh…"
As he watched Shinra prattled on with a deadly pale face, what Izaya felt was -
Envy.
He had always thought of himself as being in a position to observe humans and therefore standing on a higher pedestal than those around him.
But unlike him, Kishitani Shinra was living in a differend world in the real sense of the word.
He had put himself in the way of harm from a knife without hesitation. He did it out of neither his sense of right and wrong nor his instinct, but simply a desire to earn someone else's approval. Was it in any way an easy thing to do? It was true that love made one blind, but what Shinra did was simply not normal.
Shinra's standards were far departed from any other human's, even including Izaya's.
Izaya was too anxious back then to properly analyze his feelings. When he revisited his memories later he reasoned that Shinra was in fact "watching humans from a different world".
Unlike Izaya, Shinra did not harbor fond feelings for humans.
But Izaya still envied him.
He envied his classmate who resided in a different world than him and the rest of humankind.
As he watched Shinra - his fingers stopped on his cell phone just as they were about to dial the number for an ambulance.
"...Hey, Shinra."
As his classmate groaned in pain, Izaya asked in a small voice:
"That wound, can you tell them that I...did it?"
"That hurts, ouch...what?"
"In return for that...I'm going to make sure that Nakura is going to regret it for as long as I am alive."
♂♀
12 years later
[So what did you say to him?]
"Um...I think I said 'OK, as you wish.'"
Celty typed somewhat surprisedly as she heard Shinra answer her question from under his blanket.
[You...I knew you did surprising things out of passion, but I didn't know you started doing them when you were a kid.]
"Heheh. I've always tried to be just the good student in front of Celty."
[Sorry, but you didn't look like a good student to me back then either.]
"What!? ...Uhhhh..."
Shinra yelped without thinking, and immediately his broken bones felt like they were being ground against.
Celty hastened to calm him down and wiped off the sweat on his neck with a towel.
The reason that Shinra had that scar on his side was that a classmate stabbed him. Izaya took the blame and kept using it to threaten that person into being his plaything.
That was what Shinra had disclosed to Celty a couple of days ago.
Now that she had heard Shinra talk about it, however, Celty was starting to feel that Shinra's attitude was a problem in itself.
On the other hand she had to admit that it was "a very Shinra thing to do". With such mixed feelings on her mind she continued:
[But is it really the best way for you? Peaceful co-existence with the one who stabbed you must be hard.]
"It's not hard at all. I wasn't interested in him in the first place. In retrospect, though, I think he did something simply unforgivable when he stabbed me. I'm even glad that Izaya has been slaving him around."
[...It's so rare that you would think of someone like that.]
"Had he stabbed me to death...well, I don't really mind dying, but that would have meant that I would no longer be able to see Celty! It would have been the same as taking Celty away from me. How could I ever forgive someone like that?"
Shinra's assertive tone rendered Celty wordless for a moment. Sighing, she shrugged - and switched the topic back to the money she got for this job.
The only things she had to do were buying strange chips off people, letting the laptop be stolen and protecting Izaya's sister. But Izaya seemed satisfied. He told her that her job was done and had Celty meet him outside.
Apart from an envelope that contained more money than she had expected, she also obtained one piece of information from him -
- Yadogiri Jinnai.
- Izaya had told her that he was the one behind the stalker's attack on Shinra.
- It was kind of hard to believe, but Izaya never lies about things like this.
- He is the head of Ruri-chan's former agency after all, so it makes sense if he indeed has something to do with the stalker.
- ...
- But compared to that, what I'm more concerned about is...
- Is...
"What's wrong, Celty?"
Celty started as she heard Shinra call her name and typed hastily onto her PDA:
[Nothing.]
"Celty, are you keeping something from me?"
Celty gave a clear answer to Shinra's question:
[Yes, I am. But I don't want to tell you what it is.]
"...That was cheating, Celty. There's no way I can keep asking when you've said something like that."
For a moment Shinra looked like he was going to cry. Sighing with resignation, however, he smiled tenderly at Celty instead.
"It's OK, I'm not going to make you tell me what you don't want to tell me. Just in case, though, you're not cheating on me with anybody, right?"
[Definitely not. Rest assured.]
"That's great...the relief is making me sleepy somehow...ahhh..."
Shinra closed his eyes with a smile and slowly fell asleep.
Celty watched him with an uneasy heart.
Her concern had nothing to do about the information she got from Izaya as a reward.
Rather, it had everything to do with the definite presence of "something" she sensed when she heard the information from Izaya.
It was a feeling she would never forget - the definite presence of her head.
- There's no mistaking it...
- My head...Izaya has it.
The woman from Yagiri Pharmaceuticals had absconded with the head. Considering the kind of information network Izaya had, he might have already met the woman and acquired the head.
She had always been able to sense a faint trace of the head's presence, but she had never felt it as strongly as she did this time.
She couldn't take it off her mind, so she returned to the same spot several hours later. But by then she was only able to detect the usual faint traces.
- As I thought...Izaya must have brought the head with him!
- But...why?
- I knew it. You simply cannot trust Izaya.
- But...if I go to him and ask him to give it back...what will happen?
What will happen to my life and my memories if I get my head back?
Will I forget completely about the life I have had so far with Shinra in Ikebukuro? Will I go back to my dullahan's duties and put the life in this city behind me forever?
Celty felt a rush of fear she had never felt before as she contemplated the possible encounter with her head.
To hold her feelings back she turned her gaze back at Shinra's face.
- Shinra.
She ended up still unable to decide on what to do -
But her heart went calm as she watched his face.
When Shinra was attacked, her anger had made her realize that Shinra was now irreplaceable to her -
Right now she realized it again as she felt her heart cured by his presence.
Celty began to think about a question she had thought about before.
Were her feelings for him the same as the love or affection humans often talked about? She did not know.
But she hoped that they were. She hoped that she and Shinra could stay connected with each other via the same feelings -
But she had no gods to pray to. What she could do was just pray in silence to the city of Ikebukuro.
♂♀
On an open road somewhere in Ikebukuro
"So it turned out that the Courier didn't say anything. I think she noticed, though."
"This must be the thousandth time I've said it, but you really are the worst human being imaginable…I do hate that Headless Rider, but even I have to feel a little sympathy for her this time. After all, she didn't seduce Seiji, the head did."
Izaya turned his neck as he heard Namie's voice on the other end of the phone and said:
"Your standards for loving and hating are as clear-cut as ever. I knew from the start that there was no way she would just ask me to give the head back to her, though. I was more hoping to see if it would have any effects on the head…there's none, though, at least none that I can see."
"How ironic. You keep telling everyone how much you love humans, yet you're looking for hope in the world after death."
"Actually it's the other way around. I love humans, and that's why I want to keep watching them forever."
"You think you're a god or something?"
Namie said in disgust. Izaya, however, simply shrugged and shot back:
"That's not true. I never wanted to do anything to humans - I just want to observe them. Of course, if I can do a little bit of something to make things more interesting it would be even more ideal."
"That's what a trickster god does. Do you think you're Loki in Norse mythology?"
"First Shiki-san and now you, is this some sort of mythology boom that I don't know about?"
The conversation went on for a while. After telling her what was to be done at work next, Izaya hung up the phone.
As he walked on he remembered what Celty had said to him before saying goodbye.
- [Still, I saw a new side of you today. I never thought that you would ask me to protect your sister...looks like you do at least have enough of a human side to know that you should worry about your family.]
Did she say it to conceal the uneasiness in her heart after sensing the presence of the head, or did she really mean it?The answer to that question was anyone's guess.
But in his heart, Izaya disagreed with what Celty had said.
- No, it's not like that, Courier.
- You got it completely wrong.
- I asked you to protect my sister...
- Because I couldn't risk having you come to the bar...when Niekawa Haruna was also there. That was all.
As Izaya strolled along the Ikebukuro streets he fell momentarily into deep reverie.
His two sisters were a headache, but to him they were not all that different from other people.
To Orihara Izaya family were friends just like non-family.
But Izaya was suddenly reminded of something that happened back in middle school.
Namely, Nakura stabbing Shinra - what you could call the ultimate cause behind what had happened this time.
- Now that I think of it...
- It might be the only thing that ever did affect the formation of my personality in a significant way.
Remembering the envy and the sense of defeat he had felt back then, he realized that Kishitani Shinra was probably more of a rival than a friend to him.
Different from Heiwajima Shizuo, whom he hated, Shinra was probably something he had aspired to be.
But as soon as he recalled the way Shinra looked right now he smiled and dismissed the idea altogether.
"No way."
- In retrospect Shinra, who lived confidently above this world, did invoke some jealousy in him.
Yet he was attempting to betray even a friend like that. Not a friend by Izaya's standards, but a "friend" as defined by most people in the world.
- He'll probably be mad at me if he finds out that I went to meet Celty taking the head with me.
"Haha!"
Izaya couldn't help but laugh slightly as he pictured his only "friend" by the world's standards getting mad at him.
There is nothing to be afraid of.
This is the way I have lived my life all along, he laughed as he thought -
Laughed -
Laughed -
Laughed -
He clenched his right fist and slammed it hard into the telephone pole next to him.
It made a loud sound, but since Izaya was in a secluded alleyway, no one took notice of him.
What did Izaya's face look like?
Why did he slam his fist into the telephone pole?
What was on his mind?
No one in the world would ever know.
Because -
"Ah, here, here! Iza-nii! Iiiizaaa-niiiii!"
"...Family (Brother)..."
"Oops, what's up with you two? It's unusual for you to actually greet me before you kick me."
Izaya was wearing his usual smile again as he turned around to face his sisters.
"I finally saw a new side of you today, Iza-nii! You told that Headless Rider to protect Kuru-nee, right!?"
"...Doubt (Really)?"
"Alas, that is so flattering of you. But the truth is that I simply used you because I needed an excuse to keep the Headless Rider away when I had to be doing something that one must never know about."
Izaya told his sisters the real reason straightforwardly as they thanked him.
After exchanging a glance, however, they smiled and said:
"That's fine with us! Thank you, Iza-nii!"
"...Thank (Thank you)..."
"It's so hard to predict your thoughts, you know."
"That's just because you're not honest with us, Iza-nii."
The twins flanked Izaya as he began walking, a bitter smile on his face.
Mairu, who was on Izaya's right, raised her face to look at him and said in a natural tone:
"Say, Iza-nii. We know that you probably don't treat us any differently as you treat other people, but keep in mind that we still think of you as family, OK?"
"All of a sudden you're saying things that would actually make me happy. What happened?"
Izaya felt that the line didn't sound like Mairu, who usually told him to "Die!" and high-kicked him when she saw him. He glanced at his sisters' faces - and saw that they were smiling innocently back at him as they continued:
"So, if you get killed by Shizuo-san, Iza-nii, we'll make sure to cry a little bit for you before we laugh about it."
"Small (Just a little)..."
"...I was a fool to expect any family love from you."
Izaya chuckled and walked faster.
Mairu tilted her head and asked as she saw his right hand:
"What happened, Iza-nii? Your right hand looks swollen."
"...Health (Are you alright)?"
Kururi looked at him with worried eyes. Izaya stroked her head with his left hand and lied with a sigh:
"Yeah, I got this when I was running away from Shizu-chan."
"So you deserved it after all - "
"Keep yourselves away from muscle idiots like that one. Or you could die, you know."
The siblings continued their conversation as they disappeared into the city night.
The city, which took in everything it was offered, absorbed their talk into its nightly cacophony as it did any chit-chat within any normal family.
♂♀
Next day, Russian Sushi
"The city's been so peaceful recently."
Yumasaki said as he sat by the counter waiting for his sushi. Togusa, who sat next to him, disagreed with him fervently:
"Peaceful? Haven't you heard that the guy who tried setting fire to Ruri-chan's friend's home was arrested? ...The world is way too dangerous!"
"You said he was arrested, right? Why do you have to worry about it then?"
"Idiot! They haven't found that Adabashi bastard yet! He's the main culprit! Damn! ...If only I had his picture or something I would have driven my van all around the place. I wouldn't stop till I've found him and made him nothing but rust marks under my wheels...!"
"Calm down, Togusa."
Kadota soothed him as he drank his hot tea. Simon, who had been busy cleaning counter, asked:
"Oooh, today, Karisawa is at home? Does she have a cold? When she has a cold, sushi gives her strength, visit her with sushi is good!"
"No, Karisawa-san has to meet with her cosplaying friends. I'm dying of loneliness now because no one's here to talk about manga with me."
Yumasaki sighed heavily. Simon continued to ask:
"Oooh - you sigh, happiness run away. Where goes the happiness that ran away? They say it goes into the salmon roe. Order salmon roe is good. Karisawa is not with you, but your hearts are with her. Filled stomachs, filled hearts. Three people eat food for four is good. Let's eat together for Karisawa's funeral!"
"It's not a funeral..."
Just as Kadota was about to point out the mistake in Simon's speech -
The entrance door was opened and another customer walked in.
"Hey, welcome...oooh! Long time no see! Mr. Manager!"
Kadota and the others couldn't help but look surprised as they saw the customer whom Simon greeted with enthusiasm. Denis, the owner of the place, calmly turned to ask the customer and Kadota's gang:
"So? The dining room is empty. Would you like to move there?"
The new customer lowered his head in front of Kadota and said:
"Can I ask you for a favor, Kadota-san?"
"Kida..."
"I'm sorry. I saw you walk into this place, so I...I wanted to hear your advice on something."
"Ah, of course..."
Kadota and the others were surprised about two things.
One was the fact that Kida Masaomi was back in this town.
The other - was the yellow scarf tied around his neck.
♂♀
Somewhere in Ikebukuro
The sun was already in the west when Sonohara Anri walked out of Junkudo Bookstore.
She bought a lot of cookbooks for beginners and began to walk home with a bag of books in her hand.
She had felt an aimless kind of excitement in her heart over this summer.
- Kida-kun is back in this town.
- Maybe it was only for a little while...
- But he looked like he was doing well. I'm so glad.
Several days ago during the stalker incident, Kida Masaomi had saved the cat Anri was taking care of to help someone else out.
She didn't know why Masaomi was there. He had run away efore she could talk to him.
But Anri still felt happy.
Mikado would be even happier if he knew.
Mikado had been acting kind of strange recently. If he saw Masaomi again he would definitely be back to his usual self.
That was Anri's hope, but there had been no progress since the day of the incident.
But Masaomi had said,"I will come back to you, Anri, and Mikado. I promise." and these words alone were more than enough to keep her going.
Anri felt that there were two things she should do to prepare for the return to their good old days once Masaomi comes back safely.
The first was to learn to cook so that they would be able to taste her food.
The second - was to learn to completely control the Saika inside her.
With these two dramatically contrasting goals in mind, Anri decided to start from buying cookbooks.
Anri had no idea what she should do about her other goal, though. Even as she felt bothered by it Saika was still murmuring words of love inside her.
Trying to suppress the voice back into the picture frame in her heart, Anri sighed and kept walking -
"Ah! Anri-chan! Yahoo!"
Anri stopped and turned around as she heard someone call her from behind.
She saw two women standing.
One of them was a stranger, but Anri recognized the other one - it was Karisawa Erika.
"Karisawa-san, hello!"
As soon as she saw Karisawa's face Anri's heart felt lighter; her expression brightened up as well.
Karisawa had with her own eyes seen Anri as "Saika". But she didn't treat Anri any differently afterwards and remained a treasured friend of Anri's.
"Were you at Junkudo? What did you buy? Manga?"
"No, just some cookbooks...ah, er..."
Anri didn't know what to do as she turned to look at the girl standing next to Karisawa. Karisawa smiled and introduced them:
"Ah, this is Tsutsugawa Azusa-chan, a friend who cosplays with me. She sometimes takes rides with us in Togusacchi's van as well."
"Ah, I see! Um, I'm Sonohara Anri. Nice to meet you...!"
"Don't even worry about being polite with me! I'm Tsutsugawa Azusa, nice to meet ya!"
The girl had a delicate look about her but talked as straightforwardly as a guy.
Anri was surprised. Lowering her head again she asked Karisawa:
"Why aren't you hanging out with Yumasaki-san and the others today?"
"Oh, I was meeting with my cosplay team. Ah, since you mentioned it, I've actually been meaning to ask you, Anri-chan - "
"?"
Anri tilted her head with a confused look. Karisawa, on the other hand, opened her mouth with a shine in her eyes.
Little did she know that her next words were to slightly but significantly change the fate of the girl named Sonohara Anri.
"Anri-chan...have you thought about giving cosplaying a try? Actually, you have to give it a try!"
"...Eh?"
Anri tilted her head again, not knowing what Karisawa had meant. Karisawa explained further:
"You can start with something other than anime or manga characters! Maid or miko outfits will work just fine!"
♂♀
Night, West Ikebukuro Park
The Awakusu-kai executive Akabayashi, who would not have in his wildest imagination foreseen that someone would try to put the little girl he used to take care of in a miko's outfit, was meeting with another man.
Children who played in the park during the day had all gone home. Akabayashi was sitting on the swing alone as he handed an envelope to the information broker standing in front of him.
"The job's actually not that difficult, but a guy like Oi-chan* can't just go spying on someone myself day and night, you see."
* Akabayashi uses "Oi-chan" as his first-person pronoun. The pronoun is a variation of "ojichan" ("uncle" or "old man") and is usually regarded as yakuza talk.
Orihara Izaya wore his usual smile as he took the envelope. He asked Akabayashi:
"I was actually kind of surprised. I thought you suspected me, Akabayashi-san?"
"Ah, I still do suspect you, you know. Oi-chan's guess is that you do business with Asuki Group as well, lad. Is that a good guess?"
Akabayashi grinned as he sat motionless on the swing.
"Asuki Group is now part of Medei just like you people are, so I don't really see a problem here. Not that I'm doing business with them, though."
"You of all people should know that things aren't as simple as they look, right?"
Izaya's answer was a smile. He took out a photo from the envelope.
The moment he saw the person on the photo, however - there was a very small change in Izaya's expression.
It didn't escape the scrutiny of Akabayashi's left eye, though.
"Your face changed. ...Do you know this person?"
"He's a kouhai at the school I went to. Did he do something?"
"Not really. It's just that the daughter of someone who used to look after Oi-chan has been really close to him recently... Rumor has it that this boy is in some sort of Color Gang. I have no intention to ruin other people's relationships, but I kind of really want to know if this boy's been doing anything strange."
As Akabayashi prattled on, Izaya grew more and more alarmed.
- Akabayashi, heh.
- An unpleasant man, just as expected.
- Don't tell me he's using this request to test me at the same time...?
Smiling boldly in his heart, Izaya maintained the usual expression on his face as he said:
"I see. If he has indeed involved himself in anything strange I will do my part to try to talk him out of it."
"Sorry about the trouble. I was just thinking that an information broker closer to his age like you would be more appropriate than a professional detective. The girl's parents were the ones who looked after Oi-chan, but they've both passed away now. If anything ever happens to her I won't be able to face her parents in Heaven."
Akabayashi continued his small talk. Izaya, on the other hand, asked in an almost provocative way:
"Are you sure that her father would also be in Heaven?"
"Ha ha ha. I expected nothing less from you, Mr. Information Broker. Of course you already know."
Not only did he know that the girl Akabayashi had been talking about was Sonohara Anri - he also knew that she had an abusive father. Izaya had just made both of these facts obvious with one sentence, yet Akabayashi's expression remained unchanged. In fact, his reply came almost immediately and Izaya had to conclude that his provocative question had been nothing Akabayashi hadn't expected beforehand.
- What an unpleasant man.
- And then there is Shiki-san. There are too many men you have to reckon with in Awakusu-kai.
Izaya smiled bitterly in his heart as he bowed courteously to Akabayashi and put the envelope inside his clothes.
"I'm going to give this job my best try, then.
I will try to find out everything there 'is' to find out about the boy on this photo - about Ryuugamine Mikado-kun."
The teenagers' hearts kept missing each other by inches. The adults' hearts, on the other hand, had only just begun to stir and move -
A giant whirlwind was forming in the city of Ikebukuro.
As to what awaited them at the center of its vortex, no one had the slightest idea.
CAST
Orihara Izaya
Celty Sturluson
Kishitani Shinra
Orihara Kururi
Orihara Mairu
Kuronuma Aoba
Heiwajima Shizuo
Tanaka Tom
Vorona
Sharaku Eijirou
Sharaku Mikage
Shiki
Awakusu Akane
Yumasaki Walker
Karisawa Erika
Kadota Kyohei
Simon Brezhnev
Ryuugamine Mikado
Sonohara Anri
Kida Masaomi
Yagiri Namie
END OF VOLUME 9
© 2011 NARITA RYOHGO