Vol 2 Chapter 62 (2/2)

Evening shi+nra’s apart lot

“Yo, it’s only been a day”

After going around the city looking for inforround car park

Upon alighting fro ht before

—…?!

—…Ah, Ei Li-pei

Celty was sighing in relief having realised it was the acquaintance she had exchanged contacts with just the day before, but abruptly so, she showed him her smartphone

‘How did you know to coave you my email, not my address!’

“Oh, that’s… a trade secret I’ to leak it to the police or reporters You don’t have to worry”

Li-pei sht, it hit Celty:

‘Right… Dragon Zombie teamed up with Izaya at some point Did you hear from Izaya back then?’

“Well, I’ve never met the inforot on ith him while I was hospitalised Anyway, I can’t thank hiht?”

‘I guess Anyway, this just proves he’s a load of trouble dead or alive’

Celty shrugged and replied, to which Li-pei gave a shrug of his own and smiled

“Heroes and villains are subjective In the past six one and no one knew if you were alive, you were made a villain yourself, weren’t you?”

‘Surely you didn’t come here to be snarky with me?’

“Yeah, to the point Soht?”

‘What are you saying all of a sudden?’

Celty returned the question, wary that hefor information

“Jyan Jyaka Jyan have beenIt looks like we’re under suspicion too”

Jyan Jyaka Jyan was the rival gang to Dragon Zo of the Awakusu-kai

To be so audacious as to abduct an officer of an organisation like the Awakusu-kai, the perpetrator had to be an organisation with substantial power of its own; this was likely their reasoning

But it was hard to i and attack their handler, the Awakusu-kai, directly For this reason Celty had eliminated Li-pei from the suspect list

“Being suspect is inconvenient for us, too I was thinking, since we’re helping already, we should go all out”

’Are you going to tell ?’

If the culprit was a gang, kidnapping shi+ki with the knowledge that he was an Awakusu officer would mean they were confident in their ability to take on the Awakusu-kai

Thinking it was possible soroup was behind it, Celty asked this

But Li-pei shook his head

“The reverse, actually Do you know of any person… any organisation that’s disappeared without a trace?”

After soht, Celty, surprised, typed,

‘…You can’t be saying Orihara Izaya is orchestrating this from the shadows?’

“Nonono, I don’t mean that Just, it’s not completely ianisations”

‘…”Both”?’

“Ah, yeah There are two You ht have heard of them, I suppose?”

After skirting around the point this far, Li-pei leant against the pillar and finally revealed the names

“…the illegal betting ring A cartel Heaven Slave?”

‘Ah… Those people…’

Celty remembered those names

In the past, the organisations had been crushed by the informant Orihara Izaya

She only learnt of the details later, but she re about crushi+ng both organisations simultaneously

‘They didn’t disappear They were disbanded’

“But the roots are still around”

‘Is that so?’

“Yeah The central character of each organisation survived Orihara Izaya had theone now, isn’t he?”

His voice was nonchalant, but there was a tinge of danger in it

Celty deduced the organisations had on Zombie, and continued,

‘So did they disappear recently? Maybe the Awakusu-kai decided to disband them more permanently?’

“If so there would at least be soine they just vanished like sround”

‘Are they really involved in this?’

It was certainly eerie, but she could hardly assume they were the ones behind the abductions

For thatthe groups, Celty had no ainst her in particular

—No, now Izaya’s gone it wouldn’t be strange for the I was his ally

—But that’s a weak basis to say they’re the kidnappers

‘Do you have anything more concrete?’

“You’re sharp I can’t hide anything from you”

Li-pei said this carelessly and shrugged, and, s, he continued with a serious expression,

“About half a year ago, our gang was contacted Soet us to work for them It was shady and I didn’t want to rile up the Awakusu-kai unnecessarily, so I rejected, but… Back then that person said so”

He paused, and looking at Celty’s face, said,

“…He said, ‘How much do you believe in the Headless Rider?’”

‘? What does that mean?’

“Exactly that What he was asking… was if we believed that you really are a supernatural being beyond huht even say he was excited”

‘Who is this “he”?’

Celty pressed for an answer, and in reply, Li-pei brought up a certain name

“His name was shi+jima, written with the kanji ‘four-hundred thousand’… do you know him?”

‘…I’ve never heard of him’

After typing that, she started as it came to her, and she hurriedly corrected herself

‘No, wait shi+jiuy’

Celty was reher ‘Observation’ of the city one and a half years ago

All the young man had done was cower, but because his name was unique she still remembered him

“He disappeared from the city shortly after we rejected hi about you before that, too”

Li-pei sain, and said, cheerfully,

“Someone started a rumour about it, you know ‘Maybe the Headless Rider vanished him'”

‘…You can’t be saying…’

“Exactly; he’s the firstthe culprit Those ruh At any rate, a while after that people looking for the Headless Rider began to disappear At first it was one person The first month two people disappeared By the third month five, and in half a year fifteen… That kind of pace”

‘I see… It’s worth looking into’

Celty replied, feeling that the lead had proratitude to this unexpected visitor:

‘Thanks This could be a breakthrough I’ll tell everyone about it, too’

“By everyone, do you mean Mizuchi Yahiro-kun?”

‘Yeah… Well, I did promise to pass on any information’

“It ht be better not to involve him, perhaps”

Li-pei’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant Celty continued, typing,

‘That is – I agree it’s not ideal to involve children, but I think it ht assure them to knoe have a lead If we don’t say any naht?’

“I see~ Well, I don’t et hiet attached to you, I think”

‘Attached…’

“We Dragon Zombie have our eyes on hien Taiwanese, but japanese people too now”

The fe man smiled easily, and unable to tell how serious he was, Celty, re shi+zuo’s words, asked,

‘So gangs are eying him after all?’

“That’s for sure He’s the other hot topic around Ikebukuro these few days, besides you coh”

‘I can see that he’s strong, but… What’s your own opinion on him?’

To Celty’s question, Li-pei s his eyes, answered

“Monster in the flesh I haven’ttime”

‘Monster, huh’

Celty rolled her shoulders, her tone cynical

Aware of what she meant, Li-pei continued

“Your body may be that of a monster But your heart issuch a friendly talk right now But that child could well be more inhuman than you, you know?”

Perhaps he was reliving the fight froht; Li-pei broke out in sweat as he forced a smile

“Fear translating into aggression is a normal reaction, but even so… For him, he has no hesitation to speak of at all The e intent and takes over his body It happens in coht? The instant his life is threatened, your strength awakens and you crush all your ene”

‘I suppose I understand’

“It’s possible that in his case, just a drop of fear is enough for his brain to take off that limiter”

Then Li-pei, jokingly, said so:

“Even I wouldn’t think of tea up if I hadn’t known of you or Heiwajiht… to eliminate him ASAP, you know?”

‘Don’t say that so casually’

“Sorry, sorry Well, heyou and shi+zuo, you know? Did you notice? Last night, he ainst you, but he seemed pretty happy, did you realise?”

“Hesomewhere without you or shi+zuo before”

Somewhere in Ikebukuro In front of Himeka’s home

When Himeka tried to open the door to her home, she discovered it could not be opened

One could say it was normal for the door to be locked, but Himeka did not have a key

To be accurate, Himeka was not allowed to have a key

The lights were turned on inside, but when she pressed the doorbell there was no answer

—It’s happening again

—It’s getting more frequent as of late

She thought, expression unchanged

Her mother was probably in ‘that state’

It was a condition of herchild

Himeka did not know if it was an illness of the mind, an act, or some kind of ritual

Without any warning, her mother would coainst the wall and start talking

As if her world was locked in the shadow of herself on the wall – all of her words would be directed at her own shadohether they were to herself, to Himeka’s sisters or father, even to anyone nearby

In that ti Himeka said

Even if she reacted, her ansould still be to her own shadow

Himeka had before wondered what kind of happy dream she saw in that shadow, but her one-sided ‘conversations’ revealed nothing that seemed remotely happy

Even with the iainst the wall, Hie in expression

It would be the second time today she used these tools; specialised metal instruments modified from hairpins

They were similar to a locks

She did not have the license to possess the actual thing, for one

It was not legal for regular people to possess the specialised tools required for lockpicking

A qualified locks them to someone would itself constitute a crime

Because she was definitely not of an age to be a qualified locks the law –

Except: other than actual locksmiths, there was an exception for ‘reasonable causes’

Hiularly locked out of her own home was a reasonable cause, but it did not matter

Today, for the first time, she broke into another person’s house

It was the second time she had used her tools and skills outside of her own door

The first time was in middle school, to help a bullied classe rooht that it being a crime was unimportant

Today she had picked the lock thinking there ht have been a criminal inside, and because she orried about Kuon, but that was likely no excuse

Having lied to Kuon’s sister Nozomi without a beat, was she any different from a thief?

Hiht that she was no different

No; the fact that she had felt no guilt at all could mean she was of worse character than even a thief

As she thought this, while inserting the tools into the keyhole, she re

It was on the way home from their talk with Kuon’s sister

She had assumed Yahiro would distance hi her pick the lock

She did not ht it could not be helped if he suspected her of being sos often, or started rumours about her

However, instead of avoiding her, he started talking to her while they were in the lift

“I was so shocked when you just unlocked the door like that Where did you learn how to do that?”

“A senior three years up who lived nearby taught me when I was in elementary school”

Hi it was nothing to hide, answered promptly

“I don’t knohy she kne to do that, but she saas often locked out of the house, so she taught me how to let myself in”

“Locked out?”

“Family situation My sisters and I don’t have our own keys, and the door isn’t always open”

“I see, that h”

Yahiro had said he lived in a hot spring inn operating all year round, so people were always going in and out, and there was always bound to be someone inside, so he was never very conscious of locks It was possible that he had accepted Hi in Tokyo

Even so Himeka let it pass After that, Yahiro thanked her:

“Thanks for today”

“Eh?”

“If not for you, I wouldn’t have been able to meet Kuon’s sister”

“…”

Hih, she informed Yahiro,

“You’re weird after all, Mizuchi-kun”

“I am?”

“Nor like that?”

To this Yahiro answered promptly,

“Ah, yeah, I was shocked earlier because I thought ere like thieves”

Yahiro answered confidently, as if asserting that he was normal

“Then don’t you look down on me?”

“Are you a thief?”

“I’m not”

“Then there’s no reason for me to dislike you”

It was the kind of conversation that would have had Kuon co by now about how casual they both were if he were here Yahiro, re on his past, continued,

“Right, the one time I met a thief he broke the lock with a hammer instead When I saw and called out to hi than just now”

“Should I have laughed…”

She had not been able to tell if it was a joke or the truth; only that he had been desperately trying to lighten the mood

Hi expressionless despite his effort, checked that she had unlocked the door

“I’m home…”

When she opened the door there was a silhouette, and thinking it must be her mother, she called out automatically

But –

“…? …!”

She realised the person on the other side was not her mother

Then she sensed multiple people behind her, from outside the door –

She was pushed down from behind before she could even cry out

“O… Oi oi oi oi! What, just what’s going on here!”

On the premises of another house

The group of people who had snuck onto the lawn and atching Hi what had just happened

Suddenly a group of ed into Himeka’s doorway, pushed her down, and bundled her onto a van that had stopped by the entrance

“Wh, what do we do, Horada-san?”

“What on earth… Huh~? What the hell?!”

Still unable to absorb the situation, Horada was completely confused

In order to h schooler who had faced off with shi+zuo an ally of their own, Horada had gotten his underlings to do their own research on the boy

The boy’s name was Mizuchi Yahiro, and he was born in Akita In addition, he had been with the green-haired boy Kotona with a student by the nay had been to go after the girl, and so they had been following her

“Could it be soirl first?”

It was true that Horada, being a thug, had had the thought of using the girlfriend as a hostage to h his mind

But considering it would have to be a long-ter so one-off it would beand draw hi with that

After tailing Himeka they had finally acquired her address, and he had just been about to discuss their future plans, only for this sudden turn of events

“Should we help her, then?”

“N, no, they look pretty tough…”

“Didn’t you say you kidnapped the girlfriend of the Yellow Scarves’ leader before?”

“Kidnapping and helping out is completely different!”

With this e retort, Horada wracked his confused brain for ideas

“da we can’t possibly interfere…”

“What about pretending we just passed by and calling the police?”

“The police, huh… I don’t want to bring them in…”

Just the memory of the face of the traffic officer who had arrested him previously and the blood drained from his face

“Ahhhh, shi+t, think, think! Go, me!”

Then, gritting his teeth, he decided to stall for time first

“You, follow on your motorcycle”

Reotten to tail Himeka had come on a motorcycle, he turned to the alley where it was parked

“Huh?! I, I’ve never tailed a vehicle before!”

“If you can tail a person you can tail a van just fine! Hurry up!”

“O, okay!”

As he watched his junior scramble onto the ht

—Yeah If the ones at the end of the trail look e’ll beat them up and have him owe me a favour

—If they’re the Awakusu-kai or so

This he decided Just then, he saw a silhouette exit Himeka’s house

“Huh?”

At the sight of this person giving directions to the men on the way to the van, Horada could not help but frown

“A woman…?”

CHAPTER END

Interlude: Rumours on the Internet ⑤

Ikebukuro Information Site, IkeNEW! Version I・KEBU・KUR・O

Latest Article, Tragic News: Green Boy who Befriended Headless Rider Missing!

Content fro site Twittia:

I haven’t been able to contact ●●●● since the IkeNEW article featured hi

Seriously?

Looks like he’s MIA No one answered e called his house either

He’s ?

Because he knew the Headless Rider’s secrets?

IkeNEW! Administrator’s Comment

“He went -nari

Apparently the users eeted this are Blue Square members-nari

So the green-hair was a blue guy after all-nari?

[This boy so boldly asked for all this personal information and even took a picture, but he wasn’t kidnapped-nari

If the boy doesn’t goafter this, that woulda kidnapper is fake after all-nari]

↑ I said this in the last article, but it’s not yet confir-nari

Comments will be locked-nari

There are co because we put up that article, but that’s not true-nari

If you have the time to blame others, you should pray for the boy’s safety like a proper Ikebukuroan”

Administrator Lila Tailtooth Zaiya

Excerpts of typical tweets fro site Twittia

Argh I want to punch the IkeNEW admin in the face

Soic News’? Stop screwing around, Mister Lila

It’s useless to scold that site’s admin The controversy only adds on to the viewershi+p

There’s no point cos on that nari-nari everywhere

He even puts illegal ht?

Maybe if IkeNEW gets reported it’ll go down once and for all…

So the Headless Rider kidnapped him after all?

Why would they do that?

Because he exposed that they liked suzu castella…?

What’s wrong with that? It’s tasty

But what if the Headless Rider really was the one who did it?

Then IkeNEW will have been complicit, since it spread the lie that the Headless Rider was safe

So it was a lie that it was a lie

IkeNEW hasn’t apologised yet?

Don’t go there to comment, it’ll only up the view count

Speaking of which, I saw the Headless Rider hanging around this afternoon

In Ikebukuro?

In West Gate Park, talking to Heiwajima shi+zuo

Ah, then that’s the real thing for sure

I saw too They ith a ht?

What’s the likelihood of the girl becoend too…

The Dragon Zombie fellows have been noisy recently

The sickly leader is back now after being hospitalised, apparently

Sickly…

No, it’s true he had a weak constitution, but I heard he recovered after surgery

That Horada guy is back too, right?

Who’s Horada?

Horada got in trouble with shi+zuo recently

Heyhey, who’s Horada?

The guy who always tagged along with Izumii-san, remember

Oh, Higa-san’s senior! I remember!

Who the fuck are you guys? I’ll find your names and beat you up just you wait

Who’s this? You’re being scary so I’ve blocked you

There’ve been a lot of cars going in and out of a mountainside villa near my house

It’s spring, so maybe they’re tourists here to see the flowers?

Possibly There are so people, but maybe they came with their fae

Hasn’t the school term started?

Oh? You’re right…

CHAPTER END

The senior who taught Himeka to lock-pick is most likely Harima Mika