Vol 2 Chapter 72 (1/2)

Durarara!!SH×2

CHAPTER 7B

The Successor (Part 2)

Less than an hour ago Somewhere in the city

Near a deserted park some way from the heart of the city

A place Akane would generally avoid after nightfall

Not that she would have reason to be here in the daytime either—after all, shi+ki had just been abducted, and this was a secluded alley

She was peering around, as if waiting for someone

“Here should be fine …”

Akane murmured, and just then a van parked in front of her

“?”

Next a nuhted from the van, and closed in around her

“You’re Akane-chan, right?”

“…”

Sensing danger, Akane’s hand drifted towards the long, sli on her back

But the men smiled, and opened the door on the side of the van

And when Akane laid eyes on the figure inside, her eyes turned shocked

Then, right after—with a smile of relief, she took a step towards the van of her own volition

“Oi! What do you think you’re doing!”

Before Akane could open her h, male voice yelled out

All of the towards them

These men were clearly an unlawful sort, but Akane was unruffled by their appearance

This was because she recognized them as the men who frequently accompanied shi+ki

“…!”

The men from the van leapt back into the vehicle the moment they noticed their new company

One of the, but—

“No!”

Sensing a dangerous vibe from him, Akane batted his arm away from her

“Kuh…”

With that he shut the van, and they escaped the fierce-looking men by a hairbreadth

“Stop right there!”

One of the men tried to jump onto the roof of the van, but missed and fell to the road—and so all that was left were Akane and the rugged men

“Why are you out here so late, Miss Akane…”

“What about all of you, why are you here?”

“Ah, well, ere just passing by…”

assu that Akane did not know of shi+ki’s disappearance, the lances and chose to draw the conversation elsewhere

“More iet on that suspicious van…!”

“…yes”

Averting her gaze uncomfortably, she answered with full honesty:

“Because there was someone I knew inside…”

shi+nra’s apartround car park

‘So is this shi+jima person behind this? Or was he the first victim…?’

“No idea I was thinking there would be further developments once you came back…”

Li-pei’s reply was nonchalant in spite of the fact that he was involved himself

“Anyway, if they catch us chatting so happily like this I reen-head”

‘Huh? What do you mean?’

“What?”

‘What?’

As he realised they were on different frequencies, Li-pei wore a look of surprise, and asked her,

“Ahhh… You don’t know yet?”

‘Knohat?’

“That green-haired boy’s been kidnapped”

—…

—…What?!

Celty’s world froze for a moment at this unexpected news

And, as though the tian to blare

‘hello, is this our Courier-san? Tap twice if it’s a good time for you’

—Akabayashi+-san

The voice belonged to a man from the Awakusu-kai like shi+ki Despite her bewilderment over Kuon’s situation, Celty quickly tapped on the receiver

‘It’s an e… Akane-chan just met with a kidnap attempt, actually’

—?!

The confusion in Celty’s rew at the news that Akane, who she had just spoken to that afternoon, had been attacked

‘We know you spoke to her this afternoon, since we have the youngerher from the shadows I know you’re not the kidnapper; plus the ones who did it was a group of men we’ve never encountered None of theain we don’t know anything about them”

Akabayashi+ outlined the situation calmly, and then went to the point

‘So, Oi-chan’s friends froht now…’

‘Any mood to catch the real culprit and restore your honour?’

Somewhere in the city

‘Horada-san, I ht… They entered a villa around the Hachiōji forest’

“Good job! Stay there and keep your eyes open”

The underling he had sent off as their runner had called back, and Horada replied cheerfully

‘Erm…I have bad news, to be honest?’

“Bad how?”

Horada’s brows furrowed The other man replied, somewhat afraidly,

‘There are a bunch of vans parked on the grounds… A lot of people are going in and out…’

“What gang are they? Th, they’re not Awakusu-kai, are they?”

Horada asked this, anisation of that calibre

‘No, that’s not what Iis weird Like, the people here, they’re not a gang, and they look like regular folks no h schoolers too…’

“The hell?”

‘But in terms of numbers… There are definitely more than ten people, from what I’ve seen’

“Seriously? shi+t, if it was only the four, five people on the van we could e it somehow… Whatever, anyway, ”

With this Horada hung up, but right after that his phone rang again

It was a friend froate Mizuchi

“Yo, what’s up?”

‘Ahh, I found that Mizuchi kid’s house, but… bad news’

“You too?! fuck, everyone keeps going bad news, bad news… What happened?”

Horada said irritatedly The other man replied,

‘The apartusa’s house’

“?!”

‘He was polishi+ng his van the whole ti, he and Mizuchi’

Togusa

In the past they were in the Blue Square together, but he was one of those who had betrayed their past leader Izu under the lead of a man called Kadota

“Oi, don’t tell ot his hands on that kid already…!”

‘Uh, I don’t know for sure You know Togusa’s apartht?’

“Hrm…”

Horada groaned in frustration, and thought for a while

—shi+t, what now?

—Getting Mizuchi indebted to us is good, but it’s gonna suck if Kadota pops up

—Is there a way to do it without dirtying my hands…

—In the first place, juht with a bunch of unknowns seems like a bad idea, too…

With the inforh that—

He arrived at a certain solution

—Right

—This is what Blue Square is for, isn’t it?

—I can just let the bad happens pretend I didn’t know anything

—In the best case, Mizuchi joins the Blue Square, and I can walk into their base and say, ‘I was the one who found your girlfriend’

—…It’s not a lie, so the current Blue Square people can’t argue either, right?

Thinking only of his own benefit, Horada began to press the buttons on his cell

—And then I just pray Izumii-san doesn’t show up

With a shi+ver down his spine, Horada greeted the boy he was calling with such vigour it was unnatural

“Yo! Kuronuht? It’s ht I’d pass this sweet tidbit on to my cute juniors!”

“The rookie who faced off Heiwajiet him to owe us one”

Soround

Despite having been confined underground for more than half a day, both shi+ki and Kuon remained calm

shi+ki’s subordinate would whilare at hihten himself out, only to have the process eventually repeat itself

Perhaps due to their own reluctance to exchange inforuards, they had spoken little, and time marched on tick by tick uneventfully

They had been allotted a toilet break where their legs had been freed, though they were blindfolded until they reached the restroouard stood outside the door—but as for sustenance they had received not even a drop of water

shi+ki’s observations of the interior of the restroom and the distance between the rooms only solidified the idea that this was a villa

He had tried uard had to say was, ‘We can’t tell you anything’

This was not the style of the yakuza

shi+ki had inferred as much

Everything they did gave off a sense of ‘civilians using brute force’, down to the way their captives were contained

Nor, but shi+ki had derived a hypothesis from what he had seen thus far

And, so as to confirm it, shi+ki called out to Kuon

“Oi Boy”

“Yes, can I help?”

After realising that he was dealing with yakuza, the boy had become remarkably polite

Even so, shi+ki could tell his respect was an act

This he noticed because the boy was exceedingly similar to a man shi+ki had worked with a lot in the past, Orihara Izaya, in every way, from his mannerisms to his choice of words Izaya had not been so frivolous, but lacing the boy’s words was the sa intent

“…When you first caami Aya and Ai should be here”

“That’s what I said, yes”

“Which did you mean?”

“What… do you mean, which?”

Kuon cocked his head, and shi+ki clarified curtly, as if telling him there was no need to pretend,

“Did you es like us? Or…”

“…If you’re asking that at all, there’s no need for me to answer, surely?”

Kuon smiled aardly, and just then, there was some commotion from the entrance

“Oh… A new guest?”

Conversation temporarily aborted, Kuon and shi+ki focused on the room’s now-open door

And irl bound in the same way as themselves

As she wore the same uniform as Kuon, she was presumably from Raira Academy

“Oh~? Himeka-chan!”

“…Kotonaood to see you safe”

The girl’s blindfold was rereen hair, she greeted him expressionlessly

“Since it’s our touching reunion, could you, say, be more excited I’m alive and cry some tears of joy?”

“I’uarantee that you’ll remain safe, so…”

“If you’re going to apologise so frankly I’ll fall into despair, so stop right there, okay?”

“Your sister orried”

The moment those words left Himeka’s lips, the smile on Kuon’s face vanished

“…You met?”

“The two of us met her”

Hi Mizuchi’s name

She had deduced that avoiding names would be for the best not only because of the kidnappers; with just a glance she had noticed the sharp gaze of the uessed that he was on the other side of the law

Kuon sunk into silence for a few seconds, but eventually he sighed deeply and shook his head

“damn… I can’t believe she’d open the door to anyone outside of deliveries”

“Sorry Does it bother you?”

“Nah, it’s good If she let you in I have no reason to complain”

She omitted how she had forced the door open, and skipped to the end of the story

“She said you had a plan when you got yourself kidnapped… Do you knoho the culprit is already?”

“…Just how much did she say?”

“…Up till someone called Orihara Izaya”

“…”

Orihara Izaya

At the sound of that name, shi+ki raised his eyebrows in surprise, from where he sat behind Kuon

But the students continued, oblivious to his reaction

“…Ahhh, I see So she wound up telling that, too”

Kuon grinned, and with cold eyes, said:

“Then there’s no need to hide anymore”

There was none of his usual jocosity in his voice; it ith a gaze like that of a snake eyeing its prey that he looked at Himeka and asked his next question

“But I have a question Hiure out the culprit?”

“The oht what if… To be honest, the ood person… I already knew there was no other possibility”

Her voice was even as always, but so in it seemed frailer than usual

“Even so, it was hard to come to terms with I was prepared for this to happen… But even now I’ there’s some mistake”

Just then, of the two adults who had silently listened on their conversation, the bald one shouted,

“Oi, don’t have your own secret conversation! Say it in a way everyone gets!”

Right after, his head was kicked by the bound feet of the other man, presumably his superior

“Gubeh… “

“Quiet You’re the only one who doesn’t get it here”

“Huh? Wh, what’s going on, Aniki!”

To the increasingly bewildered bald man, Kuon said, with a cold smile,

“In other words, you two sirs were the first victims in this case”

“What?”

“Followed by irl, in that order”

“What are you saying now! From what I checked at least fifteen people were kidnapped!”

The bald man said The man called shi+ki replied

“There was no kidnapping We misinterpreted the situation this entire time”

“Wha? Wh, what does that mean, Aniki!”

“The people who disappeared weren’t abducted by the Headless Rider; they went into hiding in order to create that impression”

“…?”

The ain—

Only to be interrupted by the opening of the door

“So? Have you calmed down?”

The wo sweetly at Himeka’s restrained form

In answer, Himeka answered without a leak of emotion,

“I’ve been calm since the start Can you say that for yourself?”

And then, after severalaudibly to Kuon and their company:

“…Nee-san”

Central Expressway

A single van drove on this expressway towards Hachiōji

It did not belong to the kidnappers

It belonged to one of the adult ’s activities

Even as the van shook around hiht

—To think Horada would be the first to get his hands on that information

—Did I underestiht

Unaware that Horada’s only true specialties lay in coincidences and brute force and nothing

Aoba was generally in the passenger seat, but today he sat in the back, discussing the immediate future with the underclassman beside him

“I’m surprised you actually came, Mizuchi-kun”

“Why? Of course I would My classmates were kidnapped”

“…You really are out of this world Wouldn’t one normally leave it to the police?”

Upon Aoba’s mention of the sensible option, Yahiro reflected for a

“Now that you mention it That makes sense Why didn’t you call the police?”

“We have a couple of black marks ourselves, so we can’t carelessly draw that kind of attention And apparently they can’t act on anonymous calls immediately”

With a wry smile, Aoba came clean with his side’s motives:

“We’re not philanthropists here There are benefits to getting the edge over this organization before the police step in, is all But to think you never even thought of calling the police until I mentioned it… I have to say I’m impressed”

“I’ve only ever brought trouble to the police, so I try not to get them involved”

“I see”

Aoba nodded once, and laid down a single card from his hand:

“You don’t have any good i, perhaps?”

“…”

Yahiro sloordlessly, turned his gaze on Aoba

Aoba reaze fixed outside the

“I’m sorry, but I had my friends look you up, just a little You were quite the probleuy who had every bone in his legs shattered, who’s still in hospital even now”

“…”

Aoba slowly, deliberately turned towards Yahiro, continuing brightly

“Why would a person like you coet bored of your hohters? Say, for instance, Heiwajima shi+zuo…”

And there—Aoba found himself cut off

Yahiro had not done anything in particular

He had simply met Aoba’s eyes with his own

“…”

But that alone was sufficient to halt Aoba fro further

It felt as if the terees

Aoba felt as if a bottomless darkness had just opened up before him

There was a darkness in Mizuchi Yahiro’s eyes, almost as if he were a different person entirely; and in that moment he understood:

That his current situation was akin to treading a tightrope between skyscrapers

That a single slip would plunge hier

“Kuronuma-sempai”

An inflectionless voice

His tone was such that it would have been utterly unsurprising if he proceeded to say, “Please die,” and snap Aoba’s neck

But Aoba’s character was not so soft that soree could cow him

“Yes?”

Aoba smiled faintly

“The s I broke… He rammed me with a dump truck”

“…”

“He was driving without a license, not to anged up on al self-defence”

Yahiro recited this cal out from a diary

Aoba doubted it was a proper application of self-defence laws, but refrained fro

So like that was trivial co presently

“Today they try to kill me with a truck What if next they break into the house and kill even my family—I was scared, so scared, I didn’t knohat to do”

“…And then?”

“And so I thought, it would be best to ain That’s all”

Yahiro stated unflinchingly A shudder ran down Aoba’s spine

It was not out of fear; it was fro the person before him was not ‘normal’ in the least

—I see; so this is Mizuchi Yahiro

—…Interesting

“Kuronu better to pass ti people…?”

Seeing that Aoba had gone silent with a complicated expression, Yahiro continued

“I’ve never enjoyed fighting once in my—”

Life, he was about to say, when his voice cut off

Flashi+ng through his ht with shi+zuo the day previous; shi+zuo’s fist rushi+ng towards him

It was a powerful blow that would have been a traumatic experience for anyone else

Yet even so—that one fight was unlike any of its precedents Of this he was sure

Even if one were to ask why, it was difficult for Yahiro to articulate in words

Even though he hiathered

That he, who had only ever been regarded as a e

Yet meanwhile Yahiro are that this chance was shrouded in dark clouds

—Ahh, so that’s how it is

—In the end it comes down to this

He had learnt these past few days that Kuronuma Aoba was not the innocuous person he appeared to be

But he had not expected Aoba to investigate his history and bring it up in his new life in Ikebukuro

—So in the end, even here, there’s nowhere to run

Now that he thought of it it was unsurprising that just like how he had been able to read up on the Headless Rider and Heiwajima shi+zuo, the people of Tokyo could just as easily look him up

In the end, what it cas back at his hometown

Yahiro, consuhts, slowly closed his eyes

“…Sorry, I got a little emotional”

With that he averted his eyes from Aoba, to the scenery outside the

The orange light illu the expressway shone down on Yahiro’s melancholy face

—What am I on my way to do

—Help Tatsugami-san?

—Do I even have that right?

—To help anyone when I’m such a monster…

Meh the boy’s mind

Pinned on himself, the eyes of all kinds of peopleEyes Eyes

Unable to bear those looks, Yahiro had increasingly wanted to turn his back on all of those eyes

—No, nothing will change if I don’t overcome this

—I need a turning point, anything

—Anything so I can move just one step, whether it’s forward or back—

Yahiro clenched his fists; without any specific God or demon in mind, he simply prayed

Suddenly—

A shadow

The sudden appearance of the oddity snapped Yahiro out of his thoughts

—…?!

A pure ht at all, neither the orange streetlights or the headlights of the vehicles behind, crossed Yahiro’s line of sight—passing right beside the Blue Square van

“Headless Rider-san…?”

“Oi Aoba, what the hell! You called the Headless Rider?!”

The driver shouted agitatedly Aoba replied,

“I was thinking to do that after getting proper evidence… I haven’t yet”

“Thethe Headless Rider—I’ve seen it before! It’s Jyan Jyaka Jyan!”

“Ah, does that ot a lead?”

Aoba was saying ruefully, when he noticed

“Hm…?”

A group ofCelty at a distance

“Is that… Dragon Zombie?!”

An odd collective had e of black tailed by white

Aoba sht up in a very strange series of events

“Looks like things… are getting more heated than expected”

“We’re lucky we’re not late to the party, in a sense”

Tatsugami Himeka did not think herself unfortunate

Conversely, neither did she think she was blessed

In the end, was her life a good one or bad?

Hie this objectively

She was strong

That said, she was not especially athletic or clever

It was sie than most

Even as a young child she could not be spurred to cry in a haunted house, or scream on a roller coaster

If she were asked hoas she would say, “It was extremely scary” But with her unruffled tone of voice feould have believed her

Since she was conscious of the world around her she had lived with the truths her surroundings presented her

The inti mien of her father as he hollered at her mother, or punched people she did not know

The gentle smile of that same father, almost as if he were a different man, as he ruffled her hair; the warmth of his hand

The revelation, when her younger sister was born, that her father was a criminal

An illicit moneylender In other words, that her father had been a loan shark that had made countless people suffer

When Himeka was still in elementary school—her older sister had exposed their father’s company’s secrets to the police, in hopes he would be arrested She had lived with this, as well

With the shunning of her classmates upon her father’s arrest

With her standing in the class growing stronger instead when she proved herself unfazed by these hardshi+ps

With her young class to her when that happened

With herto pieces after her father disappeared from their home

Even as herfather, perhaps she had also loved him after all

Or perhaps she had mistaken a fear-induced loyalty as love

Himeka had been unable to understand, but it was between the two, she had thought there was no need to pry

Whichever it was, her mother had created a drearief, and simply, simply rambled on to the pitch darkness cast on the wall

In that false reality it seemed that her father would not only shout at her mother, but even beat her Often her , ‘Don’t leave me alone Don’t leave me alone with someone like that’

Why was it that in fantasy she made herself suffer even more than in reality, and could that truly be called a fantasy then? Hi, she embraced her mother as she was, and cherished her as family

Furtherht her arrested father was hopeless trash as a hu, she loved him as a family member still

She wished that he would turn a new leaf and return a better person after his sentence, and would support hi anew

Hi person herself

Thus she had believed that her sisters would likewise live with the card they had been dealt; there was no doubt of it in her mind

Until she heard from her older sister’s mouth her hatred for the world itself

When Hie student, was stabbed by a client of her father’s

‘I can’t even borrow from other lenders anymore since they suspect I leaked the information,’

hat he had wailed in the interrogation room, she was told

The man had been a director of a factory in a small town, and because banks had been reluctant to loan money, he had turned to loan sharks in a tione bankrupt due to the ru thrown out onto the streets he had lashed out violently

Indeed, Aya had been familiar with the face of that director, and had passed details of his transactions to the police

Of course, she had never iined it would result in this

Himeka had learnt of this afterwards; it seeal interest rates, sought to take advantage of loan sharks themselves

Even so, Hi as a necessary evil

Her father had done it for his own interest, and even if he had helped the factory director in some way, he had also forced many other people out of their homes in his business

That hy she did not think her sister’s actions rong, and felt that that director should have blamed the poor financial climate that had caused banks to withhold loans in the first place

Even though Hireatly distressed by her sister’s assault, with this logic she overcame that shock, and in order to support her sister she kept up casual conversation

—”Why is this happening to me?”

—”I did the right thing, right? Himeka?”

Indeed Her sister had done the right thing

Hiht so, and said just as much

Nee-san did the right thing, but there was no guarantee she would be rewarded for it