Vol 3 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Durarara!!SH×3
CHAPTER 1
Welcome to Snake Hands
Late April Ikebukuro Sunshi+ne 60 Road
“Snake Hands? What’s that? A Tokyu Hands ripoff?”
In a restaurant gradually filling out with the evening rush, a high schooler said this
“Oh, the one they say’s the Headless Rider’s boyfriend?”
“Involved… how?”
“Bōsōzoku in the fake kidnapping case? The hell? I thought the Headless Rider fans staged that entire thing?”
“That’s not what I heard…”
“The Snake Hands I heard of was an Ikebukuro freelancer”
The as hard to link with their ihed
“Like house cleaning?”
“I don’t knohat you’re talking about”
The girl scratched her cheek, and the boy who had first spoken replied,
“They’re targeting the gullible type, probably”
“Anyway, have you bought Hijiribe Ruri’s new song?”
“Oh yeah, it’s good” “———” “——”
And so, their conversation strayed aimlessly into other topics
But Mizuchi Yahiro, who sat in the next table, was left with the na over and over in his mind
“What’s wrong, Yahiro-kun?”
“What’s wrong? Are you nervous? No guts to sit with girls?”
Yahiro tilted his head Kuon sighed
Kuon was looking at Awakusu Akane, the girl in thewith them
Akane bowed her head quickly Yahiri bowed his head as well, apologising
“No, there’s nothing wrong, I’m sorry”
Unable to stand seeing Yahiro and Akane bowing back and forth like this, Kuon cut in
“Ah, sorry”
“Stop! I’!”
“It’s a good thing your senior returned to school safely, right, Akane?”
Akane nodded fiercely
Although the incident made a flurry on TV and online for a day or two, since there were no deaths and it was revealed as a coordinated series of runaways, it was simply reported as a bizarre incident that turned out as a false alarm, and public attention quicklyon in the city
“Our teacher was very mad, and all of us had our oords for her… But it seems everyone else just thinks she played truant for a week…”
Replying to Kuon, Yahiro said,
“Ah… I’ I wanted it to, okay? Yeah?”
The senior Akane spoke of was her younger sister, and furthermore, her older sister had been the
“Yeah… Apparently she could go back to her job, too”
“Are you serious?”
“I was told the azine she works for published a special issue for the incident They said it would be all right so long as she put in her thrilling firsthand account”
“Her boss doesn’t seem to mind…”
Kuon answered disbelievingly, prodding at the ice in his cream soda with his strahile beside him Yahiro smiled somewhat happily
“Well, I guess”
Relieved at this, Yahiro continued,
“…You can tell?”
“…No”
“Oi, what’s up with you two?! I’ll even repeat that! What’s up with you two!”
“Huh? Did I do so?”
“Argh! Are you two trying to be robots?! Act your age and have some sexual tension at least!”
Hilanced at Akane
Kuon, now the odd one out, began to stir his crea at Yahiro under his breath
With these childish words Kuon sipped up the h his straw
“If you’re asking if I like her or not, I’ood person, after all”
“…”
Said girl’s face remained emotionless as she replied, coolly,
Yahiro nodded firmly at her answer
“I don’t think you need to apologise, but all right”
“Oi, what’s up with you two?! I’ll even repeat that! What’s up with you two!”
Their conversation having reached full circle, Kuon, who had now finished his creaed the topic
“Slasher…?”
“I’ve heard of it”
Word was that despite suspicions the case was linked to colour gangs, namely Dollars or the Yellow Scarves, the perpetrator was never identified, and the incident had died down on its own
“I don’t know Maybe they had a change of taste It’s possible the Slasher got bored of seeing blood and had the urge to whack so with blunt force instead”
Hi at Yahiro, aswith his mouth full of pancake
“Huh? Who? Headless Rider-san?”
After a brief silence, Akane startled as though realising soan,
associating with her, the granddaughter of the Awakusu-kai’s chief, could put theer
“It’s not you, Akane-chan; I’m sorry my words bothered you”
“…It’s you, Kotonami-kun”
Kuon answered withexaggerated surprise, but she cut to the point
“!”
His hand occupied with his pancake stilled, and he eyed Kuon, beside him, surreptitiously
“I dunno It’s what the people next to us were talking about, right? Maybe it’s the na, the one who appeared during the recent case?”
Himeka, still expressionless, took out her se
And written on the screen was:
‘Conflict resolution for Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro Communal Aid Group —Snake Hands’
There were only these words on the page, without any details on what the business entailed or the fee, or even any means of contact
“What’s this…? It’s just a weird page”
“That’s only advertised on sites with Nozomi-san’s style?”
“If you keep going on, you’ll find a page that says, ‘We have inforoes beyond ‘fooling around’, yes?”
“You got h”
“da me already…”
“Ah, well I was going to tell you two sometime, anyway”
“Tell us?”
An evil smirk came upon Kuon’s face, and he replied to his class,
“Business?”
And, still wearing that evil expression, Kuon’s smile sharpened
“Yeah We made a cool club to solve Ikebukuro’s problems for money”
“The group’s naround name, Yahiro”
Kawagoe Highway shi+nra’s apartment
“Snake Hands Snake Hands… Snake… Hands…!”
“Kuu~! das! More isn’t always better! It makes me want to ask if they’ve heard too much of a cure becomes poison! It’s exactly in situations like this where people say less is more! Exactly! This situation! Exactly!”
‘What’s wrong all of a sudden Yahiro-kun again?
Although angry just seconds prior, hisand he held Celty’s hand with a lovestruck expression
On the screen was a foru discussed
‘I heard the Headless Rider’s tagalong that everyone’s been talking about recently is called Snake Hands’
‘Well, that bike gang… people froon Zombie’
‘But there’s nothing else to call him anyway It’s troublesome to say “the Headless Rider’s lover” all the time’
‘There’s a rumour the Headless Rider’s a she… Well, if that’s true maybe that makes Snake Hands her boyfriend?’
“What slander! Your only boyfriend is ! At this rate I’e on online wikis and write ‘Celty is cohabiting with her boyfriend Kishi+tani shi+nra They live an exciting, erotic life every day,’ in a corner…”
“Ow?!”
Seeing her cohabitant rolling around on the floor pressing his head, Celty rushed over
“I’ive me!”
“But I really do envy Yahiro-kun He got clothes handmade by Celty”
“Hey, Celty”
Celty said curtly before he could even ask
‘If I do anything for you you’ll just ask for more and more’
shi+nra bowed his head in contrition, and Celty sighed
Celty typed soaped for a full moment—
“Uwahhh! Thank you, Celty! Celty, thank you! I know that day will co!”
“My birthday’s 2nd of April, so that’s just 11 o! I’m so excited!”
Just then, Celty’s phone that was on the desk began to ring—not the smartphone she normally used to communicate, but the flip phone she carried around for work
As shi+nra saw the sender displayed on the phone’s screen, he shuddered
[Snake Hands]
At the sight of these words, he cried out again,
‘It’s not like that, don’t misunderstand’
‘This Snake Hands isn’t Yahiro-kun’
Pressing the button to check the e, Celty continued,
‘Like I said, I have a new side job’
‘Its name is Snake Hands, shi+nra’
The next day Ikebukuro Karaoke box Pasela Inside a private room
“Ah, so you’re Yahiro-kun!”
It was the first day of Golden Week in Ikebukuro
The man had narrow slit-eyes and looked to be of mixed blood, while the woman was black-haired and decked in black
The pair sitting opposite Kuon saw Yahiro enter, and addressed him amiably
“Karisawa Erika, nice to meet you”
Nodding, Yahiro sat beside Kuon, and asked,
“Not exactly, more like people Aoba-sempai knows, so we’ve spoken on the street a couple times before…”
“Ah, yeah, same as always”
Karisawa laughed Yahiro tilted his head
“Oh, just an inside joke So, what’s your relationshi+p with Kuocchi… ah, Kuon-kun?”
Yahiro said promptly Karisawa questioned further,
“I’m not sure He’s the first friend I’ve made in my life, so I don’t really know”
“I see~, hm~, oh~…”
“Your first friend ever, huh? That works Onee-san loves that kind of scenario It’s cute that Kuocchi’s embarrassed, too”
Yahiro tilted his head further Yu out in cold sweat, said,
“Ah, sorry, sorry, Onee-san made the two of you 2D in her head for a moment, that’s all”
“No worries Really”(Y)
“Well, actually We used the contact details on the Snake Hands site We were surprised Kuon-kun was a member, e made contact”
Kuon shrugged
“So, about the co up till noith just my connections, but theirs is a little tricky We need help”
“No, it’s not a job anyone can handle It’s going to take someone special”
“…A very strong fighter, specifically”
A brief silence
“Karisawa-san, down Don”
Silence enveloped the room
“Sorry, Kuon-kun I’ to do that kind of job…”
Yahiro bowed his head in apology, but Kuon quickly waved his hands in denial
“You’re not?”
“Yep Do we look like the kind of bad guys to hire high schoolers to do that?”
“Yeah?”
“I see Sorry, Kuon-kun I misunderstood”
“?”
Kuon mumbled Karisawa said clearly in his stead,
“Huh?”
“We didn’t expect it to be soh”
“But you see, we’re up against the Slugger here… Whatever Kuocchi says, I didn’t think we can put children in danger like this, you know? But Kuocchi was very confident went he said you would be okay…”
“…”
“Trump card?”
“Since he said you have Celty-san on your side, we can relax”
Yahiro looked at Kuon with surprise
“Um… Do the both of you know Celty-san too?”
“You even visit her house… You ht as well be best friends!”
Karisahile surprised, shtfulness
“Eh, we could’ve asked Celty-san froerous job after all”
(Nicococo!! reference)
“I see”
“You see, it’s si case It’s just that if we catch the eye of the Slugger there’s a risk of being attacked You’re a strong fighter, so if it’s you we don’t have to worry”
“Don’t be hu, but the ht on par with shi+zuo the public consensus is you’re strong! Give up on the er on the loose, right? We never know, you or Hiht be next!”
Yahiro nodded immediately, but Kuon felt bothered rather than relieved
“Yeah Ithe last incident When it coift I have is with violence So at least, I want toplace”
“What I’ friends like you and Hi to catch the Slugger”
Kuon said, intending to criticise Yahiro’s thoughtlessness
“Even if I said that and backed out right now, you’d still continue without telling ht?”
“If we’re going toa it head-on… is less scary”
“So if you’ll have me, please let me help”
“No need to be for you, anyway, plus we’re business partners; equals Eh, you can hear those details fro for is inforer at all you have to pull back, okay? No erous stuff to adults That’s the one thing you shouldn’t be stubborn about, got it?”
Yahiro bowed his head again, but suddenly a question occurred to him, and he asked,
Had a relative or friend of theirs been attacked?
But instead of an answer, Yuan arranging the books on the table
The books appeared to be a volumes
TheDead’ The anime and live action adaptions of the series had earned the title popularity
Yumasaki smiled cheerily, and slid the books out to Kuon and Yahiro
“This?”
“Wait, I know the Slugger cosplays a character from this, but…”
Yuitated He picked up a microphone from the table, and announced to the room,
“OPD did nothing wrong! Nothing!”
10 minutes later