Vol 3 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Durarara!!SH×3

CHAPTER 2

Let’s Live Purely and Righteously

So

How did it turn out this way?

I got rid of the trash

I did a good thing

So why is Dark Owl still the bad guy?

Why does that trash get to play the victim?

Dusk Raira General Hospital Private ward

Horada awoke feeling aches creaking all over his body

It was a few days after he had been attacked by the Slugger and sent to the hospital

There were hairline fractures in his craniued

Instead, because he had been kicked around after losing consciousness, there were multiple cracks in his ribs, collarbone, and arm; he remembered the forecast of months of recovery

“Ah, o… fuck Are the painkillers even working?”

He was told that he would be giving his testimony as soon as he was clear- that he still felt woozy

The reason was si he would have no filter on what he said if he were to be questioned by the police before cals he should not

Perhaps because they knew the Slugger did not focus on specific targets, the police had not assigned any guards Even if they had, Horada would have rejected by saying it was distracting

—But, what should I tell the cops?

—I can say there were two people attacking et in trouble myself

—I need to find a way to testify such that it can only be interpreted as rightful self-defence…

—Actually, getting beaten by a Slugger’s kinda lame… Should I just say there were ten-plus of them…?

Without considering that there could be other witnesses, or that a false testiht of protecting himself

“Seriously, that bastard’s dead if I see hiain… O”

As he cohout his body creaked as though in reply

Right after he decided to lay still like a good patient and think about his future plans—

He caught so move in the corner of his vision

“W, who’s there?”

Was it a nurse?

With that expectation, Horada craned his aching neck

What uest stool, lasses and the burn scar on his face

“Huh”

The ot to his feet

“They said you were only half-conscious, so I thought it etic, hm?”

“…!”

Horada’s entire body shi+vered in spite of his creaking bones, and, teeth chattering, he spoke the man’s name

“I… I-i-i… Izumii… -san”

Izumii Ran

A few years ago theHorada used to be part of

He had been incarcerated after certain events, but he had left prison the same time Horada went in, and was now rumoured to be a junior member of the Awakusu-kai

“Poor thing I heard the rumours… so I came to visit”

“O, o, oh! Thank you for co!”

Horada replied with a subservient tone automatically

Izumii had visited Horada in jail once previously—but to be honest, Horada had hoped never to see hiain

In the first place he was already the kind of irl he had just abducted, but after being set on fire by a gangto jail for a time, it felt as if he had lost several more screws

“B, but , Izunise you at all!”

Horada, shocked by this turn of events, decided to test the waters first

The bones in all his body ached with every word, but the pain was far outmatched by his fear of this man, and so he endured and pasted a servile smile on his face

“Really? I have a shortcut if you wanna lose weight”

Shrugging, Izu

It was miniature hammer, made of hard rubber

“If I break your jaw, you won’t even be able to eat, so you’ll lose weight, right?”

“…!”

Izu it on his palm

Horada’s fear of Izu the weapon he had been assaulted with ether in his es, hethere and then

“T, that was a mean joke, Izumii-san”

Horada continued to smile smared the topic,

“Oh right, this is the hospital the woirlfriend of that Yellow Scarves brat Kida The one you kidnapped”

“Eh? O, oh, yeah”

“This e cursing this room; I wouldn’t be too surprised if you suddenly had both your legs broken for no reason”

「……」

Smack, smack

The rhyth of Horada’s heart

He did not knohat the other , but for that sa the business end of that ha

Horada gulped, and Izumii said,

“And so”

“Y, yeoah?!”

Horada answered raspily Izumii bent his face close

“Obviously I can’t just let it be, right?”

“H, huh?”

“Y’know ha that it was ive a fuck what they say, but it’d be bad Aozaki-san or Akabayashi+-san froot to hear rumours like that, hm?”

Izuainst Horada’s nose

“Fugagaga”

Horada broke out in cold sweat as he whiardless,

“If I have people saying I need to wear a costue an as inconvenient, yeah? Horada-kun”

“Y, yeah!”

“Take your old lackeys and co at your disposal Root up that fucking Slugger before the police and drag him in front of me Got it?”

“…!”

It was a ridiculously iainst the pressure of the man before him

Horada wracked his drowsy brain for some way to execute the order

—Before the police?!

—Wait, is it best if I don’t tell him there were two of them?

—And I need men…

—Men… Ah

Suddenly the idea came to it, and Horada asked Izumii tentatively,

“Uh, um, is it okay if I use Blue Square?”

“Huh? Do what you like”

Izuht of before Horada continued,

“B, but see, your brother’s with theu?!”

The instant the word ‘brother’ left his lips, Izuain

“Why do I have to give a fuck about that shi+tty bastard Aoba? Huh? Do I have to count his calories one by one and check his fucking nutrition intake? Do I need to hand-make well-balanced meals for him? Huh?”

“Sh, shorry!’

Ran’s anger was coised tearily to escape his rage

“Good You’re an ex-higher-up of the Blue Square Aoba’s a current member and your junior That’s all there is to it”

Izumii cricked his neck, and stated,

“I don’t care if you break him …Use him and destroy him in the process if it suits you”

As though looking forward to his own brother’s destruction

The next day So alley

“So we’re looking for the Slugger Wanna help?”

When Kuronuma Aoba said this to hiht with the bowling ball still in his hand

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… I just thought it was a coincidence”

It was halfway through Golden Week when Aoba had asked Yahiro to meet up

Reaching the bowling alley he had roup of so others

All of them were in casual clothes, and Yahiro as ore the clothes he had bought in the city just recently

They started off bowling, but in thein the same lane as Yahiro, approached him to talk

According to him, one of their seniors, a er, and had ordered Aoba to find the crie

Said victim was still hospitalised, but his condition was not life-threatening

Unaware that Yahiro so happened to have been tasked to look for the criminal by sohtly

“We’re not pals… You should be clear on that since the last incident, right?”

“Yes, I asked around about Blue Square”

“Oh? Hoas it?”

“Your reputation is not very good”

Aoba burst out laughing at his frank reply

“Yahiro-kun, that’s too honest”

“No, I’et exposed if I lie”

Yahiro simply orated his truest intention, but Aoba seehed before continuing

“Yeah, we have a bad rep I ht be the horrible senior with the bad reputation, but I’m still your senior; I need to save face, you know”

With an expression hard to associate with his model student persona in school, Aoba continued,

“It’s good to have as et your help”

“OK”

“…That was fast I thought it would be a straight no”

“Why?”

Yahiro tilted his head, and in reply, Aoba brought up a person not with them today

“I spoke to Kuon, too, but he said he’s busy with soht you would be involved in that”

“Yeah, I am”

“You’re actually telling me?!”

Aoba had planned to trick it out of hi informed so bluntly left a sense of anticlimax that showed on his face

“Aren’t you supposed to keep things like this secret from me?”

“Really?”

“Really”

Aoba tilted his head in ly

He proceeded to try drawing out more information on Kuon, but—

“So, what kind of business is it?”

“Ah, that part’s secret”

“…”

“Sorry, it’s not because it’s you, Aoba-sempai, but it seems the details have to be kept private I think it’s best if you ask Kuon-kun directly, if you really need to know

A flat refusal

There was no dislike whatsoever in his words

To be ree of wariness, but that was a unique trait of Yahiro’s tihts like, ‘How should I escape if suddenly everyone here gets hypnotised into attacking me with metal bats?’

It was as normal as normal ith Yahiro, and Aoba understood this as well

As such, Aoba concluded Yahiro would not be telling hi, and he returned to the main topic

“Neveret in the deal too”

“OK, thank you”

“So, the Slugger… Horada-sempai’s your benefactor, so you can’t not repay the debt”

“My… benefactor?”

Yahiro said, unco Aoba said,

“Yep Re case?”

“Yeah”

“Back then, your friend, er… Tatsugami-san? It was Horada-sempai that found her, you know”

“!”

Yahiro’s eyes widened

At the tinificant in the chaos, but noas brought up Aoba had indeed said that he knew their location ‘from a senior’

If that person was Horada, then he truly was a benefactor

“I see… In that case I do need to help”

“Yep That’s why, once you find the guy, we snatch hiood?”

“…”

Kidnapping

Yahiro mulled over the word

“Ah, I don’t , yeah?”

“But it’s a criht?”

“I guess If you put it that way, everything you did at the villa was criht? Or maybe excessive self-defence?”

During their conversation, Aoba’s turn to bowl arrived

“Ah, it’s my turn”

While Aoba went off to bowl, Yahiro thought

—Mmm What now?

—I think it’s best not to beat the criminal up

—But taking an eye for an eye is what I’ve always done

—I can’t forbid the it…

—In the first place, if I catch the crio to Karisawa and Yumasaki, or Horada-sempai first?

—Karisawa- and Yumasaki-san said they only want to talk… So Karisawa-san, and once they’re done talking Horada-san, and once it looks like they’re going too far I stop them and send the criminal to the police?

—Ahh, but I still think it’s best not to beat anyone up

—But I don’t have the right to stop them…

As he was engrossed in his thoughts Aoba see members from the lanes on either side cheered and heckled him

Yahiro’s turn ca Aoba he took a ball and walked out

Then, as he passed Aoba, he said

“I still think you shouldn’t take revenge”

“Oh? Why?”

Unable to answer immediately, Yahiro threw the ball first

After throith a good a where it went, he turned back to Aoba, and spoke

Surfacing in his mind was the scenery of his past

His bloodstained hands, and the wretched state of his attackers still on the scene; a scenery he had witnessed over and over in his hometown

“If you return every blow you get, after a while… it gets harsh, you know?”

At the salowed as it announced a strike

“Ah… strike?”

Having thrown the ball without utter

Yahiro, who had been waiting for the ball to coo for his second try, widened his eyes; Aoba pat his junior’s shoulder, s

“You don’t have to tell me that I know”

Aoba smiled faintly, and there was a peek of a face different from that Yahiro always saw

“But you know, Yahiro-kun …For us, we feelin that harshness”

Evening Ikebukuro West Gate Park

“And that’s how it is What do I do?”

It was late enough that the sun had sunk behind the buildings

Sitting on a metal tube bench, Yahiro asked Himeka, who sat beside him, this question

“Fro this withyou can’t do…”

Himeka told hiely the same

Yahiro had decided to consult Hi with Aoba

It turned out she was just passing by Ikebukuro Station, so they decided to meet up at the park

As Himeka was more or less a member of Snake Hands as well, Yahiro explained about his job finding the culprit without hesitation

To his surprise, however, Himeka already knew

‘I told Kuon-kun I’d help if I could, and Nozomi-san called a few days later,’ she had said; apparently Nozomi had filled her in about the case

“…So you accepted the job too, Himeka-chan?”

“Well, so like that”

“But I think it’s dangerous for you to get involved…”

Yahiro said somberly Himeka replied calmly,

“I don’t think you should say that, since you looked for the Headless Rider even when rumours said she was a kidnapper”

“That’s true”

Yahiro accepted her point with a nod, and Hih

“Well, I’erous I just had the feeling Kuon-kun and Nozo, so…”

“Yeah, that’s true”

Musing over how Hi as him, Yahiro asked once more,

“Anyway, naturally it’s best that the assaults stop But there are two groups ant to meet the criminal before the police So, if by luck I suddenly coet to catch theo to first?”

“This ?”

“What is it?”

“Why would the Slugger be lying on the ground?”

At the question she replied with, Yahiro said,

“Maybe they tried to attack Heiwaji…”

“…That’s certainly iinable”

Still expressionless, Hiht at Yahiro’s face

“Mizuchi-kun Even if the Slugger suddenly showed up, you can win the fight, right?”

“It’s scary I don’t want to fight the Slugger”

“You’re saying that after beating down bōsōzoku and yakuza, here…”

“I was really scared previously, too But not doing anything back then was even scarier That’s all”

Unease tinted Yahiro’s eyes as he continued,

“I’ve always been fighting people, so when it co, I’ht thing to do”

“Then make mistakes It’s easier to remember that way”

“It’s scary”

“It’s always a little surreal, the way you say so is ‘scary’”

Himeka commented, still expressionless; then she went back to the subject of the Slugger

“…When you use your strength, you have a reason So, why do you think the Slugger doing all of this?”

“If I were to say…”

Yahiro had not even considered exa the criminal’s motive

His ier was unaniue ie prop that attacks people without reason’

Nonetheless—though he did not want to think about it since it sounded like excuses—it was true that even he, who had been feared as aviolence

He did not even want to iic like ‘I killed because the sky is blue’ strolling around the city

(Etsusa Bridge reference?)

But because he was also afraid of discarding the possibility, Yahiro kept it at a corner of his mind while he continued to think about the criminal

“The Slugger… Why Why is that person hitting people? I’ve been hit froht, those people always said they’d killto do after that…?”

Perhaps Himeka was already used to it, for, despite that what he said was beyond disturbing, she paid no an to brainstorm with him

“What most people would think is that the criood when they hurt others, or has soh it’s also possible that the victims aren’t completely random”

“Not random?”

“In other words, the victi in common Even if it looks random to us, there could be a specific criteria only the cri to choose their victims I think in that case, the motive becomes important”

“Soht of it”

He had heard the bare bones of the case through the radio and such, but as far as he knew the victienders, and the first victims had been a couple

Did the couple and Horada-se in common?

Yahiro realised that, familiar with neither Horada nor the couple, he could not even answer that question, and he blew a sh

“I just can’t seeer’s state of mind Himeka-chan, do you have any ideas?”

Yahiro asked, and Hiht for awhile

“Hmmm… I heard this froer has attacked quite a number of delinquents”

“Delinquents?”

“Yeah Nearly half of the victims were bōsōzoku members, or that type That’s whyit’s linked to the Slasher case a few years ago”

The Slasher

Yahiro latched on to the term he had heard in the restaurant the day before

“The Slasher… Do you knohat happened, Himeka-chan?”

“I was in middle school back then, so I didn’t really stay out late or anything, but… In school, at least, everyone was alert Especially since one of h school had a classmate as attacked…”

(Probably Hariain; classmate is Anri)

“I see, and the culprit was never caught…”

Yahiro decided to research in this direction to find out if the cases were related Himeka informed him additionally,

“There was this group called, Dollars…? That people suspected were harbouring the Slasher… But Kuronus”

Somewhere in Ikebukuro