Vol 3 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Durarara!!SH×3

CHAPTER 3

Our Ikebukuro Must Be Protected

Why doesn’t anyone understand

Even after this many victims, still there are those who defend that despicable comic Even the mass media has no initiative

Is it the movie? Is it because there’s a movie?

When it’s comics and cartoons they flame all they like, but not the ? Because it has the support of the TV station and major sponsors?

Such things should be no deterrent in this situation Don’t they understand?

Is this not enough?

How much will it take for them to understand?

Understand how dangerous that demon is?

But I cannot stop

I cannot

I sold my soul for this

To warn of the deer, I sold my soul to the demon itself

I sold my soul

shi+nra’s apartment

“Ah o, this sucks, seriously”

Rubbing at his bandaged head, Tanaka Tohed quietly

“Just in case, you should get an X-ray or a CT scan at the hospital in the ”

shi+nra said, and Tolasses, bowed his head

“Thanks, Doctor Sorry for coht”

“Are you all right, Tom-san?”

shi+zuo hovered nervously, looking at the bandage, and Tom waved his hand

“Yeah, I’m fine That was a close call”

According to the nearby when he was attacked

They had been collecting debts as always, but when they had finally wrapped up late at night, it happened

While shi+zuo was in the convenience store deciding between the cartoned caras and aiting outside, drinking his canned coffee in the s lot next doors, was assaulted

Toed the ha so he had lost his balance, knocked down a bicycle and hit his forehead on the corner of the phonebook shelf of a payphone, where it started bleeding

By the time shi+zuo had heard the noise and come out, Tom saw that the assaulter had cli away behind the store—but despite that, shi+zuo had run towards Toed to escape

“I saw the attacker’s back too… He escaped when I saw Toht it would be faster to come here than the hospital, so I called Sorry for the trouble”

shi+zuo bowed his head dolefully, and Celty typed in reply,

‘You said he was attacked, so I thought he’d been hit by a ha’

“Nah~, if it were that serious I could’ve died But there was a weapon wrapped in bandages; maybe it was a small hammer…”

“In that case it er all over the news lately”

As he said so, shi+nra showed them a video from the internet

It was an ani Dead character Dark Owl

“The one who attacked you was this, right?”

“Y, yeah”

For solancing back at shi+zuo

shi+zuo, as clearly furrowing his brow under his sunglasses, and asking shi+nra,

“Oi, what do you er…”

At his reaction, Celty tilted her helmet

—Huh?

—shi+zuo doesn’t know about the Slugger?

—Even if he’s not the type to check the news or internet, his senior… Did To it up at all?

For some reason, shi+nra wore an ‘oh, crap’ expression at shi+zuo’s reaction

As Celty puzzled over this on the sidelines, shi+nra went quiet for a few seconds, before slowly, he explained the case in as roundabout a way as possible

“I see… So that’s how it is”

shi+zuo, having heard shi+nra’s full explanation a few ly to himself, and thanked shi+nra,

“Anyway, you were a great help, shi+nra Thanks for today”

“Ah, no probleuess You’ve helped me a lot before, too”

shi+zuo turned back casually to shi+nra, as slowly beco drenched in cold sweat

“I’ll be going out a bit, then Take care of Tom-san”

“Going? Where?”

“Huh? Isn’t it obvious?”

Haha, shi+zuo chuckled, before his smile faded, and he said,

“That Slugger bastard who hurt Toround him into dust”

—Into dust?!

shi+nra and Celty felt shi+vers run down their spines

That shi+zuo’s voice was so unbelievably cal back

He was containing his anger

It was the caler out on; the atht noas similar to once in the past, when, in this same room, he had discovered that Orihara Izaya had fraly sweet smile

‘O, oi shi+nra, was shi+zuo angry because his senior at work got attacked?’

Celty sneaked shi+nra a look at her smartphone, to which he whispered back,

(Yeah, that’s half of it)

‘? And the other half?’

(Err… That is… It seems you didn’t know, Celty…)

shi+nra glanced away, and, shrugging, said,

(That character, Dark Owl?)

‘That character, yeah?’

(Yūhei-kun played him in the live action)

‘…What?’

Celty’s thought process froze temporarily at the mention of Yūhei

(We didn’t see the movie since ere on our onsen tour, and you probably didn’t check on ht? It was an Easter egg they didn’t advertise, a surprise It’s not like he could show his face, plus it’s not the kind of thing that would bring in revenue; it’s just that his boss thought it would be funny)

‘Yūhei as in… Hanejima Yūhei?’

(Yeah, him As you know, he’s shi+zuo’s brother)

Hanejima Yūhei Real name: Heiwajima Kasuka

He was Heiwaji actor

With that, her previous doubts were answered

Toer in front of shi+zuo

If there was a serial assaulter rauised as a character from a fil no less, it was obvious ould happen Tom had probably anticipated it would not bode well, and refrained fro the case to shi+zuo

That foreboding had escalated with To attacked

The rage against the culprit that fuelled shi+zuo’s violent impulses had escalated

—Oh no, someone will die

—It’s true the Slugger deserves it, but at this rate they’ll really be ground to dust…!

Beside Celty, as still dazed at the situation, shi+nra said to shi+zuo,

“W, wait shi+zuo-kun, how are you planning to find the Slugger?”

“Huh…? I just have to ht…?”

“I didn’t ask how you’re going to go about your pulverising! And that won’t make dust, it’ll be mince!”

shi+nra argued against this completely unimportant detail From behind him, Tom scolded shi+zuo,

“Oi, shi+zuo There’s no point There are plenty of people with that set of pajamas”

“…? What do you mean?”

shi+zuo tilted his head, to which shi+nra replied,

“Ah, right, it’s like this Since this whole thing so lots of the same ainst the police, but now and then you see theht, Celty?”

‘Yeah… It’s not everywhere, but… I’ve seen a number’

“…Now you ht have seen some too…”

shi+zuo rested his hand on the wall, and began to mutter, perhaps to himself,

“But… If you think about it, well I don’t know if it’s for fun or whatever but wearing so people, right…? Soht…? So if taking all that into consideration those people ht…?”

‘Wait ait! Calm down, shi+zuo!’

Celty hurried to placate shi+zuo, the direction of whose thoughts would clearly end in catastrophe

—What’s going on He finally toned down recently, too!

—And that Slugger! Of all things, doing so like this…!

The possibility that the culprit could be suicidal crossed her mind She continued to coax shi+zuo

‘The police are searching high and low for the culprit, and I’ too, so let us do our jobs, okay?’

In this side Tom and shi+nra, were able to convince shi+zuo—with Too thrashi+ng Ikebukuro because of me; wouldn’t your brother think the saer

“…I got it I’ll back down since you’re so against it, Celty, Tom-san…”

“Huh? What about omomomo…”

Gagging shi+nra’s mouth as he spoke up unnecessarily, Celty relaxed for the ti

‘All right, anyway, you should just ets home safely today’

“Yeah, thanks, Celty”

After saying this, shi+zuo stared straight at Celty—and stated a request of his own

“But if you find the Slugger, make sure I’m first to know, okay…? Yeah?”

‘What?’

“You’re looking for the culprit, right? The Slugger?”

—crap

‘Ah, I guess’

“If you find the culprit before the police, I just want to have a talk with that person”

‘That’s…’

“Don’t worry, I just want to talk Maybe there’s alike that…”

He had only pushed his anger down inside It appeared it was still roiling beneath the surface

‘Ah, I’ll try’

Despite sensing an endless a intent towards the perpetrator in shi+zuo’s voice, Celty answered auously and sent him and Tom to the door

On the way out Tom had whispered, ‘Sorry, I’ll take some time to calm him down too,’ but even with the mental support of those words, after the two had left, Celty slid down bonelessly to sit in the corridor

“Are you okay, Celty?”

‘Yeah… Thanks, shi+nra I’m fine’

Despite typing this, Celty’s heart swirled with anxiety and confusion

‘I can’t see things ending well for us if he finds out I passed the Slugger to Yumasaki before him’

‘So what do I do if I catch the Slugger now…?’

The next day Mid Raira Academy Library

On the day that began the second half of the long holiday, Yahiro, who had volunteered as a library coanise the bookshelves, made his way to school

Perhaps many people had free schedules; a third of the members were able to participate, and they went to and fro between the library and the librarian’s office, tidying the library

There was less work to be done than expected, and at this pace they would likely be done before thewas over

A thought occurred to Yahiro, and he approached the club president during their break time

“Um, President?”

“Hey, Mizuchi-kun What’s up?”

“Do you… know about the Slasher case?”

“…More or less, I guess? Since it happened awhile after I started here”

The club president wore a friendly smile as he said this Yahiro asked further,

“There’s the Slugger going around now, right? Do you think it could be… the same person?”

“Hmmm, why do you think that?”

“I’ve been scared that the Slugger will attack s in my head…”

After a moment of hesitation, Yahiro told the club president directly,

“I… think the Slugger isn’t just one person”

“And why do you think that?”

“…Youabout strategies if the Slugger attacks, all this time, and I looked up about all the different attacks… I couldn’t think of one succinct solution Like there was a detail …”

Perhaps he was curious about what his junior was saying, lacking in confidence as it sounded; the club president replied while opening the ,

“Strategies… as in what to do if you’re attacked?”

“Ah, yeah …You ht think I’m weird”

“No way It’s never bad to be prepared Though I suppose the best strategy would be not to go out at night”

It was airtight logic Yahiro went silent

He felt slightly guilty that he was initiating involveer

“So, how do you think the Slasher is related to this?”

“Ah, right I heard there were ruroup of people… And there were people saying it was a gang war, too So called the Dollars, and the Yellow Scarves… Do you know about that?”

“Yeah, a little”

The club president smiled faintly Yahiro elaborated on his theory

“I thought ether for a coht account for the different methods used in the attacks…”

“They ht not even have a common objective”

“Huh?”

Yahiro tilted his head at the sudden statement

The library committee president brushed the accumulated dust from the books out of the , and said, evenly,

“What if there are oals? It doesn’t inal and which is the copycat In this case, if you only look at the resulting crimes, then it’s natural to be unable to come up with a distinct profile for the culprit”

“I see… That is a possibility”

“I think the police h Even just looking at the victisters”

“Ah, my friend said that too”

Yahiro res slowly became clear

“Msters as a separate person for the ti If you assume that, do you still feel weird when you think about your strategies?”

“…”

After being told this, Yahiro relooked infories to deal with a Slugger attack

As a result—the criminal’s behavioral patterns synchronised for at least the attacks on gangsters, and he was able to develop acceptable counter-strategies

“…Thanks so much, President I’ll think about it”

“Thinking is fine, but don’t put yourself in danger, yeah?”

The club president said this as he sh he had seen through Yahiro

Yahiro bowed his head again, and just then the school bell chi the end of their recess

“Oh, is it ti the holidays”

The club president smiled, and as he returned to his work, he looked at Yahiro and said,

“There’s one thing you don’t need to worry about I don’t think it’s related to the Slasher”

“? Okay”

Was there anything to be relieved about if it wasn’t the Slasher?

Despite thinking this, Yahiro decided that perhaps knowing the cri prospect

While Yahiro rationalised this in his own mind, the club president smiled wryly and added,

“Well, it’s just a gut feeling, though”

After Yahiro had gone, the library committee president looked back at the , and exhaled

He touched the multiple stab wounds in his abdoamine Mikado—murmured softly,

“The Voices are one… But it still affect my eyes, huh”

Looking at his own reflection in the pane, a small smile came onto his face

At first, bitter But then his srew reassured

By giving himself over to the Curse of Saika te—that the same curse was not active elsewhere in Ikebukuro

The curse had entered him when in the past, a man possessed by Saika had stabbed him repeatedly

By now little of it remained, but he was able to use it at least to detect other traces of the curse

Finding those traces faint in the district, and hence confirer incidents, reassured hi else

It was as if, just by knowing that, he saw no need to step into the underworld of Ikebukuro

Meanwhile, Yahiro returned to his oorkstation, thinking about the club president

—Ryugamine-sempai’s eyes looked really red just now…

—Maybe he’s been working since before the rest of us came in

—I have to work hard, too…

With this, Yahiro went back to his oork Not only his work as a library committee member, but as Snake Hands

Oblivious to the echoes of the extraordinary beside him

Raira General Hospital Private ward

“Are you okay, Horada-sempai?”

Aoba said with a friendly smile Horada’s face twitched as he answered,

“Y, yeah Thanks for the help”

“I was surprised, when you suddenly told us to look for the Slugger You’ve given your testiht you would’ve just entrusted it to the police”

Horada felt a strange pressure from his Blue Square junior that had coe of the boy’s brother Izumii Ran, he shook his head to clear away the fear

“Ow!”

The pain came back when he shook his head, and Horada fell back onto the bed

“What’s wrong?”

“N, nothing”

As if to hide what had happened, he answered Aoba’s previous question with unnecessary vigour:

“Yeah! I’m the man as the face of Blue Square! What pride do I have if I back do? Right?”

“You have your point, but…”

“Don’t worry; I kept some information from the police”

“?! Really?”

Seeing the surprise on Aoba’s face, Horada felt assured in his own advantage

The inforers

He had told the police there had only been one Slugger

No one had testified that there had been two anyway, and even if he was questioned afterwards for any inconsistency,he could probably excuse hi hit in the head

Izuet to the culprit before the police It was better to hide the truth from the police and confuse them

—Ahhh… But… What do I say?

—Saying two people ganged up and beat me up still sounds kinda lame…

After soht, Horada’s born pettiness had its tierated answer

“Well… I knocked down the first two or three just fine, but…”

“Huh?”

“Even I can’t hold up against more than five people…”

“…”

Aoba fell into thought at Horada’s account

At Aoba’s expression, Horada swore in his mind

—Oh shi+t shi+t, did I overdo it?!

—I should have kept it to three… What kind of assaulter goes around in fives! That’s just gang violence!

Forgetting that this was exactly what he and his juniors went around doing, Horada waited, in cold sweat, for Aoba’s reply

He was prepared to be exposed—

But surprisingly, Aoba reconfirmed it with a serious expression:

“In other words… you’re saying it was a group?”

“Huh? O, oh Isn’t that what I said? If it weren’t, you know there’s no way I’d have gone down! …I haven’t told the police about this part, so be careful”

“Understood We won’t alert the police”

“H, huh?”

It eird that the boy acquiesced so readily, but Horada accepted it quickly

—Yosh, he’s actually quite obedient, isn’t he? He believed it just like that

—Is this because of my track record too?

He optimistically chose to credit his natural charisma

Unwitting of the thoughts turning in Aoba’s mind

A few minutes later Outside the hospital