A few days ago.
The antique store - Sonohara Hall - was located a little ways from the center of Ikebukuro. A section of its first floor was constructed as the shop area with antique-looking products displayed in the show windows facing the street. The store seemed to stock anything most people would classify as ‘antiques’ regardless of what era or genre they were made in from worn out vases and anonymous hanging scrolls to radios which used vacuums tubes.
The store’s layout had an old style atmosphere to it, but the shop attendee inside was a woman who still had traces of young feminine traits in contrast to the store’s aesthetic. Or rather, the woman had a calm demeanor like someone from the Showa era who was in harmony with the various antiques in her store instead of a youth from the modern day. The occult would describe her as an artifact spirit grounded to this shop.
She was not even twenty years old, and yet the woman - Anri Sonohara - was the owner of this respected antique shop, engendering a mature air to her that could be perceived from her surroundings.
The young store owner turned to the boy who had entered the shop and bowed her head with a gentle smile.
“Welcome. …Umm, you’re Mizuchi-kun, is that right?”
The boy faced her, surprised.
“You remember me?”
“Yes. Have you been able to use that radio alright?”
“Yes. My room feels much more comfortable now thanks to you.”
This was the second time the boy - Yahiro Mizuchi - had come to this shop. He came to this antique store which had been started up by s Raira Academy graduate, considering to buy a cheap television set or something similar to put in his room and ended up purchasing an antique radio.
Yahiro found it strange how this woman had become the owner of this old store just after graduating high school. From what he had heard, she had gotten the qualifications to reopen the store her deceased parents use to run once she became self-reliant. Yahiro looked at the Raira Academy graduate with respect, impressed she was able to manage a store immediately after graduation.
Just as he felt shocked that the owner remembered his name, she gave him the secret.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from Ryuugamine-kun.”
“Ryuugamine is…the library committee president, correct?”
“He was very pleased to have gotten a wonderful junior as yourself in the library committee.”
“Are you acquaintances with Ryuugamine-senpai?”
Anri gazed over to a vacant space and replied as though reminiscing the past.
“We were classmates. Even now, he’s someone very important to me.”
She muttered words with a hidden meaning.
Yahiro thought there could be more to their relationship than that, but he hesitated, believing it would be rude to ask her straightforwardly.
And then the boy who entered the shop behind Yahiro spoke up as though to voice his true thoughts in his place.
“Eh? What’s this now? Are you dating Ryuugamine-senpai?”
“Kuon, you’re being too blunt.”
“Whoa, I never expected there to be a day you’d say that to me…”
Yahiro’s classmate - Kuon Kotonami - made a clear expression of shock. His green dyed hair stood out within the store's faded color backdrop.
From behind them, a third guest stated acrimoniously with a blank expression.
“It’s because Yahiro-kun is like that that he made the remark, right? I’ll be honest, you really put me off, but I’ve never been so worried for your future that I’d give you forewarning.”
“...Himeka-chan, do you hate me?”
“No, I don’t. If I were to express how I feel about you, you’d be about the same as the regular person on the streets.”
“Alright, zero interest. Got it.”
Kuon commented with a droll. The girl added to have the final word.
“I’m not completely indifferent. It’s just your positive and negative traits balance each other out.”
The girl - Himeka Tatsugami - stated dispassionately. Cold sweat formed on Kuon’s brow.
“Well...Even if you say that so calmly.”
Yahiro pat a hand on Kuon’s shoulder and nodded with an honest expression.
“It’s alright, Kuon. Let’s increase the number of good traits for you then. Work on gaining more with me.”
“Work on what!? What do I have to work on to become a good person!?”
“...”
Yahiro fell silent at Kuon’s retort, but after a few seconds he slowly phrased.
“...Practice ethics…?”
“Wow...So you come back with a normal answer that’s hard for me to react to…”
“It’s normal? Really? Thank goodness!”
“Don’t look so relieved at that! Argh, seriously! You’re messed up!”
Kuon exclaimed partially teary-eyed, but upon noticing the shopkeeper smiling gently in the corner of his peripheral vision he changed the topic, repeating his previous question.
“Anyway, more importantly, miss! So are you dating Ryuugamine-senpai or what?”
Anri, after pondering for a moment, replied.
“Now that...is a secret.”
Afterwards, the high schoolers purchased a couple of items and went home. Anri thought back on their interactions and smiled, reminiscing the past.
This brings back memories...Back to when I first met Mikado-kun and Kida-kun…
Anri reflected on the happiness those quiet days had brought her, seeing herself and her friends in those high schoolers.
Running the antique shop had not been easy, but nonetheless, she felt pure joy for obtaining a place she could belong to as she had always wanted.
The vicissitudes of fortune in Ikebukuro were still developing since it began a few years ago. Anri simply prayed for them to walk a path for their well-being, sensing her juniors at Raira Academy would meet a similar fate as theirs before the large current, with the abnormal days the Headless Rider brought as the axis.
On the other hand, she could not strongly pray for her own peaceful life. Ever since she had decided to inherit this shop which had a complicated history behind it, Anri was prepared to face the hardships; above all else, Anri felt the hardships would keep her and many people secure.
One could say Anri’s vicissitudes were still ongoing.
And as though to attest that, a new ‘trouble’ showed itself as the shop’s door opened silently.
“Welcome.”
Anri gave her usual bow from behind the counter when a new customer came in. However, the customer was peculiar. He was a young, bespectacled man who had bandages wrapped around his face. He did not respond to Anri’s greeting and spoke after verifying no one else was in the store.
“You’re Anri Sonohara?”
“? Yes, I am…”
Anri tilted her head, confused when the stranger called her by name.
The man stated the name of the ‘product’ he desired indifferently.
“...I want to purchase Saika.”
Saika.
The moment Anri heard that term, her smile shifted into bewilderment. As she remained silent, weary of his presence, the man then brought up the next part of his negotiation plainly.
“As for payment...I have 5,000,000 yen for it.”
Immediately after, the man added to indicate he knew the true nature of Saika.
“And if you prefer, I’d settle with you even cutting me to make me a child.”
♂♀
The same day at night, at Shinra’s apartment beside Kawagoe highway.
‘I’m considering working.’
One of the people living there - Celty Sturluson - stated. The proprietor of the apartment, Shinra Kishitani, tilted his head in confusion.
“Celty? What’s up all of the sudden? Don’t you already have a part-time job? That, um, the express man type work the high schoolers are doing.”
She currently had a part-time job as an errand person for Snake Hands the boy Kuon Kotonami organized. She did not receive that many jobs from it, but the work Kuon provided her gave her plenty of income - though how he was able to find high paying jobs was another matter. And since Celty did not have food expenses, the pay was enough to cover her living expenses.
‘I’m not referring to my part-time job; I’m thinking of restarting my courier work again.’
“No, you can’t, Celty! I’ll lose if you work!”
Celty calmly objected on her smartphone while trying to peel Shinra off of her.
‘Who’ll lose to what?’
Shinra shouted back his honest feelings at the reasonable opinion.
“I’m in reality! How can I win against the loneliness derived by your absence when you leave for work!”
‘Just keep selecting continue then.’
Celty wrote back, exasperated at Shinra’s whining.
Shinra further expressed while reaching for her.
“Then for me to keep fighting it, I’ll need to rack up on credit! A hug from you would refill my health meter to max in exchange for a 10,000 yen bill and give me unlimited lives-”
‘Don’t embrace me like that while spouting nonsense! ...Anyway, there’s a reason why I’m going to restart my courier business after so long.’
Celty sat down on the sofa again, and Shinra knelled over the carpet on his feet to face her.
“Alright then; tell me, Celty. Whatever reason you give me, I’m going to find a fault in. If you want to do it for money, then I’ll pay for you so there’s no issue there! The influence of money i great in society’s currency system. Money is everything in the world.”
‘Gosh...You can make those statements without any shame…’
Celty expressed in amazement. Shinra began to rant, eyes shining.
“I’m not ashamed to give my stance in front of you. Ah, but I will give you this. Money is certainly important. But it’s not the most important! The most important thing is Celty! And of course the second is Celty! The third and the fourth are also...yes, take that thief! Up to number five is Celty! Celty is everything in the world! Celty is the best lawyer; Celty talks!”
‘...Can you understand your own Japanese?’
“So yeah, priorities one through five are all Celty; it’s like a dream come true. It’s appropriate to say you being here is like having ‘a huge harvest of the five grains’ this year to me. So I can savor five flavors of Celty, haha mghh.”
‘Sorry, that was disgusting me.’
Celty had conceded to listening to him, but she deduced his monologue was not going anywhere and gagged him with her shadows.
“Mmmff.”
‘Look, just shut up and listen.’
Celty had bound Shinra’s limbs while he sat on the balls of his feet, making him look like a criminal from a historical play and slowly began to type on the smartphone what she had been pondering over for the last few months.
‘I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks of me. As long as it doesn’t bring you trouble, I’m fine with it. That won’t change.’
“Mmff…”
‘However, the world had changed while we were gone for half a year. I’ve lived here in Ikebukuro for more than twenty years, and yet people’s values and the city’s outlook has been dizzyingly going by. For instance...even though the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves have only been gone for a few years now, all the other color gangs have vanished from the city and they’ve become relics of the past already, right?’
“Mmff, nghh.”
Seeing Shinra nod with the pure black gag in his mouth, Celty further added.
‘I’m not saying I’m living like a hermit in the mountains, but I feel like I’m becoming distant from the city’s values and numerous people...I hate feeling like I’m out of sync with humans.’
“Nngh.”
‘I suppose you could say I’m just shaken or my surroundings are influencing me. But I’m not saying I’m unshakeable. My wish is to be happy with you.’
“Mmff!?”
Shinra jolted and tried to exclaim something in joy, but with the gag in his mouth this only resulted in him to look like he was in an aroused state.
Celty ignored Shinra’s antics and continued.
‘I want to make you happy, and I want to be happy with you. ...But I guess the quickest way to achieve that would be for you to quit your illegal job as an underground doctor, but it is what it is and I don’t imagine you’d choose to do an upstanding job even if you did give up your current one, so I’ve already given up otherwise. Just don’t get involved with drugs.’
“Nngh! Nngh!”
Shinra nodded deeply.
Celty was half relieved in that regard. Since she knew the executive from the Akwakusu Group - Akabayashi - despised drugs the most, if they were involved with drugs their lives would be in danger. And Shinra also understood that.
‘But if you do ever get caught, I’ll wait until you’re released from prion.’
“Mmff... Mmff...”
‘Anyway, this was just rehab for me. I got an e-mail from someone I had taken a job from in the past yesterday. I thought it was a good opportunity to get a feel of the city.”
Celty properly dealt with Shinra, who had glomped on her, yelling, “Celty!” the moment she had released him from his bounds, and afterwards she decided to leave the apartment when the time to meet with her client approached.
As she straddled Shooter in the parking garage, she had a sudden thought.
You know, I can’t quite say my job is upright either… And I do break traffic laws on a regular basis…
Celty’s whole body shook, her natural enemy - the white motorcycle cop - coming to her mind.
...What will happen to me if I get caught? I’ll be a test subject...at an experimental facility...traded off to America...in Area 51...Area 51…!? What if I encounter an alien…!?
Celty kept trembling, imagining the variety of aliens from etheric life forms to silicon life forms, including little gray ones and reptile types.
To brush away the fear created from her own imagination, Celty tightly gripped the handles of her black motorcycle and began to take off into the night down Kawagoe highway.
Unaware of what exactly awaited her at the end of the job she took.
♂♀
The next day at Yahiro’s apartment, morning.
‘And so, I can’t take any jobs for Snake Hands over the next couple of days. I’ve already told Kotonami-kun, so I believe it’ll be alright.’
Yahiro read the message he had received from Celty, reclined against the wall of his apartment under the sky as the sun began to rise.
“I feel like I’m off kilter with the city, she said.”
Yahiro had thoroughly read Celty’s detailed explanation in regards to her restarting her courier business, making him reflect on his own past. The feelings she had were similar to his own uneasiness that had gripped him when he was younger.
Am I different from everyone else?
Something’s off.
Am I normal?
Something’s off.
I don’t want to be different.
Something’s off.
Is it alright for me to be with everyone?
Something’s off.
Now thinking about it, he felt that was all that was on his mind.
And in truth, he was off-kilter.
At the time he felt he was just being unreasonable, but after coming to Ikebukuro and meeting with various other people outside his family, he came to realize exactly how bizarre he was.
But I think everyone else was also excessive…
He had experienced acts that were far beyond the standard category for a mere child’s fight, having been hit with a spiked bat and struck by a truck from behind. However, now thinking back on it, he knew he had instigated the malice around him. Although there were aspects he could not accept, he could understand that. And even if he returned to the past and redo his life, he could not imagine he would have handled it well. Should he have let the boss kid who first approached him bully him?
When Yahiro had brought the issue up with Kuon, he had shrugged and told him.
‘For people like that, I think you just have to handle it adequately. Those type of guys are generally idiots anyway, so I’d adequately suck up to them so they don’t lash out at me, and if they bully me I’d adequately fight back enough for them to not make light of me and tell them, 'alright we’re done,' when they cry. If I was as strong as you, I’d be able to do it, right?’
That was what he said, but Yahiro believed it was futile. He lacked the idea of what was considered to be adequate. He was catastrophically terrible at identifying how far he should go to make the other stop or where the line was before he went to far. And he believed in that regard he was distant from the world. What Celty had mentioned in the message rang true to him and was most crucial to him, and Yahiro respected the Headless Rider for attempting to overcome that gap.
I also have to do something… I need to try harder with the work for Snake Hands.
Yahiro had no misgivings cross his mind whether the jobs that partially crossed into half of the city’s underside Snake Hands provided would help him change the gap he had from society or not.
I need to not be considered as strange to not trouble Himeka-chan or Kuon. Yeah, first I have to work towards accomplishing that.
To him, clueless of his unusual situation, one could say his few personal connections such as Kuon, Himeka, and Celty were the last tethers keeping him from completely drifting apart from the city.
Just then, a man that was one of his few personal connections called out to Yahiro.
“Hey, Yahiro. Sorry to have made you wait.”
He was the younger brother of his landlord - Saburo Togusa. He owned a large mini-van and had given him rides on several occasions during the entrance exam season.
“Sorry for making you help out so early on a Sunday morning.”
Saburo handed over a rag and a pail he was holding to Yahiro as he said this.
“Anyway, I’ll handle the last part of the waxing, so you just need to hand me the tools I need when I’m doing maintenance on the underside and help me wash it down.”
This task was like a simple part-time job. Just as Yahiro came back from Sonohara Hall, Saburo came to him with a request, ‘can you help me do some maintenance and clean the van in a little bit? I’ll repay you by treating you for a meal.’
Yahiro was happy someone asked him to do a job and had accepted.
“Nonetheless, I still can’t believe it. That you’re acquaintances with Celty and even had a decent fight with Shizuo.”
“...Well, no, Heiwajima-san beat me one-sidedly.”
“Liar. After learning about it, I saw the video. You’re pretty good in a fight. There's hardly anyone in Ikebukuro that can hold against Shizuo for more than three seconds. And if we’re talking about a proper fight, I suppose there’s just Simon...and there was Izaya, but now thinking about it, I haven’t seen him around much recently.”
Saburo shifted the topic to idle chat. Yahiro remained expressionless, yet inwardly he was impressed.
Yahiro’s identity was revealed to Saburo during the series of phantom attacks the week prior, and he was nervous the man would keep his distance from him or at worst be driven out of the apartment, but Saburo apparently had not told his siblings about him and was even conversing with him normally.
And for Yahiro, who had grown up being treated as a monster from those around him, that made him pleased beyond all else.
“...Saburo-san, you don’t consider me to be dangerous?”
“Why would I? You’re a polite and good kid. ...Well, I do think charging at that phantom killer a while back was dangerous, but when I was a student I was also reckless. Since I can’t say I reflected back on what I did and grew as a person, I have no right to lecture you.”
“Not that...I mean, aren’t you afraid of me?”
“? ...Oh, you mean that?”
Saburo nodded in understanding before he answered Yahiro’s question.
“Come on, how many years do you think I’ve lived in the same city as Shizuo and Celty?”
“...I see your point.”
Yahiro let out a sigh in relief when he heard those persuasive words.
“But...Shizuo-san is feared by the people of the city, right?”
“Yeah, he is...By a good half of them anyway. You can’t really tell people to not be afraid of the guy who rips out telephone poles and swings them around. But the thing is, I know he’s a decent guy when you actually get to talk with him without pissing him off. I didn’t fully believe it until I saw Kadota talk with him in person. And the guys that do know that are aware of how he is, so I don’t think it’s necessary to worry about him or sympathize with him.”
Togusa then added, sighing.
“And to begin with, Karisawa and Yumasaki are far worse if we’re going off that definition…”
“Karisawa and Yumasaki?”
Yahiro questioned, head tilted to the side.
“Ah, that’s right, you still don’t know their true nature...But you’ll come to know what they’re like if you hang out with them. I didn’t want you to get close to them, but I can’t blame you for becoming friends with them.”
Togusa’s shoulders slumped, slightly tired, as he diligently cleaned around the wipers.
His tone of voice changed, as though he just remembered something.
“That reminds me, you seem to think you first met them recently, but you do know you met them once in this van a few months ago, right?”
“Eh?”
“I drove you around during the entrance exams, right? You remember the guys making a ruckus in the back seat?”
“...Ah!”
I remember! There were people talking about manga in the back seat the whole time… But those two were Karisawa-san and Yumasaki-san…? I didn’t get a good look at their faces, so I didn’t notice…
But then, I don’t even remember Saburo-san’s face well at that time either…
He could not remember the other passengers in the back seat due to the stress he had for the exams, but Yahiro considered that to be an excuse and asked Togusa, troubled.
“What should I do? I said ‘nice to meet you' believing that was the first time we met… I was extremely rude…”
“Ah, it’s fine since they didn’t seem to have noticed either. But those two are terrible at remembering real people’s faces that are not in manga anyway…”
Togusa then made a complaint about the two while letting out another large sigh.
“...I’ve known them for a long time, but that incident with this van’s door…”
Togusa looked over to the door on one side of the van that had a large sticker of some anime character on it.
“They always put something on there while I’m not looking, and by the time I notice they put something else up…”
“You can’t take it off?”
“...Well I owe them for a lot of things...so I let them do whatever they like to this side...But damn, if they were going to make this an itasha, I would prefer to make it a Ruri Hijiribe vehicle…”
“You won’t?”
Ruri Hijiribe was a popular idol with an established reputation as both a model and an actress. Saburo was an executive of her fan club, and half of his daily conversations with Yahiro were related to Ruri Hijiribe.
Yahiro also liked movies, so he knew of Ruri Hijiribe since her time as a SFX artist and was a fan of hers as well. After he had commented, “Ruri-san is an incredible person, isn’t she,” when Ruri first came up in conversation, he was frequently invited to join the fan club. However, he had refrained himself, feeling it would be presumptuous to become a member of the fan club just to see Saburo’s zeal up close.
He actually did find it odd Togusa did not turn his van into a Ruri itasha, but Togusa just cocked his head at Yahiro’s question.
“While there’s the issue on right of usage to factor in, Ruri-chan may not like having her face on a vehicle… Yumasaki suggested something like, ‘let’s cover it with manga characters Ruri-chan would voice,’ and that did catch my interest a little…”
Togusa then came to the back of the van while wiping the windows and pointed to a spot on the back panel Yahiro had cleaned next to him.
“But I like Ruri-chan and my van. So I’m satisfied with decorating the van this marginally.”
On it were the characters ‘Ruri Hijiribe is life’ and an official mascot character sticker of a deformed Ruri Hijiribe.
“I finally made a sticker I liked.”
“You made this…?”
“Yeah. Whenever I pass by this sticker, it lightens my mood and improves my driving as it makes me believe a part of Ruri-chan’s soul is in this van. And I will never let those two mess with this sticker. If anyone vandalizes this sticker, I’ll drag them a hundred laps around the loop line on the metropolitan expressway…”
“...”
A shiver ran up Yahiro’s spine.
Yahiro’s instincts that were equipped with cowardice by nature told him one truth: that what the man claimed was not a joke; he was serious.
“Still, I’m really sorry I’m making you help out on your day off.”
Togusa remarked while smiling cheerfully once he had started to do the last of the waxing a few minutes later.
“It’s fine; I was free.”
“But since Raira is private, you don’t even have a full two days off in the week, right? I know I just made you help out, but you should use your days off wisely. I’d love to bring you to Ruri-chan’s concert, but unfortunately I can’t get special seating besides for myself...Wait...Maybe if I ask Kaztano...but then…”
“No, I don’t mind. I find it amazing just to watch Ruri Hijiribe-san on TV or in film.”
Yahiro expressed his honest feelings, without tact or ingratiation, as Saburo began to mutter something to himself.
Togusa deeply nodded, satisfied with his reply, as he wiped down the wax rhythmically.
“Yeah, totally, right? Ruri-chan’s cuteness and sublimity can be sensed even through video, right!? But nonetheless, seeing her live is different. She's transcended being an angel and became the god of my world. She’s not the gasoline for my heart; she’s the very oil for it.”
Yeah, Saburo-san is definitely friends with Karisawa-san and Yumasaki-san.
Yahiro sensed a common thread with the two individuals in question from Saburo’s enthusiasm, and he decided to indulge in the conversation about Ruri Hijribe, feeling jealous how the other could completely immerse himself in the topic.
“...It’s like, even though Ruri Hijiribe-san is so otherworldly, there’s a familiarity to her that I find appealing.”
Togusa ceased waxing and looked over at Yahiro with bright eyes.
“Yeah, you get it! That’s exactly it. There are guys who say they get the impression she’s difficult to get close to from her mysterious nature, but I find people who could reject Ruri-chan’s mystifying character are truly pitiful!”
“I’d like to get to know her more…”
The ‘familiarity’ Yahiro spoke of implied that ‘she had an air to her similar to mine,’ but naturally Yahiro’s cowardly instincts withheld him from saying, ‘I feel she is similar to me,’ to Togusa.
And I guess there’s people you don’t want to get closer to either.
He did not admit it himself, but Yahiro was discouraged when presented with the truth that even a huge idol was so distant, making him question, ‘if Ruri Hijiribe-san is like that, what does that indicate about me?’
Just as he made a large sigh, a light music reached Yahiro’s ears. It was the main theme for the Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizo series Ruri Hijiribe was a part of.
Once he realized it was his cell phone that was ringing, Yahiro took the device out and apologized to Togusa, “I’m sorry.”
When he did, he saw the recipient listed on the screen was Kuon Kotonami.
It’s from Kuon. What could this be about?
Yahiro thought another job for Snake Hands had come in, but the message was not from that address; instead it was from Kuon’s personal account.
Yahiro opened up the message without thinking deeply into the matter, and he raised his voice the next second.
“...Eh?”
“? What is it?”
Togusa inquired as he was finishing the last of the waxing.
Yahiro read the information he just came to know of, eyes unfocused.
“An antique shop I frequently go to with my friends called Sonohara Hall...a robber got in…”
“Eh?”
Togusa exclaimed in the same way Yahiro did seconds prior and asked another question as he frowned.
“Sonohara Hall is the place miss Anri runs, right?”
“Wha-...You know Sonohara-senpai?”
Seeing Yahiro’s wide eyes, Togusa shook his head with a heavy sigh.
“...Man, Ikebukuro is really a small place…”
He then added, grinning.
“But I guess you could say you just have an abnormal amount of personal connections.”
♂♀
At the same time in a certain place - at an apartment bar.
“What a rare occurrence this is. For you to come here without me asking you to, courier-san.”
A man wearing tinted glasses with a scared face - the Awakusu Group executive Akabyashi - remarked with a smirk at a bar constructed out of an apartment room.
Sitting across from him, Celty felt guilty for not ordering anything even though she naturally could not eat or drink but typed on her smartphone in response.
‘I’m sorry to take up your time. I just wanted to ask you if perhaps you or your men were involved with the subject I’m after at the moment…’
“My goodness. How ominous.”
Akabayashi swung the glass in his hand, causing the ice inside to clank against each other, and smiled wryly.
“It's not even a job from us, and yet you're going to poke your head into such a dangerous matter as that? Don't tell me you took the job from the Asuki Group or something.”
‘I would not do anything beyond my ability. Besides, if this was related to your group, I would seek consultation from Shiki-san, not you.’
“Really now? I believe my knowledge is limited if sir Shiki doesn't know about it.”
Akabayashi did not feign ignorance and cocked his head in earnest. Celty typed on her smartphone the information she desired blatantly.
‘...I believed it was better to ask you about matters related to biker gangs and hoodlums like Jan-Jaka-Jan and Dragon Zombie instead of Shiki-san.’
“Ahh...I see. So that's what this is about.”
Akabayashi sighed with a mix of a wry smile and drank the liquid inside his glass.
“I felt the kids were relatively calming down now after the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves disappeared. But in exchange, urban legend fanatics created a ruckus. Did they cause you trouble?”
‘We still don't have positive proof...'
After Celty hesitated for a few moments, she typed a certain sentence while weary of her surroundings.
‘Right now, I’m looking for a certain someone, and I’ve heard...that this person is in some biker gang or another type of group.’
“Uh-huh...Searching for someone seems to be an odd job for a courier, but we’ve also had similar jobs many times in the past, so I can’t talk. So, the person you’re looking for...what sort of person are they? From what you’re telling me, it sounds like they are in their youth and not even an adult yet.”
‘I cannot tell you. ...Confidentiality is vital in courier work as well.’
After she showed him the screen, Celty noticed her mistake and quickly added.
‘Naturally I do not intend to be so selfish as to ask you to help me for free even though I cannot give you information on the case. I have payment for the information as much as needed.’
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Mister Shiki and Aozaki-san may question you more, but as for me...I guess whenever you are free next time, you can tell me information I want.”
‘Information you would want?’
“Yeah, there’s a group of people I’ve taken interest in as of late.”
After Akabayashi gulped down his glass, he mentioned the term with his usual smile.
“...Do you know of Heavens Slave?”
‘...Umm, I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…’
Heavens Slave!?
It was not like she had not heard of it before. The group had been involved in a case when Izaya Orihara used her services in the past, and she also recalled their name was mentioned in the incident relating to the new religion, the Headless Rider cult, the other day.
Why is that name-? But since Izaya had something to do with it, I think I should just play dumb.
‘I have heard of them on occasion, but I haven’t gotten anything concrete on them…’
“They’re a group that distributed drugs in Ikebukuro back when the Dollars were still around.”
‘...I did not know about that.’
Celty knew Akabayashi despised drugs and the boss of the Awakusu Group was also against drugs. She was also aware if anyone tried to propagate goods relating to drugs in their turf, they would meet a miserable end.
“Yeah, they should have been taken down in the past once, but it appears some their remaining members started getting active again recently. When you said you have heard them on occasion, where you referring to something related to that? What do you say, as the heart of the Headless Rider cult?”
‘Please stop. That dark past happened on its own without my involvement...’
“Ahh, my bad. As for me, I was interested in that Snake Hands guy people were saying was your lover during that incident...But as long as they’re not doing anything bad in the city, then I don’t intend on making you tell me.”
‘...Thank you.’
I cannot introduce Yahiro-kun to the Awakusu Group…
Grateful that Akabayashi dropped the topic on the enigma that was Snake Hands, Celty decided to accept his conditions.
‘I see...I understand. I would also like to stop strange drugs being distributed around and causing trouble in Ikebukuro.’
“If you don’t want the city to get out of hand, then you shouldn’t be working with a scoundrel like myself. With your ability, you should easily be able to take down the Awakusu Group.”
‘You are overestimating my ability. Besides...Even if I would be safe, I do not want to do anything that would endanger the people around me.’
“Then you should stop associating with the yakuza.”
After he made that comment with a smirk, making it hard to discern whether he was joking or serious, Akabayashi went to proceed with the crucial business negotiations. However-
“Then to start off from what you were telling me...Ah, sorry. Got a call.”
His ring tone went off, and upon seeing the characters on the screen he stood up from his seat, eyes narrowing.
“Sorry, courier-san. It’s someone I know, so can you wait a bit?”
‘Go ahead. I don’t mind.’
Celty had told him, but her own cell phone she kept in her breast began to vibrate as well.
What could this be? A text?
When she saw the characters ‘Snake Eyes’ on the screen, she realized it was from Kuon Kotonami.
Kotonami had two addresses. Celty had him registered as Snake Hands for work related messages and Snake Eyes for his personal account.
‘If Yahiro is the monster Snake Hands, then I can be Snake Eyes. Himeka-chan can be Snake Skin and you can be Snake Tail!’ He had suggested off-handedly, but Celty was the only one who wrote Snake Eyes as his display name.
He said I’m tail to make the pun between Snake Tail and Folktale...But it just sounds like he wants to say it…Speaking of Snake Tail… I wonder how the melusine Merine-chan I met in a forest in France long ago is doing.
Celty checked her message inadvertently as she recalled old memories. In it was a shocking revelation worded nonchalantly.
‘Apparently a robber broke into Sonohara Hall. Aoba-kun and Kurumai told me you’re friends with Sonohara-senpai, is that correct So I thought to give you a heads up!’
...Wha-? Eh? There was a robber in Anri-chan’s shop!?
What’s the meaning of this? Is Anri-chan alright!?
Anri should be able to fend off an attacker since she was a wielder of Siaka, but Celty was worried nonetheless.
At any rate, I need to text her… The police could still be there, but I will try to get as close as I can.Celty first sent a text to Anri to make sure she was alright before replying to Kuon. Once she had finished, having just hit the send button, Akabayashi came back.
“I’m sorry, courier-san. Let’s wrap this up early. I need to take care of something.”
‘How coincident. There’s something I also have to check up on…’
Afterwards, Akabayashi and Celty did the bare minimum needed to finish their negotiation, deciding to discuss the precise details the next time they met up. As Celty was about to hastily run out of the bar, she noticed Akabayashi was also heading outside. She asked Akabayashi, seeing him about to call for a ride.
‘If you are heading in the same direction as I am, how about I take you part of the way?’
“...Are you going that way? I’m just going a little farther than Zoshigaya from Ikebukuro station.”
‘That’s perfect. I have some business in that direction.’
“Haha. If I’m to be honest, I’ve wanted to ride your motorbike at least once.”
He commented as they left the bar.
Celty still did not realize at the time that the place Akabayashi was heading to was the exact same destination as hers.
A few days ago.
The antique store - Sonohara Hall - was located a little ways from the center of Ikebukuro. A section of its first floor was constructed as the shop area with antique-looking products displayed in the show windows facing the street. The store seemed to stock anything most people would classify as ‘antiques’ regardless of what era or genre they were made in from worn out vases and anonymous hanging scrolls to radios which used vacuums tubes.
The store’s layout had an old style atmosphere to it, but the shop attendee inside was a woman who still had traces of young feminine traits in contrast to the store’s aesthetic. Or rather, the woman had a calm demeanor like someone from the Showa era who was in harmony with the various antiques in her store instead of a youth from the modern day. The occult would describe her as an artifact spirit grounded to this shop.
She was not even twenty years old, and yet the woman - Anri Sonohara - was the owner of this respected antique shop, engendering a mature air to her that could be perceived from her surroundings.
The young store owner turned to the boy who had entered the shop and bowed her head with a gentle smile.
“Welcome. …Umm, you’re Mizuchi-kun, is that right?”
The boy faced her, surprised.
“You remember me?”
“Yes. Have you been able to use that radio alright?”
“Yes. My room feels much more comfortable now thanks to you.”
This was the second time the boy - Yahiro Mizuchi - had come to this shop. He came to this antique store which had been started up by s Raira Academy graduate, considering to buy a cheap television set or something similar to put in his room and ended up purchasing an antique radio.
Yahiro found it strange how this woman had become the owner of this old store just after graduating high school. From what he had heard, she had gotten the qualifications to reopen the store her deceased parents use to run once she became self-reliant. Yahiro looked at the Raira Academy graduate with respect, impressed she was able to manage a store immediately after graduation.
Just as he felt shocked that the owner remembered his name, she gave him the secret.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from Ryuugamine-kun.”
“Ryuugamine is…the library committee president, correct?”
“He was very pleased to have gotten a wonderful junior as yourself in the library committee.”
“Are you acquaintances with Ryuugamine-senpai?”
Anri gazed over to a vacant space and replied as though reminiscing the past.
“We were classmates. Even now, he’s someone very important to me.”
She muttered words with a hidden meaning.
Yahiro thought there could be more to their relationship than that, but he hesitated, believing it would be rude to ask her straightforwardly.
And then the boy who entered the shop behind Yahiro spoke up as though to voice his true thoughts in his place.
“Eh? What’s this now? Are you dating Ryuugamine-senpai?”
“Kuon, you’re being too blunt.”
“Whoa, I never expected there to be a day you’d say that to me…”
Yahiro’s classmate - Kuon Kotonami - made a clear expression of shock. His green dyed hair stood out within the store's faded color backdrop.
From behind them, a third guest stated acrimoniously with a blank expression.
“It’s because Yahiro-kun is like that that he made the remark, right? I’ll be honest, you really put me off, but I’ve never been so worried for your future that I’d give you forewarning.”
“...Himeka-chan, do you hate me?”
“No, I don’t. If I were to express how I feel about you, you’d be about the same as the regular person on the streets.”
“Alright, zero interest. Got it.”
Kuon commented with a droll. The girl added to have the final word.
“I’m not completely indifferent. It’s just your positive and negative traits balance each other out.”
The girl - Himeka Tatsugami - stated dispassionately. Cold sweat formed on Kuon’s brow.
“Well...Even if you say that so calmly.”
Yahiro pat a hand on Kuon’s shoulder and nodded with an honest expression.
“It’s alright, Kuon. Let’s increase the number of good traits for you then. Work on gaining more with me.”
“Work on what!? What do I have to work on to become a good person!?”
“...”
Yahiro fell silent at Kuon’s retort, but after a few seconds he slowly phrased.
“...Practice ethics…?”
“Wow...So you come back with a normal answer that’s hard for me to react to…”
“It’s normal? Really? Thank goodness!”
“Don’t look so relieved at that! Argh, seriously! You’re messed up!”
Kuon exclaimed partially teary-eyed, but upon noticing the shopkeeper smiling gently in the corner of his peripheral vision he changed the topic, repeating his previous question.
“Anyway, more importantly, miss! So are you dating Ryuugamine-senpai or what?”
Anri, after pondering for a moment, replied.
“Now that...is a secret.”
Afterwards, the high schoolers purchased a couple of items and went home. Anri thought back on their interactions and smiled, reminiscing the past.
This brings back memories...Back to when I first met Mikado-kun and Kida-kun…
Anri reflected on the happiness those quiet days had brought her, seeing herself and her friends in those high schoolers.
Running the antique shop had not been easy, but nonetheless, she felt pure joy for obtaining a place she could belong to as she had always wanted.
The vicissitudes of fortune in Ikebukuro were still developing since it began a few years ago. Anri simply prayed for them to walk a path for their well-being, sensing her juniors at Raira Academy would meet a similar fate as theirs before the large current, with the abnormal days the Headless Rider brought as the axis.
On the other hand, she could not strongly pray for her own peaceful life. Ever since she had decided to inherit this shop which had a complicated history behind it, Anri was prepared to face the hardships; above all else, Anri felt the hardships would keep her and many people secure.
One could say Anri’s vicissitudes were still ongoing.
And as though to attest that, a new ‘trouble’ showed itself as the shop’s door opened silently.
“Welcome.”
Anri gave her usual bow from behind the counter when a new customer came in. However, the customer was peculiar. He was a young, bespectacled man who had bandages wrapped around his face. He did not respond to Anri’s greeting and spoke after verifying no one else was in the store.
“You’re Anri Sonohara?”
“? Yes, I am…”
Anri tilted her head, confused when the stranger called her by name.
The man stated the name of the ‘product’ he desired indifferently.
“...I want to purchase Saika.”
Saika.
The moment Anri heard that term, her smile shifted into bewilderment. As she remained silent, weary of his presence, the man then brought up the next part of his negotiation plainly.
“As for payment...I have 5,000,000 yen for it.”
Immediately after, the man added to indicate he knew the true nature of Saika.
“And if you prefer, I’d settle with you even cutting me to make me a child.”
♂♀
The same day at night, at Shinra’s apartment beside Kawagoe highway.
‘I’m considering working.’
One of the people living there - Celty Sturluson - stated. The proprietor of the apartment, Shinra Kishitani, tilted his head in confusion.
“Celty? What’s up all of the sudden? Don’t you already have a part-time job? That, um, the express man type work the high schoolers are doing.”
She currently had a part-time job as an errand person for Snake Hands the boy Kuon Kotonami organized. She did not receive that many jobs from it, but the work Kuon provided her gave her plenty of income - though how he was able to find high paying jobs was another matter. And since Celty did not have food expenses, the pay was enough to cover her living expenses.
‘I’m not referring to my part-time job; I’m thinking of restarting my courier work again.’
“No, you can’t, Celty! I’ll lose if you work!”
Celty calmly objected on her smartphone while trying to peel Shinra off of her.
‘Who’ll lose to what?’
Shinra shouted back his honest feelings at the reasonable opinion.
“I’m in reality! How can I win against the loneliness derived by your absence when you leave for work!”
‘Just keep selecting continue then.’
Celty wrote back, exasperated at Shinra’s whining.
Shinra further expressed while reaching for her.
“Then for me to keep fighting it, I’ll need to rack up on credit! A hug from you would refill my health meter to max in exchange for a 10,000 yen bill and give me unlimited lives-”
‘Don’t embrace me like that while spouting nonsense! ...Anyway, there’s a reason why I’m going to restart my courier business after so long.’
Celty sat down on the sofa again, and Shinra knelled over the carpet on his feet to face her.
“Alright then; tell me, Celty. Whatever reason you give me, I’m going to find a fault in. If you want to do it for money, then I’ll pay for you so there’s no issue there! The influence of money i great in society’s currency system. Money is everything in the world.”
‘Gosh...You can make those statements without any shame…’
Celty expressed in amazement. Shinra began to rant, eyes shining.
“I’m not ashamed to give my stance in front of you. Ah, but I will give you this. Money is certainly important. But it’s not the most important! The most important thing is Celty! And of course the second is Celty! The third and the fourth are also...yes, take that thief! Up to number five is Celty! Celty is everything in the world! Celty is the best lawyer; Celty talks!”
‘...Can you understand your own Japanese?’
“So yeah, priorities one through five are all Celty; it’s like a dream come true. It’s appropriate to say you being here is like having ‘a huge harvest of the five grains’ this year to me. So I can savor five flavors of Celty, haha mghh.”
‘Sorry, that was disgusting me.’
Celty had conceded to listening to him, but she deduced his monologue was not going anywhere and gagged him with her shadows.
“Mmmff.”
‘Look, just shut up and listen.’
Celty had bound Shinra’s limbs while he sat on the balls of his feet, making him look like a criminal from a historical play and slowly began to type on the smartphone what she had been pondering over for the last few months.
‘I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks of me. As long as it doesn’t bring you trouble, I’m fine with it. That won’t change.’
“Mmff…”
‘However, the world had changed while we were gone for half a year. I’ve lived here in Ikebukuro for more than twenty years, and yet people’s values and the city’s outlook has been dizzyingly going by. For instance...even though the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves have only been gone for a few years now, all the other color gangs have vanished from the city and they’ve become relics of the past already, right?’
“Mmff, nghh.”
Seeing Shinra nod with the pure black gag in his mouth, Celty further added.
‘I’m not saying I’m living like a hermit in the mountains, but I feel like I’m becoming distant from the city’s values and numerous people...I hate feeling like I’m out of sync with humans.’
“Nngh.”
‘I suppose you could say I’m just shaken or my surroundings are influencing me. But I’m not saying I’m unshakeable. My wish is to be happy with you.’
“Mmff!?”
Shinra jolted and tried to exclaim something in joy, but with the gag in his mouth this only resulted in him to look like he was in an aroused state.
Celty ignored Shinra’s antics and continued.
‘I want to make you happy, and I want to be happy with you. ...But I guess the quickest way to achieve that would be for you to quit your illegal job as an underground doctor, but it is what it is and I don’t imagine you’d choose to do an upstanding job even if you did give up your current one, so I’ve already given up otherwise. Just don’t get involved with drugs.’
“Nngh! Nngh!”
Shinra nodded deeply.
Celty was half relieved in that regard. Since she knew the executive from the Akwakusu Group - Akabayashi - despised drugs the most, if they were involved with drugs their lives would be in danger. And Shinra also understood that.
‘But if you do ever get caught, I’ll wait until you’re released from prion.’
“Mmff... Mmff...”
‘Anyway, this was just rehab for me. I got an e-mail from someone I had taken a job from in the past yesterday. I thought it was a good opportunity to get a feel of the city.”
Celty properly dealt with Shinra, who had glomped on her, yelling, “Celty!” the moment she had released him from his bounds, and afterwards she decided to leave the apartment when the time to meet with her client approached.
As she straddled Shooter in the parking garage, she had a sudden thought.
You know, I can’t quite say my job is upright either… And I do break traffic laws on a regular basis…
Celty’s whole body shook, her natural enemy - the white motorcycle cop - coming to her mind.
...What will happen to me if I get caught? I’ll be a test subject...at an experimental facility...traded off to America...in Area 51...Area 51…!? What if I encounter an alien…!?
Celty kept trembling, imagining the variety of aliens from etheric life forms to silicon life forms, including little gray ones and reptile types.
To brush away the fear created from her own imagination, Celty tightly gripped the handles of her black motorcycle and began to take off into the night down Kawagoe highway.
Unaware of what exactly awaited her at the end of the job she took.
♂♀
The next day at Yahiro’s apartment, morning.
‘And so, I can’t take any jobs for Snake Hands over the next couple of days. I’ve already told Kotonami-kun, so I believe it’ll be alright.’
Yahiro read the message he had received from Celty, reclined against the wall of his apartment under the sky as the sun began to rise.
“I feel like I’m off kilter with the city, she said.”
Yahiro had thoroughly read Celty’s detailed explanation in regards to her restarting her courier business, making him reflect on his own past. The feelings she had were similar to his own uneasiness that had gripped him when he was younger.
Am I different from everyone else?
Something’s off.
Am I normal?
Something’s off.
I don’t want to be different.
Something’s off.
Is it alright for me to be with everyone?
Something’s off.
Now thinking about it, he felt that was all that was on his mind.
And in truth, he was off-kilter.
At the time he felt he was just being unreasonable, but after coming to Ikebukuro and meeting with various other people outside his family, he came to realize exactly how bizarre he was.
But I think everyone else was also excessive…
He had experienced acts that were far beyond the standard category for a mere child’s fight, having been hit with a spiked bat and struck by a truck from behind. However, now thinking back on it, he knew he had instigated the malice around him. Although there were aspects he could not accept, he could understand that. And even if he returned to the past and redo his life, he could not imagine he would have handled it well. Should he have let the boss kid who first approached him bully him?
When Yahiro had brought the issue up with Kuon, he had shrugged and told him.
‘For people like that, I think you just have to handle it adequately. Those type of guys are generally idiots anyway, so I’d adequately suck up to them so they don’t lash out at me, and if they bully me I’d adequately fight back enough for them to not make light of me and tell them, 'alright we’re done,' when they cry. If I was as strong as you, I’d be able to do it, right?’
That was what he said, but Yahiro believed it was futile. He lacked the idea of what was considered to be adequate. He was catastrophically terrible at identifying how far he should go to make the other stop or where the line was before he went to far. And he believed in that regard he was distant from the world. What Celty had mentioned in the message rang true to him and was most crucial to him, and Yahiro respected the Headless Rider for attempting to overcome that gap.
I also have to do something… I need to try harder with the work for Snake Hands.
Yahiro had no misgivings cross his mind whether the jobs that partially crossed into half of the city’s underside Snake Hands provided would help him change the gap he had from society or not.
I need to not be considered as strange to not trouble Himeka-chan or Kuon. Yeah, first I have to work towards accomplishing that.
To him, clueless of his unusual situation, one could say his few personal connections such as Kuon, Himeka, and Celty were the last tethers keeping him from completely drifting apart from the city.
Just then, a man that was one of his few personal connections called out to Yahiro.
“Hey, Yahiro. Sorry to have made you wait.”
He was the younger brother of his landlord - Saburo Togusa. He owned a large mini-van and had given him rides on several occasions during the entrance exam season.
“Sorry for making you help out so early on a Sunday morning.”
Saburo handed over a rag and a pail he was holding to Yahiro as he said this.
“Anyway, I’ll handle the last part of the waxing, so you just need to hand me the tools I need when I’m doing maintenance on the underside and help me wash it down.”
This task was like a simple part-time job. Just as Yahiro came back from Sonohara Hall, Saburo came to him with a request, ‘can you help me do some maintenance and clean the van in a little bit? I’ll repay you by treating you for a meal.’
Yahiro was happy someone asked him to do a job and had accepted.
“Nonetheless, I still can’t believe it. That you’re acquaintances with Celty and even had a decent fight with Shizuo.”
“...Well, no, Heiwajima-san beat me one-sidedly.”
“Liar. After learning about it, I saw the video. You’re pretty good in a fight. There's hardly anyone in Ikebukuro that can hold against Shizuo for more than three seconds. And if we’re talking about a proper fight, I suppose there’s just Simon...and there was Izaya, but now thinking about it, I haven’t seen him around much recently.”
Saburo shifted the topic to idle chat. Yahiro remained expressionless, yet inwardly he was impressed.
Yahiro’s identity was revealed to Saburo during the series of phantom attacks the week prior, and he was nervous the man would keep his distance from him or at worst be driven out of the apartment, but Saburo apparently had not told his siblings about him and was even conversing with him normally.
And for Yahiro, who had grown up being treated as a monster from those around him, that made him pleased beyond all else.
“...Saburo-san, you don’t consider me to be dangerous?”
“Why would I? You’re a polite and good kid. ...Well, I do think charging at that phantom killer a while back was dangerous, but when I was a student I was also reckless. Since I can’t say I reflected back on what I did and grew as a person, I have no right to lecture you.”
“Not that...I mean, aren’t you afraid of me?”
“? ...Oh, you mean that?”
Saburo nodded in understanding before he answered Yahiro’s question.
“Come on, how many years do you think I’ve lived in the same city as Shizuo and Celty?”
“...I see your point.”
Yahiro let out a sigh in relief when he heard those persuasive words.
“But...Shizuo-san is feared by the people of the city, right?”
“Yeah, he is...By a good half of them anyway. You can’t really tell people to not be afraid of the guy who rips out telephone poles and swings them around. But the thing is, I know he’s a decent guy when you actually get to talk with him without pissing him off. I didn’t fully believe it until I saw Kadota talk with him in person. And the guys that do know that are aware of how he is, so I don’t think it’s necessary to worry about him or sympathize with him.”
Togusa then added, sighing.
“And to begin with, Karisawa and Yumasaki are far worse if we’re going off that definition…”
“Karisawa and Yumasaki?”
Yahiro questioned, head tilted to the side.
“Ah, that’s right, you still don’t know their true nature...But you’ll come to know what they’re like if you hang out with them. I didn’t want you to get close to them, but I can’t blame you for becoming friends with them.”
Togusa’s shoulders slumped, slightly tired, as he diligently cleaned around the wipers.
His tone of voice changed, as though he just remembered something.
“That reminds me, you seem to think you first met them recently, but you do know you met them once in this van a few months ago, right?”
“Eh?”
“I drove you around during the entrance exams, right? You remember the guys making a ruckus in the back seat?”
“...Ah!”
I remember! There were people talking about manga in the back seat the whole time… But those two were Karisawa-san and Yumasaki-san…? I didn’t get a good look at their faces, so I didn’t notice…
But then, I don’t even remember Saburo-san’s face well at that time either…
He could not remember the other passengers in the back seat due to the stress he had for the exams, but Yahiro considered that to be an excuse and asked Togusa, troubled.
“What should I do? I said ‘nice to meet you' believing that was the first time we met… I was extremely rude…”
“Ah, it’s fine since they didn’t seem to have noticed either. But those two are terrible at remembering real people’s faces that are not in manga anyway…”
Togusa then made a complaint about the two while letting out another large sigh.
“...I’ve known them for a long time, but that incident with this van’s door…”
Togusa looked over to the door on one side of the van that had a large sticker of some anime character on it.
“They always put something on there while I’m not looking, and by the time I notice they put something else up…”
“You can’t take it off?”
“...Well I owe them for a lot of things...so I let them do whatever they like to this side...But damn, if they were going to make this an itasha, I would prefer to make it a Ruri Hijiribe vehicle…”
“You won’t?”
Ruri Hijiribe was a popular idol with an established reputation as both a model and an actress. Saburo was an executive of her fan club, and half of his daily conversations with Yahiro were related to Ruri Hijiribe.
Yahiro also liked movies, so he knew of Ruri Hijiribe since her time as a SFX artist and was a fan of hers as well. After he had commented, “Ruri-san is an incredible person, isn’t she,” when Ruri first came up in conversation, he was frequently invited to join the fan club. However, he had refrained himself, feeling it would be presumptuous to become a member of the fan club just to see Saburo’s zeal up close.
He actually did find it odd Togusa did not turn his van into a Ruri itasha, but Togusa just cocked his head at Yahiro’s question.
“While there’s the issue on right of usage to factor in, Ruri-chan may not like having her face on a vehicle… Yumasaki suggested something like, ‘let’s cover it with manga characters Ruri-chan would voice,’ and that did catch my interest a little…”
Togusa then came to the back of the van while wiping the windows and pointed to a spot on the back panel Yahiro had cleaned next to him.
“But I like Ruri-chan and my van. So I’m satisfied with decorating the van this marginally.”
On it were the characters ‘Ruri Hijiribe is life’ and an official mascot character sticker of a deformed Ruri Hijiribe.
“I finally made a sticker I liked.”
“You made this…?”
“Yeah. Whenever I pass by this sticker, it lightens my mood and improves my driving as it makes me believe a part of Ruri-chan’s soul is in this van. And I will never let those two mess with this sticker. If anyone vandalizes this sticker, I’ll drag them a hundred laps around the loop line on the metropolitan expressway…”
“...”
A shiver ran up Yahiro’s spine.
Yahiro’s instincts that were equipped with cowardice by nature told him one truth: that what the man claimed was not a joke; he was serious.
“Still, I’m really sorry I’m making you help out on your day off.”
Togusa remarked while smiling cheerfully once he had started to do the last of the waxing a few minutes later.
“It’s fine; I was free.”
“But since Raira is private, you don’t even have a full two days off in the week, right? I know I just made you help out, but you should use your days off wisely. I’d love to bring you to Ruri-chan’s concert, but unfortunately I can’t get special seating besides for myself...Wait...Maybe if I ask Kaztano...but then…”
“No, I don’t mind. I find it amazing just to watch Ruri Hijiribe-san on TV or in film.”
Yahiro expressed his honest feelings, without tact or ingratiation, as Saburo began to mutter something to himself.
Togusa deeply nodded, satisfied with his reply, as he wiped down the wax rhythmically.
“Yeah, totally, right? Ruri-chan’s cuteness and sublimity can be sensed even through video, right!? But nonetheless, seeing her live is different. She's transcended being an angel and became the god of my world. She’s not the gasoline for my heart; she’s the very oil for it.”
Yeah, Saburo-san is definitely friends with Karisawa-san and Yumasaki-san.
Yahiro sensed a common thread with the two individuals in question from Saburo’s enthusiasm, and he decided to indulge in the conversation about Ruri Hijribe, feeling jealous how the other could completely immerse himself in the topic.
“...It’s like, even though Ruri Hijiribe-san is so otherworldly, there’s a familiarity to her that I find appealing.”
Togusa ceased waxing and looked over at Yahiro with bright eyes.
“Yeah, you get it! That’s exactly it. There are guys who say they get the impression she’s difficult to get close to from her mysterious nature, but I find people who could reject Ruri-chan’s mystifying character are truly pitiful!”
“I’d like to get to know her more…”
The ‘familiarity’ Yahiro spoke of implied that ‘she had an air to her similar to mine,’ but naturally Yahiro’s cowardly instincts withheld him from saying, ‘I feel she is similar to me,’ to Togusa.
And I guess there’s people you don’t want to get closer to either.
He did not admit it himself, but Yahiro was discouraged when presented with the truth that even a huge idol was so distant, making him question, ‘if Ruri Hijiribe-san is like that, what does that indicate about me?’
Just as he made a large sigh, a light music reached Yahiro’s ears. It was the main theme for the Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizo series Ruri Hijiribe was a part of.
Once he realized it was his cell phone that was ringing, Yahiro took the device out and apologized to Togusa, “I’m sorry.”
When he did, he saw the recipient listed on the screen was Kuon Kotonami.
It’s from Kuon. What could this be about?
Yahiro thought another job for Snake Hands had come in, but the message was not from that address; instead it was from Kuon’s personal account.
Yahiro opened up the message without thinking deeply into the matter, and he raised his voice the next second.
“...Eh?”
“? What is it?”
Togusa inquired as he was finishing the last of the waxing.
Yahiro read the information he just came to know of, eyes unfocused.
“An antique shop I frequently go to with my friends called Sonohara Hall...a robber got in…”
“Eh?”
Togusa exclaimed in the same way Yahiro did seconds prior and asked another question as he frowned.
“Sonohara Hall is the place miss Anri runs, right?”
“Wha-...You know Sonohara-senpai?”
Seeing Yahiro’s wide eyes, Togusa shook his head with a heavy sigh.
“...Man, Ikebukuro is really a small place…”
He then added, grinning.
“But I guess you could say you just have an abnormal amount of personal connections.”
♂♀
At the same time in a certain place - at an apartment bar.
“What a rare occurrence this is. For you to come here without me asking you to, courier-san.”
A man wearing tinted glasses with a scared face - the Awakusu Group executive Akabyashi - remarked with a smirk at a bar constructed out of an apartment room.
Sitting across from him, Celty felt guilty for not ordering anything even though she naturally could not eat or drink but typed on her smartphone in response.
‘I’m sorry to take up your time. I just wanted to ask you if perhaps you or your men were involved with the subject I’m after at the moment…’
“My goodness. How ominous.”
Akabayashi swung the glass in his hand, causing the ice inside to clank against each other, and smiled wryly.
“It's not even a job from us, and yet you're going to poke your head into such a dangerous matter as that? Don't tell me you took the job from the Asuki Group or something.”
‘I would not do anything beyond my ability. Besides, if this was related to your group, I would seek consultation from Shiki-san, not you.’
“Really now? I believe my knowledge is limited if sir Shiki doesn't know about it.”
Akabayashi did not feign ignorance and cocked his head in earnest. Celty typed on her smartphone the information she desired blatantly.
‘...I believed it was better to ask you about matters related to biker gangs and hoodlums like Jan-Jaka-Jan and Dragon Zombie instead of Shiki-san.’
“Ahh...I see. So that's what this is about.”
Akabayashi sighed with a mix of a wry smile and drank the liquid inside his glass.
“I felt the kids were relatively calming down now after the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves disappeared. But in exchange, urban legend fanatics created a ruckus. Did they cause you trouble?”
‘We still don't have positive proof...'
After Celty hesitated for a few moments, she typed a certain sentence while weary of her surroundings.
‘Right now, I’m looking for a certain someone, and I’ve heard...that this person is in some biker gang or another type of group.’
“Uh-huh...Searching for someone seems to be an odd job for a courier, but we’ve also had similar jobs many times in the past, so I can’t talk. So, the person you’re looking for...what sort of person are they? From what you’re telling me, it sounds like they are in their youth and not even an adult yet.”
‘I cannot tell you. ...Confidentiality is vital in courier work as well.’
After she showed him the screen, Celty noticed her mistake and quickly added.
‘Naturally I do not intend to be so selfish as to ask you to help me for free even though I cannot give you information on the case. I have payment for the information as much as needed.’
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Mister Shiki and Aozaki-san may question you more, but as for me...I guess whenever you are free next time, you can tell me information I want.”
‘Information you would want?’
“Yeah, there’s a group of people I’ve taken interest in as of late.”
After Akabayashi gulped down his glass, he mentioned the term with his usual smile.
“...Do you know of Heavens Slave?”
‘...Umm, I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…’
Heavens Slave!?
It was not like she had not heard of it before. The group had been involved in a case when Izaya Orihara used her services in the past, and she also recalled their name was mentioned in the incident relating to the new religion, the Headless Rider cult, the other day.
Why is that name-? But since Izaya had something to do with it, I think I should just play dumb.
‘I have heard of them on occasion, but I haven’t gotten anything concrete on them…’
“They’re a group that distributed drugs in Ikebukuro back when the Dollars were still around.”
‘...I did not know about that.’
Celty knew Akabayashi despised drugs and the boss of the Awakusu Group was also against drugs. She was also aware if anyone tried to propagate goods relating to drugs in their turf, they would meet a miserable end.
“Yeah, they should have been taken down in the past once, but it appears some their remaining members started getting active again recently. When you said you have heard them on occasion, where you referring to something related to that? What do you say, as the heart of the Headless Rider cult?”
‘Please stop. That dark past happened on its own without my involvement...’
“Ahh, my bad. As for me, I was interested in that Snake Hands guy people were saying was your lover during that incident...But as long as they’re not doing anything bad in the city, then I don’t intend on making you tell me.”
‘...Thank you.’
I cannot introduce Yahiro-kun to the Awakusu Group…
Grateful that Akabayashi dropped the topic on the enigma that was Snake Hands, Celty decided to accept his conditions.
‘I see...I understand. I would also like to stop strange drugs being distributed around and causing trouble in Ikebukuro.’
“If you don’t want the city to get out of hand, then you shouldn’t be working with a scoundrel like myself. With your ability, you should easily be able to take down the Awakusu Group.”
‘You are overestimating my ability. Besides...Even if I would be safe, I do not want to do anything that would endanger the people around me.’
“Then you should stop associating with the yakuza.”
After he made that comment with a smirk, making it hard to discern whether he was joking or serious, Akabayashi went to proceed with the crucial business negotiations. However-
“Then to start off from what you were telling me...Ah, sorry. Got a call.”
His ring tone went off, and upon seeing the characters on the screen he stood up from his seat, eyes narrowing.
“Sorry, courier-san. It’s someone I know, so can you wait a bit?”
‘Go ahead. I don’t mind.’
Celty had told him, but her own cell phone she kept in her breast began to vibrate as well.
What could this be? A text?
When she saw the characters ‘Snake Eyes’ on the screen, she realized it was from Kuon Kotonami.
Kotonami had two addresses. Celty had him registered as Snake Hands for work related messages and Snake Eyes for his personal account.
‘If Yahiro is the monster Snake Hands, then I can be Snake Eyes. Himeka-chan can be Snake Skin and you can be Snake Tail!’ He had suggested off-handedly, but Celty was the only one who wrote Snake Eyes as his display name.
He said I’m tail to make the pun between Snake Tail and Folktale...But it just sounds like he wants to say it…Speaking of Snake Tail… I wonder how the melusine Merine-chan I met in a forest in France long ago is doing.
Celty checked her message inadvertently as she recalled old memories. In it was a shocking revelation worded nonchalantly.
‘Apparently a robber broke into Sonohara Hall. Aoba-kun and Kurumai told me you’re friends with Sonohara-senpai, is that correct So I thought to give you a heads up!’
...Wha-? Eh? There was a robber in Anri-chan’s shop!?
What’s the meaning of this? Is Anri-chan alright!?
Anri should be able to fend off an attacker since she was a wielder of Siaka, but Celty was worried nonetheless.
At any rate, I need to text her… The police could still be there, but I will try to get as close as I can.Celty first sent a text to Anri to make sure she was alright before replying to Kuon. Once she had finished, having just hit the send button, Akabayashi came back.
“I’m sorry, courier-san. Let’s wrap this up early. I need to take care of something.”
‘How coincident. There’s something I also have to check up on…’
Afterwards, Akabayashi and Celty did the bare minimum needed to finish their negotiation, deciding to discuss the precise details the next time they met up. As Celty was about to hastily run out of the bar, she noticed Akabayashi was also heading outside. She asked Akabayashi, seeing him about to call for a ride.
‘If you are heading in the same direction as I am, how about I take you part of the way?’
“...Are you going that way? I’m just going a little farther than Zoshigaya from Ikebukuro station.”
‘That’s perfect. I have some business in that direction.’
“Haha. If I’m to be honest, I’ve wanted to ride your motorbike at least once.”
He commented as they left the bar.
Celty still did not realize at the time that the place Akabayashi was heading to was the exact same destination as hers.
