Durarara!! SH

Chapter 1B

The Visitor

 April. Ikebukuro.

 On that day, a boy from Akita arrived at Ikebukuro.
There was hardly anyone who knew how he had been feared as a ‘monster’ back in his hometown.
As it was a new location it was to the boy as though a new world had opened up for him, and Ikebukuro, itself, accepted this new person.
Of course, whether it would truly turn out to be a new world to the boy would only be determined later by his meetings and encounters.
After getting off the Shinkansen, the boy, taking the Yamanote Line, was shocked at the chaos in the trains in the city.
That was the first emotion he felt toward the city of Tokyo.
The past times he had come, a few months ago for the entrance exam and last month to fill in forms for entering the school, he had been escorted by car from the airport by his hosts, who were his relatives, and so up till now he had not been able to get a feel of the crowd.
Finally, today, the boy had left the countryside and in order to repay his hosts had come to the city on his own – but he was already beginning to regret choosing a high school in Tokyo.
People, people, people. No matter where he turned his surroundings were overflowing with them; even back in his hometown he had never been so enclosed by people.
The boy had begun to feel dizzy from the crowd. The gossip of the pa.s.sengers beside him reached his ears:
“Speaking of Ikebukuro~, is that Headless Rider still around?”
“Who knows. Hasn’t been making the news lately.”
“And there was something called the Dollars too, wasn’t there.”
“Yeah, it was popular about the same time as the Headless Rider, right?”
As he could not even move, the boy only heard voices, and was unable to discern the appearances of the ones speaking. But judging from their voices and the way they spoke, he could imagine that they were females students in high school or university.
As other sounds filled the train, the boy was drowned in the myriad of rhythms.

Eventually the train arrived at Ikebukuro Station, and following the flow of the crowd, he reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Ikef.u.kuro…”
His hosts were supposed to welcome him at that meeting point.
There were still three minutes to the appointed time.
He had thought he would be able to make it with time to spare, but not knowing the location of the quintessential ‘Ikef.u.kuro’, by the time he had reached with the a.s.sistance of the station officers it was already about 10 minutes past the meeting time.
When the boy had finally reached the Ikef.u.kuro statue it was crammed with people.
It appeared to be a standard meeting point, what with the sea of people milling about the statue of the owl.
Just as he was loitering around, not knowing what to do, a voice came from behind him.

“Hey, Yahiro-kun. It’s been a month, huh.”

 When he turned, standing behind him was a man of about 30 years, wearing a smart suit.
Remembering the man’s face, the boy whose name had been called – Mizuchi Yahiro – bowed his head anxiously.
“It’s been a while, Togusa-san.”
“Ah, it’s all right. There’s no need to be so polite.”
As the man said this, he glided forward.
“So; I’ll escort you to the house. We’ll be taking a taxi.”
The serious man smiled friendlily, and Yahiro bowed again.

The man’s name was Togusa Jiro.
(*Saburo – ‘third son’, Jiro – ‘second son’.)
He was a distant relation of Yahiro’s father, who had married into the Mizuchi family; a young entrepreneur who operated a number of apartments in Ikebukuro’s vicinity.
There was an empty room in the apartment built next to their own, which would now be made useful for his stay.
Being that they would have to take him in for three years of high school, he had thought it might be a bother, but the manager, Jiro’s older sister, had said, “It’s no problem at all; some accident happened before so normal guests wouldn’t stay there anyway,” which was information he hadn’t really wanted to hear.
“Actually the plan was to get Saburo to drive the van out like when you had your exams, but seems like Hijiribe Ruri’s got a concert today. It was a flat no.”
Jiro, in the back seat of the taxi, brought up his brother’s name and smiled resignedly.
“Saburo’s a total fan of Hijiribe Ruri, honestly. I’m quite sure his rank in the fanclub’s single-digit, too.”
Saburo was the name of his younger brother who owned a large van, and had fetched him around during the exams and such. However all that remained in his memory were Saburo’s friends, the man and woman in the back of the van, who had chattered at him about manga and anime the whole way, such that he could hardly remember the face of the driver.
“Is Hijiribe Ruri as popular with your generation?”
“Ah… yes. I’m a fan too.”
“Ah, it’s good that she’s popular with youngsters too. Though I don’t know much about idols. I’m grateful for Hijiribe Ruri. My younger brother was a brute who only ever went around fighting; when he’s chasing her he becomes more human.”
“…fighting?”
Yahiro responded to Jiro’s words.
Without a second thought to the meaning of what Yahiro had said, Jiro smiled as he replied.
“Yeah, I’m not too clear on that either, but looks like he even  joined gangs like that Blue and Dollar and whatnot before. It looks like he’s just following a few friends now, though. Well, the leader of that group, Kadota-kun, he’s a chivalrous kid hard to find these days, and he works as a plasterer, so he comes over to do repairs on our walls now and then.”
“Kadota-san… huh.”
“Yep. Well, in the past he was always with Ikebukuro’s colour gangs. Apparently some kids came over from Saitama and caused some havoc, and there was a lot of big stuff. But you hardly see colour gangs around now. Since last year the kids with the yellow bandanas have been disappearing, too.”
At Yahiro, who remained wordless, Jiro continued his monologue.
This, in fact, made Yahiro happy.
Because it had been a long time since anyone besides his family had spoken to him normally like this.
The boy thought.
—How much had this person heard of him from his father and the rest of his family?
Even Yahiro himself understood his own ill reputation at his hometown.
That was what had led him to come to this new world.
Since his childhood he had been embroiled in a senseless amount of fighting.
Even if he were to avoid it where possible and force a smile, there was no guarantee that the degree of violence directed towards him would stop – but by the time he had matured enough to realise that, it was too late.
There were three things he looked forward to in the new world of Ikebukuro.
The first was that, in a land where his reputation was unknown, he might be able to live a normal life.
The second was that – should that fail, even if he were to be dragged into fighting – if strange people were as rampant as he had seen on the internet, perhaps things could settle without him being called a monster.
At the very least, that tourist had told him he was human.
By that alone he had felt that somehow he had been saved.
And the last thing he looked forward to in the district of Ikebukuro –
Was that perhaps he, a being who had given up on everything, would be able to unearth some hope, however slight.
But still he did not know anything of this city.
He had only seen information on it on the internet and on magazines; he had not actually seen the city itself.
Yahiro pulled himself together, and with a serious expression, observed the city outside the taxi window.

Seeing him, Togusa Jiro thought.
—Ah, looking at the city so seriously, he must be looking forward to having a new life.
—What a good kid. Saburo should learn from him.
He, who had not heard a thing about Yahiro from the Mizuchi family, peacefully continued to think such thoughts.
Unwitting of exactly how much fear the boy beside him was regarded with in his hometown.

And like this, a boy came to Ikebukuro.

The city of Ikebukuro accepted the boy no differently from any other visitor.
That was all there was to it.
At least, for now.

A few days later. Raira Academy.

What awaited Yahiro on his entrance to the cla.s.sroom after the entrance ceremony was an event exceedingly normal for new students; doing a self-introduction in front of all of his cla.s.smates.
Currently in progress was that, by seat number, they would one by one stand before the blackboard and give their name with a short self-introduction.
As their seat numbers were ordered based on the hiragana of their names, Mizuchi Yahiro was quite some way down the list.

At the opening of his new life, Yahiro felt a pleasant nervousness as he watched the introductions of his fellow students.
“Kotonami Kuon. Nice to meet you~”
When that boy stood before the blackboard, there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the cla.s.sroom.
Before and after the entrance ceremony Yahiro had glanced at him, but he had not imagined that the boy would be in the same cla.s.s as himself.
—The colour of his hair’s amazing. It’s green…
—I see, this school doesn’t restrict dyeing or piercing.
Even as he thought this, he was coming to terms with it, thinking perhaps the boy was part of a band or doing something similar.
He had not seen this in his hometown, but it might be a common fashion trend in Tokyo.
But noticing that the cla.s.smates around him were eying the boy curiously, Yahiro changed his opinion.
To Yahiro delinquents were merely beings who directed senseless violence toward him – no more than objects of fear.
But in the end he had always been the one called the monster.
He felt that senseless.
It was he who had wanted to call them monsters.
Those who would be violent to a person for no understandable reason were by far the monsters, were they not?
As the gloom of his past memories came to mind, Yahiro grew despondent.
To perk himself up again, he focused once more on the introductions.
Perhaps the green-haired boy from earlier had had too strong of an impact; the only other who drew Yahiro’s attention was a girl with an air of simple beauty.
“Tatsugami Himeka. It’s nice to meet you.”
It was a black-haired girl with a fluid form who appeared to have little if any make-up on.
She was quiet, but not in a timid way, and she spoke her introduction with a smooth, clear tone of voice, such that hearing it Yahiro felt calmed.
—Ah, I thought Tokyo girls all used shoe polish and things on their faces, but apparently not.
—What was it, ganguro…?
Before coming here, just how many magazines and information sites had he acc.u.mulated?
Having thought of the image of the typical City Girl from more than ten years ago, Yahiro was first surprised at the many fair-skinned girls in his cla.s.s.
As he experienced this twisted form of culture shock, the introductions continued –
And finally, it was Yahiro’s turn.

“Uh… I’m Mizuchi Yahiro. I came from Akita. Nice to meet you.”
—Good, I said that in standard j.a.panese… right?
Due to the influence of his Tokyo-born father and their guests, and the abundance books and DVD movies in his home, Yahiro could speak standard j.a.panese normally.
He hardly spoke in school, and perhaps it was because he had no friends either; he in fact had more difficulty with the dialect of his hometown. He could not speak the heavily-accented dialect his grandmother and mother used, but could understand it. And his grandmother could understand standard j.a.panese due to her work, so there was never any obstacle with communication in the family.
Even so he had felt doubtful as to whether or not he could speak standard j.a.panese accurately, but by the reaction from the rest of the cla.s.s, it did not seem to be a problem.
Looking out from behind the teacher’s desk it could be seen that everyone’s eyes were on him.
Their eyes held no fear or terror or hatred; only pure curiosity.
Those who were uninterested had not been looking this way from the start, so their eyes did not meet at all.
With this situation, the boy felt once more.
That this place was where his value would be reset; a new environment.
As he tasted this emotion that only he could understand, just as with the other students came the short Q&A session.
Other students had not been asked many questions, so Yahiro was thinking he might return to his seat without answering anything –
But one of the girls latched on to the keyword ‘Akita’, and without raising her hand voiced a question:
“Why did you come here from Akita? It’s not like there’s a high university entrance rate or anything.”
It was a perfectly natural question, but he hesitated.
Why had he come to Ikebukuro?
It was not that he had yearned the city.
It was not a family matter.
And then he realised.
Yahiro, who had specifically come to Raira Academy, which was not any famous school, and full of local children and those from nearer prefectures, was to them a very odd person.
But Yahiro’s personality was such that he could not spin a convincing lie on the spot.
And he had no intention of lying.
—Ah, but…
—It would be better to stay mum about the fighting.
—I guess.
Having been surrounded by fear and had a lonely childhood, Yahiro had not learnt the skills to deal with a situation like this.
Even so he wracked his brain to come up with an answer that allowed him to hide a part of the truth instead of lying.
“Um…”
But it came across to the other students as a joke.

“…I came to see the Headless Rider.”

The responding light laughter in the cla.s.sroom confused Yahiro.
—? ? ?
—Ah, wait, did I say something funny?
It was not mocking laughter, and the atmosphere was only one of laughing at the new student’s joke, so it was not exactly a problem.
But if they were to end up saying, ‘There isn’t actually a Headless Rider in Ikebukuro,’ he would be at a loss; this uneasiness shook Yahiro’s heart.
“I see, you can’t find something like the Headless Rider in Akita, huh!”
“I always see it around my house.”
“But it hasn’t been around lately?”
Overhearing the conversation between the girls,  Yahiro heaved a sigh of relief.
—Thank goodness.
—It’s here after all – the Headless Rider.
With this rea.s.surance he looked around the cla.s.sroom once more, and noticed something.
Of those who had had no interest in Yahiro’s introduction and had not been looking, two were now staring at him strangely.
—…?
One was the green-haired boy, Kotonami Kuon.
The other was the beautiful girl who had gotten Yahiro’s attention before; Tatsugami Himeka.
Kuon had a smile on his face, but the meaning behind the smile was visibly different from those around him.
His eyes were those of a child who had found an interesting toy.
Although that was concerning, to Yahiro Himeka’s gaze was even more so.
There was no particular expression on her face, but she was not smiling in the slightest.
The girl merely turned her sharp, cold eyes toward him, which bothered him –
But in the current situation there was no way Yahiro could have spoken to her.

After school.

Somehow having made it through the first day without disaster, Yahiro began to pack his things.
The students around him had already finished their preparations to go home, and talked to their friends from middle school as they left the cla.s.sroom.
Of course, there were none of his peers from his middle school.
Even if there were, he had no friends.
It would be ridiculous for him to approach them and ask for them to go home with him.
—Friends, huh.
—I’ve never had them before.
Letting out a small sigh, Yahiro thought.
—Even if I could make some, they would probably pull away if they knew my past.
—If they’ll just cut ties and think badly of me anyway then it might be less troublesome to not make friends altogether.
While Yahiro thought this he finished packing his belongings, and carrying his bag over his shoulder he stood from his seat.
He leant on the window, and looked outside.
Seeing the scenery of Ikebukuro, completely different from that of his hometown, stretch out before him, Yahiro felt a strange ecstasy.
—Ah, what’s this…
—This is… excitement, isn’t it.
—It might be the first time I’ve felt something like this.
Feeling the ache rise from the bottom of his stomach, Yahiro could not help but smile.
And thinking that there probably wouldn’t be anyone now left he turned around –

He met the girl’s eyes again.

In his surprise he could only stare back.
It was a face hard to forget.
Tatsugami Himeka stared at him with the same eyes as before.
“…is anything wrong?”
The girl touched her cheek and asked, and Yahiro jolted.
With the realisation that his face had frozen midsmile.
“Ah, no, nothing. I smiled because I was looking at the city.”
“…is there anything interesting about the city?”
“No, not really.”
“Fuun…”
Himeka tilted her head slightly, and looked over her shoulder to the scenery outside the window.
Faced with this, Yahiro was frozen, at a loss to what to do.
There was no one but Himeka and himself left in the cla.s.sroom.
Was she not going home with her local friends?
As Yahiro thought this Himeka ended her look outside the window, and looked again towards him, and said.
“You’re weird, aren’t you.”
“Eh… really?”
—What should I do?
—Maybe I did something rude to her.
He had not sensed any malice or mockingness in the statement ‘You’re weird’, but Yahiro, who had little experience with socialising, could not help but feel anxious that he might have done something wrong.
Then the girl, expressionless, spoke.
“Hey.”
“Y, yeah?”
“Was that a joke, just now? Or were you serious?”
“Just now?”
—What should I do?
—I must have done something wrong…
To Yahiro, who was desperately recalling everything he had done today, Himeka said:
“During the introductions, when you said you came to see the Headless Rider.”
“Eh?”
After an instant, Yahiro remembered what he had said.
“Ah, oh, that…”
“What was it? Was it a joke after all?”
“…Could it be that everyone heard it as a joke?”
“Eh?”
This time it was Himeka who was puzzled.
“Didn’t everyone laugh?”
“Ah, I see… I see.”
—I see, so they thought it was a joke.
—That’s why they laughed.
—…Why did they think it was a joke?
—Is it so strange to want to see the Headless Rider?
To the people of Ikebukuro, the Headless Rider was no longer a particularly exotic being.
That was why they had thought it impossible that someone would make a decision for the three years of their life in high school solely to see it, and so they had interpreted it as a joke –
But no one knew that to Yahiro, it was something he could well spend the rest of his life doing, much less three years.
Of course, including the girl in front of him now.
“Ah, thanks for telling me. I understand now.”
Not understanding why he was thanking her, the girl hesitated visibly.
But without changing her expression, calmly, she continued with her previous question.
“…So, you were serious?”
“Well, it was one of the reasons.”
“…I see.”
Himeka’s voice was still even, even as she said, bluntly, to Yahiro:
“You should stop.”
“Eh?”
“Don’t get too involved with the Headless Rider.”
“Why?”
It was only natural for Yahiro to ask this, but Himeka merely shook her head.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, I’ve warned you.”
And with that the girl turned on her heel, about to make a quick exit.
“Wait!”
A normal boy would have been unable to do anything but watch her leave –
But Yahiro’s reflexes that were accustomed to fights reacted immediately to the girl’s movement, unfortunately.
Yahiro, without hesitation in the least, grabbed the back of the girl’s collar, and yanked hard.
“Eh… Guh…”
Himeka’s body was forced backward as she choked and her air was cut off.
“…”
Registering the flailing of the girl, Yahiro hurriedly released her.
“Ahh?! S, sorry! I just…”

After coughing for a while, Himeka breathed deeply, and stared at Yahiro.
“…I didn’t think you would even strangle me to keep me from going.”
There was not a sliver of hatred on her face, purely surprise.
But Himeka’s face, perhaps by nature, was cold and had little change of expression, so it was completely impossible to grasp her emotions.
“I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine now.”
“Sorry… I, I was scared, and I just…”
“…Scared?”
Again she was confused. Yahiro said, to her:
“Yeah, I, I’m more timid than most people… You said something that made me feel uneasy, and then you couldn’t tell me why… So suddenly I got frightened… Ah, no, it was inexcusable, wasn’t it? Sorry.”
Yahiro bowed his head low again; Himeka sighed deeply, and asked, calmly:
“…You’re timid, but you want to see the Headless Rider?”
“Yeah, I want to see it, because I’m timid.”
“?”
“It’s complicated.”
Himeka fell silent for a while, not understanding Yahiro –
But as it became clear that he was not going to elaborate, she spoke again.
“You’re weird after all.”
“Maybe.”
“Then let’s make it an exchange.”
“An exchange?”
At her sudden suggestion, now it was Yahiro’s turn to be puzzled.
“If you tell me why you want to see the Headless Rider, I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t get too close to the Headless Rider.”
It was still even-toned, but there was a touch of initiative in her voice.
“That’s…”
“Well; tomorrow would be all right too. It’s not like you’re going to patrol the city looking for the Headless Rider right after this, right?”
“Yeah, anyway it’s only my first day.”
Seeing him nod honestly, the girl slowly nodded herself.
“Then that should be all right.”
Then Himeka straightened her crumpled collar, and made her way out.
Abruptly, she stopped at the door, and turned to speak.
“I’m sorry.”
“Eh?”
To Yahiro, who could not fathom why he was being apologised to, she continued.
“Earlier… I didn’t mean to scare you; it was honestly supposed to be a warning.”
Yahiro could only watch the back of the girl as she left, this time unable to stop her.

At the school gates.

“Ah, I should’ve apologised again properly for choking her by the collar…”
As he sunk into this self-loathing, Yahiro gradually left the school behind him.
As he was about to leave the school gates, a boy called out to him.
“Yo. Doing fine, Yahiro-kun?”
Calling out to him flippantly like they were old friends was the boy whose face he had remembered immediately during the introductions.
“Uh, you’re… Kotomine-kun?”
“Wait, no, no! It’s Kotonami, Ko~to~na~mi! Well, just call me Kuon. It’s easier to remember, right? Besides, I called you by name first, so that makes it even!”
Laughing as he said this wilfully, green hair swept by the wind, was Kotonami Kuon.
Yahiro, having been spoken to so suddenly and so cheerfully, hesitated for the same reason as with Himeka before.
—Uh.
—Did I do anything to him?
His doubts aside, Kuon’s onslaught of words continued like the firing of a machine gun.
“I waited very long but you never came, see~ I thought you might’ve went around to look at the school. Aw, I should have toured around myself. Club recruitment starts tomorrow, so there probably won’t be a chance. Ah, have you chosen a club or committee? I’d recommend the library committee, what d’you think? Though I’m not joining anything myself because it’s troublesome.”
“…I see, thanks for telling me.”
Even in his dilemma Yahiro thanked Kuon with an impossible honesty.
Kuon slapped his shoulder, and continued the one-sided conversation.
“Well~, it came to me when we were doing introductions! That I could be good friends with you, Yahiro-kun! After all, our high school ambition’s the same!”
“Eh?”
Yahiro was further confused; Kuon smiled as he asked.
“Are you free now? Any plans?”
“No, not really for until I have to go back to the hostel.”
“I see; any curfew? Ah, well, commonsensically until about eight would be fine, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Yahiro replied vaguely, and hearing that, Kuon clapped his hands together.
“Then it’s set! Let’s go!”
“Where?”
“The city of Ikebukuro. Maybe our target’ll be around West Gate Park.”
“To do what?”
Was he planning to pick up girls or something?
—What should I do? I’ve never tried picking up girls before.
—It would be bad to burden a cla.s.smate from the first day of school…
—And I just choked Himeka-san just now…
Yahiro felt this oddly irrelevant uneasiness, but it was swiftly interrupted by Kuon.
“To do what – isn’t it obvious? We’re searching.”
“For what?”
“For what, you say.”
Shrugging lightly, Kuon smiled, and did a thumbs-up to the sky.
“We’ll be the ones to find the Headless Rider, yeah?”

***CHAPTER END***

Interlude: Rumours on the Internet ①

Ikebukuro Information Site, IkeNEW! Version I・KEBU・KUR・O

Popular article, ‘Announcing the end of an urban legend’: The Headless Rider hasn’t been showing up lately, has it

‘Where did the Headless Rider go?’ – (Extract from Tokyo Warrior Digital Edition)

In the past there was an urban legend, the ‘Headless Rider’, that walked the streets of Ikebukuro, but from half a year ago it seems the number of sightings have dropped drastically.
The ‘Headless Rider’ was caught clearly on film three years ago on an on-scene doc.u.mentary with the police from King TV, and created a nationwide boom. There had already been sightings in the Tokyo region more than 20 years ago, though this was relatively unknown.
With a considerable bounty on its head put out by the president of a talent production company, there was also a Headless Rider Hunt, but even after that the Headless Rider continued its reckless driving without headlights without a care.
A motorcycle that emits no sound from its engine, and transforms to a headless horse. And on it a headless rider in pure black armour.
It is a being that whose sighting would surely be burnt into the eyes and become a traumatic experience. Nevertheless, perhaps because it went around normally on a highway, there was no decrease in witnesses.
But about half a year ago the uploading of videos of sightings of the Headless Rider ceased abruptly, and searches for ‘Headless Rider’ on social networking sites turned up only microblogging about the lack of recent sightings.
Regarding this, Tsuk.u.moya Shinichi-shi, a writer based in Ikebukuro, only commented on his blog that, “The Headless Rider’s just tired of churning out rumours. They’ll probably come back after a break.”

(Click here for the full article)

IkeNEW! Administrator’s Comment
“I didn’t know, but looks like it’s been sighted since more than 20 years ago-nari.
So if they started it at about 20 years old that person would be more than 40-nari.
Did they realise how embarra.s.sing it was to be cosplaying at that age-nari?
It’s an age where you learn self-respect after all-nari~
It applies to those of you who still watch kids’ anime past 40, you know-nari?”

Administrator Lila Tailtooth Zaiya

Excerpts of typical tweets from microblogging site Twittia.

***CHAPTER END***

T/N: Lila Tailtooth Zaiya is an anagram of Orihara Izaya. (‘Lila Tailtooth’ is in katakana; Tail = O, tooth = Ha. Ri-Ra-O-Ha-Za-I-Ya, Orihara Izaya.)