DURARARA!! NICONICO SPECIAL EDITION PART 4: NICOCOCO!!X4
Due to some strange circ.u.mstances, Ikebukuro’s strangest phenomenon, Celty
Sturluson, had been dragged into Karisawa and her rival’s “Friend Video Showdown.”
A friend of Karisawa’s singing rival, Blizzard la Blizzadia, recorded a video of Celty
escaping from the motorcycle police and uploaded it. It had become an instant hit in the
rankings.
Now that she aware that she had put herself at such a disadvantage, Celty had to figure
out a course of action to respond but what——
Those answers, she herself didn’t even know.
A certain place on Kawagoe-Kaido - Shinra’s Apartment
“I’m home~.” Returning in the middle of the night from his work as a back alley
doctor, Kis.h.i.tani Shinra stepped into an apartment filled with a dark atmosphere.
“Uwah? What the h.e.l.l? What’s going on!?”
Well, it couldn’t really be called an “atmosphere.” It was actually Celty’s shadows,
which spread out across the room like smoke, shutting out the light from the florescent
lamps and creating a very dark s.p.a.ce.
“A-ah…w-welcome back, Shinra.” Pushing her way through the gloom, Celty
unsteadily emerged from the room.
“What’s wrong, Celty!? Are you feeling sick!?” As Shinra hastened over in concern,
Celty feebly typed out a response.
“No…I was just running myself down in various ways thinking about the
video…”
After finally calming Celty down, she finally told Shinra what was going on. It seemed
like the video that had been taken of her fleeing the motorcycle police and uploaded to
Niconico Douga continued to spread far and wide over the social media networks, and
thus the number of views and number of MyList bookmarks only continued to increase.
“Ugh…I’ve been beside myself with worry about what Karisawa would say if I
don’t win this…And in the end I did what I must not do…”
“What you must not do?”
“J-just now, I took this video…”
“?”
Taking the handy cam Celty surrendered, Shinra hooked it up to the computer and
played it back.
There, reflected on the screen, was a strange image. The footage was taken in a dark
park, sometime after the sun had gone down. The Sunshine Building could be seen far
away in the background so it was probably somewhere in the vicinity of Ikebukuro. The
image naturally panned over to the swing set, and there some dark shadows began to
appear.
“……”
The shadows slowly took human shape, changing into the form of a young woman
hidden by a broad-brimmed hat. Then, after giving a few creaky swings on the swing set,
the shape slowly faded away again.
As Shinra stared at the images, he noticed that the shadows which made up the young
woman’s form extended out along on the ground beyond the frame in the direction of the
person filming.
“…Are those, your shadows?” As soon as Shinra pointed that out, Celty jerked in
surprise. Then she raised her hands to cover what would have been her face on a normal
human, and dropped off the couch onto the carpet, where she began to roll around.
“Uwaaaah! Shinra, I’m the worst! No matter how desperate I am, to fake a
supernatural phenomenon and record it with the intention of uploading it to
Niconico is just…!”
“Calm down, Celty. Hmm, well. While it’s true it’s fake, aren’t Celty’s shadows a
much greater supernatural phenomenon than an image that, at a glance, appears to be that
of a ghost? In that sense, it’s not a lie at all, but rather similar to those people who take
videos of themselves dancing…”
“I’m done for! If this video leaks out and people find out it’s a fake, everyone’s
going to blame me and I’m going to have to do a live broadcast apology for sure
aaaaaaaaah!!”
“Celty, relax, Celty.” But she continued to roll around and type out deranged ranting
on her smartphone.
“But even so, people are going to misunderstand and think I’m acting like a big
shot, or making a joke out of it all by taking on a challenging att.i.tude and being
unsociable and then they’ll all get mad, and afterwards I’ll forget to turn off the mic
and have some sort of embarra.s.sing conversation with you and
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh I’m finished Shinra!”
“Uuuuum, I’m going to address these in order, but I have a hunch that if you receive a
lot of comments that say “You staged this” on Niconico, it has a different meaning
there?* Moreover, Celty, you can’t talk so how would you give live apology? Would you
put continue apologizing by putting a banner in the contributor comments? Also, even if
you forget to switch off the mic after the live broadcast, won’t they only hear my voice?”
After Shinra had said all that, he took a deep breath, then, with serious eyes, opened his
mouth again.
“Well, actually, I’m interested in the contents of that embarra.s.sing conversation we
would have, so won’t you tell me~?”
“Eh, that’s, j-just stuff we normally talk, but that would be embarra.s.sing for others
to overhear.”
“Ah, it’s no use. Usually you would have already given me a blow to the kidney by
now, so getting a normal response is rather weird coming from you.” Patting Celty’s
shaking shoulders, Shinra tried to cheer her up.
“Well, don’t worry about it. Even if that happens, I’ll still support you, Celty.”
“But I’ve already troubled you so much…”
*
The word used here can mean both performing in one’s own work and being a fake.
“It’s fine! If it’s for you, I would do whatever it takes to give you all your playback
and MyList numbers! Because I will be the only one dirtying my hands, all I ask from
you, Celty, is that you wash away my dirty heart with the power of love! Oh, isn’t what I
just said the perfect strategy!?”
“Uuuh.”
“Come now, Celty, let’s make a Niconico channel for just the two of us and bring the
R-18 tag to life!”
“Wait, that’s a bit…” Giving it only a couple seconds of thought, Celty delivered a
swift counterpunch to Shinra, who had attempted to dive towards her.
Several Minutes Later——
“Thanks, Shinra. Thanks to you, I’ve calmed down.”
“Nope…don’t mention it…After all it’s Celty…so I had to…” Compared to Celty’s
calm demeanor, Shinra was in a cold sweat as he gave a weak thumbs up.
“A-are you ok? I’m sorry, I was fl.u.s.tered so I didn’t moderate…”
“I’m fine! It’s true it hurt where you hit me, but it’s just living proof that you touched
me!”
“Are you sure you’re ok? Especially your head…”
“Of course! On the contrary, my head is actually quite clear, all thanks to such a good
punch I think!” Shinra nodded his head with a bright smile, before turning his eyes to the
laptop screen. While looking at the playback of the submitted Niconico video
“Motorcycle Police VS Headless Rider,” he continued to speak to Celty.
“The person who shot and uploaded this video, knew Karisawa-san’s rival…uuuh…”
“Blizzard la Blizzadia.”
“Right, this person is a friend of hers, right?”
“That’s what I understand…”
Giving the words on Celty’s smartphone a sidelong glance, Shinra adjusted the slider
on the video and stopped it at a certain point.
“Look, here, during Shooter’s wild escape through the town…––just for a second, you
turn in the direction of the camera.”
“Ah, you’re right.”
“In other words…it seems to me that the camera you mounted where Shooter’s
headlight would be would have caught this moment in question and you should be able to
see the person who took this video.”
“…! I see!” Celty understood where Shinra was going, but almost immediately thought
of a question and twisted her neck without a head.
“So, even if we figure out who he is, what do we do then?”
“Well, if you identify who it is, you may be able to figure out who Blizzard-what’stheir-name
is. From there, you can intervene and convince them to stop this worthless
video compet.i.tion. The important thing is that you get Karisawa and her rival to
reconcile!”
“Oh, I get it! …But I don’t think it will go that smoothly…”
Shinra answered Celty’s uneasy words as he checked the video she had taken
previously.
“It’ll be fine. It’s cheap of the other side to take video of my Celty unaware, so if it
comes down to it we can start the conversation there.”
“Hey, you, don’t go around saying ‘my Celty’ so nonchalantly.”
“Ooh, forget that, I found the person who took the video!” Shinra announced in an
unnecessarily loud voice as he pointed a finger at the screen.
“Look, that kid there. …Huh? I’ve seen them somewhere before…”
“Let me see…? AH!?” Reflected on the screen was a young boy, turned towards the
smartphone camera mounted on the bike. His face was one Celty recognized.
“Isn’t that…Kuronuma Aoba!”
“…Ah that kid who came to our place once before.” A strange, cold light glittered in
Shinra’s eyes.
“To take secret video of Celty while she’s frightened and expose her to public
humiliation, all the while saying he wants to be friends…Maybe I should have cut his
carotid artery after all at that time…?”
“Don’t say such dangerous things!” But even as she continued to calm Shinra down,
she couldn’t help but think herself.
——But, that really is Aoba-kun.
——So a.s.suming they’re friends…does that mean Blizzard la Blizzadia is a Blue
Square?
——No, Blizzard la Blizzadia is a very feminine name.
——Which reminds me, I haven’t really watched her videos.
As that occurred to her, Celty searched the tags on Niconico and began to watch the
masked rival of Karisawa Erika’s “Eternal de Charmant” as she began to sing.
——……
——This…she’s obviously very good at singing and dancing.
——But…
On screen was a young woman with a charming style, wearing a mask and dancing
while she sang a song. It wasn’t the idol kind of dance, but one that gave the impression
that it came from an act of a dark musical.
——Somehow, I get the feeling I’ve seen this somewhere before…
At that moment, Shinra opened his mouth from where he had been peering over her
should.
“Huh, is that…”
“Do you know her Shinra?”
“Yeah. You know her, too, Celty.” Rather readily, Shinra spoke the name of the girl on
screen.
“That’s Izaya’s younger sister, Kururi-chan.”
♂♀
The Next Day - A Certain Parking Lot in Ikebukuro
“…Good grief, seriously, just because you quarreled with someone that doesn’t mean
you should go dragging others into it.” Kadota Kyouhei said as he let out a sigh, while
Karisawa and Kururi, who were standing in front of him, bowed their heads despondently.
“Ehehe…Sorry, Dotachin.”
“…Apology (I apologize)…”
The two had been called out by Kadota, since he was an acquaintance of both, to make
a truce to end the quarrel Celty had been caught up in.
Actually, once Celty learned the truth, she had asked Kadota to act as a go-between for
the two, and had schemed to end the video compet.i.tion.”
“Sorry, Kururi-chan. I was being childish.”
“…Same (I’m sorry too)…”
Thus, the two joined hands, and mutually decided to do a live broadcast collaboration
event on Niconico.
And, more importantly, Celty was released from her duty as a video creator.
♂♀
Several Days Later - Shinra’s Apartment
“Hey, the usual Niconico Live Broadcast is starting~.”
At Shinra’s call, Celty moved herself in front of the computer.
There, on the Niconico Broadcast screen, seated around a strangely elaborate table and
all wearing masks, were Karisawa and the Orihara twins.
【“O~KAY, I’m Eternal de Charmant!”
“……”
“I’ll be speaking for my older sister who’s not very good at it! h.e.l.lo~! I’m Blizzard
La Blizzadia’s younger sister, Homura-chan!” 】
“Mairu’s stage name is very simple compared to the other two…”
Celty typed out to Shinra as she watched the broadcast.
“But, I was also very careless...I remember now that the other day when I met
them, I mentioned that I had to make a video…”
“I read the ‘Blizzard la Blizzadia’ entry in Niconico Pedia and it was really written
there that she ‘has a lot of extreme dances, and in the past she made a video with her
sister that got deleted.’”
“Really, there’s a limit to how much trouble you can cause.” Still, now that she was
relieved of the pressure of having to make her own video, Celty could watch the
broadcast with relief.
“But, how should I say this…I’m really surprised that such a quiet and taciturn
child, whose voice I can barely hear most of the time, can sing and dance like
that.”
“Kururi-chan becomes very talkative and lascivious on the internet.” As Shinra nodded
his head and hummed thoughtfully, Celty continued to speak.
“Well, on places like Niconico Douga and such, you can reveal a side of yourself that
you usually don’t show the world. Sometimes the self we reveal in videos is our ideal
dream self, you know.”
“Oh I see.”
“But there are also lots of young, pa.s.sionate fans. So for popular singers and dancers,
if they want be themselves and live normally, they probably have to maintain a certain
distance with their fans.”
“What are you getting at?” Shinra laughed as he answered Celty’s question.
“I was just thinking that you work as a courier for the underworld, and keep a distance
from other people because you can’t be the same as them, but I don’t want you to be a
video idol, just my idol.”
Celty’s shoulders went up and down, as if she had just taken a deep breath, and then
her fingers slid across her tablet.
“Those should be my words, Mr. Back Alley Doctor.” The two of them rubbed their
shoulders together, and a good atmosphere settled between them——
But the group of masked girls on screen destroyed that atmosphere with what they said
next.
【“So, uuuuuuuh, today, to celebrate our reconciliation, the three of us decided to do
a live Let’s Play.”
“……”
“Yup! So I brought a game that almost n.o.body else knows about!” 】
The masked Mairu held up a CD. Written in magic marker on the front was the t.i.tle
“Danger, Izaya’s Castle [rest omitted]”.
【“This is a game our older brother made a long time ago! So today, we’re going to
do a Let’s Play of it!” 】
——That’s…
As she screamed loudly in her mind, Celty leaned forward and began pounding words
into the comment section, vigorously clicking the submit b.u.t.ton over and over again.
“DON’T PLAY THAT GAME!”
To other people, such words were really ambiguous but——For the first time her life,
she desperately sent messages to the Niconico broadcast, and they were filled with
nothing but that memorable comment.
This is a story about comments.
A story about twisted comments.
♂♀
After a several such ordinary events——
Celty and Shinra disappeared from Ikebukuro for a while in order to take a trip all
around j.a.pan.
At the end of the long, long journey half a year later, how will Celty have changed, or
possibly not changed? She herself does not even know the answer to that.
Also, when they come back half a year later, just what are they coming back to?
Will the Headless Rider be able to continue smiling in her heart from now on or
perhaps not——?
For those answers, you must wait a little longer.
Nicococo!! The End
To be continued in Durarara!!SH