Durarara!! SH Vol 1 Chapter 1.2

Durarara!!SH

Chapter 1B

The Visitor

 

 April. Ikebukuro.

 On that day, a boy from Akita arrived at Ikebukuro.

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.

After getting off the Shinkansen, the boy, taking the Yamanote Line, was shocked at the chaos in the trains in the city.

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.

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.

“Speaking of Ikebukuro~, is that Headless Rider still around?”

“And there was something called the Dollars too, wasn’t there.”

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.

His hosts were supposed to welcome him at that meeting point.

He had thought he would be able to make it with time to spare, but not knowing the location of the quintessential ‘Ikefukuro’, by the time he had reached with the assistance of the station officers it was already about 10 minutes past the meeting time.

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.

“It’s been a while, Togusa-san.”

As the man said this, he glided forward.

The serious man smiled friendlily, and Yahiro bowed again.

The man’s name was Togusa Jiro.

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.

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.

Jiro, in the back seat of the taxi, brought up his brother’s name and smiled resignedly.

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.

“Ah… yes. I’m a fan too.”

“…fighting?”

Without a second thought to the meaning of what Yahiro had said, Jiro smiled as he replied.

“Kadota-san… huh.”

At Yahiro, who remained wordless, Jiro continued his monologue.

Because it had been a long time since anyone besides his family had spoken to him normally like this.

—How much had this person heard of him from his father and the rest of his family?

That was what had led him to come to this new world.

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.

The first was that, in a land where his reputation was unknown, he might be able to live a normal life.

At the very least, that tourist had told him he was human.

And the last thing he looked forward to in the district of Ikebukuro –

But still he did not know anything of this city.

Yahiro pulled himself together, and with a serious expression, observed the city outside the taxi window.

Seeing him, Togusa Jiro thought.

—What a good kid. Saburo should learn from him.

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.

At least, for now.

A few days later. Raira Academy.

What awaited Yahiro on his entrance to the classroom after the entrance ceremony was an event exceedingly normal for new students; doing a self-introduction in front of all of his classmates.

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.

When that boy stood before the blackboard, there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the classroom.

—The colour of his hair’s amazing. It’s green…

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.

But noticing that the classmates around him were eying the boy curiously, Yahiro changed his opinion.

But in the end he had always been the one called the monster.

It was he who had wanted to call them monsters.

As the gloom of his past memories came to mind, Yahiro grew despondent.

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.

It was a black-haired girl with a fluid form who appeared to have little if any make-up on.

—Ah, I thought Tokyo girls all used shoe polish and things on their faces, but apparently not.

Before coming here, just how many magazines and information sites had he accumulated?

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.”

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 Japanese normally.

Even so he had felt doubtful as to whether or not he could speak standard Japanese accurately, but by the reaction from the rest of the class, it did not seem to be a problem.

Their eyes held no fear or terror or hatred; only pure curiosity.

With this situation, the boy felt once more.

As he tasted this emotion that only he could understand, just as with the other students came the short Q&A session.

But one of the girls latched on to the keyword ‘Akita’, and without raising her hand voiced a question:

It was a perfectly natural question, but he hesitated.

It was not that he had yearned the city.

And then he realised.

But Yahiro’s personality was such that he could not spin a convincing lie on the spot.

—Ah, but…

—I guess.

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.

But it came across to the other students as a joke.

“…I came to see the Headless Rider.”

The responding light laughter in the classroom confused Yahiro.

—Ah, wait, did I say something funny?

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 always see it around my house.”

Overhearing the conversation between the girls,  Yahiro heaved a sigh of relief.

—It’s here after all – the Headless Rider.

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.

Kuon had a smile on his face, but the meaning behind the smile was visibly different from those around him.

Although that was concerning, to Yahiro Himeka’s gaze was even more so.

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.

Of course, there were none of his peers from his middle school.

It would be ridiculous for him to approach them and ask for them to go home with him.

—I’ve never had them before.

—Even if I could make some, they would probably pull away if they knew my past.

While Yahiro thought this he finished packing his belongings, and carrying his bag over his shoulder he stood from his seat.

Seeing the scenery of Ikebukuro, completely different from that of his hometown, stretch out before him, Yahiro felt a strange ecstasy.

—This is… excitement, isn’t it.

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.

Tatsugami Himeka stared at him with the same eyes as before.

The girl touched her cheek and asked, and Yahiro jolted.

“Ah, no, nothing. I smiled because I was looking at the city.”

“No, not really.”

Himeka tilted her head slightly, and looked over her shoulder to the scenery outside the window.

There was no one but Himeka and himself left in the classroom.

As Yahiro thought this Himeka ended her look outside the window, and looked again towards him, and said.

“Eh… really?”

—Maybe I did something rude to her.

Then the girl, expressionless, spoke.

“Y, yeah?”

“Just now?”

—I must have done something wrong…

“During the introductions, when you said you came to see the Headless Rider.”

After an instant, Yahiro remembered what he had said.

“What was it? Was it a joke after all?”

“Eh?”

“Didn’t everyone laugh?”

—I see, so they thought it was a joke.

—…Why did they think it was a joke?

To the people of Ikebukuro, the Headless Rider was no longer a particularly exotic being.

But no one knew that to Yahiro, it was something he could well spend the rest of his life doing, much less three years.

“Ah, thanks for telling me. I understand now.”

But without changing her expression, calmly, she continued with her previous question.

“Well, it was one of the reasons.”

Himeka’s voice was still even, even as she said, bluntly, to Yahiro:

“Eh?”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Anyway, I’ve warned you.”

“Wait!”

But Yahiro’s reflexes that were accustomed to fights reacted immediately to the girl’s movement, unfortunately.

“Eh… Guh…”

“…”

“Ahh?! S, sorry! I just…”

After coughing for a while, Himeka breathed deeply, and stared at Yahiro.

There was not a sliver of hatred on her face, purely surprise.

“I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”

“Sorry… I, I was scared, and I just…”

Again she was confused. Yahiro said, to her:

Yahiro bowed his head low again; Himeka sighed deeply, and asked, calmly:

“Yeah, I want to see it, because I’m timid.”

“It’s complicated.”

But as it became clear that he was not going to elaborate, she spoke again.

“Maybe.”

“An exchange?”

“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.”

“That’s…”

“Yeah, anyway it’s only my first day.”

“Then that should be all right.”

Abruptly, she stopped at the door, and turned to speak.

“Eh?”

“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 was about to leave the school gates, a boy called out to him.

Calling out to him flippantly like they were old friends was the boy whose face he had remembered immediately during the introductions.

“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!”

Yahiro, having been spoken to so suddenly and so cheerfully, hesitated for the same reason as with Himeka before.

—Did I do anything to him?

“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.”

Even in his dilemma Yahiro thanked Kuon with an impossible honesty.

“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!”

Yahiro was further confused; Kuon smiled as he asked.

“No, not really for until I have to go back to the hostel.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then it’s set! Let’s go!”

“The city of Ikebukuro. Maybe our target’ll be around West Gate Park.”

Was he planning to pick up girls or something?

—It would be bad to burden a classmate from the first day of school…

Yahiro felt this oddly irrelevant uneasiness, but it was swiftly interrupted by Kuon.

“For what?”

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.

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.

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.

Regarding this, Tsukumoya 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

So if they started it at about 20 years old that person would be more than 40-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.

The Headless Rider hasn’t been showing up lately. They’re probably gone. It was just a fad. A one-hit wonder. No it wasn’t. They’ve been around since I was a kid. About that, I heard they’ve been around since my father’s time. How old is the Headless Rider anyway? Speaking of the Headless Rider, the year before something amazing happened, right? There was a day where the sky went all dark and stayed that way even through morning. I wonder if that was the Headless Rider’s shadow. Yeah, it happened! I wonder what that really was. Didn’t they say it was caused by sand? There’s no way that was sand. Anyway, the night before that day was really eventful, wasn’t it? So many things happened. The bosozoku made a huge commotion. And wasn’t there a shooting incident? Yeah, it happened. A high school student got hit by a stray bullet and died or something, I think? Didn’t he survive? I think he survived. More importantly, the Awakusu-kai and the police station were shot at or something, weren’t they? I wonder if we’ll never see the Headless Rider again. It’s fine if we don’t. Honestly it’s scary when they suddenly swerve to cut in front on the road. They’ve been good enough to avoid any big accident up till now, though. And they don’t even have headlights. Even if they’re fine with that, I’m scared~  I finally did it. I might be able to meet the Headless Rider. Tomorrow I’ll get to talk to someone who knows the legendary Headless Rider! Looking forward to it! Hey~, what happened in the end? This is the last post isn’t it. Until now you’ve been blogging every single day. It’s like a horror story. The Headless Rider vanished you lol Apparently they really went missing, it’s not a laughing matter. Eh?! Really! I’m sorry. Everyone’s worried, so if you’re all right please say something ASAP~.

***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.)

Chapter end