“Biiiig deal.”
“…It could be the discovery of the century. But whatever. Have you heard anything from Gin yet?”
“He sent a text. Says he’s watching from the corner of the field, but the Toramaru boss is still in the middle of the fight.”
“Man, that’s a long fight. But from what I hear about Kadota, he’s the all-around type who can handle both short bouts and endurance battles. At this rate, the other guys will probably catch those girls first…”
Aoba’s analysis was cut short by a sudden blast from the nearby street.
“?!”
The people walking nearby paused, and the cars on the street hit the brakes, filling the area with the piercing sound of screams and tires squealing.
“What was that?!”
Aoba ran to the corner of the big street where it intersected with Kawagoe Highway and carefully leaned around the building to see what had happened.
Up ahead, at the side of the street, was a luxury vehicle. The all-black auto was instantly recognizable as the kind typically used by criminal organizations.
“…Yakuza?” the boys wondered and noticed that a number of men were crouched down around the car.
A visual scan turned up no obvious movement—but there was the ostentatious sound of a raucous motorcycle engine.
Just when the bike raced up to meet the black automobile, it simply picked up a girl from the chaotic scene, light as you please.
The large rider never lost speed as he raced away from the spot—and slipped down another side street separate from the one Aoba was peering out of.
“What the hell was that…?”
Suddenly, he noticed that the black thread left the alley and proceeded in the direction of the car in question.
They stepped around the corner and onto the sidewalk lining the big street to get a better look at what had actually happened, when they noticed something new.
Along the apartment building right next to the black car, about four or five stories up, was an odd black shape.
“The Black Rider!”
It only took an instant, but Aoba recognized it.
A figure in a black riding suit, leaping over the apartment veranda, plunging down to the ground. And growing out of that figure’s arm was something like a black rope, attached to the railing it had just jumped over. It stretched like rubber and extended downward, lowering the rider slowly to the ground.
Faced with this impossible otherworldly sight, Aoba’s reaction was sparkling eyes and a mumbled “Found you…”
But unlike Mikado’s sparkling reaction when he first saw Celty for himself, this one was the cold, cruel glimmer of a snake with prey in sight.
One minute earlier, near Kawagoe Highway, outside Shinra’s apartment
“…Dad…”
“Akane!”
For the first time in several days, father and daughter met.
She peered timidly out from behind Shiki as the intimidating man approached.
Her body was trembling in preparation of a smack for her misbehavior, but instead, her father’s thick arms enfolded her. Mikiya Awakusu knelt and hugged his daughter to stop her quavering.
He was right in sight of his bodyguards and Shiki, but Mikiya chose to play the role of father to his daughter at this moment.
“I understand you hate Dad and Grandpa’s business. That’s all right. But don’t make your mother worry.”
She hesitated at first, then clutched her father’s sleeve and mumbled, “…rry…I’m sorry…! I’m glad you’re safe, too, Dad…”
It occurred to Shiki at this point that he had probably misheard whatever she said minutes ago. But…
…For having run away from home, she sure accepted him quickly…
Something’s odd here.
…“I’m glad you’re safe”…?
Why would she be worried for Mikiya’s sake?
Just at the moment that doubt and suspicion began to bloom up again—
He caught sight of a small object flying toward them from the street.
—?
?!
When Shiki finally recognized it, he covered his face and heart with his arms and tried to leap with all he could out of the way.
But it was too late. Before his brain could even send the signals through his nerves, the thing flashed—the air erupted with noise and light, and everyone in the vicinity lost their vision and hearing momentarily.
Explosion.
The world was suddenly shrouded in the darkness of light.
The only Awakusu-kai members on the scene who instantly understood what happened were Shiki and Mikiya.
It was a flashbang.
A special hand grenade that unleashed a powerful, dazzling light that briefly stunned the senses of any humans nearby. It was most famous as a tool used by the police and Special Forces when busting in on hostage takers.
Mikiya’s hearing was completely ruined, but he could still see just a little bit. This was thanks to the relative weakness of the grenade and the fact that he had his back to it, clutching his daughter.
Realizing it was an attack, he sheltered his daughter’s body and glanced around—but his ringing ears did not catch the sound of the approaching motorcycle engine.
A man descended from the bike. He was large, wearing a full helmet, and about a head taller than Mikiya; that was all he could discern through the haze of his vision.
The man grabbed Akane’s arm and tried to pull her away.
“Son of a—!”
He leaped up to his feet, but the rider grabbed him by the collar with one hand and easily lifted him off the ground.
“…!”
The man pried Akane away from Mikiya and tossed him back onto the black car.
“Gahk!”
His back slammed hard against the side of the car, and the air shot from his lungs so fast, he felt like they’d exploded. Still, he managed to stand again and face the attacker…
But the man was already back on his bike with Akane in tow, and he rode off unharassed by any of the other mobsters, who were still struggling to recover.
One other man saw what had happened from close range.
Shiki had the instinct to cover his face with his arm. Even then, the light that reached the corners of his eyes left them grayed out. This was largely the effect of good luck, as the flashbang went off extremely quickly after being tossed.
With his ears ringing from the blast, he saw his boss thrown right before his eyes. He jumped into action the instant he recovered, but the bike was already riding away.
That monstrous strength…
All he could envision was the sight of his murdered subordinates from this morning.
But that wasn’t Shizuo. He’s not that tall.
The man’s frame was noticeably larger than Shizuo’s. Of course, he could have been wearing a muscle suit and elevator shoes, but Shiki was already losing faith that their culprit was Shizuo.
But this wasn’t the time for poring over possibilities.
As his ears gradually cleared up, Shiki took action—and dragged the stunned Mikiya into the bulletproof vehicle, where he would be relatively safe.
And then he saw.
Through recovering ears, he just barely heard.
Mikiya screaming something at the retreating motorcycle.
And the words were…
Somewhere in Ikebukuro
“…do.”
“…ado! Mikado!”
A familiar voice cut through his woozy wits.
Who is that? Umm…that’s Sonohara, his dazed mind was just able to deduce.
“Mikado! Are you all right? Hang in there!”
His mind slowly sharpened into focus, and he recognized something strange about the voice.
Oh, that’s different. I’ve never heard Sonohara so panicked like this. What happened?
As he steadily awakened, he felt increasingly strange about himself as well.
Huh? My body hu
rts… Why?
What was I doing just now? Oh…right.
I got punched. And then…and then…
Sonohara was… Wait, why is she here?
Mikado’s mind finally reached the state of awareness, and he began to take the current situation into account. His eyes flew open.
But his vision was too blurry to reveal much. He seemed to be lying faceup on the ground, and he could vaguely see Anri’s face looming over him.
“Hi…Sonohara…”
“Mikado! Thank goodness…!”
It was too blurry to make out her expression, but Anri’s voice was full of relief. He felt apologetic, grateful—and, remembering what had just happened to him, more than a little pathetic.
Oh, right. I got my ass kicked.
You know, I don’t think I’ve heard Sonohara emote like that since Masaomi at that factory building.
That’s good. At least I know she was as worried for me as she was for him.
His head was still fuzzy, and his normal priorities seemed to be having trouble forming their proper order.
Oh yeah, that reminds me… Where did those guys go?
If they were still nearby, Anri was in danger.
Mikado did his best to force his pained body into a sitting position. But as he did, a shadow writhed in his blurry sight.
“Y-you…monster!”
Huh?
The voice belonged to one of those thugs. He was swinging his arm down, hurtling a silver thing toward Anri.
Watch out!
Instinctively, Mikado tried to push Anri to the side.
But just before he made contact, a sharp metallic sound echoed off the alley walls.
Anri’s upper half twisted, and something extended from the end of her arm—yes, shining and silver.
A metal pipe…? No…
A katana?
The next instant, the silver shaft struck him on the side of the head, and the large man slumped to the ground like a masterless puppet.
Mikado recalled a scene from several months past.
When he rushed in to save Masaomi, surrounded by the Yellow Scarves—and saw Anri in the factory, holding a katana.
There’s a Sonohara I don’t know in there.
Right as the silver object disappeared, seemingly sucking into Anri’s arm, Mikado’s vision finally cleared up in full.
“Um…are you all right…?”
“Y-yeah,” he mumbled.
He slowly rolled upward and saw three men knocked out on the pavement, including the one from just now.
“What is…?”
“…”
She just looked at the ground in silence.
Clearly something had just happened. But there was no way to tell exactly what that was.
None of the men were bleeding, but they all bore marks on their bodies that suggested they were struck with narrow metal pipes.
Then, there was Anri, who was staying quiet, but not out of any apparent lack of understanding.
Plus, there was what I just saw…
That did not seem to be a hallucination.
It was very curious, but seeing her look of discomfort, Mikado decided to shake his head and put her at ease.
“N-no, it’s okay. I won’t ask.” He smiled kindly, his face swollen.
“Th…thank you, Mikado…,” she mumbled, managing a tiny bit of a relieved smile, and touched his shoulder. “Are you all right? Do you need a medic, or…?”
“No, I’m fine. I can get to my feet,” he said and hastily stood up to reassure her.
That’s right. We swore to tell each other our secrets when Masaomi was back.
That shouldn’t have been such a simple statement to make.
After all, he had just seen a teen girl holding a katana-like thing, of which there was now no sign whatsoever.
The situation was already beyond common sense at that point—but Mikado wasn’t particularly bothered.
Any doubt he felt toward Anri was overshadowed by a much more powerful emotion.
I…I couldn’t do a thing.
I couldn’t do anything for them…and I needed Sonohara to save me…
It was my weakness…that might have put her directly in danger…
He was racked with guilt and shame but had no recourse for those feelings. All he could do was reassure her weakly, “I…I’m fine.”
“Then we should take you to a hospital or Dr. Kishitani’s…,” she suggested, but he just shook his head.
“I don’t feel any broken bones, so it won’t be necessary… More importantly…we’ve got to go help Kadota…at Raira Field Two…”
“Huh…?” She was taken aback at this idea.
He saw the doubt and worry in her face, then looked down at the ground and mumbled, “Sorry…but I’ve just got to go… We need to save those girls… They’re going to use one of them as a hostage in that fight…and I get the feeling they have no intention of just releasing her afterward.”
“Mikado…it sounds like we should tell the police…”
“…No. If we just run to the cops, who knows what those guys will do to the girls in revenge. Plus, getting the police involved is just going to make things worse for Kadota.”
“…”
His words were half-true, half-false. Anri could sense that.
She wasn’t entirely ignorant of his situation, either. She knew that there was some kind of ominous connection between him and the Dollars. It seemed like he was afraid of the police getting involved and putting pressure on the gang.
“…”
After a momentary silence, Anri sucked in a quick breath and said, “Then I’ll go.”
“You can’t…”
“…You’re not going to tell the police, are you? Then I’ll go. I want to save Kamichika, too, you know.” After a brief hesitation, she added, “And…I think I’ll be able to help you.”
There was determination in her statement.
Mikado sensed her intent immediately. The image of the girl with a katana flooded into his brain, drowning out everything else.
She was going to help him—even if it ended up exposing her own secret.
He didn’t know what that secret was, but he could tell that it was extremely important to her.
Mikado looked down, extreme indecision crossing his youthful features.
But realizing that Anri would probably follow along no matter what he said, he gave up and accepted her determination as equal to the way he selfishly insisted on rushing into danger.
“…All right. Let’s go.”
Anri rushed out of the alley, following the boy’s lead.
Immediately afterward, a woman in a riding suit emerged from the shadows. She muttered, “Raira Field Two,” and returned to where she had parked her motorcycle nearby.
“Boy and girl are stupid. Correct is immediate report to police structure. All else is their ego and selfish logic or perhaps hope.”
Vorona had witnessed Anri knock out the much larger young men with the back of her blade.
“Now I can eliminate bespectacled girl before law enforcement acts,” she muttered.
Through the wireless set in her helmet, she heard Slon say, “Do you read me, Vorona?”
“Affirmative.”
“I’ve got Akane Awakusu unharmed. She might be in a state of shock, but anyway, I’ve got her in the truck. I haven’t been followed.”
“Utter excellence. Analyze location of Raira Field Two and report to me. Then, move truck there,” she commanded briskly. But there was a pleasant smile playing across her lips.
“This is great ecstasy. We can achieve all of job today.”
“When job is over, then I can focus on Black Rider’s vanquishing to heart’s content. Fortuitous.”
Ikebukuro, Raira Academy Field Two, around back
Compared to the areas around the train station, the space was so lonely, it hardly seemed like Ikebukuro at all.
It was surrounded by trees and should have be
en a pleasant, peaceful place—if not for the smell of blood.
“Damn… How freakin’ tough are you, man?” muttered Kadota, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth, cheek puffy around his right eye. He sat down on the curb between the dirt and the field grass and rasped, “If you were at full health, it would be me sprawled out over there.”
A few yards in front of him lay Chikage Rokujou, spread-eagled on the ground.
There was fresh blood blotting the bandage wrapped around his head, and he seemed to be having trouble just breathing.
Chikage slowly replied, “I dunno… You’re pretty tough yourself. Besides, if I was gonna blame my injuries, I wouldn’t have started this fight in the first place… You weren’t holding back just because I was wounded, were you?”
“If you mean, did I hold back to avoid killing you, then yeah. I ain’t cut out for prison life,” Kadota spat sardonically.
Chikage chuckled, then slowly raised his left arm to examine his wristwatch. “Ahh… Was I knocked out for a bit just now?”
“Yeah. A bit. ’Bout to pass out myself.”
“Gotcha… Y’know, this is the first time I’ve ever lost twice in a row… Shit,” Chikage groaned, but there was a smile on his face for some reason.
“I don’t think you need to count getting knocked out by Shizuo.”
Kadota stood up and walked over to Chikage. He surveyed his opponent but did not look down on him. After some consideration, he suggested, “Look, I’m not sayin’ you have to listen to me because you lost, but could you pull your Toramaru guys outta here for today?”
“…”
“I’ll use my connections to try to track down the people who were messing around in Saitama and force them to make things right. Can you hang on until then?”
“…Do the Dollars usually sell each other out?” Chikage mocked.
But Kadota didn’t seem upset. He grinned impishly and noted, “The Dollars don’t have any rules. Not even rules against sellin’ out people you don’t like. Anyway…this is a personal thing, not a Dollars thing. I, Kyouhei Kadota, am going to help you because I don’t like those guys. So what’s the problem?”
“Man, you’re evil,” Chikage said. He chuckled on the ground.
Durarara!!, Vol. 6 Page 15
