Chapter 24

“Well, that was more exciting than necessary, but I’m glad your friend didn’t get hurt.” In the release of tension following the fight, Celty found her typing was a little more informal than before. “Can I help you search for your missing family?” At that moment, intersection “Whoa, whoa, whoa… What the hell just happened there?” At an intersection not far away from the Headless Rider, some snoops were spying on the scene from around the corner. “Holy shit, Mr. Horada! I can’t believe the Headless Rider’s involved, too!” “Sh-shuddup! Don’t be afraid of that fraud! The real problem is that Dragon Zombie’s involved in this, obviously!” “Do you think the guy who was just fighting with Libei Ying was the same guy who fought Shizuo?” “Probably. You saw how he moved, right? He treated Libei Ying like a little kid, even if he doesn’t have that Blue Dragon Sword with him today,” Horada said breathlessly. He and his followers were watching Yahiro from a distance. They had spotted the green-haired boy from the now-famous video and spent thirty minutes following him from a distance. They could have rushed in and demanded to know where that guy was—but they had to be careful, because the person they were searching for was mighty enough to stand toe to toe with Shizuo. If the boy with him was the guy they were searching for and the questioning made him angry, he could have started throwing fists at them instead. While they mulled over what to do, the situation took a few strange turns. First, the Headless Rider, Horada’s nemesis, showed up to accost them. Then, within minutes, the leader of Dragon Zombie showed up with some women in tow. A fight broke out, then ended as soon as it began, once the Headless Rider intervened to pull them apart. But Horada’s group was too far away to hear what they had been talking about since then. “This looks bad, Mr. Horada. I have a feeling Dragon Zombie’s gonna scoop up that kid before we can.” “Don’t be stupid—they were just fighting!” “Yeah, but they seem to have made up already.” “What?!” Horada poked his head around the corner and saw that the hostilities seemed to be over. They were all gathered together on the side of the road. “Damn…gotta do something,” he muttered. A disgusting leer crawled over his face. “Let’s change targets, then. First, let’s work on his little friend.” “The green-haired guy?” “You bet. You know what they say, ‘If you want the horse, first shoot the merchant.’” “I’ve never heard anyone say that… Are you sure that’s a thing?” asked one of his henchmen. Horada ignored him and focused on the other student in the group. “Plus, it’s hard to see from this distance…” His tongue flicked out to wet his lips as he stared at the girl with the long black hair. “But that girl looks like she’s totally my type… No harm in gettin’ to know her, right?” Alleyway “I…cannot entirely trust you,” Himeka told Celty impassively, having listened to the entire story. “I completely understand. But I don’t have any way to prove my innocence other than giving an alibi.” “But…I will take your help. For the sake of my sisters.” “You will?! Thank you!” “Well, it’s helping us. So I’m grateful,” Himeka said, bowing. Yahiro found it impossible to tell how she was reacting at a glance. Himeka was not the kind of person who displayed much emotion, so you didn’t need to be a socially withdrawn person like Yahiro to find her hard to read. “This is a very interesting story,” commented Libei, who’d been listening in on their conversation. “I’ll let you know if I learn anything, too. Would you mind if I ask for your numbers?” he asked Yahiro and Himeka casually. Celty was mystified by this. “Why? Dragon Zombie doesn’t have any connection to this, right?” “Look, I just want people to owe me favors. I get it if you don’t want to be involved with a biker gang, but you need all the help you can get, don’t you?” “But I…” “Are you still angry about me starting a fight with you out of nowhere?” Yahiro shook his head vigorously. “No, it’s my fault for getting carried away… I’m sorry about that.” “Nah, it’s fine! Say, here’s a question: Do you like motorcycles? Think this riding suit looks pretty hot?” “Ah, er, I guess…,” Yahiro stammered. He didn’t actually understand what was being asked of him. Libei chuckled and asked him directly this time. “You wanna join our gang? We’re the Dragon Zombies.” “Gang?” Yahiro repeated, confused. Kuon hurried to interject. “Okay, okay, okay! Sorry about him—he just moved here from Akita. He doesn’t know how things work in Ikebukuro… Plus, he’s a good fighter, but he’s also a very good kid who keeps his nose clean. He’s not really cut out to be a biker.” “That’s nice, but I wasn’t asking you…” Libei gave Kuon a rather piercing stare, thought it over, then said to Yahiro, “Well, I suppose he’s right. I’m not going to force you to make a decision. As an apology for what I did today, I’ll make it up to you later. Let’s keep this relationship fifty-fifty.” “Fifty-fifty?” “Yeah. One side needs help with something, they ask the other, then help out in return… That kinda thing. I’m not gonna ask you to do anything crazy like ‘die’ or ‘hand over your girl.’” Libei then turned to Celty. “I’d like to do the same with you, too. What do you say?” “I don’t mind, but the only thing I can give you is my e-mail address,” Celty replied, immediately agreeing to trade contact information with him. She must have been impressed by how normally he was treating her. “That’s enough for me. You’re friends with Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara, aren’t you? I was always jealous of them for getting to be friends with an urban legend.” “I’m not friends with Izaya…,” she protested. Kuon leaned in and said, “Um…Miss Headless Rider…? Er, should I call you Celty instead?” “Yes, what is it?” “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but can I take a picture with you? No need for contact info.” “I don’t mind…” As soon as he saw the acceptance on her screen, Kuon immediately lined up next to Celty and used his phone to take a selfie with the both of them. Once he’d gotten a few, he suddenly became extraordinarily excited. “Whoo-hoo! Thank you! Can I put these on my blog and stuff?” “Wow, you’re really aggressive. But…I don’t mind. Just watch out, because the cops and other weirdos will come after you.” It wasn’t a big problem for Celty, who was used to people taking photos of her. She was more worried about the potential effects on the people who took them. “Nah, it’s fine, I already know about that. And I can rely on a good friend for help if I need it.” “Oh, Mr. Kuronuma?” said Yahiro. “Huh? Sorry, what name was that?” “Whoops! Look out—people are starting to notice us!” said Kuon, hurriedly changing the topic the moment Celty heard the familiar name. It was true that the number of lookie-loos in the distance was growing. The Headless Rider wasn’t a rare sight to the people of Ikebukuro anymore, but there were tourists from elsewhere who had succumbed to curiosity and taken their cameras out. “Er, sorry. I’ll contact you later for more details.” Celty didn’t want to cause more trouble for Himeka and her friends, so she finished up exchanging details and got back onto her black motorcycle. “Thank you. If I learn anything, I will get in touch.” Shopping district, Ikebukuro The gathering split up, and Kuon went home first, claiming he remembered an errand he needed to run. Yahiro decided to head back to the station with Himeka. For a while, neither of them spoke. But Himeka could see that he was looking for something to say and failing, and she mercifully broke the silence. “That was surprising. I didn’t know you were so good at fighting.” “Oh, th-that? Um…” “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I won’t be bothered,” she said flatly. Yahiro worried that he had frightened her with that combat display. In an attempt to diffuse the tension, he changed the topic and said, “The Headless Rider seems pretty nice.” “…Yes, I suppose,” Himeka replied without emotion. “It’s all right now,” he went on. “With the real thing helping out, I’m sure we’ll find your sisters.” He meant it to be reassuring to her, but as usual, Himeka did not seem to react in any way. She just stared into the distance and murmured mostly to herself, “Even still…I think the Headless Rider is a demon.” “Huh? What do you mean?” he asked skeptically. She didn’t turn back to look at him. “She won’t even let me hate her for no good reason…” It wasn’t an answer to his question. It was like she was talking to herself. Shinra’s apartment near Kawagoe Highway—three AM “Welcome home, Celty!” “I’m back. Sorry about being so late. I was looking into things all over and lost track of time.” At the moment she showed her smartphone screen to Shinra, he rushed to embrace her. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re all right!” “Let go. What do you mean, glad I’m all right?” Normally, she would pull him off as soon as he did this, but something about his concern for her safety struck her as odd. “Did something happen?” “Something definitely did happen. It seems like this case is a lot more dangerous than we’re giving it credit for.” “What do you mean?” she asked, quite serious. Shinra finally pulled away and took on a dead serious manner that was very out of character. The answer was something she found difficult to believe. “I just received a call from Mr. Akabayashi… “He says they can’t reach Mr. Shiki…”