SIDE STORY 4
DURARARA!! TRUE STORIES:
THEY GET ALONG
Bookstore interior, Ikebukuro
There they stood in the middle of the bookstore like alternating piano keys: a man wearing a white coat like a doctor, and a motorcycle rider in a black suit with a full helmet.
The pair stood out like a sore thumb, but to their good fortune, there were no other customers around to be distracted by them.
“So anyway, Celty, it’s so strange to see you in a bookstore. Was there something that caught your eye here?” said the man in the white coat.
The rider in black said nothing.
“Say something. It’s so sad when you just ignore me. They say ignorance is a sin, but if you ask me, ignore-ance should be one, too! Hey…Celty, are you trembling? What are you reading?”
He looked at the cover of the magazine, Weekly Space Mysteries. The cover story said, “The end of the world, depicted on the paintings in Warstein Castle! Japan’s recession revealed as a conspiracy by black hole organisms!”
It was that very cover story she had turned to, and it caused her to shiver as she read it.
“……”
He was about to say something to the rider when a soft cloth smacked against the large helmet. They turned to see a rather grumpy-looking store employee.
“Wow, the only time I’ve ever seen employees whack people with dusters for reading the merchandise was in manga… Sorry, we’ll buy it,” said the man in the white coat to the silent employee. The motorcycle rider also bowed, then showed her companion a PDA with a message typed into the screen.
“But if we take this terrifying story home, won’t the aliens come after us?”
“…You know, I’ve heard it said that owning certain books might get you cursed, but never in relation to aliens… Ah, yes, sir, I’m buying it righ… Huh?”
But it wasn’t their reading of the magazine for free that was bothering the employee. He used the duster to point at a sign on the wall.
No full-face helmets or ski masks inside the store, it said.
“Oh, sorry! I’ll take it off now!” typed the rider in black, who seemed quite flustered at the thought of the black hole organisms, whatever those were.
“Huh? Um, Celty, dear?”
Before the man in the white coat could stop her, she ripped off her helmet…
…and revealed the void underneath.
There was an eerie phenomenon known throughout Ikebukuro: The Headless Rider.
“……”
The employee’s mouth was closed and his features remained blank, except for his eyes, which widened significantly.
“Celty! Celty!”
“Huh?”
“Your head! Your head!”
“…Aaaaaaah!”
It was at this point that Celty, the very Headless Rider of rumor and legend, realized that she had taken off her helmet and promptly freaked out, limbs flailing.
The employee just stared at her without comment, so she composed a brief message.
“It’s a magic trick.”
“……”
“…Surpriiiise!”
The effect wasn’t quite as dramatic when delivered via text. The bookstore employee just stared at the Headless Rider.
In the end, the rider and the man in the white coat left the money for the magazine at the register and scampered off, leaving only the sullen employee behind.
A few days later, a brand-new issue of Weekly Space Mysteries hit storefronts. At the back of the rack, a hand-drawn poster had been placed by a very enterprising shopkeep.
Even the nukekubi spirit monster trembles in fear at the shocking truth within!!
When the Headless Rider found out about the sign later, comparing her to a traditional monster woman whose head could float away and move elsewhere, she grumbled, “Nukekubi…Of all things, he had to call me a nukekubi,” and sulked herself to sleep…
But that is a story for another time.
This is a story set in Ikebukuro.
A tale of everyday life for people like the Headless Rider and black-market doctor, or perhaps more typical residents like the bookshop employee, who aren’t quite what you would expect.
Or perhaps it is a tale about love.
A story of twisted love.
Fin
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