SIDE STORY 5
DURARARA!! TRUE STORIES:
THEY GET ALONG 2
Shinra’s apartment, near Kawagoe Highway
“Let’s be manga artists, Shinra.”
“…Where is this coming from all of a sudden, Celty?” Shinra Kishitani was confused by his live-in partner Celty Sturluson’s suggestion. What he received as an answer was a continuation of the pitch.
“Or novelists. No big difference, I guess.”
“Okay, well…how about we start by not saying something that will make enemies out of all the manga artists and novelists both, huh, Celty? But don’t worry; if you made an enemy out of every creative professional in the world, and the righteous flames of their hatred on the Internet spread to burn down the entire planet, leaving only you and me left alive, I would still do everything in my power to protect you.”
“…What would you be protecting me from in that situation?”
“I’d hold you just like this, to protect you from the col—derblehrghbppp!”
She extended shadows from her body that twisted around Shinra’s limbs after he tried to launch himself onto her, squeezing him in a deadly bear hug arrangement.
“U-uncle! Uncle! I give, Celty! My thoracic…my T6 vertebrae can’t take iiit—”
“It’s far too early in the day for this kind of embarrassing behavior.”
Only when she noticed his mouth starting to foam did Celty heave an inward sigh and release Shinra from her grasp.
Celty Sturluson was not human.
She was a type of fairy commonly known as a dullahan, found from Scotland to Ireland—a being that visits the homes of those close to death to inform them of their impending end.
But one day she lost her head, and the quest to find her missing part brought her here, to Ikebukuro.
It had been several decades since then, and despite the vagaries of fate, she was now living in Ikebukuro and working as a courier, doing odd jobs for money.
That was Celty Sturluson in a nutshell.
“So, what’s with the sudden interest in being a manga artist?” Shinra asked, rubbing his back.
Celty turned her back toward him in shame, then typed out a message on her PDA.
“I had a thought. Is it really a good thing for me to continue being an illegal courier, constantly working for the seedy underbelly of society? Perhaps it might one day bring disaster down upon you, Shinra.”
“Celty, did you forget what I do for a living?” the black-market doctor chimed in.
Celty ignored him and continued. “But if I try to get a proper job, there are only so many options for someone without a legal identity. Or a head… So I figured, why not be a manga artist or novelist, so you don’t have to meet anyone face-to-face?”
“What about meeting with your editor?”
“You can do that for me.”
“What? So I’m like a body double for you?! Does that mean that by sharing one pen name, you and I will be one being, according to society?! At that point…”
“If you say, ‘we might as well share one body,’ I will cut you,” she said, pointing several blades of shadow at Shinra, who beamed despite the cold sweat trickling down his skin.
“That’s my Celty, always finishing my sentences for me… But putting that aside, do you even know how to draw?”
“I’ve got it covered. Already drawn it, in fact! It’s an epic fantasy based on my personal experiences!”
“What?! You work fast!!”
She pulled out her completed work so that Shinra could peruse it.
“No way, it’s great… This is amazing, Celty! It’s well balanced between realistic and deformed styles, the characters and background are clearly set against one another, and you even used your screentones perfectly!” he exclaimed, thrilled at the high level of technical expertise on display. He read on.
“…But Celty, the manga just ends without any kind of major event or climax to pull you in. And it doesn’t seem like you’re going for the heartwarming slice-of-life thing, either. What’s the point?”
“Isn’t it incredible?! Days and days pass without any kind of crazy nonsense happening! It’s the ultimate fantasy!!”
“Celty…I think you’ve been involved in the criminal underworld for so long, the idea of normal life is just a fantasy for you now…”
Later, he discovered that her art, rather than being made of ink and screentones, was entirely drawn with her own shadow. Because it would be difficult to recreate in print, they realized that the art wasn’t usable, and she decided to switch tacks to writing novels.
Doing research on black-market doctors and the criminal underworld in pursuit of realism, she would ultimately wind up in a gun battle in peaceful Japan…
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 the black-market doctor, 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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