Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel)

Read Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel) Online

Authors: Ryohgo Narita

Tags: #Fiction, #Science Fiction

BOOK: Durarara!!, Vol. 2 (novel)
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Prologue: Red Breath, Long Breath

Her love was so unbearably creaky,

so unsalvageably rusted,

and while so apparently deep in its fixation—

it was in fact ignorant, foolish, and shallow in the extreme.

I love people.

Whom do I love? No, not whom! I love
all
human beings!

What do I love about them? Don’t ask silly questions! Everything, I love everything!

I love the hot blood that goes from bright to filthy black as it races through their bodies!

I love their sinewy muscles, so tough yet soft, that tear right apart!

I love their bone, slender and frail yet sharp and rough!

I love their cartilage, trembling soft and clinging wetly and smoothly!

I love their throats, chirping and screaming sounds of love when I touch them!

I love their eyes, dripping tears in response to my love!

Most of all, when my love has peaked…and the cross section of split flesh appears.

I love anything and everything about them. You get it?

Yes, I love you, too, of course. But I cannot “love” you.

But you should love me.

Yes, it’s entirely one-sided.

In exchange for your love of me, I will love all other humans.

A rather twisted triangle.

Will you abandon me? Hate me? Use me ragged like an old cloth and throw me away?

But you can’t
not
love me, can you?

You can’t not love my power, can you?

It’s fine to love me. That’s up to you.

But I won’t love you. In fact, I can’t.

As long as you’re gripping me, I can only love those you wish to cut.

And don’t you dare think about seppuku.

It will be hard to search for another person to love me…

Her love was so unbearably straight,

so smooth and sharp,

reflecting the figures of those she loved within her body

and tearing everything apart.


Chat room

Demon blade?

«
That’s right! Did you know about that, Tarou?
»

How would I have known about that? Setton, isn’t that your forte?

[A demon blade… Like Muramasa, you mean?]

«
No, Setton! That’s more of a cursed blade, the kind that brings you misfortune just for having it. This is a different thing! It’s more like something out of a manga, where it controls your mind and makes you slice people!
»

[But…I thought most of those were just called Muramasa.]

Like a Muramasa Blade?

[“You decapitated your foe!”]

That’s from
Wizardry
, right? I didn’t realize you were a gamer, Setton.

«
Hey, stop going off on tangents!
»

[Oh, sorry.]

Sorry, Kanra.

«
Well, listen up! Ikebukuro’s buzzing over this demon blade! There’s a mysterious murderer who appears in the back alleys late at night, swinging the deadly weapon! There are no fatalities yet, but whoever it is has been going hog wild with a katana on their victims!
»

That kind of sounds like it should be fatal…

«
Apparently they go just shallow enough not to kill! Some of the victims have had their arms cut and stuff!
»

[It just sounds like your average crime spree to me.]

«
No, you don’t get it! This is a katana we’re talking about! Whoever it is just slips in and slices the victim before they can escape, with these eerie inhuman moves! Whoever’s responsible must not be human!
»

[But why does that make it a demon blade?]

«
Heh-heh, well, just between us…one of the victims got a look at the face of whoever slashed them, and it was apparently totally wild.
»

What do you mean, wild?

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