Durarara!! Vol. 5

Interlude or Prologue A

Night of May 3rd, Itabashi, Tokyo

There was an overpass over National Highway 254, commonly referred to as "Kawagoe Highway".

On that overpass now stood a young man with a medical mask over his one eye, surrounded by a throng of girls and watching the flow of vehicle headlights under the overpass.

"Ne Rocchi, are you not in pain any more?"

"I'm in horrible pain. But as long as I'm with you all I'm fine. The breath of cute girls in my ear is the best analgesic."

Chikage rubbed at his Band Aid with one hand as he said this. One of the girls opened her mouth to say in a serious tone:

"Rocchi."

"What's up?"

"You're sick."

"Wha - ......"

Chikage's head dropped forwards in a dramatic fashion as if her words had been a fatal blow. But in fact he was not disheartened in the slightest as he turned towards the girls and said:

"I need to thank you for showing me around Ikebukuro's streets today, though. It gave me quite some ideas."

"Drop that pretense, Rocchi. We know you've hardly even stepped out of Saitama."

"But you scared me to death with all those injuries when we saw you."

"Yeah. Don't fight if you don't know how to fight, Rocchi."

Chikage smiled hollowly at the chattering throng of girls and said:

"I'm good at it."

"So did you win?"

"......No, I lost."

"I knew it~"

The girls sighed. Chikage sighed back.

"My opponent was too strong. But hell if that's not the fight I enjoyed the most in years. And he was a nicer guy than I'd expected, too."

Chikage said with a gloomy expression on his face. The girls began to shoot back.

"No idea what you're talking about."   "Why was he in a fight with you if he was so nice?"   

"Guys never grow up......"    "Especially Rocchi......."

"The only grown-up part about him is the lower body......"    "That's sick."    "What kind of guy asks eight girls out on a date at the same time?"    "Huh, I thought he actually asked ten more?"    "Most of them got mad and went home."    "That's just the worst."    "Why are we dating such a playboy?"    "Because that's one of our sick hobbies?"

Chikage narrowed his eyes and tilted his head sideways as the girls continued to make biting remarks about him. 

"You look like you really enjoy talking about me. I'm at least a better guy than that aristocrat with 30+ maid slash lovers they talked about on TV a while back, don't you think?"

"Eh? But didn't you say you were jealous of him?"

"......We'll talk about that later. Anyway, take care on your way home today. Don't walk alone until you're in the Station."

The girls smiled in resignation as Chikage made an obvious attempt to change the topic.

"OK, OK, Rocchi. You sure worry a lot about us."

"See you later."

The girls said their goodbyes and walked off the overpass. 

Chikage watched them leave with a smile on his face and kept staring at the night view of the highway.