Durarara!! Vol. 5

Interlude or Prologue C

INTERLUDE, OR PROLOGUE C: KURONUMA AOBA

3 years ago, a suburb of Ikebukuro, rooftop of a certain apartment building

"...The hell you were gonna talk to me about? I don't have that much time to waste either if that's what you're thinking."

The young man did not bother to conceal his irritation as he spoke to boy in front of him.

From the rooftop the view in every direction was already drenched in the red glow of the sunset. The young man narrowed his eyes since the boy he was facing had his back turned to the sun. 

It was difficult to make out the exact expression on the boy's backlit face, but the corner of his mouth was curled into an unambiguous smile.

The young man - Izumii Ran - did not like his younger brother Izumii Aoba at all.

Aoba had always acted all smart and appeared highly aware of other people's needs, which somehow never failed to stir a weird kind of annoyance in him.

Not that his younger brother had ever actually done anything to him. But although he never felt inferior to Aoba in any way, he had this feeling that Aoba was always the one getting all the affection.

Love from their parents, praise from their teachers, friendship from their peers - he felt like Aoba was raised with more of all these forms of love than he was.

Not that he actually wanted more of those than what he had gotten. But his impression had since been that Aoba was the one who was getting everything, and that annoyed him to no end.

As a sort of revenge he had beaten Aoba up on several occasions and encountered little resistance on Aoba's part.

Until this one day, after he had overdone it just a little bit - a small fire broke out in Ran's room. Apparently it started while he was out having fun for the night. The moment he got back home, his father broke his nose.

They said it was because he didn't put out his cigarette.

Fortunately the fire didn't evolve into anything more serious. The problem was, however, that he did not recall smoking at all before he left home that night.

"I'm just so glad big brother is not injured."

His younger brother, then still in elementary school, had smiled the most refreshing smile at him. 

The sheer pressure from that smile had kept him from voicing in front of his brother any doubt he might have had.

Instead he simply distanced himself from his brother, which became easier to do when they began to live physically apart after their parents' divorce.

His younger brother seemed to have changed his surname to their mother's maiden name. Not that Ran cared.

Everything was good as long as he didn't have to see his irritating little brother again.

By now Ran had already earned a reputation as a famous delinquent in the neighborhood. It was best to stay away from the one that was capable of unsettling him. 

However - this very younger brother had said "I need to talk to you" in a serious tone.

Izumii, who came to the rooftop as his brother had asked, did not let his guard down as he hurled insults at his brother.

He was used to fights, after all.

He had no immediate plan to attack. But if his featherweight little brother were to try to pick a fight, Ran should be able to knock him down in no time.