Read Online Durarara!!, Vol. 4 (novel) by Ryohgo Narita - Free Book Online
Authors: Ryohgo Narita
Tags: Fiction
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are freelancers, so we can make our own schedules.”
“Freelancers…?” Mikado asked curiously.
Karisawa took a sip of oolong tea and continued, “That’s right. Dotachin’s more of an artisan type. And Togusacchi lives off the rent from the apartment building that he and his brother inherited from their parents. His brother manages the place, while Togusacchi collects the rent money. The reason we can hang out with them so much is because we set our own hours. Of course, until a year ago, everyone except for Dotachin was unemployed.”
Now that she mentioned it, Mikado could tell that they weren’t salaried office types, given that they were meeting him in the middle of a weekday like this. And when he saw them around town, they were always hanging around in their own clothes, no uniforms. They were often with Kadota’s group, but he had to admit that he just assumed the whole bunch had no jobs.
“I make money by selling engraved accessories on the Net, and would you believe what Yumacchi does? What is it, ice sculpting? People pay him to make those ice sculptures you see at parties and stuff.”
“Whoa!”
“Actually, I’m not even that great. I don’t have exclusive arrangements with a hotel or anything reliable like that, so I never know when my income will dry up. But the character sculptures I’ve done for publishers’ parties lately have been a big hit, so if I can survive on that, it’s my dream job. Wanna be the next Kaiyodo.” Yumasaki smiled shyly, referencing a famous figurine maker.
Mikado murmured in surprise, impressed that the two had actual jobs. Based on how wide Anri’s eyes were, he wasn’t the only one who assumed they were unemployed. Given the piles of books they seemed to be buying every single day, that income was pretty sizable. Of course, knowing them, they were probably cutting into their food budgets to squeeze in more books.
He bowed to the pair. “In that case, I’d be delighted to have your help! Hope to see you tomorrow!”
But when Yumasaki followed that up with, “In that case, we’ll start off with a pilgrimage of all the holy sites of Ikebukuro that appear in anime and manga,” Mikado’s gratitude quickly plummeted into regret.
Two hours later, Ikebukuro West Gate Park
“We’ll pay the bill. Just let us sing,” Karisawa had said. Mikado and Anri reluctantly agreed and were treated to a two-hour medley of anime theme songs for their trouble.
They hardly recognized any of them, but Karisawa and Yumasaki were surprisingly talented singers and as comfortable as if they’d practiced singing hundreds of times. In fact, it was probably true that they had practiced the same
song
hundreds of times before.
They especially seemed to like a recent anime theme sung by a pop idol named Ruri Hijiribe—both Yumasaki and Karisawa chose it on different occasions.
After the karaoke was done and they left the singers behind, Mikado and Anri were walking through West Gate Park, chatting.
“Thanks for coming with me today.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I needed to thank them, anyway…”
“You did? For what?”
“For some stuff a while ago…,” Anri said vaguely. Mikado didn’t want to intrude, so he searched for a new topic. He was going to ask her if anything interesting had happened to her over spring vacation when something odd caught his eye.
It was a white gas mask.
In a corner of West Gate Park was a man wearing the strange combination of a white gas mask and lab coat, speaking with a tall Caucasian fellow.
Mikado didn’t want to stare, so he kept tabs on the man out of the side of his eye as he noted, “I wonder what that guy in the white gas mask is all about… The foreigner next to him isn’t wearing one, so it can’t be a gas leak…”
But Anri didn’t respond.
He looked over in case she hadn’t heard him and instantly noticed that something was wrong with her. Anri was looking in the same direction that he had just been doing, but her
“Freelancers…?” Mikado asked curiously.
Karisawa took a sip of oolong tea and continued, “That’s right. Dotachin’s more of an artisan type. And Togusacchi lives off the rent from the apartment building that he and his brother inherited from their parents. His brother manages the place, while Togusacchi collects the rent money. The reason we can hang out with them so much is because we set our own hours. Of course, until a year ago, everyone except for Dotachin was unemployed.”
Now that she mentioned it, Mikado could tell that they weren’t salaried office types, given that they were meeting him in the middle of a weekday like this. And when he saw them around town, they were always hanging around in their own clothes, no uniforms. They were often with Kadota’s group, but he had to admit that he just assumed the whole bunch had no jobs.
“I make money by selling engraved accessories on the Net, and would you believe what Yumacchi does? What is it, ice sculpting? People pay him to make those ice sculptures you see at parties and stuff.”
“Whoa!”
“Actually, I’m not even that great. I don’t have exclusive arrangements with a hotel or anything reliable like that, so I never know when my income will dry up. But the character sculptures I’ve done for publishers’ parties lately have been a big hit, so if I can survive on that, it’s my dream job. Wanna be the next Kaiyodo.” Yumasaki smiled shyly, referencing a famous figurine maker.
Mikado murmured in surprise, impressed that the two had actual jobs. Based on how wide Anri’s eyes were, he wasn’t the only one who assumed they were unemployed. Given the piles of books they seemed to be buying every single day, that income was pretty sizable. Of course, knowing them, they were probably cutting into their food budgets to squeeze in more books.
He bowed to the pair. “In that case, I’d be delighted to have your help! Hope to see you tomorrow!”
But when Yumasaki followed that up with, “In that case, we’ll start off with a pilgrimage of all the holy sites of Ikebukuro that appear in anime and manga,” Mikado’s gratitude quickly plummeted into regret.
Two hours later, Ikebukuro West Gate Park
“We’ll pay the bill. Just let us sing,” Karisawa had said. Mikado and Anri reluctantly agreed and were treated to a two-hour medley of anime theme songs for their trouble.
They hardly recognized any of them, but Karisawa and Yumasaki were surprisingly talented singers and as comfortable as if they’d practiced singing hundreds of times. In fact, it was probably true that they had practiced the same
song
hundreds of times before.
They especially seemed to like a recent anime theme sung by a pop idol named Ruri Hijiribe—both Yumasaki and Karisawa chose it on different occasions.
After the karaoke was done and they left the singers behind, Mikado and Anri were walking through West Gate Park, chatting.
“Thanks for coming with me today.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I needed to thank them, anyway…”
“You did? For what?”
“For some stuff a while ago…,” Anri said vaguely. Mikado didn’t want to intrude, so he searched for a new topic. He was going to ask her if anything interesting had happened to her over spring vacation when something odd caught his eye.
It was a white gas mask.
In a corner of West Gate Park was a man wearing the strange combination of a white gas mask and lab coat, speaking with a tall Caucasian fellow.
Mikado didn’t want to stare, so he kept tabs on the man out of the side of his eye as he noted, “I wonder what that guy in the white gas mask is all about… The foreigner next to him isn’t wearing one, so it can’t be a gas leak…”
But Anri didn’t respond.
He looked over in case she hadn’t heard him and instantly noticed that something was wrong with her. Anri was looking in the same direction that he had just been doing, but her
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