CHAPTER 1
Welcome to Snake Hands

Late April. Ikebukuro. Sunshine 60 Road.

“Snake Hands? What’s that? A Tokyu Hands ripoff?”

In a restaurant gradually filling out with the evening rush, a high schooler said this.

“Oh, the one they say’s the Headless Rider’s boyfriend?”

“Involved… how?”

“Bōsōzoku in the fake kidnapping case? The h.e.l.l? I thought the Headless Rider fans staged that entire thing?”

“That’s not what I heard…”

“The Snake Hands I heard of was an Ikebukuro freelancer.”

The word was hard to link with their image of the Headless Rider, and the boys laughed.

“Like house cleaning?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The girl scratched her cheek, and the boy who had first spoken replied,

“They’re targeting the gullible type, probably.”

“Anyway, have you bought Hijiribe Ruri’s new song?”
“Oh yeah, it’s good.” “———” “——”

And so, their conversation strayed aimlessly into other topics.

But Mizuchi Yahiro, who sat in the next table, was left with the name Snake Hands repeating over and over in his mind.

“What’s wrong, Yahiro-kun?”

“What’s wrong? Are you nervous? No guts to sit with girls?”

Yahiro tilted his head. Kuon sighed.

Kuon was looking at Awakusu Akane, the girl in the middle school uniform sitting with them.

Akane bowed her head quickly. Yahiri bowed his head as well, apologising.

“No, there’s nothing wrong, I’m sorry.”

Unable to stand seeing Yahiro and Akane bowing back and forth like this, Kuon cut in.

“Ah, sorry.”

“Stop! I’m putting an end to this right now! No more apologising!”

“It’s a good thing your senior returned to school safely, right, Akane?”

Akane nodded fiercely.

Although the incident made a flurry on TV and online for a day or two, since there were no deaths and it was revealed as a coordinated series of runaways, it was simply reported as a bizarre incident that turned out as a false alarm, and public attention quickly moved on to the serial a.s.sault case going on in the city.

“Our teacher was very mad, and all of us had our own words for her… But it seems everyone else just thinks she played truant for a week…”

Replying to Kuon, Yahiro said,

“Ah… I’m not saying I wanted it to, okay? Yeah?”

The senior Akane spoke of was her younger sister, and furthermore, her older sister had been the mastermind of the whole thing.

“Yeah… Apparently she could go back to her job, too.”

“Are you serious?”

“I was told the magazine she works for published a special issue for the incident. They said it would be all right so long as she put in her thrilling firsthand account.”

“Her boss doesn’t seem to mind…”

Kuon answered disbelievingly, prodding at the ice in his cream soda with his straw, while beside him Yahiro smiled somewhat happily.

“Well, I guess.”

Relieved at this, Yahiro continued,

“…You can tell?”

“…No.”

“Oi, what’s up with you two?! I’ll even repeat that! What’s up with you two!”

“Huh? Did I do something wrong?”

“Argh! Are you two trying to be robots?! Act your age and have some s.e.xual tension at least!”

Himeka said this coolly, and glanced at Akane.

Kuon, now the odd one out, began to stir his cream soda noisily with his spoon, grumbling at Yahiro under his breath.

With these childish words Kuon sipped up the melted concoction of ice and soda through his straw.

“If you’re asking if I like her or not, I’m going to have to say yes. She’s pretty, and she’s a good person, after all.”

“…”

Said girl’s face remained emotionless as she replied, coolly,

Yahiro nodded firmly at her answer.

“I don’t think you need to apologise, but all right.”

“Oi, what’s up with you two?! I’ll even repeat that! What’s up with you two!”

Their conversation having reached full circle, Kuon, who had now finished his cream soda, changed the topic.

“Slasher…?”

“I’ve heard of it.”

Word was that despite suspicions the case was linked to colour gangs, namely Dollars or the Yellow Scarves, the perpetrator was never identified, and the incident had died down on its own.

“I don’t know. Maybe they had a change of taste. It’s possible the Slasher got bored of seeing blood and had the urge to whack something with blunt force instead.”

Himeka finished her salt-grilled saba set meal, and looking at Yahiro, who was munching with his mouth full of pancake.

“Huh? Who? Headless Rider-san?”

After a brief silence, Akane startled as though realising something, and began,

a.s.sociating with her, the granddaughter of the Awakusu-kai’s chief, could put them at risk of danger.

“It’s not you, Akane-chan; I’m sorry my words bothered you.”

“…It’s you, Kotonami-kun.”

Kuon answered with  exaggerated surprise, but she cut to the point.

“!”

His hand occupied with his pancake stilled, and he eyed Kuon, beside him, surrept.i.tiously.

“I dunno. It’s what the people next to us were talking about, right? Maybe it’s the name of the Headless Rider’s boyfriend or something, the one who appeared during the recent case?”

Himeka, still expressionless, took out her smartphone, and thrust it at him with a certain page.

And written on the screen was:

‘Conflict resolution for Ikebukuro.

Ikebukuro Communal Aid Group —Snake Hands’

There were only these words on the page, without any details on what the business entailed or the fee, or even any means of contact.

“What’s this…? It’s just a weird page.”

“That’s only advertised on sites with Nozomi-san’s style?”

“If you keep going on, you’ll find a page that says, ‘We have information on the Headless Rider’. I think this goes beyond ‘fooling around’, yes?”

“You got me. It shouldn’t be accessible just by clicking, though.”

“d.a.m.n, since Nee-chan was nagging me already…”

“Ah, well. I was going to tell you two sometime, anyway.”

“Tell us?”

An evil smirk came upon Kuon’s face, and he replied to his cla.s.smates, whispering,

“Business?”

And, still wearing that evil expression, Kuon’s smile sharpened.
“Yeah. We made a cool club to solve Ikebukuro’s problems for money.”

“The group’s name is ‘Snake Hands’… Your underground name, Yahiro.”

Kawagoe Highway. Shinra’s apartment.

“Snake Hands Snake Hands… Snake… Hands…!”

“Kuu~! d.a.m.n it! What’s with snakes having legs! More isn’t always better! It makes me want to ask if they’ve heard too much of a cure becomes poison! It’s exactly in situations like this where people say less is more! Exactly! This situation! Exactly!”

‘What’s wrong all of a sudden. Yahiro-kun again?

Although angry just seconds prior, his mood quickly swung and he held Celty’s hand with a lovestruck expression.

On the screen was a forum where rumours about Snake Hands were being discussed.

‘I heard the Headless Rider’s tagalong that everyone’s been talking about recently is called Snake Hands.’

‘Well, that bike gang… people from Dragon Zombie.’

‘But there’s nothing else to call him anyway. It’s troublesome to say “the Headless Rider’s lover” all the time.’

‘There’s a rumour the Headless Rider’s a she… Well, if that’s true maybe that makes Snake Hands her boyfriend?’

“What slander! Your only boyfriend is me! The rumours aren’t dying, down, they’re spreading! At this rate I’m going to have to go on the Headless Rider page on online wikis and write ‘Celty is cohabiting with her boyfriend Kis.h.i.tani Shinra. They live an exciting, erotic life every day,’ in a corner…”

“Ow?!”

Seeing her cohabitant rolling around on the floor pressing his head, Celty rushed over.

“I’m fine Celty. I can love even the pain you give me!”

“But I really do envy Yahiro-kun. He got clothes handmade by Celty.”

“Hey, Celty.”

Celty said curtly before he could even ask.

‘If I do anything for you you’ll just ask for more and more.’

Shinra bowed his head in contrition, and Celty sighed.

Celty typed somewhat bashfully. Shinra gaped for a full moment—

“Uwahhh! Thank you, Celty! Celty, thank you! I know that day will come… That alone will become my reason to go on living!”

“My birthday’s 2nd of April, so that’s just 11 months to go! I’m so excited!”

Just then, Celty’s phone that was on the desk began to ring—not the smartphone she normally used to communicate, but the flip phone she carried around for work.

As Shinra saw the sender displayed on the phone’s screen, he shuddered.

[Snake Hands]

At the sight of these words, he cried out again,

‘It’s not like that, don’t misunderstand.’

‘This Snake Hands isn’t Yahiro-kun.’

Pressing the b.u.t.ton to check the message, Celty continued,
‘Like I said, I have a new side job.’

‘Its name is Snake Hands, Shinra.’

The next day. Ikebukuro. Karaoke box Pasela. Inside a private room.

“Ah, so you’re Yahiro-kun!”

It was the first day of Golden Week in Ikebukuro.

The man had narrow slit-eyes and looked to be of mixed blood, while the woman was black-haired and decked in black.

The pair sitting opposite Kuon saw Yahiro enter, and addressed him amiably.

“Karisawa Erika, nice to meet you.”

Nodding, Yahiro sat beside Kuon, and asked,

“Not exactly, more like people Aoba-sempai knows, so we’ve spoken on the street a couple times before…”

“Ah, yeah, same as always.”

Karisawa laughed. Yahiro tilted his head.

“Oh, just an inside joke. So, what’s your relationship with Kuocchi… ah, Kuon-kun?”

Yahiro said promptly. Karisawa questioned further,

“I’m not sure. He’s the first friend I’ve made in my life, so I don’t really know.”

“I see~, hm~, oh~…”

“Your first friend ever, huh? That works. Onee-san loves that kind of scenario. It’s cute that Kuocchi’s embarra.s.sed, too.”

Yahiro tilted his head further. Yumasaki, breaking out in cold sweat, said,

“Ah, sorry, sorry, Onee-san made the two of you 2D in her head for a moment, that’s all.”

“No worries. Really.”(Y)

“Well, actually. We used the contact details on the Snake Hands site. We were surprised Kuon-kun was a member, when we made contact.”

Kuon shrugged.

“So, about the commission.. I’ve been able to handle everything up till now with just my connections, but theirs is a little tricky. We need help.”

“No, it’s not a job anyone can handle. It’s going to take someone special.”

“…A very strong fighter, specifically.”

A brief silence.

“Karisawa-san, down. Down down down.”

Silence enveloped the room.

“Sorry, Kuon-kun. I’m not very willing to do that kind of job…”

Yahiro bowed his head in apology, but Kuon quickly waved his hands in denial.

“You’re not?”

“Yep. Do we look like the kind of bad guys to hire high schoolers to do that?”

“Yeah?”

“I see. Sorry, Kuon-kun. I misunderstood.”

“?”

Kuon mumbled. Karisawa said clearly in his stead,

“Huh?”

“We didn’t expect it to be someone we knew, though.”

“But you see, we’re up against the Slugger here… Whatever Kuocchi says, I didn’t think we can put children in danger like this, you know? But Kuocchi was very confident went he said you would be okay…”

“…”

“Trump card?”

“Since he said you have Celty-san on your side, we can relax.”

Yahiro looked at Kuon with surprise.

“Um… Do the both of you know Celty-san too?”

“You even visit her house… You might as well be best friends!”

Karisawa, while surprised, smiled mysteriously with an air of thoughtfulness.

“Eh, we could’ve asked Celty-san from the start, but it’s a dangerous job after all.”

(*Nicococo!! reference.)

“I see.”

“You see, it’s similar to what we did for the kidnapping case. It’s just that if we catch the eye of the Slugger there’s a risk of being attacked. You’re a strong fighter, so if it’s you we don’t have to worry.”

“Don’t be humble! I don’t know what you’re thinking, but the moment you fought on par with Shizuo the public consensus is you’re strong! Give up on the modesty, ‘kay? More than that, you wouldn’t want that Slugger on the loose, right? We never know, you or Himeka-chan might be next!”

Yahiro nodded immediately, but Kuon felt bothered rather than relieved.

“Yeah. I made up my mind during the last incident. When it comes down to it, the only gift I have is with violence. So at least, I want to make sure I don’t apply it in the wrong place.”

“What I’m sure of right now is that protecting friends like you and Himeka-chan is the right thing to do. So I can accept helping to catch the Slugger.”

Kuon said, intending to criticise Yahiro’s thoughtlessness.

“Even if I said that and backed out right now, you’d still continue without telling me, right?”

“If we’re going to make an enemy of the Slugger anyway, rather than getting ambushed without knowing a thing, facing it head-on… is less scary.”

“So if you’ll have me, please let me help.”

“No need to be formal. We’ll be paying you, anyway, plus we’re business partners; equals. Eh, you can hear those details from Kuon-kun. Anyway, what we’re paying for is information, so if you feel like there’s any danger at all you have to pull back, okay? No matter how strong you are, you should leave the dangerous stuff to adults. That’s the one thing you shouldn’t be stubborn about, got it?”

Yahiro bowed his head again, but suddenly a question occurred to him, and he asked,

Had a relative or friend of theirs been attacked?

But instead of an answer, Yumasaki took out a stack of books from his bag, and began arranging the books on the table.

The books appeared to be manga volumes.

The manga was t.i.tled ‘Owl of the Peeping Dead’. The anime and live action adaptions of the series had earned the t.i.tle popularity.

Yumasaki smiled cheerily, and slid the books out to Kuon and Yahiro.

“This?”

“Wait, I know the Slugger cosplays a character from this, but…”

Yumasaki’s tone suddenly grew agitated. He picked up a microphone from the table, and announced to the room,
“OPD did nothing wrong! Nothing!”

10 minutes later.

“But halfway through the series they discover something terrible… A zombie that had lost sentience and regained it afterwards appeared. The protagonist ‘The Owl’ received a major shock, realising that there might be a way to save the zombies he had killed thinking they could no longer return to who they were. That it might have been as the zombie protection a.s.sociation said, that they were only sick and could be cured…”

“Aaaahhh! I’m so sorry! To reveal spoilers in front of a to-be reader…! I’ve failed as an otaku! I’ll live in regret!”

“It’s all right, I know the story.”

“No, I saw the live action movie.”

At this, Karisawa’s eyes began to shine as well, as she added,

“Yeah, there wasn’t much CG because of the low budget, but Zakuroya Tenjin-san’s zombie makeup more than made up for it.”

“Whoa, you know Zakuroya-san! Yahiro-kun, you actually know quite a lot, huh?”

“O, oi, you know OPD?”

“Oh, so you’re into movies.”

Yahiro replied as if it were obvious, and reminisced,

“Oi don’t say that, I feel lonely just hearing it.”

“If a self-proclaimed loner said something so mood-ruining for attention, like, ‘hey, aren’t I pitiful,’ I could just nod along and ignore it. But you’re saying it so stoicly. How do I react?! If I outright say you’re a poor thing, I’ll just feel bad!”

“Was I pitiful?”

“It’s OK it’s OK, maybe you’re a poor thing but you’re very very cute.”

At the unexpected touch, Yahiro shivered like a cat that had had its tail pulled.

“Anyway! Anyway! I can’t forgive the culprit! I have old friends from dōjin circles in WWW who are really bothered by this case!”

If his friends were being affected, then this Yumasaki person’s anger was well-justified.

“But… Say Celty-san catches the culprit, what then?”

“We just want to talk to the criminal.”

“We want to ask why they would do something to tarnish the image of anime fans like this… That’s all, nothing more.”

Yahiro, cowardly as he was, sensed something terrifying lurking behind their smiles—and chose, silently, not to probe further.

One hour later. Karaoke box. corridor.

Afterwards they wrapped up with the talking, and under the guise of a ‘bonding session’ Karisawa and Yumasaki had an anisong fest.

Most of the songs were unfamiliar to Yahiro, but he was able to select theme songs from movies he liked, and enjoyed his first karaoke experience whole-heartedly.

But when he left the room to go to the restroom, he wound up having a confrontation with Kuon, who had been on the phone in the corridor.

“…Yeah, I’ll call you again later, Nee-chan.”

Then, with a fearless smile, he said mockingly,

“At what?”

“?”

Had he done something to anger Kuon?

Seeing this, Kuon bit at him,

“There were?”

Kuon asked this so bluntly he tutted at himself, and began to rail at Yahiro.

“Yeah.”

“But does that really mean I should be angry?”

Kuon found himself speechless, and they were left with the muted sound of music echoing through the soundproofed walls of the hallway.

…When do you get angry?”

After some thought, Yahiro replied, his expression darkening as he did so,

“…Hey, like I said, if you bring up examples that are so heavy I really won’t be able to answer, so please.”

“Hey… Haven’t you thought that I might do something like those people? Haven’t you imagined that I might use your family or Himeka to force you into bad situations?”

“That’s why you need to be angry at an earlier checkpoint! Draw the line between right and wrong, won’t you? You can tell I’m the bad guy with one look, right?”

“This is what I think, Kuon-kun. I don’t think right and wrong are so simply defined. At any rate, I don’t have a good understanding of such things.”

“If it’s clear-cut, like a serial killing random people, or the serial a.s.saults going on now, I can understand it. But I don’t have the confidence to distinguish less simple things, like whether you and Himeka-chan are good people. All I know is that the things I’ve done up till now are no better than the Slugger. So I don’t think I’m capable of deciding who is good or bad, and I don’t have that right.”

“That’s why, if you think you’re being a bad person, and you want me to punch you in the face so you can stop…”

Yahiro reflected on himself, and taking those thoughts into account, finished,

Yahiro’s words were honest to the point of foolishness.

“Sorry.”

Grinding his teeth, Kuon said angrily,

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to fix it.”

Kuon tsked, and began to walk away, signalling the end of the conversation.

“Yeah… Thanks for worrying about me.”

His expression stiffened, but by the time he turned Yahiro had already walked away, and Kuon only caught sight of his back as he rounded the corner towards the restroom.

“s.h.i.t, Yahiro’s really crazy…”

“If only he were a villain like Orihara Izaya, I could just squeeze him dry…”

Night time. Somewhere in Ikebukuro.

“Thanks for today, Horada-san!”

After his juniors bade their farewells, the man was left to walk home alone.

He was a former officer of Blue Square, and for having hijacked the Yellow Scarves once, he was the man known—self-proclaimed—as luck’s favourite child.

However, right now colour gangs themselves had faded from Ikebukuro.

Having been left behind during his jail time, Horada now continued to plot his next era.

To stand his ground in Ikebukuro under these circ.u.mstances, having decisive power was necessary.

—s.h.i.t, there hasn’t been a good time to catch that Mizuchi Yahiro since ten.

In the recent fake kidnappings, it was Horada who had tracked where Tatsugami Himeka had been taken by her abductors, though it was by complete coincidence.

This meant the boy now owed him a debt, but if he pushed the matter too much or too clumsily, the boy might obey him only once and there would be no chance to create a long-term alliance.

—But I’ll be in trouble if word spreads around… I don’t know just what happened, but I heard Awakusu-kai and Dragon Zombie and whatnot were all there. If things go badly I could wind up targeted…

—Anyway I’m thirsty.

Standing in front of the vending machine, Horada selected the no-sugar milk coffee.

The vending machine, no different from usual.

When he noticed one abnormality.

Sensing a shadow moving at the edge of his vision, he turned his head to the left.

“Uwoh?!”

“What the h.e.l.l? What’s with that costume! I’ll kill you!”

It was a slim object bound in white cloth.

From the shape alone it was obvious it was a metal hammer beneath those bandages.

“Uwooaahh?!”

“Wha… B, b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You don’t know who I am?! What gang are you?! Huh?!”

“And dressing like a weirdo…”

He got to his feet immediately, but the person in the black mascot suit swung the hammer again, undaunted.

Horada flung the canned coffee he had just bought at his a.s.sailant.

Mascot Suit blocked the can aimed at their abdomen with both arms.

Before Mascot Suit could raise the hammer again, he began to punch the hooded face without abandon.

“b.a.s.t.a.r.d… You think a weakling like you can beat the great Horada?! Huh?!”
Yelling that, he moved closer so as to deliver the final blow, about to kick Mascot Suit’s face, but—

“Gah?!”

An impact rocked him, and the upper half of his vision went dark.

“Two on orrrne… Don’t think I’m scarrred… Bas… tards…”

Was the bandage-wrapped hammer coming down upon him without mercy.
And his own blood staining those white bandages.

The next morning.

‘Next on the news. The current serial a.s.sault case has a new victim.’
‘The casualty is a 22-year-old unemployed man in Tokyo, Horada—’

****CHAPTER END****

Interlude: Rumours on the Internet

Ikebukuro Information Site, IkeNEW! Version I・KEBU・KUR・O

Latest Article, A gang war breaks out—Ex-Colour Gang Topdog Falls Victim to the Slugger—Revival of the Yellow Scarves?

‘In the early hours of the morning today, an anonymous call from the public that a man was being a.s.saulted on the street drew the police to said scene, where they discovered a man on the ground with a head injury.

According to the caller, the attacker was wearing something black that looked like a mascot suit, and had attacked with a white rod-like object. As such, the police are investigating this case with the possibility that the culprit is the same one behind a serial a.s.sault case.
There is also news that the man attacked was an officer in a colour gang that used to exist in Ikebukuro. One of our sources offered the following opinion: ‘This could be a war between colour gangs or bōsōzoku disguised as random a.s.sault.’ As there could be an outbreak of gangfights, various groups are keeping up their guard.’

—(Click here for the full article)

Reference material—Tsuk.u.moya Shinichi-shi’s commentary, extracted from another news site

‘Whether related to the Slugger or not, it is true that the return of Dragon Zombie’s leader has affected the power play between gangs.

I would like to continue observing if he, or she, or they, will become the eye of a new storm in Ikebukuro.
As the Slugger’s victim this time is a man who was noted widely back in the era of the Dollars, it is possible that old coals may be rekindled with this incident. It may be worth keeping an eye on this.’

IkeNEW! Administrator’s Comment

“According to online rumours, it’s H-san who only recently came out from prison-moja.

A scary ex-convict…

If it’s a gang fight, who did it?

Jyan Jyaka Jyan?

Yellow Scarves?

Saitama’s Toramaru?

Creepy-moja. Scary-moja.

Touch wood-moja.”

Administrator Lila Tailtooth Zaiya

Excerpts of typical tweets from microblogging site Twittia.

※The rest of the conversation was kept private.

****CHAPTER END****