Durarara!!, Vol. 1 (novel) Read Online Free Page B

average in school rankings, but it boasted one of the nicest campuses in the city. He had the option of going to school locally, of course, but it was his dream to live in the big city and an invitation from a childhood friend who moved away years ago that convinced him to make the leap.
    This friend might have transferred away during elementary school, but Mikado had the Internet already at that age, and they chatted online nearly every day once in middle school. They hadn’t seen each other in person during that time, but they weren’t distant in any real sense.
    Mikado’s parents weren’t used to the Internet, and the invitation of someone their son hadn’t seen since elementary school was not a satisfactory reason to send him off to Tokyo. They didn’t mention this, but they probably would have preferred to send him to a cheaper local public school. They argued, but Mikado convinced them by saying he’d raise his living funds outside of tuition by working jobs, and at last he was allowed to start a new chapter of his life in a new place.
    “I think I’ve made a terrible mistake…”
    He was feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that would never bother to acknowledge his existence. He knew this was an illusion he himself was creating, but it was hard not to wonder if he would ever get used to this sensation.
    After about the fifth sigh, he heard a familiar voice.
    “Yo, Mikado!”
    “?!”
    He glanced up with a start to see a young man with his hair dyed brown. There was still a youthful softness to his face, which clashed somewhat with his hair and pierced ears.
    Mikado was afraid he’d already been singled out for a shakedown orsome kind of scam, then belatedly realized the person had called him by name. He glanced closer at the stranger and began to recognize the features of an old friend.
    “Wait, um…Kida?”
    “You have to ask? Okay, multiple choice: three answers. Am I, one, Masaomi Kida, two, Masaomi Kida, or, three, Masaomi Kida?”
    For the first time since reaching Ikebukuro, Mikado smiled.
    “Wow, Kida! Is that really you?”
    “Thanks, just ignore the joke I spent three years crafting… Anyway, good to see you, man!”
    “We were talking in chat just yesterday. Sorry, you look so different, I couldn’t be sure it was you. I wasn’t expecting your hair to be dyed! Also, that joke sucks.”
    Though they talked nearly every day online, there was no way for him to know how his friend’s face had changed over the years. His voice was lower now, so it was little wonder he failed to recognize it at first.
    Masaomi Kida smiled shyly and objected, “Well, it’s been four years. And it’s not that I’ve changed too much; you haven’t changed
enough
. You look exactly the same as you did in elementary school…and don’t slam my jokes.” He smacked the top of Mikado’s considerably more-youthful head a few times.
    “Ack, knock it off. As if you’ve ever been shy about telling bad jokes in chat…”
    Mikado swatted away his hand but wasn’t really upset. First in school and later in the chat room, Masaomi had always been the one pulling Mikado along, and Mikado had never had a problem with that arrangement.
    With their greeting out of the way, Masaomi started off through the crowd.
    “Shall we take this outside, then? Go west, young man! Psych—we’re heading for the Seibu exit, not the west exit. The trickster guide strikes again.”
    “Oh, I see. So what’s the difference between the west exit and the Seibu exit?”
    “…That joke fell flat.”
    Just from his short stroll with Masaomi, Mikado’s fear of the crowd was already easing. Simply walking with another person who knewthe town, an old familiar friend, made the sights of the big city vastly different in Mikado’s eyes.
    “See, outside of Ikebukuro Station, the Tobu (East Tokyo) Department Store is at the west exit, and the Seibu (West Tokyo) Department Store is at the east exit… Ugh, is there anything