Free Durarara!!, Vol. 3 (Novel) by Ryohgo Narita Page B

asked, his voice dripping with irony.
    Celty did not hesitate in responding,
“Of course.”
    Shingen’s eyes went wide behind the gas mask at the forthright confidence of her answer.
    “Of…of course?”
    “Why? Is there a problem?”
    “Well…damn. My plan to take the advantage by bringing up your antisociality has failed. I suppose I only have myself to blame after turning my son into an unlicensed doctor.”
    “I don’t want to hear a single word from you about antisociality,”
she shot back.
    Shingen’s gas mask turned away from Celty in a huff. He tried a different vector of attack. “Er, okay, well… Is that any way to speak to your lover’s father? What happened to respect for your elders?”
    “I have been alive for at least a century. And that’s only what I remember.”
    She still had memory that suggested she had been living for much, much longer than that, but since losing her head, she could only clearly remember the last 120 years. Then again, it was possible that even if she recovered her head, those older memories would remain hazy.
    “Grrmm… Very well, I accept your relationship. And in return, you may now refer to me as ‘Father.’ At all times. Knowing your difficulties with your memory, allow me to repeat myself: You will now call me Father.”
    “Silence,”
she retorted briefly, then gave Shingen a fresh glare. Of course, without any eyeballs to indicate such, Shingen might not even realize she was glaring at him.
    Now that I think about it, he might have stolen my head himself. In which case, it would be his fault my memory is poor to begin with.
    She just needed some kind of proof. Then she could put him through the wringer. Meanwhile, she decided that she ought to be calm in this situation.
    “At any rate, Shinra is not a child.”
    “That’s right, Dad. We’re serious about this. I’ve been reborn since Celty came here. I feel permeated with a deep feeling of contentment that never existed before,” argued Shinra, who had finally been freed from the shadow, but his father discarded his opinion.
    “But you were just a boy when Celty got here.”
    “Age means nothing to true love.”
    “Good grief, she really has done a number on you,” Shingen sighed, exasperated at his son’s logic. He rearranged the fit of his gas mask and muttered, “Done a number, huh? Celty, tell me, are you aware of the fairy known as a leanan sídhe?”
    “Of course. They’re fairies who travel in search of their destined lover. The man a leanan sídhe ends up with has a shorter life span but receives all kinds of special abilities in return.”
    “Aha. Very good,” Shingen said approvingly.
    Celty puffed out her chest with pride and boasted,
“Heh, I always get one on my party in my favorite video game series.”
    “Can’t you at least say it’s because they’re fellow fairies? Hell, those are even from Ireland, same as you,” Shinra prodded her, exasperated.
    Celty swiveled her PDA screen to show him.
“My home is Ikebukuro. After all…it’s where my family is.”
    “Ohh! That’s the sweetest thing! They say there’s no cure for lovesickness, but your smile can fix all ailments! C’mon, let’s mate like fish—
gwufg!
”
    Celty nailed Shinra’s rapidly approaching throat and gave Shingen’s previous question a more considerate answer.
“Back on topic, I do remember meeting a few different fairies back there.”
    She continued typing at the PDA in little bits and pieces, taking the time in between to peruse her uncertain past.
“What about leanan sídhe?”
    “Watching you just now, I had the feeling that perhaps you’re closer to a leanan sídhe than a dullahan.”
    “You think I’m going to suck the life out of Shinra?”
Celty made a gesture of affront.
    Shingen shook his head. “No. As you said, a leanan sídhe is a fairy that travels in search of a man to love. If the man she sets her eye on resists, she becomes a slave who will do anything he says if it will