Chapter 7: Volume 1 - CH 2.4

Before he could ask what was going on, his question was answered by a massive shadow looming over him. A huge slab of metal crashed into the pavement where Seymour stood a moment ago. It was part of a water tank that had apparently been installed on the roof of the multi-storey building.

It was followed by a thunderous noise, like a gong being hit, then the sound of splashing water. The tank had bounced, cracking the road before it landed in its final resting place.

The client screamed.

Seymour caught sight of the tank’s base. There was a clean cut where the base had broken. It was pretty obvious that the tank had been deliberately dropped rather than failing over time. No, 『someone』 had committed a crime here.

“Mr. Seymour!” Lumi yelled once more.

Her voice, which accompanied her body as it collided with him again, was filled with even greater urgency than before. This time, Seymour immediately knew why.

After all, a dazzling headlight was hurtling down the road towards them, showing no signs of slowing down.

A second mafia attack.

“────Now of all times!?” Seymour spat out, snatching the photo and the package from the woman.

Not even pausing to check the heavy weight in his hands, he left his client in the dust, running off towards his car. Fortunately the client had included a note with the ship’s details. With this he wouldn’t lose his way and end up lost in the big harbour.

“I’ve accepted the request! We’ll talk about the reward later!”

“Eh, eehh!?”

“Okay, I gotta go……also.”

Leaving Lumi at the Holiday was no longer an option. Making that decision in a split second, Seymour tossed Lumi into the back seat.

“Hold on tight, got it!?”

“O-Okay!”

Lumi keeping her wits about her even as the situation changed by the second was already a big help to Seymour. He jumped into the driver’s seat and pulled the choke lever as the headlights drew ever closer, “Start, start, hurry up and start…….!”

It should be alright. It’s a pretty normal day in winter, and we only spent a short while in the Holiday, the engine should still be warmed up from the trip over here. The conditions aren’t bad. It’s just that if the engine doesn’t start now, that car is going to t-bone us.

His breath caught in his throat, he turned the key with a jerk. The car rumbled to life under him.

“Yeees, it started!”

Stomping on the accelerator, he roughly handled the clutch. His Essex jolted like it had been kicked in the pants and moved out of the way just before the pursuing red Essex came crashing through. It grazed the tail of Seymour’s car as he hiked up the speed.

While putting on his gloves with the help of his mouth, Seymour shouted rather unintelligibly, “Sorry, I might not be very careful with my driving today!”

“Just for the record, your driving wasn’t all that careful last time either, okay!?” Lumi retorted even as she tumbled in the back seat.

“Is that so?”

Either way, we’re in a pretty bad situation. It’s still early in the evening, meaning the roads are going to be packed. And, there’s only one pursuer today. Last time they had five cars, this time there’s only one. Clearly this means that the driver this time around is someone skilled. The car itself is also an Essex. Although they’re different models, they’re not too different performance-wise, so we can’t rely on that to lose him.

In addition, “────Nine minutes left!”

“You’re going to do the delivery!?”

“Don’t ask the obvious!”

If I slow down even a little bit, that car is going to plow right into us. Or rather, despite driving an Essex just like us, he’s already bumped us several times from behind.

“Why is there a slight difference in speed even though we’re both driving the same car…bah, now I get it!”

Even as he weaved through the traffic at breakneck speeds, Seymour looked into the rear-view mirror.

“I suppose it’s because we’ve got an additional 50 kg handicap.”

“Handicap…wait, you’re talking about me!? I don’t even weigh 50 kg!”

“Hoh, how much then?”

“Forty…….guh, I’m not telling you!”

‘What a nice reaction.

Seymour’s mind, which had been frantically scrambling to keep up with the situation, somehow managed to settle down.

Anyway, nothing will be resolved until we can lose our tail. At this rate, we’ll either have a terrible accident on the road, or we’ll get run over the second we stop at our destination. Having said that, the driver of the car behind us is honestly pretty skilled.

He had been changing lanes constantly for a while now, but even though he made sure to weave at the last possible moment he hadn’t managed to put enough distance between the two cars to do anything.

Seymour and his pursuer left a trail of bleating car horns as they raced onwards.

“Now then, I wonder what I should do…uh-oh!”

They were approaching a crossroad. Knowing that the pursuer had his eyes trained on them, Seymour decided to pull a feint. He shifted the wheel to imply that he was turning right before whirling the steering wheel to the left all of a sudden.

A swift turn. Even if the pursuer noticed the fake, they weren’t able to react as quickly and the pursuing car fell about a car’s length behind them.

The road Seymour chose had two lanes. Seymour took in the other two cars on the road immediately. On the left lane was a black Ford. A white Dodge 4 was slightly ahead of the Ford on the right lane. Seymour narrowed his eyes, realizing that this was a great chance.

He sped up, passing the Ford on the right. Then he changed lanes, overtook the Dodge on the left, and immediately changed the lane once more, so closely that he could almost feel the two cars brush past each other. The instant his Essex was in front of the Dodge, he stepped on the brake.

“Kyaa!?” Lumi screamed in the back.

Her head was thrown forward, probably giving her killer whiplash. Seymour could only spare her a brief flash of apology in a corner of his mind. Meanwhile, a loud beeep sounded from behind them. The Dodge 4, which had almost crashed into the back of their Essex had reflexively braked in panic.

After confirming that the Dodge had decelerated sufficiently, Seymour sped up again.

“Great, this should settle it.”

Seymour had managed to maneuver the two cars so that they were now almost parallel. With this, the two cars had effectively blocked off the road. There was plenty of traffic in the oncoming lanes too, it would be impossible to overtake them by driving counter to the traffic.

Fortunately, the road ahead of them was a long straight. All they needed to leave the pursuer in the dust was to accelerate────

“Wait…the fuck!?” Seymour, who was just about to smoothly increase his speed, was forced to look back at the sound of an engine revving behind him.

He watched in disbelief as the pursuing Essex pulled a hoon. Glancing off the curb, the pursuer had lifted the entire right side of the car off the road to drive on the narrow sidewalk with just two wheels. Moving surprisingly quickly considering he only had two tires on the ground, the pursuing Essex passed the wall Seymour had created, and returned to the regular road.

In the next moment, the pursuer tauntingly revved his engine.

“……No way! Give me a fucking break!”

Seymour’s eyes met with the other driver through his mirror. The man wore wine red glasses, and a hat, despite being inside a car. Seymour felt a kind of raw malice from the man, even as the revving conveyed the man’s excitement.

He clicked his tongue. Seymour suppressed the childish urge to give tit-for-tat welling up in his heart. Keeping as much distance between himself and the pursuer as he could, he dodged the normal cars in his way, and drove on and on.

Five minutes left.

If we keep going like this, we should barely make it.

Seymour made that overly optimistic call as the harbor came in sight in the distance. At this rate they would drive straight into the harbor.

But, even though you could call it a harbor, it was a general term for a huge area of water, encompassing a coastal section, brackish waters, and even a part of the river. According to the note on the package, they’d meet the river if they continued heading straight like this. If they went upstream from there, they were supposed to be able to find the ship fairly easily.

We’re going to pull up to the ship right before its departure, and throw the package onto it without stopping. After that I need to come up with some way to give our pursuer the slip, but I’ll have the whole city to figure it out.

But, his plans were immediately proven to be wishful thinking.

A steam whistle shook the air.

In the distance, Seymour could see a ship slowly pulling away. The name carved onto its hull was San Marina. Even though there should still be five minutes before its departure, the ship had already started moving.

“Shit! They’re way too strict on the time!”

“I-Is there any way I can help you…?” Lumi asked, having managed to steady herself on the backseat.

“Okay, I’m busy here, so could you curse at that damn, unpunctual ship for me!?”

“Hueh? Ah, okay! Stuuupid! Stuuupid! Idiooot!”

“Man, what a limited vocabulary you’ve got!”

What a downer. Even an elementary student would know some harsher words.

Shooting a bitter smile at Lumi, who was desperately hurling insults at the ship in her very own way, Seymour turned the car to the right. Instead of driving upstream, he drove down to the road following the river, trying to run next to the moving ship.

Considering the distance, it’d be impossible to throw the package all the way to the ship from this road. But, in a few minutes the ship would probably exit the river, heading out to the open sea. Once that happened, it’d truly be impossible to do anything with a car that needed solid ground to run on.

“Looks like we’ve got one more chance────”

He could see a big bridge ahead. An enormous, arched bridge spanning the port, built to cut down the time it took to circumvent the huge harbor. Inevitably, all the ships in the harbor would need to pass under that bridge.

Even as he plotted their route in his head, Seymour was fervently honking his car horn. The people walking through the port turned towards the noisy sound, and at the same time Seymour could pick up a number of people looking their way from the ship.

“Lumi, look at the photo! The photo! Do you see that person over there!?”

He heard Lumi checking the package they were given by the client. The harbor street was straight, but there were many people walking around, making it impossible for Seymour to take his eyes off the road.

A few seconds later, Lumi happily announced, “He’s there! He’s looking our way!”

“Alrighty! In that case────”

We’ll drive ahead, all the way up the bridge, and throw the package down at the ship when it passes below. It’s a pretty rough delivery, but at least the goods will get where they need to be.

But, just as he was thinking this, Seymour’s car was rammed from behind.

“──────!?”

“Kyaaa!?”

It was their pursuer. Without any regard for his own car, he was trying to ram them off the road.

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Seymour clicked his tongue. Then he clicked it again.

This is bad. If we’re going to throw the package off the bridge onto the ship, car and ship have to pass the bridge at the exact same time, or we have to stop the car on the bridge to wait for the ship to pass underneath.

“But I can’t take my foot off the accelerator in this situation……”

If we stop, only death awaits us. And even if I don’t stop, if I even drop our speed our pursuer is going to ram us until my car is a wreck.

Being chased by a driver skilled enough to give him a run for his money, it was beyond Seymour’s ability to drive across the bridge at top speed while also coordinating his movements with the ship.

Unconsciously his fist hit the steering wheel with a thud.

“Damn it! What should I do? Fuck! If we miss the bridge, we won’t get another chance to get close to the ship. Should we throw it at the ship from here? No, it’d be a bad idea to not stop the car for the throw. Isn’t there something else we can do────”

You could give up on it.

A voice whispered in a corner of Seymour’s mind. After all, it was just a single souvenir. Moreover, it wasn’t a high paying job either. And it wasn’t like his guarantee to deliver the goods once the request was accepted was anything more than his own personal standard.

Even the rule was simply something he had decided himself. It might actually be easier for him if he gave up here. It wasn’t as if people would stop asking Seymour to deliver things over one fairly unreasonable job.

But.

There’s a but. And that just can’t be allowed.

After his father’s death, Seymour had left the home with no goals or aspirations. As such, when he started out as a sham courier, the simple rule of 『delivering』 had quickly been established within himself. It was a meaningless rule, but he decided to keep to it. Because if he didn’t, then he would truly have nothing to strive for.

Just as every car would be lost without the guidance of the traffic laws, Seymour couldn’t exist as Seymour if he couldn’t maintain the rule of delivering. For Seymour Road to continue living, a firm rule, even if it was nonsense, was indispensable. Being a courier defined the existence of Seymour, and if he couldn’t maintain that identity, his existence would become worthless.

Chewing on his lip, Seymour frantically reviewed his options while time continued to relentlessly tick on.

“What should I do? What should I do? What should I do──────?”

“Umm, Mr. Seymour?”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, one that was unexpectedly close. Lumi was holding onto the driver’s seat, and had leaned forward to talk to him. The air around her remained perfectly odorless, like an inviolable sanctuary, even though the scent of the sea hung heavy in the air here. Its cleanness streamed into Seymour’s head, allowing him to regain some of his composure.

Seymour met her eyes in the rear view mirror, silently urging her to speak, so she cautiously suggested, “This is coming from someone who knows absolutely nothing about this, but for argument’s sake, and I really mean it just as an example, if you drove off the bridge with no thought for the landing, would you be able to deliver the package? Would you be able to hand it over?”

“────Huh?”

Even as he was outwardly stupefied, the calm part of his mind was already considering her suggestion.

We’ll drive the car off the bridge sideways. In other words, instead of waiting for the ship to pass underneath the bridge, we’ll try to fly over it. A ship headed for the ocean, and a car flying through the air towards that ship. At most, we’d make about ten meters. It’d give us a few extra seconds. That’s all it would get us.

But, having to stop completely to wait for the instant the ship passes beneath the bridge versus flying through the air towards it, those are two completely different beasts when it comes to timing.

“In that case……it’s probably possible.”

However, no matter what happened, this would all end in a fall. As might be expected, Seymour would really like to avoid having his Essex end up in a watery grave. If he weighed his Essex and his belief inside his mind, his belief would win by a tiny margin, but that wasn’t enough to sway him completely. Such was his current mental state.

“……Mr. Seymour.” For some reason, Lumi twisted her body, and opened the window. While rolling up her sleeves, she swallowed and then said, “Could you trust me and drive off the bridge?”

He hesitated for less than a second.

“Very well, bring it on!”

After confirming the ship’s location in his periphery, he immediately started to shake the wheel, zigzagging down the road like a tire had blown. He did this to adjust their speed to cross the bridge at the right time, but to the guy with the wine-red glasses it would look like they were trying to literally shake their tail, or trying some kind of maneuver to reverse their positions. Either way, he dropped his speed, following them closely without mimicking their movements.

It’s damn annoying how he reacts so calmly to each and every little thing. But, these extra few seconds he’s allowed us are very welcome.

Carefully judging the timing, Seymour simulated how they would follow the street up to the bridge over and over.

Now.

He accelerated. He straightened out the car and raced down the road before turning left towards the huge arched bridge.

When we start going uphill, our weight handicap is going to be clear as day, but well, whatever.

He checked the vicinity. There were almost no cars on the bridge. He checked the ship’s location.

Right on. We’ll be perfect on time, theoretically. In other words, the rest depends on my resolve.

But, that was something he had done a while ago.

“Okay, time to go all in──────”

As they drew closer to the highest point of the bridge, he kicked down on the clutch. His rear wheels spinning wildly, he drifted, whirling around.

Their pursuer assumed that Seymour was going to do a U-turn at this point. Because of this, he deliberately passed the point where Seymour had started to drift, and also spun 180° a little further down the road. He had no need to be impatient, and his logic probably ran along the lines of taking Seymour’s back once again to continue the attack. But, what he actually witnessed after finishing his turn was Seymour’s Essex turning 270°, the car itself ending up perpendicular to the bridge.

Seymour floored it.

“──────Go!”

The tires shrieked. Seymour clenched his teeth, and the Essex smashed through the fence on the bridge. And then, squarely facing the ship, the car was airborne.

Seymour’s intestines felt an unstable, floating sensation.

Is this how it feels to be liberated? To be free?

Those concepts crossed his mind. Simultaneously Seymour grabbed the package with a hand.

“I have a delivery────────y for you!” He threw the package through the window as he yelled.

The package drew a neat arc in the air, one that Seymour was fairly sure would end with it falling onto the ship.

Yep, fall. They were caught by gravity. Of course it was absolute bullshit, but Seymour imagined their current, rapid fall as the result of the car being hit by a huge, invisible fly swatter. The wintery night sea before him was pitch black; it gave him the impression of a ravine with no bottom. Seymour thought about the car getting totally wrecked, or the two of them drowning.

And yet, it didn’t feel all that bad. There was the joyous feeling of having completed the request, and besides, he had the vague feeling it would all turn out alright.

In short, Seymour believed.

“────Please hold on tightly, got it?”

In the slow motion of the moment, Lumi’s calm voice was as clear as a bell. With that warning, she braced herself against the Essex. With both her feet planted on the floor, she pressed her right hand against the ceiling, and then suddenly────

────thrust her left hand out of the window.

“────────────gh!?”

A violent jerk immediately followed. An invisible, mighty force struck the Essex sideways. It was like suddenly being caught in a tornado, or being run over by an invisible truck. The car’s frame creaked, though Seymour’s body creaked louder. Despite being prepared for some kind of impact, Seymour’s forehead still slammed into the wheel.

Suddenly he had a flashback. Lumi’s hand as he tried to grab it. His wristwatch being blown away by the repulsive force.

A lightheadedness, like there wasn’t any blood left in his body. All the blood drained from his face. And amidst all that, he was vaguely aware of the car flying sideways. Flying, or rather, being blown away.

Even as his vision spun, his body still moved instinctively. That is to say, the instant he felt the sensation of the car landing, camouflaged in the impact, he turned the wheel, and stepped on the accelerator.

By the time he came to his senses, as if he had briefly blacked out, Seymour found himself on the road next to the harbor. Not in the water, or atop the arched bridge. The feeling of being blown away wreaked awful havoc in his stomach. Pitch black tire marks littered the road.

“──────”

He hadn’t recovered from the shock. His consciousness was still unfocused and hazy. But, his body still remembered that they needed to move. Even when he was startled by the weird sounds the car was making, his hands remained steady on the wheel.

Everywhere they looked they received looks of mute amazement back. The owner of the red Essex had remained atop the bridge, likely the same expression on his face. Imagining the eyes hidden behind the glasses wide with shock – whether it was true or not – made Seymour feel really good.

Driving onwards, he completely shook their pursuer off. Turning several more corners to make sure their pursuer definitely couldn’t find them again, Seymour breathed out deeply.

With this much of a distance between us, it should be easy to get away. This definitely isn’t going to be the last attack, but at least we should be safe for the time being.

The black Essex, which had already melted into the city’s scenery, leisurely moved on.

Seymour’s voice softly broke the silence that had oppressively filled the car. He spoke cautiously, like he was crossing a tightrope, making sure there wasn’t even a hint of malice in his tone..

“……Just now, that was…?”

Lumi opened her mouth, and closed it again. As if she had suddenly remembered that she had left the window open, she turned the handle in a hurry. Then, after positioning herself like a lady again, she awkwardly showed Seymour her palm, still trembling like it was numb.

“Umm, it’s because I’m a vampire.”

“……”

One of the most common traits of a vampire. The most popular one right after the weakness against sunlight and bloodsucking.

Thinking back on it now, that was a harbor with brackish water. Or, more specifically, running water.

Back there, Lumi Spike ──── a vampire had thrust her hand out of the window. A bare hand outside the confines of a car.

“……Vampires can’t cross flowing water?”

“……Yes.”

Once more, silence.

This time, however, it was a totally different sort of silence. Seymour and Lumi struggled desperately to maintain serious expressions; expressions that would be appropriate considering that they had just survived an attack.

After all, no, it’s completely unbelievable. Sure, I’ve heard the stories, and her arm did get repelled that other time, but I definitely never thought that weakness was so powerful that it could blow the entire car away with us.

“………Kuku!”

“………Ahaha!”

They broke at the same time, helpless laughter bubbling out of them. The sweet feeling of completing the request and being liberated from their tension, and above all, the fact that they had accomplished all that with just the two of them filled them with elation.

In no time, the loud laughter of two people filled the car.

❖ ── ✦ ──『✙』── ✦ ── ❖

————— End of Part 4 —————

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