"It's still awfully hot here," Minori mumbled to herself as she held her summer hat to cover the heat of the sun shining on her face. She had been invited to stay at her cousin's place for the rest of the summer in Ikebukuro. Come to think of it, it had been five years since she last visited this place.

She sighed as she waited for her cousin, Yoko to arrive. She was taking forever. Ikebukuro has never struck Minori as an interesting place. After all, it looked just like any other city did. Not that she was planning to carve some memories into her heart here, she just wanted to spend time with her cousin whom she hadn't seen for some time. Besides, her life was no more than a daily routine. Ever since the events from last year after Taiga and Ryouji had finally gotten together, nothing else was interesting. Not that she still thought about it. After all, she is happy for them. But...

"Oy! Come back here you bastard!"

Minori's train of thought was distracted as she heard a man scream from the other side of the fountain.

"Heh, pathetic Shizu-kun," said another voice. No one seemed to care as not a single person was reacting. What surprised her even more was that no one was reacting even when this blonde dressed up as a waiter was lifting a vending machine as he stared intently into another man in a coat who was also in fact holding knives.

The blonde man, without holding back, threw the vending machine at his opponent who also at the same time ran for the kill.

Minori, who also wasn't thinking ran for it, and gave the man in a coat her very own roundhouse kick on the head.

"Wow, that was exciting," she said as she avoided the vending machine that nearly hit her. The man in a coat grinned and said in a sly tone, "A newcomer huh. Pleased to meet you, I am Izaya," and ran off to an alley.

"Hmph, thanks for getting in the way," said the blonde man, distracting Minori. "I just saved you. You should be more thankful," she said angrily. Who did this guy think he was anyway? Couldn't he at least acknowledge what she had just done?

He grunted, popped a cigarette into his mouth and lit it. "What's it to you?" he said in a monotonous tone.

"What's it to me?! Your fake blonde hair is what's it!" she said finally screaming. She felt heads turn towards them. The man looked as if a chord had just been struck.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be huh, PINKY!" he shouted back at Minori as he gripped onto his cigarette until it broke.

"How it's GONNA be? I don't think there's going to be a GONNA since I don't plan on even seeing your face for the duration of my stay here!"

"Why you-" his sentence was cut off when a woman came running at them.

"Minoriiiiiiiiin! You're finally here!" Yoko screamed as she hugged her cousin. "My my, you've grown," she said staring at her naughtily.

"Y-Yoko-san!" Minori said quite embarrassed.

Yoko was about to go on chatting when she noticed someone else.

"Shizuo?! What are you doing with my cousin? You're not flirting with her, are you?" she said nudging him on the shoulder.

"Wh-What?! She's your cousin? Tch. Looks like I'm better off quitting my job after all..." he mumbled to himself.

"How do you know him?!" Minori exclaimed at her cousin.

"Ah! I see you're already acquited with Shizuo-kun. He works at our restaurant, dear! He's er... One of our...best...employees. Heh," she answered with a hint of irony.

"You don't have to lie you know," Shizuo said lighting another cigar.

"My my, isn't that great! My two favorite people finally getting to know each other!" Yoko said cheerfully.

"I'm going home," says Minori with a straight face.

"Quittin' my job," added Shizuo.

"Oy! You two get back here!" screamed Yoko.