Chapter 1

Izaya Orihara, the information broker, escaped certain death yet again. He always thought it was somewhat uncanny how, every time he was in trouble, he could just slip out of it like soap from anyone's angry grip just through sheer luck. Then there were a couple of other people who weren't quite as amused with this fact. One of them was Shizuo Heiwajima, who, in this case, was the person trying to kill him. His failure to do so made the blood inside him boil furiously, but Shizuo refused to revert to being the notoriously violent brawler he was known for. Instead, Shizuo leaned against a brick wall and very angrily lit a cigarette. Then, he cleared his mind of everything except the image of a candle in a pitch-black room, with its delicate flame dancing gracefully on the pure-white wax. This technique apparently helped his boss go through life without punching everyone in the face, and it would supposedly work on Shizuo as well. Surprisingly enough, it was helping him overcome his demons for a respectable amount of time. But then he started to focus on the flame, and how it pranced around in its position. His muscles grew tense, and he thrust his cigarette downwards to the ground. Shizuo shot his foot down against the now-bent cigarette, and scraped it against the pavement in uncontrollable anger. The flame was now Izaya Orihara, who was prancing in front of Shizuo and mocking him. Shizuo launched his fist against the brick wall in front of him. An enormous dent was made where his fist struck. Izaya was now out of reach, and Shizuo had failed to catch him yet again.

Meanwhile, the cheerful morning sun shone straight through the window of Mikado's history class and onto his textbook, which was still open at the contents page. Mikado Ryuugamine tried his hardest to pay attention to the teacher, but he could hardly keep his eyes half-open because of that film he watched last night on TV. The movie was about a girl who had destructive telepathic powers and was under pursuit from a secret organization. Granted, it was one of those stupid B-movies, but that didn't stop the film from giving Mikado nightmares and, as a result, caused his lack of sleep. Mikado wondered if anyone else saw the film last night as well. Anri Sonohara, a very close friend of Mikado's, seemed to be paying very close attention to the lecture, which was fairly typical of her. On the other hand, Kida Masaomi, a childhood friend, seemed to have noticed something just outside the classroom, and Mikado couldn't pinpoint what that was.
As soon as the school bell rang and class ended, Kida rushed out of the classroom. Mikado followed him, his curiosity now peaking to new heights.
'Mikado!' Kida shouted, in his usual ecstatic tone of voice.
'What is it, Kida?' Mikado had just walked under the doorway when he said this.
'Can you believe this? I knew this day would come someday, I totally knew it! Look over there!'. Kida promptly pointed down the corridor. Mikado's eyes followed Kida's pointing finger, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw what he was pointing at.
"Is...is that...?"
"Mikado! Kida!" Erika shouted. As soon as she got close to Kida, she impulsively launched herself towards him and they hugged. Mikado's eyes darted towards the two of them. He had so many questions now, and he didn't know which to ask himself first. Walker followed not far behind. He was dragging along a large, cloth-covered rectangle that screeched upon contact with the floor. Mikado also saw Walker wave briefly at Mikado, to which Mikado bowed his head down slightly.
"I haven't seen you both in such a long time!" Erika proclaimed, as she separated herself from Kida and proceeded to hug Mikado instead.
"Yeah, I could say the same thing for you guys." Mikado responded. "What are you doing here in Raira Academy?"

Earlier that morning, Izaya was skipping along Ikebukuro's streets, something which he considered a type of morning stroll. It was a new hobby that Izaya adopted, which only took up half an hour on average every day and, at the same time, provided him with an opportunity to carry out his main hobby: observing people. He just loved watching random, unsuspecting people carry out their business. He was like a bird-watcher who observed humans instead of birds. In any case, the blue sky showered a sense of serenity onto the unsuspecting citizens of Ikebukuro, and Izaya was already enjoying his day more than he should have been.
However, it wasn't long before Izaya caught sight of two black men in suits and wearing sunglasses. Izaya could also see that one of the men was almost strikingly bald. Nevertheless, the men were waiting outside a rusty grey apartment complex, checking their wrist-watches every so often. Izaya smirked, and the information broker was curious about someone else's business once again. Maybe they were bodyguards or something. But if that were the case, then what were they doing waiting outside a simple apartment complex? Izaya just had to find out. He approached the two men in suits.
"So, who would you two be waiting for, then?" One of the men turned around.
"Izaya Orihara?" he asked.
"I'm sorry?" Izaya tried to sound shocked due to the fact that they somehow knew his name, but he was only intrigued.
"We've been waiting for you for quite a while" the other man said. "I'm afraid we need your help"
"Uh-huh. You know, you could have just given me a call and I would have been more than happy to help you. After all, I accept any type of clients."
Neither of the men said anything, which brought about a few seconds of awkwardness.
"So what do you need help with?" said Izaya.
"We need you to go to the third room on the second floor, in that inn..."
"It's an apartment building"
"Fine. We need you to go into that apartment building and convince someone to leave room 203"
"Fair enough. But why can't you do that yourself?"
"She's not listening to us, and it's probably not the best idea to pull her out of that room by force."
Izaya thought for a second.
"Does the girl live here?"
The non-bald man nodded.
"Say, this isn't what I think it is, is it?" Izaya bore a gleeful smile as he looked at the man.
"No, it really isn't. Believe me." The man involuntarily scratched his head.
"Come on, what do you plan to do with her? I won't tell. How old is she? Do you know her name yet? Remember, I accept any type of clients."
Izaya was interrupted by the bald man with sunglasses. They stood about ten centimetres away from each other, and exchanged glares. "Look, we've been hired by the owner of this building for pest inspection. However, the girl that lives in room 203 isn't planning on leaving her apartment, and we can't inspect her flat until she leaves. This isn't in any way what you seem to think it is, it is us trying to do our job and nothing more. Now, do you understand why we need you to help us escort that woman out of her house?"
Izaya was mildly amused by how the man tried to make himself seem superior to him. For a while, he pretended to think about the offer. Izaya was certain that everything this man had said was a lie, but he was still very intrigued. This was why Izaya loved being here: you'd never know what would happen next. The information broker walked up to the man and gently patted his bald head. The man shoved Izaya's hand aside in a contained sort of anguish.
"You have convinced me. I will go escort your girl out of the building."
'Thank you for understanding."