Chapter 1

Ikebukuro

Tokyo was everything Alexandra Campbell had expected, and even more. She had travelled all the way to Japan, in hopes of finding an adventure, something that would take her away from her everyday routine, for she believed her life to be overly dull and predictable, and she wanted to believe that her life had been meant to be at least a little more exciting. She didn't know, however, that she couldn't have chosen a better place than Ikebukuro for said purpose.

The flat she had rented was small, to say the least, even when it was completely empty. She took of her shoes at the genkan, remembering the Japanese tradition, and got inside. She took a refreshing shower and put on her favourite jeans, a white t-shirt reading 'I'm not sarcastic. I'm just smarter than you', a pair of combat boots and a leather jacket. Without wasting any more time she went out again, eager to look around the city. Many people turned around to stare at her, but had expected as much. She was a gaijin, after all. The wind was blowing through her messy red curls and her curious sea green eyes observing everything around her.

It was already dark and she was hungry. She was looking for a place to eat when she bumped into someone, making both of them fall to the ground.

"Oh, hey, are you OK?" a blonde high schooler asked, kneeling beside Alex to help her.

"Ah! I'm sorry, are you alright?" said the guy who had bumped into her nervously.

"No, it was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going," Alex told them, standing up with the help of the blonde guy. "Do you know of any good place to eat? I've just arrived here today..."

She looked up at both of them, sadly realizing she was shorter than both of them, even though they were three or four years younger than her. The dark haired guy shook his head shyly, while the other guy grinned at her.

"Sure! What would you like to eat? It's Mikado's first day here, as well! I'm Kida Masaomi, what's the name of the beautiful lady?" he asked her.

The redhead stared at him amused at his attempt to flirt with her. "I'm Alex, nice meeting you both. I don't have anything in mind, as long as it's not too expensive."

Masaomi looked thoughtful for a while and then offered his arm to the girl. "This way, my lady."

"Thank you, kind sir," Alex replied stifling a chuckle and taking him and Mikado by their arms. The shier guy blushed, but didn't make any effort to free himself from the girl's hold, and Kida lead their way to his favourite sushi place.

A huge black man dressed as an itamae was handing out flyers.

"Hey, Simon! It's been forever!" Masaomi greeted the man.

"Ah, Kida! Want some sushi? It's good. I'll give you a discount. Sushi's good" said Simon in a weird Japanese.

"Forgive me, I don't have much money on me. The lady was looking for a place to eat, though" replied the blonde guy, nodding towards Alex.

"Eh? You're not going to have dinner with me? It's my treat!" said the redhead, glancing at the two guys at her side. She hoped they would say yes, as it wouldn't hurt her to make some friends.

"It's not right to let a lady pay!" exclaimed Kida, in mock outrage.

"But you can take it as a thank you gift, for taking me here AND for showing me around Ikebukuro tomorrow"

The blonde guy smirked and nodded. "It's a date then!"

Mikado looked at the two of them and shook his head in amusement. "Is it really alright?" he asked Alex. The girl nodded and smiled widely as the three of them entered the place. Alex sat in the middle of the two guys and soon the three of them were talking animatedly, waiting for their sushi to be served.

"Say, why did you want to eat outside instead of at your home?" wondered Masaomi.

"Why, because I wanted two good looking Japanese guys as my escorts, of course!" replied Alex.

"Eh?! Aren't you older than us?" asked Mikado, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, perhaps I'm into younger guys. I don't particularly enjoy being a bottom in a relationship," she explained trying hard to keep a serious face. Masaomi burst out laughing, and soon she joined him, leaving a very embarrassed and slightly confused Mikado.

"Bottom...?" he asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about just yet," Alex told him between laughs. "But seriously, cooking's not my thing. And seen as I'm now in Japan, it wouldn't hurt to try something different". And it definitely was different. Simon was 'a Russian of African descent', Masaomi had explained. And the sushi place was owned by a Russian man.

Both guys nodded their heads in understanding, and Mikado made her a question this time."How old are you, anyway?"

"19, I came to start my University studies here. What about you both?"

"We are 15, we're going to attend Raira Academy this term," said Mikado.

Not long after they had finished their dinner, Kida had to excuse himself, saying it was already past his curfew. Alex paid for their food and she and Mikado walked outside the restaurant.

"Would you like me to walk you home? It's late for a 15-year-old to be alone. And you're new in Tokyo as well..." she offered the guy.

"N-No, it's alright. I'm not far from here," he replied, thinking that it was actually him the one who should her home, but she didn't give her time to say so out loud.

"If you're sure... Well, I'll see you around, then! Ah, wait! Give me your phone" she said. Mikado looked at her in suspicion but handed her his mobile anyway. She dialled her number and handed him back the phone.

"Give it to Masaomi, too. And tell him he'd better not forget about our date tomorrow!" Alex told him and waved goodbye to him while she walked towards her flat.

If there was something she was even worse at than cooking, it surely was finding directions. She couldn't even remember seeing all those buildings before. She took out her phone, only to find it had run out of battery. Where was she, again? She looked around searching for the street's name, when she found herself only a few centimetres away from another face.

"WHAT THE...?!" she exclaimed in English, surprised. She hadn't realized someone had been so close to her. Said person, a guy with dark hair and reddish brown eyes, started laughing. She stared at him curiously. Where all Japanese guys so handsome? Maybe it had been a great decision to come to Japan.

"Are you checking me out?~" he asked in amusement. Alex looked up at him. He was at least fifteen centimetres taller than her.

"Perhaps," she replied shrugging her shoulders. He smirked. Just then she became aware of the fact that there was only the two of them on the street, if he wanted to do something to her, she wouldn't have much of a choice. 'Good job, Alex. Your first day in Japan, and you're already risking your life. Or your virginity' she scolded himself.

"Are you lost?" he asked, observing her.

"Not at all. I'm fine," she lied. He didn't seem convinced, though.

"Oh, really?" he said, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, I just need to find... I give up, I'm awfully lost," she admitted.

"Give me your address," he ordered her. She hesitated but reluctantly gave it to him. It wasn't as if she actually had a choice.

"Ah! Follow me, Gaijin-chan!~" he said, as he started striding towards her home.

"Gaijin-chan has a name, you know? It's Alex. And who might you me, you creepy, mysterious, good-looking guy?"

"Orihara Izaya. And I think I like 'Gaijin-chan' better," he replied, glancing back at her with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Suit yourself," Alex said with a shrug.

Apparently, she was only a couple of blocks away, and they arrived before she had the time to decide whether this Izaya guy was to be trusted. The answer was probably no, but he had helped her to find her way back.

"Thanks for walking me," she told him.

"Oh, don't think I did it just to help you... I'm sure you'll be able to return the favour soon~," he said. Well, that sounded suspicious. He definitely wasn't to be trusted.

"Right. See you later, Izaya," said Alex. If he was surprised be the familiar way in which she referred to him, he didn't show it.

"What, you're not going to invite me in? How rude! After I went out of my way to help you~"

"Nope. Sorry, not today. Byee~" she waved and closed the door behind her.

She put on some comfortable clothes and plugged her phone, seeing she had four new messages and three missed calls from Masaomi. She smiled at the messages.

'Hi! It's Mikado. Did you get home alright? Masaomi said you weren't answering his calls.'

'Hey, Alex! It's Kida Masaomi! Still up for our date tomorrow? Call me!'

'Hi, darling, how was your first day in Japan? Call us if you need anything' her mother had written.

'It's me again, are you alright? You should be home already!' said another message from Kida.

'I'm fine. Just got home. Got lost for a while, but someone helped me find my way back' she texted Mikado. Then she told her mother everything was great and promised to call her the following night. She was too tired to answer the million questions she was probably going to ask her. Finally, she called Kida.

"Hey! So you're alive!" exclaimed Masaomi.

"Yeah, got kinda lost in my way back," she explained with a laugh. "Anyway, what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Hmm, how about I pick you up at 11, and then I give you a tour around?"

"Sounds great! I'll text you my address later"

"Cool! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye~"

She took out her laptop and got into her FB account to see if there were any news from her friends, and then went through her e-mail's inbox. Seeing as there was nothing of interest, she decided it was probably a good idea to go to bed. She was about to turn off her computer when a new mail arrived. At the same time, her phone rang, telling her she had a new message.

'This is an invitation to join The Dollars. There are no rules or regulations. You just have to say that you're a part of the Dollars.' read the mail, followed by a link and a password. Well, that was certainly unexpected. Was it worth giving it a try? Should she ask Masaomi about it? She thought it was the wisest idea, but her curiosity got the best of her and she clicked on the link and wrote down the password. She started reading a few threads on the site, but she was way too tired to keep on investigating it's contents and she finally turned of the computer and got ready for bed. She took her phone to set an alarm for the following day and saw the message she had received earlier.

'Hello, Gaijin-chan~' Gaijin-chan... Was it the guy from before? How had he found her number? Well, it didn't matter at that time anyway. Without replying she fell fast asleep in her futon.

Mikado had arrived to his flat without much inconvenience. He had taken a bath and changed into his pyjamas, before logging in to his favourite chat room. Only Setton was online so he greeted him and told her about his first day in Tokyo.

Setton: What? You saw the black bike? Was it around nine o'clock at night?

Tanaka Taro: How did you know, Setton-san?

Setton: Well, I was there, too, so...

Tanaka Taro: Really?!

Tanaka Taro: Then we might have walked past each other without even knowing it.

Setton: Maybe.

Then Kanra logged in as well.

Kanra: Evening! I'm Kanra-chan! ~

Tanaka Taro: Good evening, Kanra-san. You're late today.

Kanra: Yes, I met a gaijin girl on my way home and helped her on her way home.

Tanaka Taro: Eh? Is that so? I met a gaijin girl today as well. Maybe it's the same person?

Kanra: Who knows~

Tanaka Taro: Well, got to go...

Setton: Me too. Later!

Mikado turned off his computer and looked at his phone. He read the message from Alex and then went to bed, thinking that maybe she had met Kanra that day.

The following morning, Alex's alarm went off at nine, but it was postponed at least three times before she actually got up and stumbled into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Still half asleep, she put on leggings, a plaid shirt and black boots, and she walked outside, regretting the fact that she hadn't done any grocery shopping the day before. Fortunately, there was a supermarket only a couple of blocks away.

She went to pay for all the goods and the cashier, a young Japanese guy, stopped her. "Excuse me, could you show me an ID?" he asked her. She looked confused but gave him her passport.

"I'm afraid I can't sell you alcoholic drinks, since you're under-age"

"Under-age...? Ah! You are of age at 20 here in Japan?" she asked. The cashier nodded and she sighed. "I apologize, I've just got here yesterday". The guy told her it was no problem at all, and she paid for everything but the pack of beers. She walked back home carrying her bags and a little depressed.

Masaomi picked her up five minutes earlier than the agreed time, but fortunately she was ready to go.

"Where would you like to go first?" he asked cheerfully.

"I don't have anything in mind, surprise me," she said with a smile.

"Well, we could just walk around I guess," he offered and she nodded.

They strolled along the streets of Ikebukuro, while Kida talked and talked about different things. She paid attention to only half of it, and stared at him in amusement. After a while, he noticed her smirk and sent her a questioning look.

"You realize that I'm not Japanese, right?" she asked him.

"Obviously. So?" he asked, not understanding where she was going with that question.

"There's no way I can understand you if you talk so fast!" she exclaimed and laughed.

"Ah! You should have said so sooner! I'll speak slower then," he said. And he did. For the following five minutes.

While they were walking, they run into a few of Kida's friends. She didn't remember their names later that day, but they seemed nice. At half past one in the afternoon they were both starving, and Alex invited Masaomi to his flat.

"I thought you didn't know how to cook?" he said.

"I don't. But I bought instant ramen and pizza at the grocery store this morning," she explained shrugging.

"Sounds good," he agreed, and they made their way back to her flat.

They took of their shoes at the genkan and suddenly Alex smirked, looking up at her young friend. She pushed him against a wall and laid her hands on his chest, her nose almost touching his.

"Don't you think it's dangerous to go alone into an older woman's house?" she whispered in his ear, making him shudder. "You never know what she could want from you...". His eyes widened and she got away from him, laughing loudly.

"On the contrary..." he said in a serious voice, while pushing her onto the futon, that was still laying on the floor. She froze in her spot as he climbed on top of her, holding her arms over her head, and continued with his speech. "You should know better than to tempt a man when it's only the two of you".

"Oh...?" she said and pushed him, laying on top of him and still holding his arms. "Weren't you listening yesterday when I said I didn't like being bottomed, Kida-kun?~". They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds and she smiled at him. She leaned closer, and kissed his cheek before getting up. She held a hand towards him, which he took, and helped him to his feet.

"Man, I'm starving!" she exclaimed. Masaomi finally woke up from his daze and agreed with her, smiling again.

Alex felt her phone vibrate and took it out from her pocket.

'You didn't reply, Gaijin-chan. Are you avoiding me?' said the message. She sighed and wrote back.

'No. I was busy'

'Hanging out with Masaomi-kun? He's a little young for you, don't you think?~'

'None of your business'

'Ah, but it is. What would you do if he fell for you?'

'Again, none of your business'

'Whatever you say, Gaijin-chan!~'

Without answering any longer, she left her mobile phone back in her pocket and sighed.

"Is everything alright, Alex?" asked Masaomi, who had been staring at her the whole time.

"Yeah... Just some guy I met yesterday and has been pestering me since..." she explained. He nodded and both of them ate while talking about random things. At about half past six, Kida said he had to go home, and Alex walked him to the door.

"Thanks for everything, Masaomi," she said smiling. "Come visit me any time you want"
"It was my pleasure," he said back. Then, in a more serious voice, he spoke again. "Be careful when you go out alone. And most of all, of Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya"

Alex thought the second one sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember from where. "I will," she replied and he left.