There was not much difference in the streets of Ikebukuro. Not much. Many citizens were rushing to and fro, just like every other day, as it was "Rush Period". But the part that made the busy Ikebukuro streets seem a tad bit different was that none of the famous Shizuo Heiwajima's friends were in sight. Not even his enemy, Izaya Orihara! Sure, Ikebukuro "smelled", like every other time when the informant came, but the auburn-eyed man was nowhere in sight.

The blonde passed by the Russian restaurant, Russia Sushi, and he noticed the weirdest thing - The restaurant was closed. How was that weird? Well, the restaurant was rarely ever closed! In fact, Shizuo had never even seen it closed before! Where was Simon? And Denis? Heck! Where was everyone?

Shizuo had been strolling around the busy streets for about an hour, basking in the sunlight. He noticed that the three Raira students were no where to be found and that was odd since he usually saw them walking at least somewhere!

The next thing he noticed was that the dullahan, Celty Sturluson, who was also his very good friend, was not riding around on her bike! At first, he shrugged it off, thinking she was at home with Shinra Kishitani, but when he went to visit, no one answered the door. Thinking they just went on a date or something, the bodyguard continued his stroll.

Bored at the fact that he had nothing to do, Shizuo decided to call his employer, Tom Tanaka, and ask if there was anything to do. However, the operator said that Tom was currently unavailable, meaning that his phone was turned off or he was calling someone else. When he tried calling again later, the same thing happened, which was odd because Tom never turned off his phone.

Slightly worried, he decided to go and ask his high school friend, Kyohei Kadota, and see if he knew anything but, like with Tom, the same thing happened and the voice from the phone said Kadota was unavailable. Shizuo decided to check on some of the "Van Gang"'s favourite spots but to his astonishment, those places were empty.

Shizuo felt like he was going mad or something, so he decided to maybe talking to his little brother would make him regain some of his sanity. Flipping open the yellow device, Shizuo dialled the familiar number and waited for Kasuka to answer. But that never happened.

Because he had the belief that 99% of the bad things that happen are due to Izaya, he made his way to the informant's apartment in Shinjuku. As he kicked the front door open, Shizuo yelled out the parkour expert's name but stopped when he saw that the office was empty. Not even Izaya's secretary, Namie Yagiri, was there!

Negative thoughts started rushing through the ex-bartender's mind. Did someone who hated him kill all of them? No, it could not be! No one, except Izaya, dared to anger Shizuo. Then perhaps he did something to irritate all of them and now they were ignoring him? Possibly.

Now that Shizuo thought about that, he did recall that the day before, he was chasing Izaya around Ikebukuro and pretty much destroyed half of the city. Well, more than half. Maybe his friends finally got fed up of Shizuo and his short temper. Maybe it got so bad that even Izaya got pissed! The idea itself was really dumb and slightly childish, but it could have been possible! Who would want to friend a monster? Perhaps Izaya was right all along... He was not human, he was a monster.

A monster... Who was to be forever alone.

No, no no! Shizuo shook his head. Perhaps they were just playing a trick on him! Yes, that had to be it! But then again, there was a likely chance that they could have been tired of the blonde.

Shizuo's head was spinning. He was extremely confused. Oh how he wish he was not so... Stupid. He really was jealous of Izaya's huge intellectual brain. He had to go and rest before he went insane, so the blonde decided to retire for the day.

What awaited him behind his front door managed to destroy his headache, though.

"Surprise!"

And Shizuo's eyes widened. All his friends, plus one enemy, were in his house. A banner hung from the ceiling, three words written in big, red letters - "Happy Birthday, Shizuo!" Kasuka, emotionless as usual, simply hugged his brother, uttering a soft "Happy 25th Birthday, Nii-san".

Shizuo would have smacked himself if he could. How could he have forgotten his own birthday? Blame the flea. It was, after all, his fault for occupying the blonde's mind most of the time. Shizuo had been trying to come up of different ways to kill the man.

Celty had gotten him a helmet, in case he decided to ride on her bike with her. Shinra had gotten the blonde a book, to which Shizuo simply raised a brow and muttered a "Uhh... Thanks?". Izaya did not get him a present but simply tackled him from the back and screamed a "Happy Birthday, Shizu-chan!", making a vein pop in Shizuo's head and he pushed the raven-haired man off. Before he could even try killing Izaya though, Celty stopped him.

Kadota had bought Shizuo a pair of headphones, saying that music may help him remain calm. Walker and Erika bought the blonde a whole stack of Kuroshitsuji manga. Saburo simply passed the bodyguard a PSP.

Tom had bought him a martial arts CD as he had recently found out Shizuo liked watching martial artists fight. Simon and Denis passed Shizuo a huge container of sushi, to which Izaya started drooling when he saw the whole bunch of ootoro. Kasuka passed his beloved brother a box which contained a whole bunch of new outfits, along with a bottle of milk. He also told him that their parents, Kichirou and Namiko, wished him a happy birthday and that they hoped to see him again one fine day.

Mikado, Masaomi and Anri had shared money to buy the strongest man in Ikebukuro a present. Their budget was really little so all they could buy for him was a keychain and a book. Of course, it was the thought that counts, and Shizuo was glad that they were kind enough.

After keeping the entire bunch of presents he received, Shinra told everyone to get the party started, and so everyone, well, almost everyone, went wild.

When the party ended though, a question suddenly popped into Shizuo's mind. "Wait... How did you guys get in my house?" It could not be Kasuka since he did not have the keys.

Everyone ceased partying and slowly turned to stare at the culprit - Izaya. Silence filled the room and only one word appeared in all of their minds: Stalker. Izaya fished out Shizuo's spare apartment key from his pocket and tossed it into the air before catching it, repeating the process.

"Isn't it obvious, Shizu-chan?" Izaya smirked, and sensing the danger, everyone went to hide in safe spots. He continued, "I stole your spare key, and let everyone in~!"

Silence... And then:

"IZAYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A/N: Well, this is utter crap. But nevermind… Happy birthday, Shizu-chan! Don't you hate it when you get left alone on your birthday and end up with negative thoughts? ^^; Thank goodness for the surprise party!