Izaya sighed, spinning around and around and around on his swivel chair, his head tilted back, his eyes staring at the ceiling. He was bored.
Business had been slow, gangs had been lying low, and there was no one online. Namie was taking the day off, so he couldn't antagonize her. He sighed again, and twirled faster. What could he do, what game could he possibly play?
A smile lit up his face at alarming speed. Games. He turned to his computer, and opened a suicide pact website. Time to post an overly cheerful ad.
ooo
Shizuo sat on his couch, his head in his hands. Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why? That was the only question that ran through his head. Why had he been given this cursed strength? All it did for him was attract negative attention, and hurt the people he loved. He needed anger management classes or something. If he couldn't control his temper, then the world was probably better off without him.
Better off without him...
Shizuo sat up, suddenly inspired. If he were to disappear, then one would have to fear the Monster of Ikebukuro who terrorized the streets.
No one would have to be hurt by him anymore.
He jumped up, and headed for the bathroom. Once he was there, he opened the medicine cabinet, and took out a bottle of pain meds. He shook it. Full. All the better.
Just as he was about to tip them into his mouth, he paused. Was he really going to end his life, right here, right now? Alone? Wasn't there something on the news last month, reports of people getting together to commit suicide? Yeah. He'd do that.
He put the bottle of pills on the counter, and went to sit down at his computer. Opening the search engine, he typed in, 'suicide pact.' He clicked on the first advertisement. Let's die together! It had been posted by someone in a neighboring city.
It was posted on the forums of a suicide website, and it had only been posted a minute ago. The site accepted anonymous replies, so he did. 'I'll die with you.'
ooo
'I'll die with you.' was the reply to Izaya's request. He was about to hack into the site and find the IP address of the person who replied, but he stopped. Why not let it be a surprise? It was something he'd never done before, and it might even make his little game more fun.
He grinned as he replied. 'Where and when?'
The reply came less than a minute later. 'Ikebukuro West Gate Park, midnight?' Izaya frowned. A public place? Ah, but, at midnight, it wasn't likely that there would be that many people. 'I'll see you there,' he posted.
ooo
It was 11:55, and Shizuo was sitting on a bench, staring up at the sky. He wore a black hoodie over his usual bar tender's outfit, the hood pulled up over his head. This was it, then. This was the end. There was no going back. He would die, and no one else would get hurt because of him. Just five more minutes...
ooo
The park was dark except for the street lights. While there were many people on the street, that park was a temporary reprieve from the kerfuffle. Izaya made his way through the nearly empty park, towards a solitary figure dressed in black. He was tall, and smoke trailed up into the sky because of the cigarette in his hand. He seemed oddly familiar, but his hood was pulled up so his face, and therefore his identity, was concealed. Izaya sat on the bench beside him, and stared up at the stars, shivering as he watched his breath condense in the chilly autumn air.
"Cold night, isn't it?" he said.
ooo
Shizuo jumped up from the bench, too shocked to be angry. What was he doing here? At this time? Did Izaya live to annoy him?
Yes, evidently.
However, Izaya's expression mirrored his. Perhaps he actually was looking for someone else. For equally nefarious reasons, of course.
Unless…
"What are you doing here?" asked Shizuo, packing as much disgust in his voice as he possibly could, and trying to hide his growing sense of dread as to the possibilities.
"I might ask you the same question."
ooo
Yes, he might. Was this idiot actually trying to ruin his meeting, or was it a mere coincidence? If it was, it was a pretty damn inconvenient one. He glanced around quickly, looking for the night's entertainment, but saw that the park was empty aside from him and that blonde brute, who seemed to be growing more and more infuriated at a steady rate.
"I came to meet someone," he snapped, eyes narrowing.
Him, too? Who could possibly want to meet him?
Unless…
"You don't say?" asked Izaya amiably, flashing his most antagonistic grin, and quickly considering all the ways he could escape before this got bloody.
ooo
"Yeah, I do!" said Shizuo, and with a roar that made people on the street turn to look, he ripped up the nearest street lamp, which sputtered out, electricity crackling along the torn wires at the base.
Laughing hysterically, his enemy shot off the bench like a bullet, flicking open the switch blade that had been concealed in his sleeve. With a flash of silver, he reached under Shizuo's arm and slashed at his chest. His shirt sliced open with a spurt of red.
By some twist of fate, Izaya had cut along the scar he had given Shizuo on their first meeting, in high school. He swung the lamp at his enemy's head, but Izaya dodged the blow with a certain precision that could only be attained through years of practice.
ooo
Izaya laughed like he hadn't in so long. The person he was supposed to be meeting was Shizuo. What reason could someone like him possibly have for committing suicide? It would do the world good, at any rate. He dodged and parried the blonde's blows, enjoying himself immensely.
Oh, they definitely had to do this again.
ooo
Shizuo swung again and again, with increasing fury. Finally, unable to make a blow connect, he just threw the lamp like a javelin, panting. Izaya jumped out of the way with more of his loud, inimical laughter, and ran out of the park, looking back only to smirk at his enemy.
Shizuo gave chase, determined to catch him this time. His focus seemed to clear his head, bumping his self-pitying thoughts out through his ear and leaving them behind in West Gate Park. How could he have contemplated suicide?
He had a dog to put down.