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Pool sticks clattered to the ground as my body twisted and turned into various positions to worm my way through the gigantic mess that is my car. Empty bags of takeout from Russia Sushi, old coupons for the supermarket and the piles upon piles of luggage that I refuse to unpack. Most everybody in the city wears the same damn clothes everyday and if you bump into someone once, you're probably never gonna see them again since the entire city's like a fucking maze, so who gives a shit? My laptop came into sight the moment that I moved a box of raffle tickets out of the way and I crawled soldier-style towards it as I waited for the other window to fully load up.
I bet you're wondering who the hell I plan on talking to. In fact...I bet you're wondering who the hell is talking to you right now. The name's Ichirou, creative name I know, but blame my parents for that. I don't feel all that comfortable to give out my last name; sorry, but I don't trust strangers all that easily in this city. What with the crazy red-eyed knife-wielding maniacs, the color gangs, the ever looming threat of the Yakuza and other underground criminals, I think you see why. Still, now that introductions are out of the way, the person I'm going to talk to is none other than-
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-"
-Kichiro, my little brother. Other titles that suit him are 'drama queen', 'spaz', 'gaming nerd' and a dozen others that would take too much time to for me to recite by heart...
"WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?!"
"I'm dead, Ichi! Dead as a doornail, stick a fork in me because my goose is cooked! Your brother is a dead man walking!"
"I don't know; if you're screaming your lungs out and running around like a chicken with its head cut off-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Okay, poor choice of words for this particular situation. But still! Can you calm down for two seconds and tell me what the hell the problem is?"
He had been running around in the background so much that I hadn't gotten the chance to even get a good look at him. God, he was a mess! There was dirt and filth all over him, he had tears in the Persona jacket he was wearing (the fucking gamer nerd), his hair was disheveled and looked more wild badger than it did hair, there was a cut underneath his eye-what the hell happened to him?! He just got here today! What the fuck is wrong with this city?!
"Listen to my tale of woe, brother! And weep for my forsaken soul!"
"Tone down the damn dramatics before I disconnect."
With a shaky breath, my eyes drifted towards the windows of the train I was on as it made its way towards the station. My heart was beating at a hundred miles a minute as I politely waved and smiled at a few patrons that moved around me. My tongue was dry, my stomach was twisting into several knots and my brain was dissolving into a jumble of mind-numbing panicked filled thoughts about what would become of me once I got to my destination. 'You're gonna get hacked into pieces', 'You're gonna be squished by a flying vending machine', 'You're gonna get shot in the street by hired Yakuza', all these negative thoughts swirled in my head like a hurricane of anxiety!
People were starting to stare at me as I began to hyperventilate and shake. Needed to stay calm. Needed to stay cool. Needed to make sure people wouldn't call the nearest insane asylum and report my appearance to them.
A small squeak came from me as I heard the sound of the train's brakes begin to squeal. Soon enough, people were piling onto the platform with no fear. No fear of the future like he had. No fear of being impaled by uprooted street signs, squashed by billboards, hit by a propane tank and burning to death on the scene! Why is it suddenly so fucking hot on this train?! My legs propelled me out of the suffocating death box as fellow commuters began to work their way inside of the locomotive; I was going to give myself a heart attack and die before any of the things I was worrying about...
"Come on, Kishiro. Come on! You can do this! Think logically about your situation for a second." My body started to move on its own as always when I started to think. I was conscious of it, sure, but not entirely of where I was going. Not that I cared at the moment. "Ikebukuro is huge. Like gigantic. Absurdly so if you asked me. What were the chances I would run into the objects of my fear? Not very high! Then again, I also had a good year to test those chances. If I didn't need this damn money so badly, I'd say screw this all to hell and hightail it back to my apartment back east! Yet alas..."
A few turns had been made since I had begun my inner monologue and I found myself swept up in the throngs of the city.
"Ah man, where the hell am I? I really got to get a handle on my feet when I'm thinking one of these days or else I'll walk smack dab into-" A small grunt came from me as I ran into what felt like a meaty wall. My little ass being at the tender height of 4'9, however, means it could be just about anybody. Really got put on the shallow end of the gene pool when it came to height.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir! I had my head in the clouds, but that's no excuse for-" With a slight glance from one of my closed eyes, I immediately felt my blood run cold as I caught sight of a black and white bartender outfit. A shivering fit ran throughout my body as the hulking frame of a blonde, six foot tall man turned to get a good look at me.
"What the hell do you want?" The baritone voice of Shizuo Heiwajima rang through my ears with an annoyed undertone to it as I tried to keep myself from pissing my pants.
"You're first day in the city and somehow, throughout the million people living in it, you managed to find the Japanese hulk himself and run smack dab into him?" I couldn't help it; I had to let out a balk of laughter at my brother's misfortune. For a guy who's name is literally based around 'luck', he's always had the shittiest ever since we were kids. Getting bitten by strays, run over by bicycles, hit with runaway shopping cart lines, food poisoning from his favorite desserts, sick on every one of his birthdays, the list goes on and on! But this! "That's bad luck, even for you!"
"Thank you for the report, Captain Obvious. I swear, the universe is out to get me! The chances of us running into each other should've been a million to one...literally!"
"Well? Go on! I've gotta hear the end of this now, you've gotten me invested."
"Well, as you can guess, he wasn't all that pleased with me for running into him. I had a feeling he thought I was another one of those idiots that liked to challenge him to a fight. Luckily, his friend managed to quell his temper before he did something rash."
"Take it easy, Shizuo," a man in what looked to be a light burgundy suit came into view with a can of soda and drew the behemoth's attention. With his eyes off of me, I could feel the soul trickle out of my throat and back into the rest of my being, "the kid was just trying to apologize for bumping into you. No harm done. Not like he could do any harm to you." I felt myself bristle slightly at the 'kid' comment; damn this height of mine...
"Oh." With a grunt and nothing more, the giant began to lumber away from me and his friend spoke a small apology before jogging to catch up with him. A small smile spread across my face as he did a quick turnabout towards the way I came and began to walk that way. The smile was still on my face when I turned a couple of corners. I still had my smile when I walked right past Russia Sushi and Simon waving a few fliers in my face. I still had my smile when I went into a random alley, scaring off a stray cat in the process. With the smile still on my face, I lifted up a random trashcan's lid, ducked my head inside...and proceeded to scream like there was no tomorrow.
"Okay! Okay, okayokayokayokayokay, OKAY!" My breathing was labored as I slammed the lid back down onto its place. Needed to keep calm, needed to keep calm, needed to keep my fucking calm! Fingers intertwined themselves into my hair as I tried to keep from pulling it out. That was way too close for anything near comfort! That was way too close for unrest! My horrendous bad luck is going to get me assimilated to a bloody pulp on the sidewalk at this rate! I knew I should'n't have listened to my mother's harping and invest in that jar of lucky rabbit's feet like I wanted! A sigh left my body as I felt the tension melt away into exhaustion; having a near-death experience will do that to you...
"I think I've had enough of Ikebukuro for one day."
"Oh don't say that~!"
Every single vein in my body felt they were being overrun with ice. All the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I got goosebumps all over my skin. There was no way. There was no way that this was happening. Not after that first close encounter he had. The world couldn't be that cruel to him, could it? There was no way that none other than Izaya Orihara was standing right behind him...
"After all~. You've already caught up with one old friend. It'd be rude to not do so with the other, eh, Kishi-chan~?"
Another round of laughter came from me as my brother's already sour expression grew even more sour. I know it sounds like a real dick move to do, but I couldn't help it! This was just too rich! Both of them in the same day?! That's bad luck on the tier you'd think would be reserved for people that pissed off God or something!
"OH, we gotta put this on pause for a second! My stomach hurts!"
"Ah, fuck y-hey! Where are you going?!"
"I'm going to go to the front of my car and make some popcorn. I finally got that microwave set up the way I wanted it. Go me, am I right?!"
"Oh, you're such a fucking hobo! Well hurry up before I disconnect!"
"Yes, mother."
And that is the end of the first chapter of my new Durarara story! I figured I'd come back with something new to try and spruce up my account a bit. I'll try to update when I can!
