"Humans, Namie-san, are truly wonderful creatures. Our race came very close to extinction a few times throughout history, and yet look at us now," Izaya marveled as rust-colored eyes wandered over the impressive city lying beyond the windows of his office. The view was magnificent, with the numerous lights coming from the stores and the apartments everywhere lighting up Shinjuku even after the night had descended and most people had retreated inside their homes to get away from the rain falling heavily upon them. Izaya hummed excitedly at the thought of so many interesting humans with fascinating stories living down there, especially when their high number was enough to keep him entertained for a very long time.
"You'd think that humans escaping gravity and going into space would be our biggest achievement, but I disagree. Humanity's magnum opus is the written word," he went on as he moved away from the window and approached the books placed on shelves on the wall situated to the right side of his desk. His fingers brushes across one row as he moved from one end to the other while his mind recalled the stories, the science, the astronomy and the philosophy printed within their pages. "There's only so much information the human brain can retain before it finds itself forced to sacrifice some of it in order to assimilate new one." Smiling, he picked up a book and went back to his desk where he sat back in his chair before he opened it and started reading.
"He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side?"
"I can't help but wonder if you've picked that particular fragment because you identify yourself with that character, whomever he may be," Namie's voice finally shattered the silence descended upon the apartment after Izaya had finished reading the passage. She usually ignored a ranting Orihara Izaya, but the quote had piqued her interest because she knew the man often felt lonely because none of his humans returned the love the informant claimed to have for them.
From his desk, Izaya made a sound of disgust, and he couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment at his secretary for implying that he was a monster. "There's only one monster I know and he wears a bartender uniform, dark blue tinted sunglasses and he seems to have a penchant for destroying public property with that inhuman strength of his. Not to mention that he smokes like a chimney and has this bad habit of bleaching his hair." He saw Namie roll her eyes but he wasn't about to fall prey to her attempt at trying to rile him up. "The dystopian world of George Orwell's 1984 is truly terrifying, because a world in which humans are not allowed to freely express themselves holds no meaning. Living is pointless in such a situation, and I can understand why Winston Smith would see himself as a monster when living amongst brainwashed sheep."
"What you really meant to say is that you wish you were the Big Brother from that book," the woman said without taking her eyes off the computer's screen.
"Oh, so you've read the book!"
"Of course I have, but you don't honestly expect me to remember every line of every book I've ever read," she said, sounding a bit irritated because she wanted to go home but she still had a bit of work left and he was wasting her precious time with his unproductive rant.
Izaya sighed softly and gave the passage one last glance before he closed the book and placed it on the desk. "You insult me, my dear secretary. I do not wish to be such a character. I do not desire absolute control. That would be extremely boring! My puppets still have freedom and that's what makes them interesting."
"Ahem…"
"Humans are cruel but intelligent animals, so you cannot exercise absolute control over them, and even though most people can be controlled, some individuals will always rebel against anyone trying to take away their freedom."
Namie scrubbed a hand over her face as she sighed. "And now we're back to talking about Heiwajima Shizuo…"
Izaya blinked in surprise. "Eh? I wasn't talking about Shizu-chan."
"He's one of the few people you can't control, and the one you obsess over the most." This time, Namie smirked; she knew how irritated Izaya got every time the man was reminded of Heiwajima Shizuo.
"No, no," Izaya argued, frowning. "We were talking about humans in general."
"Actually, I asked you what you wanted to eat tomorrow, and you started ranting about humans."
Izaya's frown disappeared and he chuckled as he started swiveling in his chair for the simple fact that it pissed off his 'beloved' secretary. "It's not my fault that Namie-san is so boring~"
"No, you're just being childish," she bit back. "Shouldn't you be working on getting the information Shiki-san requested?"
"I am!" Izaya assured her, but judging by the snort coming from the direction of his secretary's desk, the woman didn't believe him. "Anyway, as I was saying, the written word is humanity's greatest invention and a way for individuals to achieve some form of immortality."
Namie turned off the computer and picked up her bag. "In that case, why don't you write a book instead of playing with a head?" Izaya's creepy laughter was unbelievably irritating, but luckily she managed to stop herself from picking up the keyboard and smacking the swiveling idiot in the face. She would not under any circumstance stoop to his level.
Finally, Izaya stopped swiveling in his chair and turned to Namie. "That's not the sort of immortality I seek, but I have a feeling that you'd rather go home instead of listening to my ever educational rants, so good night~"
Without so much as a 'bye', Namie turned on her heels and headed towards the door, but she ended up stopping in her tracks when Izaya's next words reached her ears.
"I'm sure Seiji-kun doesn't mind you spying on him." He didn't need to see her face to know that he'd struck a nerve, but his attempt at riling her up didn't seem to work as well as he'd hoped because she chuckled darkly before turning her head to the side and giving him a mocking look out of the corner of her eye.
"Unlike yours, my love is sincere."
"What you meant to say is that your love is disgusting," he corrected her, but by then Namie was pressing the door handle and stepping out of the apartment. "Good riddance!" he felt the need to add even though his secretary could no longer hear him.
It was a shame that Namie didn't share his interest in humans, but then again, not many people did. The only one who sometimes listened to him going on and on about humans was Shinra, but Izaya assumed the doctor was only doing it so that he in turn could have someone to talk to about his love for Celty. The two of them weren't exactly friends, but they got along pretty well and Shinra was rather intriguing with his lack of love for humans. Besides, the man was quite useful whenever Izaya got hurt and he needed someone to patch him up, which happened quite often because of his job or because of a mindless brute with nothing better to do than to attack him every time they ran into each other. Izaya had to watch his back whenever he went to Ikebukuro, so thinking about Shizuo always made his mood plummet.
Sighing, he picked up the book and went to put it back in its place. While such a thing could grant a person some form of immortality, it wasn't the type of immortality he was interested in. By putting its knowledge into writing, humanity's oeuvre would continually expand. It was a wondrous thing, and with the invention of the Internet, humans no longer had an excuse for their ignorance, yet so many people remained ignorant. Izaya found that those were the easiest to manipulate.
"Knowledge is power," he murmured as he raised his hand. The book slid back into its place on the shelf and Izaya went back to his desk. The rain was starting to let down a bit, and he hoped that it would soon stop because he had some business to attend to in Ikebukuro and he didn't want to get his clothes wet and consequently risk getting sick. On the bright side, the beast was probably in its lair, stuffing its face with unhealthy food after a long day's work and hopefully staying away from Ikebukuro's streets.
"Well, one can hope."