Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
I watched the drama Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in hopes of getting some inspiration for my 5 Centimeters story. Instead, I'm violently sobbing over my keyboard as I type this up while my roommate contemplates my sanity. Seriously, no joke, I couldn't even write some parts without bursting into tears again.
Please excuse that Izaya's a bit OOC and that it's a little rushed; it's supposed to be a whirlwind romance.
Inb4 someone comments on my spelling of 'Traveler.' Both versions are correct, I just like the spelling with two Ls better.
Suggested Song: Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye (Glee version works, too).
It was common to believe that Orihara Kyouko, a pharmaceutical researcher, always worked hard to support her only son as a single mother. She was always the first to arrive at the lab and usually the last to leave. It was known that sometimes, she would even fall asleep in her lab station. Yes, it was true that Kyouko did work hard to care of her family, though most of her time had really been devoted to a side project that haunted her since she was a middle-school scholar. Focused on her project, she placed an extra strawberry from her lunch into a Petri dish with four ants. Very meticulously, Kyouko began to place several drops of her serum onto the ants and strawberry, watching as they scrabbled about in her liquid solution to get to the strawberry.
"Orihara-san!" a colleague interrupted, causing Kyouko to jump. "Please hurry and finish your paperwork. If you don't, Sensei will be very cross with me."
"Yes, yes, of course," Kyouko answered, trying to dismiss the girl and focus back on her experiment. From the corner of her eye, she saw that one of the ants had vanished.
"Orihara-san, I'm serious!" her colleague said stubbornly. "You're always late on your papers because you're focusing on that project of yours. Company policy says it's fine to use their labs for personal projects as long as you finish your duties first!"
"Yes, I understand. I'll work on it right now!" Kyouko exclaimed, shooing her away as she was finally able to watch her experiment. Opening the lid to the dish, she carefully picked up the strawberry and grinned to see no ants in sight. She was one step closer to fulfilling her middle school promise.
Later that day, she received a phone call from her childhood friend, Asakura Goro, who claimed that he had found something of hers. When she met him on her lunch break, he presented her with a yellowing envelope with her name on it. It had been found by their old sensei from middle school and he had been asked to deliver it. With a frown, Kyouko picked at the seal and found a picture of herself and an unfamiliar boy. However, what was most surprising was the sprig of lavender taped in the corner of the photo.
"Who's that?" Goro asked curiously, frowning at the boy in the picture. He wore their middle school uniform and even had the same class pin, but he had no memory of him. "Did he go to our school?" Kyouko hadn't even been paying attention to Goro's question as she was too focused on the flower. The nostalgic scent wafted up to her nose and her head began throbbing. "Kyouko-san?" Goro asked, bringing her back to reality.
"I have to go," she stammered, uneasy about the photo. She tucked it back into its envelope and slipped it into her bag.
"Of course, of course, you're working now," he answered amicably and waved her off. "See you later, Kyouko-san."
"Bye, Goro-kun," she said and hurried back into the lab to tell her supervisor that she was leaving early. The photo tugged at her heart and the nostalgic scent of lavender reminded her of the time she was a young student in the science lab of her school.
As she hurried to cross the road, a young man crashed into her, causing her to drop her bag. He shouted an apology to her and continued running as Kyouko knelt down to gather her belongings. The envelope Goro had given her had fallen out along with the photo and flower. Lavender filled her senses and her head began to hurt again. Closing her eyes, she willed for the pain in her chest to go away and was oblivious to the honking horn of a speeding car. Kyouko stared at the car coming at her, frozen in place as the lights flashed in her face. As her head smashed against the concrete, she remembered the promise that her heart refused to forget and the boy she had met in the middle school science lab. "Fukamachi Kazuo," she murmured softly before everything went black.
Eighteen and emotional, Orihara Izaya frantically pushed his way into the emergency room demanding to see his mother, Orihara Kyouko. The doctor calmly explained that Kyouko didn't suffer any life-threatening injuries, but was comatose due to a head injury. His uncle, Goro, had come with him, and as per the nurses' requests, had to restrain Izaya from doing something in his volatile state. After calming down, Izaya remained in a dazed state as he sat by himself in the hospital lobby.
"Here," Goro said softly, offering him a paper cup filled with hot coffee. Izaya stared at it blankly, unable to bring himself to accept it. Seeing this, Goro placed the cup on one of the empty seats next to him, and then sat in the other. "Kyouko-san will be okay, you know that? You don't have to worry."
The TV was on the history channel, where the host was dressed in a smart suit. "Let's travel back in time! Thirty-six years ago today, on March 3, 1974, the fourth bus travelling out to the Akita prefecture hit a guardrail and crashed. Many valuable lives were lost that night..." the host lectured as he brought up images of old newspaper clippings showing a horrific bus crash.
"You know... I was supposed to be on that bus," Goro said softly, finally eliciting a response from Izaya. The boy looked at him in shock, and then to the TV where there was an image of the bus smashed beyond repair. Relief swelled in his chest as he found himself unable to imagine growing up without his mother's best friend. "You know your Uncle Goro is very clumsy and I ended up forgetting my bus ticket at home, so I missed the bus. What I'm trying to say is that fate let me live, and I know that fate will let your mother live, too."
As Izaya sat at his mother's bedside, clutching at her hand, he prayed to that fate would let her live as it did Goro. He had no idea what he would do if Kyouko passed. She was the only constant in his life. He didn't know anything about his father and had no idea how to even contact the man. "Mom, wake up," he pleaded hoarsely. "I got accepted into the university we were hoping for today. I need you. It's so lonely without you..."
Kyouko's eyes fluttered open and she stared uncertainly at her son. "Izaya...?" she asked weakly. Suddenly remembering her promise, she tried to sit up and leave.
"Mother, don't!" he pleaded, attempting to keep her down. "You have to rest! You were in a very serious accident!"
"I have to see him!" she begged, fighting against her son's grasp. "I made a promise! I have to see him!"
"I'll go in your place!" Izaya answered, firmly keeping her down. "Tell me where to go and what to say, and I will find him for you!"
"Saturday... April... 1972," she rasped weakly as she lost the fight in her. Colors began to fill her vision and she limply fell back against the bed. "The middle school science lab... That's where it all began... Tell Fukamachi Kazuo that our promise has been renewed..."
"1972?" Izaya repeated, wondering how much damage Kyouko had sustained in the head.
"There's a key and envelope in my bag..." she said weakly. "The serum's locked away, but drink it and wish hard for it... I'm so glad I'll see him again... Fukamachi Kazuo... I'm so glad..."
"Mother! Stay with me!" Izaya said urgently, grabbing her hand tightly. Her head tipped back and eyes fluttered close as she fell back into her comatose state. Stifling a sob, he grabbed her bag, locating both the key and envelope before leaving the hospital in a hurry.
Before going to her workstation, Izaya made sure to pack his schoolbag and went through her personal emails in hopes that he could find his father's contact information. He knew that she had exchanged emails with him every now and then, and he hadn't really cared about it until now. He had hacked into her email account and skimmed her inbox, hoping to find the name Fukamachi Kazuo, believing him to be his father. Instead, he found the name Hasegawa Shirou who had sent Kyouko a love letter. Frowning, Izaya drafted a quick email, explaining the situation and then sent it.
Finally arriving at Kyouko's lab, Izaya went to her locked cabinets and used the key to open them. He looked through the first drawer for the serum she had been talking about and found nothing but neglected paperwork. A peek in the second drawer yielded the same results. The last and final drawer contained a jar of old yen coins and a metal case containing two vials of clear liquid, presumably Kyouko's precious serum and side project.
Slipping the jar into his schoolbag, Izaya hesitantly opened one of the vials and sniffed it. It smelt nice, like lavender, and he tipped it back to drink it all in one big gulp. "April 1972," he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. He stood still for a moment, before hesitantly opening one eye and then laughed. "This is silly," he concluded, reaching for his schoolbag. "Time travel, as if!" He paused for a second, with a confused look and second-guessed himself for a second. "Was it April 1972...? Why do I feel like she said February 1974...?"
As Izaya stood up, everything in the room began to spin and for a second, he wondered if he had drunk some hallucinogens and was high. "What the hell?" he murmured, confused, as he wobbled, unable to stay standing. He stepped back and suddenly the floor disappeared beneath him and he fell down down down like Alice down the rabbit hole and into the darkness of the unknown.
"Ugh, where am I?" Izaya groggily wondered as he found himself waking up beneath a kotatsu, a wooden table with a warm blanket draped over it. Slowly, he crawled out from beneath it and realized that he wasn't in his home at all, but in an unfamiliar apartment. A man's probably, from how messy it was. As he slowly stood up, he stepped on something which proceeded to groan, causing Izaya to panic, jump back and crash into a bookcase.
"What the hell?" the voice groaned and mop of blond hair poked out from beneath several blankets. He stared at Izaya with a confused look and finally commented, "Oh, you're awake."
"What happened?" Izaya demanded.
"You don't remember?" the blond asked with a lazy yawn as he curled back beneath the blankets.
He had been at the university's science room, trying to use the projector for his movie project when all of a sudden, a schoolbag had fallen from the ceiling and hit him in the head. Seconds later, a boy fell from the ceiling and onto him.
"Fukamachi Kazuo?" he had demanded, coming to and grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Huh?" the blond answered with a befuddled look.
"You're not?" he asked, and then proceeded to pass out.
"I couldn't just leave you there, so I brought you back home with me," the blond hastily explained.
"The date! What's the date?" Izaya demanded quickly, looking around for a calendar. "February 3, 1974? No way," he gasped, launching himself at a pile of magazines and newspapers Shizuo had kept on his desk. "No, no, no! I'm two years too late!" Without another word, he had thrown on his shoes and promptly ran out of the blond's apartment.
"Wait! Your bag!" he shouted after him, scrambling to get on his two feet and chase him out.
The streets were underdeveloped and everything was so unfamiliar to Izaya, despite that he had lived in Tokyo all his life. Panicking, he was almost relieved to see the blond chasing after him. "I don't remember my way around here... Could you take me to the middle school?" he pleaded.
"Sure, I guess?" the blond answered, handing him his bag. "Who are you anyways and where'd you come from?"
"I'm Orihara Izaya," he answered, and was a bit hesitant to answer his second question. "Uh, thanks for helping me out earlier, er...?"
"Heiwajima Shizuo," he answered promptly and led him to the nearest middle school.
Izaya recognized some of the girls' uniforms and quickly dug into his bag for his mother's photo. "Excuse me! Do you know this guy?" he asked, stopping them.
"That's Orihara Kyouko-senpai. She graduated last year," one of them said, recognizing only the girl in the photo.
"Ah, yes, but what about him?" Izaya persisted, "Fukamachi Kazuo."
"I don't remember him ever attending this school. Weird," the girl commented with a shrug before one of the teachers came and sent them back to class.
"What's this all about?" Shizuo asked curiously, wondering why it was so important for Izaya to find this Fukamachi Kazuo.
"I'm from the future!" Izaya blurted out, causing Shizuo to start cracking up hysterically. "I'm from 2010, and my mother, Kyouko, is in a coma. She was supposed to meet Fukamachi Kazuo and I've come in her place, except I'm two years too late, and I have to find him because I think he can help her wake up," he spouted off. "If you don't believe me, I have proof!"
"Really?" Shizuo said with disbelief. "Show me."
"My cell phone! Technology of 2010!" he said, digging through his bag to fling it at him. "I have magazines and newspapers and look, my yen coin has 2010 on it!"
"Seems kind of far-fetched," Shizuo admitted with a frown. "Sure you're not a sci-fi otaku?"
"Otaku?" Izaya repeated, offended. "You stupid protazoan! I don't need you! I can find Fukamachi Kazuo on my own!"
Shizuo only laughed harder at this and handed Izaya back the old cell phone. "You were going to ask for my help?"
Realizing that he had been caught, Izaya flushed red and looked away. "No, I wasn't!" he lied. "But maybe if you could just let me stay with you until I find him..."
"Meh," Shizuo answered, not really seeming to care if he had a roommate or not. "Those girls didn't seem to know who Fukamachi is," he said, glancing back to the group of schoolgirls. "What are you going to do now?"
"Oh, I should have asked for my mother's high school," Izaya sighed, deciding the next best move would be to find her and ask her in person about this Fukamachi Kazuo.
"There should be a yearbook in the library," Shizuo answered, leading him to the school's library.
When they found the book, Izaya scrutinized every name and photo until he found his mother. "There she is," Izaya said and then went to see if there was a picture of Fukamachi Kazuo. "That's weird. He's not in here. It's as if he doesn't exist..." He grabbed the photo from his bag and shoved it in Shizuo's face. "That can't be right! He's wearing the same uniform and they have the same class pin!"
"How weird," Shizuo commented with a shrug. "Maybe's a ghost photo," he grinned.
"Don't be immature," Izaya answered, and promptly hit hard on the arm without missing a beat as he flipped to the back in search of Kyouko's contact information. "Let's go to her house now!" he decided. "She might be there!"
Shizuo studied the address carefully, trying to remember where the street was located. "Okay," he nodded, after thinking of the best route to get there.
Unfortunately, Orihara Kyouko was not home as rang her doorbell numerous times. Just when Izaya was about to give up, a familiar face rode by on a bicycle. "Uncle Goro?" he gaped.
The boy stopped and turned to him with a shocked look. "Uncle?" he repeated and Izaya mentally kicked himself for being so blunt.
"Ahhh, sorry! I heard about you a lot from my cousin, Kyouko-chan, so I blurted it without thinking," Izaya said, putting on a cute and innocent demeanor. "I'm Izaya and I'm looking for my cousin. Do you know where she is?"
"Kyouko-san moved away," Goro explained with a confused look. "I can give you her new address."
"Ah that would be very helpful, thanks!" Izaya said gratefully.
"Oi, wait, do you know a Fukamachi Kazuo?" Shizuo asked, grabbing Izaya's bag to retrieve the photo.
Glad that Shizuo was on-task, Izaya offered the photo to Goro. "Where can I find the guy with Kyouko-san?"
Goro blinked at the picture and frowned. "Fukamachi Kazuo? I don't remember him, but that's my middle school uniform..."
After Goro and them went their separate ways, Shizuo commented, "Isn't it kind of weird that nobody seems to know Fukamachi? It's like he doesn't exist."
"He has to exist," Izaya answered firmly. "I have his photograph. He's out there somewhere, and I have to find him."
"And I'll help you," Shizuo answered sincerely. "I know you want to find your mother, but I think it's a bit late. Why don't you come with me to run a few quick errands. We'll find her tomorrow, promise."
"Alright," Izaya sighed, somewhat thrilled to be able to spend some time with the handsome blond. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but Shizuo was very good-looking, almost model-like, and had such a pretty smile. He didn't think he'd ever be interested in men, but perhaps Shizuo was a special case. "What do you have to do?"
"I'm working on a project with a friend. I need you to come with! We need as many extra hands as possible," Shizuo grinned, leading him to a friend's house. He impatiently rang the doorbell several times, until a hung-over man answered the door with a scowl."This is Gotetsu," Shizuo introduced as he looked at his friend with a frown. "Gotetsu, this is Izaya."
"Yo," Gotetsu answered and looked at Shizuo with an angry look. "You're late and we're behind schedule."
"Behind schedule?" Izaya asked.
"Shizuo's a director. We're making a film," Gotetsu clarified and glared at Shizuo. "Your screenplay sucks."
"My screenplay doesn't suck!" Shizuo snapped, clearly offended.
"You like movies?" Izaya asked, surprised. He would have thought Shizuo to be an engineer or maybe even a construction worker, but a director? He was just full of surprises.
Gotetsu dragged them into his home where several others were waiting in odd costumes. "The movie I'm making is called Planet of Lights," Shizuo told Izaya with an excited look. "It's my first, so I hope that I'll become famous with it! You can help film, and maybe you can even be in it!"
"Haha, no thanks," Izaya said, suddenly feeling shy compared to all of Shizuo's friends. They were all university students, and he was still eighteen in high school.
Shizuo smiled at him warmly and instructed Izaya to help set up the stage. Gotetsu revised Shizuo's script and tended to the actors' costumes. Shizuo was so passionate, directing everybody with poise and grace. He was an artist and knew what he wanted to see. He had told Izaya he had a vision and wanted to film it all his way. He finished his film that night and the entire crew celebrated with karaoke on Gotetsu's TV. As Shizuo and Gotetsu sang horrible karaoke, drunk, Izaya watched focused on Shizuo with a smile on his face. He looked around Gotetsu's apartment, and found several photographs in a pile. Seeing that he was distracted, Izaya curiously looked through some of them, and stopped when he found a photograph of Kyouko. She was in her high school uniform with the wind blowing through her long hair. Wondering why Gotetsu of all people would have it, Izaya pocketed the photo and left with Shizuo much later.
The next day, Shizuo went with Izaya to look for Orihara Kyouko. They checked out every single girl with long hair that walked by with the reference photo Izaya had, and finally found her later. Shizuo stepped away, giving Izaya the privacy to be with his mother. "Orihara Kyouko-san?" Izaya asked, checking his photograph once more and then to the schoolgirl approaching him with a confused look. "I'm sorry for ambushing you like this but could you help me? I'm looking for Fukamachi Kazuo, this man right here," he explained as he handed her the photograph.
Immediately after catching sight of the sprig of lavender, Kyouko grabbed her head and winced in pain. "Sorry, I don't know him," she said, puzzled by the photo. "That's me in the picture, but I don't remember ever taking it... Please excuse me," she said quickly and tried to hurry off.
"Wait please!" Izaya begged, grabbing her by the arm. "Could you tell me about who took this picture at least?" he asked, presenting her with Gotetsu's photo.
"Shirou-kun took that," she said with a blush on her face.
"Shirou...?" Izaya repeated, suddenly wondering why that name sounded so familiar.
"Ah, you might know him as Gotetsu, but his real name's Hasegawa Shirou!" she explained with a happy look on her face.
Hasegawa Shirou, the man who had written his mother a love letter in the present time, had to have been his father! It was so clear that Kyouko was in love with him, just by the way she admired the photograph with a loving look. "Keep the photo; I took it from him without asking," Izaya mumbled, and left her alone. It was clear that she didn't remember anything about Fukamachi Kazuo because she had moved on and found true love with Shirou.
Later that afternoon, over a steaming pot of ramen, Shizuo dreamily asked, "Hey, am I famous director in 2010?"
"I don't know, to be honest," Izaya said with a blush. "I don't really pay attention to movies." Looking down into his bowl of noodles, he softly murmured, "I bet that you're huge hotshot married to a beautiful woman with adorable children, and I'll just be nothing but a blip in your past."
"You should try and hang out with the fifty-six year old me," Shizuo grinned as he slurped up his noodles. "I bet we could still have a good time together."
"Haa, why would I want to hang out with an old geezer?" Izaya teased, trying to hide how hurt he felt over the thirty-six years that separated them.
"I did some thinking," Shizuo finally said. "What if Fukamachi is a time traveler like you? What if he wasn't supposed to exist at that time, just like how you don't exist now?"
"That'd be weird, but I see your point," Izaya answered, eager to see where Shizuo was going with this.
"Hey, why don't you put an ad in the newspaper?" Shizuo suggested, looking at all the old yen coins Izaya had in a jar. "You said you had 40,000, right? I think that's enough. It'll be there forever, and Fukamachi will be sure to find it and he can time travel to you."
"Shizu-chan, you're a genius!" Izaya exclaimed, throwing his arms around the blond. He felt Shizuo tense beneath him, and hesitantly let go, laughing sheepishly to himself. "Sorry, I was just so happy to finally get a lead. Do you think we'd be able to go now?"
"Of course!" Shizuo answered quickly, grabbing Izaya by the wrist to take him to the newspaper company.
There, Izaya forked over the entire jar of yen coins to a surprised receptionist who promised that his listing would be in the newspaper the next day. Ecstatic, Izaya embraced Shizuo tightly after shaking the receptionist's hand. The next day, Shizuo and Izaya ran to the convenience store, searching out for the listings in the morning paper, and sure enough, there it was:
Fukamachi Kazuo, meet me in the middle school science lab where it all began. Saturday, March 2, 1974.
"He'll see it. He has to," Izaya said, glad to he was one more step close to find Fukamachi Kazuo and one more step closer to making his mother well. Seeing that it had started raining, Izaya ran out without a care and let out a cheerful whoop. He felt happy for the first time in ages, and as he glanced back, he could see Shizuo watching him with a warm smile beneath an umbrella. "Could it be that you're captivated by a cute boy like me?" Izaya teased, unable to resist.
"Hell no!" Shizuo answered, looking away with a blush as he chased after Izaya with an umbrella. "You're going to catch a cold!"
"Then we can go to the public baths," he answered, stepping out beneath the rain.
"You're horrible," Shizuo said flatly as a wet Izaya launched himself at him and got him equally wet.
"Ahhh, so good!" Izaya sighed, slipping into the hot water of the public bath. He closed his eyes and let out another loud sigh of relief. He opened one eye to look at Shizuo who seemed to be in an equally relaxed state.
"Have you thought of what you're going to do after you find Fukamachi?" Shizuo asked curiously.
"Um," he answered quietly, because truth was, he hadn't. "I'd have to go back to see my mother, but since she developed the time travelling serum, maybe I can back to see you often." But what kind of life would that be?
Shizuo suddenly moved towards Izaya, trapping him in the corner of the bath. "Shizu-chan, what are you doing?" he asked, eyes wide and confused by the blond's forward actions. He almost felt like he was being preyed upon.
"I'm wondering if I could convince you to stay," Shizuo murmured, voice low.
"Haaa?" Izaya drawled, eyes wide. "Shizu-chan, don't be ridiculous. We're in a public bath!"
"We're alone, aren't we?" Shizuo pointed out in a husky tone.
"Yeah, but..." Izaya trailed off, blushing hard as he looked away.
Shizuo's gentle hand touched his shoulder, making him look him in the eyes. "We're alone," he repeated softly and then closed the distance between them.
Izaya waited alone in the middle school science room for the arrival of Kazuo. Shizuo had wanted to come with, but Izaya knew that this had to be a one on one meeting. He had gone the night before and stayed up all night, waiting for this man to appear. He had dozed off later in the night, and when he awoke with a start, his elbow bumped into one of the glass beakers and pushed it off the table. He winced, expecting to hear it shatter against the floor, but gasped when he found it suspended in the air.
"Are you the one who called me?" an older man asked, finally showing himself as he picked up the glass beaker and set it back onto the table. "Who are you?"
"I'm Orihara Izaya, Kyouko's son," he answered. "Are you Fukamachi Kazuo?"
"That's one of my names, yes," he answered with a curious look.
"You don't look like a high-schooler," Izaya commented honestly, causing Kazuo to laugh.
"I'm from the year 2618," he explained. "When I time leapt for the first time, I didn't bring an extra elixir with me to get back and had to stay as Fukamachi Kazuo until I could develop another serum. In that time, I met your mother, Orihara Kyouko and she fell in love with me. When I finally developed the serum, I left her behind and erased her memories." Izaya stared at him in shock, suddenly realizing that this would happen to him as he took in Kazuo and Kyouko's story. "I've told you my story, now tell me yours."
Izaya bit his lip, thinking of Kyouko with Gotetsu and the happiness they could have in the future if Fukamachi Kazuo didn't exist. "No matter what I tell you, I want you to stay away from her. She needs to move on. She may not think that, but I know that it's the best for her," Izaya said firmly.
"Alright," Kazuo said with a nod, and it infuriated Izaya that it was so easy for Kazuo to turn down and reject Kyouko like that.
"My mother got into a car accident," Izaya hesitantly explained, suddenly intimidated by this man. "She was going to come here herself, but she got into an accident and I came here in her place to tell you that she never forgot her promise to you and that it had been renewed."
Kazuo smiled softly, remembering his promise to the woman he had once loved, the one that had gotten away, and sighed. "Your mission is now complete. You must return to your time now."
"I want to see somebody before I leave," Izaya boldly stated. "Can I...?"
Kazuo regarded him skepticism, but knew he had been in the same shoes as this boy. "I will wait for you until evening."
Izaya returned to Shizuo's home to find him packing all his belongings. "What's happening?" he asked curiously.
"My father's unwell. I have to take a bus to Akita tonight to see him," Shizuo said sadly as he handed Izaya the metal canister containing his film. "Hang onto my movie for me, okay? We'll watch it together when I come back." Gently he kissed Izaya on the forehead and smiled. "I'll call you tomorrow when I get there."
"But I won't be here tomorrow..." Izaya said quietly as tears trickled down his face after Shizuo had left. No, this wasn't how he'd want things to end. He wanted a proper good-bye. He didn't want to leave! This whirlwind romance had changed him for the better, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to leave it behind. "Shizu-chan!" he shouted, chasing after him as he threw his arms around his waist. "I love you."
"Izaya, I love you, too," Shizuo confessed, hugging Izaya back. "Come see me off at the bus station."
"Okay," Izaya answered, hugging him back with happiness.
They walked hand-in-hand, under one umbrella. He felt guilty for not telling Shizuo he was leaving, but once Shizuo had grown up, gotten famous and married a beautiful girl, he knew he'd just be a small blip in his past. After dropping him off at the station, Shizuo gave Izaya the keys to his apartment, allowing him to live there until he returned for him.
"I'll miss you," Shizuo admitted shyly.
"I'm going to miss you a lot, too," Izaya answered with a smile, sharing those exact same sentiments.
"Bye," Shizuo smiled and kissed Izaya in public, uncaring of whoever looked. "Already can't wait to see you again."
As Izaya was leaving, someone hurriedly turned a corner and smashed right into him. "Goro?" Izaya blinked in recognition at the younger version of his clumsy uncle. "What's going on?"
"Hi, Izaya-kun," Goro said sheepishly, trying to get a hold of his belongings. "I was going to go skiing in Akita but I forgot my ticket at home!"
"I don't think you're going to make it," Izaya answered.
"I guess not," Goro sighed. "I really wanted to go, too, but I guess fate's against me today."
'Thirty-six years ago today, on March 3, 1974, the fourth bus travelling out to the Akita prefecture hit a guardrail and crashed. Many valuable lives were lost that night..."
'You know... I was supposed to be on that bus... I ended up forgetting my bus ticket at home, so I missed it... Fate let me live...'
'I have to take a bus to Akita tonight... I'll call you tomorrow when I get there...'
"NO!" Izaya shouted, eyes widening at the prickle of familiar words and the recall of the older Goro's words. Without another thought, Izaya turned on his heel and ran back to the buses, pushing aside anyone who dared to get in his way. Goro's worried calls remained unheard as the only important thing on mid was to find Shizuo and stop him.
"Shizu-chan!" Izaya shouted, willing himself to run faster to the departure point. He could make it. He could save him. He had to. "Shizu-chan!" he screamed again, praying that his stupid protozoan could hear him from so far away. "Shizu-chan!" he kept shouting as he sobbed, ignoring all the attention he was attracting. His throat was hurting and his lungs were burning for air by the time he reached the departure point. He scanned the crowd, looking for Shizuo's umbrella and mop of blond hair.
He grabbed the closest person in uniform and demanded for directions to the Akita bus. The worker pointed all to the front, and Izaya's eyes widened at the realization that it was the fourth bus. But even worse, he could see a familiar head of blond hair boarding the bus.
"SHIZUO!" he screamed as loud as he could as he started running again. Even with the rain pouring down heavily on him, it looked like he was going to make it. He could save Shizuo. "SHIZ—mff!"
A hand clasped over his mouth and another grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Izaya was suddenly face to face with the Timekeeper, Fukamachi Kazuo. "No matter how tragic an accident is, we cannot change the past!" he shouted at Izaya who was trying to fight back. The bus doors were closing and they were preparing to leave.
"NO! You can't do this!" Izaya sobbed as he fought against Kazuo. "I love him! I can save him!"
"You cannot alter history!" Kazuo hissed.
"Let me go!" Izaya growled, elbowing Kazuo in the gut and started running towards the bus again. It had already started leaving and drove down the road. "STOP!" he shouted desperately, trying to keep up with the bus as he hit the back of it. "SHIZUO! SHIZUO!" he sobbed, as he tripped and fell down to the slippery road. "Come back!" he begged, unable to save his one true love.
The bus was long gone.
Kazuo found Izaya in the dirt, beneath the rain, hugging himself and screaming out apologies to Shizuo. The Timekeeper fell to his knees and embraced him. "You couldn't save him," he said quietly.
"I can save him and I will," Izaya suddenly realized, grabbing the last vial of time travelling serum in his bag. "I'll save him and I'll stay in the past with him!" he shouted, uncorking the vial to drink.
Kazuo knocked the vial out of Izaya's hand and the boy watched in sheer horror as it shattered on the ground. "I'm sorry but it's not worth one life to change the entire world. I will take you back to your era and everything will be normal again. I will take away your memories so you don't remember any of this," he said as he reached his hand out.
"NO! I won't forget him! I won't! I love him! You can't take my memories away!" Izaya sobbed, fighting back. "Don't do this, please! I'm begging you."
"You two would never have been able to be together," Kazuo whispered as he shook his head sadly and pressed his fingers to Izaya's forehead. The boy's head tipped back as he fell unconscious against the wet concrete. Tears trickled down from his closed eyes, and Fukamachi Kazuo knew that just like Orihara Kyouko, Izaya's heart would always remember.
Izaya awoke on the floor of his home with a pain in his neck. He didn't remember how he had gotten there, but he was sure he must have passed out from crying over his comatose mother. He got up slowly, and frowned, hearing the television playing from the kitchen.
"Let's travel back in time! Thirty-six years ago today, on March 3, 1974, the fourth bus travelling out to the Akita prefecture hit a guardrail and crashed. Many valuable lives were lost that night..."
Izaya frowned at the history channel, wondering who on earth left it on, and grabbed the remote to turn the television off. After packing his schoolbag, he dutifully went to the hospital to visit his mother and was shocked to find her up and awake.
"Mother!" he shouted, frantically pressing the call button for a nurse.
"Izaya?" she asked, staring at him with a soft smile. "What smells so nice?"
"Um, is it this?" he asked, finding that somebody had left a sprig of lavender next to her pillow. "It smells nice. It kind of smells... nostalgic." As he leant down, he felt something shift in his pocket and he frowned when he felt a flat circular metal canister.
Kyouko blinked at her son and smiled agreeably. "Yes, it does smell nostalgic."
Izaya returned home later that day, after getting his mother's clean bill of health. The doctors claimed that she would be alright, and that they wanted to keep her an extra day just to make sure everything was okay. The phone rang and he hurried to answer it, expecting it to be the hospital. "Orihara residence."
"Izaya?" a male voice answered on the other end. "This is Hasegawa Shirou..."
"Thank you for meeting me," Izaya said, finally meeting his father for the first time.
"Hello, son," he said awkwardly. "How is Kyouko?"
"She'll be alright," he answered brusquely. "Look, I don't care about you or your absence in my life. I just want to borrow your projector."
"My projector?" Shirou repeated.
"I need something that will play this," he answered, presenting him with the film canister.
"I haven't seen one of these in a long time," his father said, examining it. "Where'd you get it?"
"Found it," he answered with a shrug. "It's called Planet of Lights or something."
Shirou stared at him with a shocked expression and looked away to stifle a tearful gasp. "What a strange title. I haven't heard it since an old friend of mine... Never mind that. I'll be sure to get you a projector."
"You sure you know how to work a projector?" Izaya asked with disbelief, staring at his friend, Shinra, who was currently fiddling with the old machinery Shirou had brought by.
"Yeah!" he answered, waving Izaya off. "Go close the curtains! I got it!" he said and turned off the lights.
Izaya sat down on the floor as the movie began to play. It was black and white and the effects were terrible, emphasizing just how old the film had been. There was a city and shaking effects and mock explosions, followed by a pair of lovers separated by a wall, unable to make contact. The male painted a cherry tree on his side before promptly falling dead. The girl died from heartbreak shortly after, and the screen faded to the cherry tree painting with the subtitles: Don't let the last sakura be a painting. The credits appeared next in bold white letters that said:
Director: Heiwajima Shizuo
"What a weird movie," Shinra commented and then gasped, "Izaya? Why are you crying?"
Izaya slowly reached up to touch his face, finding that there were indeed tears streaming down his face. "I don't know," he answered, staring at the director's name. His chest hurt and he felt as if he was forgetting something important. "You're right, what a weird movie..." he murmured, hastily wiping his tears away and frowned as the scent of lavender suddenly filled his senses.