Humans were, by nature, fairly predictable and unpredictable. I'd come to see it as my job to pick through them and see which ones were which. The work had become fairly monotonous as of late now that the Dollars and Yellow Scarves had calmed down. Information was scarcely needed and with my decrease in customers, I had grown restless.
I knew of a fair few people who never failed to keep me entertained, but one had decided to flee the city. I wasn't bitter, by any means – merely curious. What did Kida hope to find outside of Ikebukuro, especially with a dead-beat girl? He didn't love her, that much was apparent but he pretended to.
I don't know how thinking about Masaomi leads me to Yuuhei's bar. It was located in the middle district of Ikebukuro, the middle-class part of town. Lately, the bar had come to house some of the city's worst drunks – men and women who wanted nothing more than to drown in their own sorrow. They were sick of life and used the alcohol as an excuse to escape the reality of things. I watched a man put down his second mug, and politely decline as Shizu-chan went to refill it. It wasn't ten minutes later after Shizuo had cleared the mug away that the man nodded and asked him to pour another. Without the mug in front of him, he didn't feel as guilty about the alcohol he had just consumed - having two more glasses wouldn't haunt his conscience. Interesting.
I sat down at the far end of the bar where it was less crowded. This was a public place and although half of its occupants were tipsy and beyond, they were still witnesses nonetheless. I raised my hand, holding out some yen.
I watched as Shizuo turned, realized it was me who had signaled him and slowly reddened. Well, that was interesting. Was he trying to hold back his anger? I smiled, waving the yen.
"Can I get some service?" It didn't take long before he put the cup he was wiping down and walked stiff-legged to where I sat.
"What do you want, flea?" I scoffed.
"Shizu-chan, you really need to come up with something better. I'm getting bored of that nickname," He opened his mouth to retort, but I quickly cut him off. "You can't say my nickname for you is boring because it obviously pisses you off. Shi-zu-chan." He was about to lose it, I could feel it. The way his body flexed and he gripped the edge of the bar – his eyes behind his glasses betraying every emotion.
"Whatever. What'd you want?"
"You're a poor actor, Shizu-chan. Leave that to your brother." I sighed and flipped the yen in my hand. "What would you suggest? Nothing too strong, I have a weak stomach." Besides the fact that I was riding on his last nerve, the blonde decided to play along. Whether it was because we were on his home turf was a factor that had to be taken into account. I had control here, regardless because one tiny slip from him and it could cost him his job. This thought made me smile and Shizuo rolled his eyes.
"How about I surprise you?" The blonde murmured and I merely nodded. He disappeared under the counter, returning with half a dozen bottles of liquor. From what I could see he had vodka, rum, cranberry juice and a can of Sprite. The bartender grabbed the contained, grabbing the bottle of vodka with a back hand move. The liquid streamed through the nozzle before Shizuo brought it higher, bounced it to cut the flow and flipped the bottle back onto the counter. He did the same with the rum, grabbing the container with a back hand this time as he flipped it. The movement was so quick; the liquid didn't have time to slide back out. He made the drink like it was an art form, keeping me entertained while his underlying intention was to get me as inebriated as possible. I might just let him. The blonde strained the drink over ice, flipping a napkin in front of me before flipping a cherry into the drink to complete it. Amused, I gave him a smile and clapped.
"Bravo, Shizu-chan. Is that what they teach you in school? I'm thoroughly impressed." The brute leaned on the counter, wiping a cloth over it. "And you resisted the urge to poison it, too? You never fail to entertain me."
"Will you just shut up and drink it?"
I humored him, taking the tiniest of sips. I was never much of an alcohol person, and although it was bitter with the cranberry juice that he had added on a whim, it also intensified the blend of other flavors and tied them together.
"Not bad. Not bad at all, Shizu-chan. I may hire you to work for me one of these days."
"This isn't easy for me, I hope you know." The blonde wrung his hands together, something I found alarming. Shizuo was a blunt person. He didn't get nervous or waste words on trivialities, least of all on me.
"Things rarely are." I replied smoothly, sipping the concoction with delight.
"You ain't making this any easier." I opened my mouth to retort before quickly realizing that this wasn't going to get us anywhere. The man was a mess when it came to sorting through his emotions, at least that's what I had learned through endless observation, and clearly he was having a hard time although I was the only one in his company. By now the bar had been empty for the last twenty minutes or so. It must have neared midnight and those too intoxicated to drive had started the long walk home. I leaned onto the bar, doing my best to suppress a smile that I knew he would find irritating.
"Shizu-chan? Talk to me, what is it? I won't bite if that's what you're afraid of. I'm fairly harmless most of the time." He reached out, and for a minute I thought he was about to grab me by the collar. His hand landed instead on the bottle in front of me.
"I'm not going to kill you, Izaya-kun…not yet." Oh? Well, this was new. I leaned in closer, my nose barely touching his. I thought he might shrink away from me, but that apparently was not the case.
"And why is that?"
"Because…" He pointed to the drink that I had drained completely without my knowledge. It had been full last time I checked. Was it really that good? "Obviously you're drunk. And while it would give me great pleasure to throw your ass on the curb, I'm not that mean."
Was I drunk? Was that what this new feeling was? I tried to center myself, concentrate on anything in the room without it swirling out of focus, but to no avail.
"You've never had alcohol before? I find that hard to believe." The bartender crossed his arms.
"Ehhh…once or twice. I'm not fond of it, by any means." My speech was fine. It wasn't fluctuating like normal people who appeared drunk. Was Shizuo trying to make me second guess myself? I was the one in control.
"Well, you're definitely buzzed then. As much as it pains me, I'll walk your ass home after my shift. Just sit tight here for an hour or so, kay? Don't do anything stupid."
This new side to Shizuo was confusing. Normal Shizu-chan would have punched me in the face and thrown me out by now. I had taunted him, not as much as usual, but enough to strike a nerve. Had the blonde really learned how to control himself? I highly doubted that Shizuo had become a saint overnight and the longer I sat in the stool, watching the one man I hated most on this earth, the more I came to realize that I hated him because he didn't get boring. While Shizuo was predictable with his actions, his motives seemed to switch daily. Sure, he wanted to kill me – but his reasoning, what was his reasoning? Tonight he could have made a perfect example of me – dumped me into an alleyway, beaten the living shit out of me.
In my clouded state, the thought struck me. Shizuo was keeping not only me alive by trying to kill me, but him alive as well. It was an ass-backwards theory, but somehow it made sense. To tell the truth, I'm a little ashamed and humiliated that I didn't figure it out sooner. Shizuo was playing his own game with me, while I played mine. But…what would happen if our games melted into one?
