The next few weeks were very strange for Mikado. Anytime he could, the teen would visit Izaya and talk with him. Masomi and Anri didn't enjoy the fact he was visiting the informant broker, and at first tried to talk him out of it. However, he pointed out the fact to them that Izaya saved his life, and the least he could do was visit him in the hospital. Besides, what could a bedridden informant broker do to him? After listening to his reasoning, his friends stopped pestering him and decided it would just be simpler to just go with him in the end.
Seeing Izaya bedridden was strange, since the lithe man was always running around, on his feet, and doing parkour. The doctor had explicitly told him and Izaya that the 24 year old was not allowed to move around, twist or turn too much, because he may cause himself internal bleeding. Izaya pouted at that, but complied. Apparently Izaya didn't like hospitals that much, since he seemed to be willing to do whatever it took to get out of the hospital quicker, including laying down and doing nothing for three to five weeks.
It wasn't that bad though, Mikado actually felt like he was getting to know the man better. To fill the silence of the empty hospital room, Mikado and Izaya shared conversation. And eventually, after about two weeks, Izaya told Mikado some stories about some of his funniest job requests as an informant broker.
"Eh?" Mikado exclaimed, blue eyes wide. "So the lights we saw last summer were people Heiwajima-san, not fireworks?"
Izaya smirked and nodded. "Ah yes, it was a very crazy job. You see, the bag we needed was a red bag. The client Shizuo had been trying to get to pay up had the same bag, but filled with food and clothing, but there was someone else whom had the same exact bag filled with cash that he took from a gang. They also happened to be asking me to find him. It became extremely troublesome when the bags kept getting mixed up, but we managed to get the right one in the end. We threw glow in the dark neon paint on them, and then I sent them after Shizu-chan"
He crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "It backfired a little in the end. My courier, the Headless Rider, saw them flying through the skies and instantly thought it was aliens invading the earth. She refused to work for anyone for a week because she was 100% sure that aliens had finally invaded Japan"
Anri looked up shyly from where she had been twiddling her thumbs and asked,"The Headless Rider believes in aliens?" Celty was someone Anri felt she could relate to, so learning anything about her made the girl feel happy, even if it was from someone like Izaya.
"Oh, yeah, totally terrified.." Izaya said firmly,"I know that she watches American conspiracy shows and old sci-fi movies. She'll watch them and then get all these crazy ideas in her head for at least a week or two. I prefer to never be around her at those times because she had a tenancy to try and make traps to catch 'aliens'"
The three students chuckled in amusement, before Mikado asked,"So, even the Black Biker is afraid of something? What are you afraid of Orihara-kun?" Mikado could swear he saw something strange flash through Izaya's eyes, before his usual smirk appeared on his face.
Laughing and running his fingers through his black hair, Izaya said,"What a funny thing to say! I have nothing to fear, Mikado-kun. Gods don't need to feel fear" Masomi and Anri both looked frustrated by his answer, Mikado himself, however, was watching closely. He heard how Izaya's voice went up higher in pitch than normal, and how his smile seemed rather forced. It was rather strange, but it hadn't been the first strange thing Mikado had noticed.
He also noticed that when it came close to sundown, Izaya would get a lot more fidgety. He would constantly twiddle his fingers and look quickly towards the door or out the window then back down. The info broker also continued to work on his phone. Despite Mikado's worried protests, that Izaya may possibly stress his body out too much or exhaust himself, the man merely reminded him of something.
"I told you this the day all this began," Izaya said in another forced, cheery voice,"I don't get days off Mikado-kun~!"
Mikado couldn't help but worry, but he guessed there wasn't much he could do about it. He wasn't exactly Izaya's caretaker. Plus, they were practically total strangers! They barley had anything in common, they couldn't be classified as anything close to friends.. Or even colleagues.. But it was just his nature to worry about people, especially people who saved him from dying. He guessed he would just have to find a way to learn more about Izaya so he could help the man more? Yes, that would work.
Little did Mikado know, they were about to learn something about themselves that would change their whole world..
– – – – – –
"Ah! It feels so good to walk around again!" Izaya exclaimed happily, stretching his arms above his head. Mikado was smiling happily, while Masomi and Anri stood nearby with annoyed expressions.
Masomi rolled his brown eyes and grumbled,"You had to take physical therapy, you already have been walking around"
Izaya turned and pointed a finger towards Masomi. "That's the thing, Kida-kun. I was walking around in the hospital. But now, I get to walk out of the hospital, towards freedom!" He declared, making sweeping motions across the sleeves of his hospital gown proudly.
Once they got to the front desk, a nurse walked up to them, smiling and handing Izaya a bundle of clothing, her other hand holding a manilla folder. "Here, a friend of your dropped off some clothing for you," She said happily,"You can use the private bathroom to get changed, and then we'll sign all the papers to get you out of here"
Izaya grew his usual smirk before he nodded, taking the key to the private bathroom and then walking off. Masomi sighed in relief and said,"Thank God we won't have to see him anymore after this.. Well at least not as much" Anri made a noise and nodded in agreement.
"W-well wasn't it kind of nice to get to know him better? His stories were pretty cool.." Mikado said, trying to change Masomi's opinion on the informant broker.
Masomi put his hands behind his head and shrugged. "Mah.. I could care less.. I only came to make sure he wouldn't do anything to you," He said in a protective tone,"Because if he did, I would have cut off his-"
"OH-kay! I got it Kida-kun, thank you!" Mikado said quickly, noticing Anri looking slightly uncomfortable at Masomi's suddenly threatening tone. Masomi froze, his dark look going away as he threw a hand onto the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly. "Ah! Sorry about that! Forgot where I was! I guess you could say this place just isn't that hospitable to me!"
Silence
With a grin on his face, Masomi moved his hands a bit. "Get it?" He tried explaining,"Hospital? Hospitable?"
Looking down shyly, Anri whispered,"Masomi-kun, that was the worst joke I've ever heard you make.."
While Masomi pouted, the other two laughed. The nurse next to them smiled as they watched the scene, until there was a beeping noise. She pulled a pager out of her pocket, her brown eyes reading what had been sent. She ran a hand through her bangs and said,"Hmm.. Um.. Sir?" She reached towards Mikado.
Turning around, his blue eyes filled with concern. "What is it, kangoshi-san?" Mikado asked softly. She smiled at his politeness, before replying,"I'm needed upstairs for some new patients, I can't stay until he gets back"
"Oh," Mikado said worriedly,"Anything we can do?"
The nurse smiled. "Yes there is actually!" She said, holding out the manilla folder,"I can trust you with this, after all. When your brother finishes changing, can you give him this file?" She asked. Mikado was just about to reach out and take the file, telling her he would do it, when he heard what she said.
"W-what?" He asked awkwardly.
"I asked if you could give this file to your brother once he finishes changing," She repeated, making Mikado realize that she really meant what she said, and that he had heard her right. Masomi and Anri now tilted their heads and frowned, not seeming to understand either.
"I... I think you misunderstand, Kangoshi-san.. I- We-," Mikado stuttered,"I don't have any siblings.."
Masomi frowned even more and wrapped his arm around Mikado's shoulders and said,"Listen, lady, I know most of us Japanese people look kinda alike, but it's not cool to make assumptions like that"
"Assumptions?" The nurse inquired, gobsmacked,"I would assume something like that unless I had the facts!"
"Then what are the facts?!" Masomi snapped back. "Do you understand what you are even saying?!"
The nurse opened her mouth to angrily retort, before her eyes filled with a strange look. Turning to Mikado, she asked,"So you're telling me you didn't know this?"
Mikado, now pale and blue eyes filled with confusion, shook his head. "N-no.. I-I'm an- an only child.. I d-don't have a brother.."
"Not according to the bloodwork," The nurse said, she opened the manilla folder and continued,"According to our lab technicians, they checked the DNA of both your families and found that Orihara Izaya is not related to the Orihara family in any way, shape, or form. His biological parents are Hiromi and Tatsuya Ryuugamine, and you are his biological younger brother"
The three teenager's faces were pale, eyes wide with shock. Worried, the nurse turned then sent another nurse to go get Izaya.
A minute later, Izaya was walking quickly toward the nurse and holding out his hand. His face was serious, and stayed that way as his red eyes read over the manilla folder's contents. His eyes were filling with confusion.
"You are sure this is correct?" He demanded,"You had this checked?"
"Yes sir, three times," She replied.
"Why even check this in the first place?!" Izaya demanded,"You were just giving me his blood" Izaya seemed deadly calm, but the trained eye could see he was shocked by this news as well. His face was a little paler than the rest of his body, and the hands squeezing the manila folder were also shaking.
"Y-you both have the same blood type, O Negative, which is extremely rare in the first place," The nurse began,"But at the same time our lab technicians checked Ryuugamine-san's blood and found dangerously high amounts of plasma in his blood, yet he had no issues with his body. S-so we checked your blood and it was the same thing. We wanted to make sure it was a genetic thing and not a sickness of some kind, so we checked your families.."
"You weren't related to the Orihara family, but Ryuugamine-san's parents had the same plasma issue in their body, so we had the lab technicians check your relation to them.. And the results came in, which is what you see there," She finished.
"A-ah.." Izaya muttered, his face paler now, and eyes continuing to reread the file, trying to see how this could be possible. His confused and shocked expression made Masomi realize that this wasn't a prank by Izaya, this was real. Turning to Mikado, he wanted to make sure his best friend was okay. "Oi.. Mikado," He softly cooed.
Mikado was not taking it well. He was having a small existential crisis in his head as he stared at the young man- no, his brother. Suddenly, everything made sense. From the feeling he first got when meeting Izaya, to the fact that the day his parents grew depressed was the same day as Izaya's birthday. They were thinking of Izaya on May 4th. Mikado's mind still was desperately wanting to know a few things, as he stared up at Izaya, needing the answers.
"O-Oi! Mikado!" He could hear Masomi yell,"Calm down!" Mikado couldn't seemed to find a way to calm himself though, as he took a step forward, muttering something nobody understood. Then, he fainted straight into Izaya's arms.
It was only thanks to Izaya's quick instincts that he caught Mikado, dropping the results folder with the other. He was surprised he wasn't fainting as well. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, there was a throbbing sensation again, something he hadn't felt years because of them. It was memories he couldn't seem to remember, but they were there.
The manilla folder's contents begged many questions that Izaya didn't know the answer to, and a few that he did.. It was all too much to bear for the 24 year old. Some things in his life were starting to make sense, and others became just as confusing as before.
He slowly lowered Mikado no- his little brother, to the ground, and then swiftly turned and walked away. "Oi! Izaya!" Masomi yelled, grabbing the end of his fur jacket. "You can't leave! You have some explaining to do to Mikado!"
"I can't explain anything when I'm just as confused as he is, Masomi-kun!" Izaya snapped in a surprisingly shaky voice. He grabbed the edge of his jacket and yanked it roughly away from Masomi, and continued,"I need time to think.." Izaya quickly left the hospital after that.
Anri quickly knelt down by Mikado, shaking his shoulder slightly. "Mikado-kun, wake up please.." She whispered fearfully, while the nurse had quickly gotten some of the other nurses to help take Mikado do a hospital room to make sure the shock wasn't too much for him. She quickly followed after Mikado, as did Masomi, but not before picking up the folder from the ground and hugging it to his chest.
Meanwhile, Izaya seemed to be in a daze, walking down the street and trying to get to Shinjuku as soon as possible. He needed time alone, time to think about the words he had been told. It made so little sense, but so much sense at the same time.
Just as he was near the end of Ikebukuro's city limits, he heard many people scream, and a guttural roar cut through the air like a katana. Turning around, still hugging himself, Izaya saw the exact person he didn't want to face right now. "IZAYA!" Shizuo snarled, holding a stop sign and pointing at the male. "I thought I told you to stay out of Ikebukuro!"
"Shizu-chan, please," Izaya quickly said,"I don't want to fight you right now" It was the truth. His mind was so jumbled, he didn't think he could last long against Shizuo.
Shizuo froze for a second, before yelling,"Is this some kind of joke?! What are you trying to pull flea?!" He looked like steam could be floating off the top of his head with how angry he was.
"I'm not pulling anything! I just want to go home," Izaya said,"I don't want to fight right now.. I need to think about some things.."
Still seemingly not able to compute, Shizuo let the stop sign drop from his hold with a violent clang, before asking,"Since when do you not want to fight?"
"Since I heard something I need to think about, Shizu-chan," Izaya simply said, not sure if he wanted to tell the protozoan his situation. "So leave me alone" Izaya turned and kept walking.
Shizuo didn't seemed to know what to do for several seconds. However, the way Izaya was carrying himself made him curious, and the fact Izaya looked extremely pale. He stared for a few more moments, before yelling,"While you think, think about the fact you are a stupid flea!" Then, he turned and walked the opposite direction himself.
Mikado, later, would find himself groggily waking up, then snapping into a sitting up position. Once his vision cleared, he saw that nobody was in the room with him, but Mikado didn't care. He stood up, grabbing the folder and checking it's contents again before leaving the hospital. He wanted to talk to Izaya, he needed to talk to him. There were so many things he wanted to know, but there were few people who could answer his question.
He needed to talk to his brother, but it would be kind of hard when he didn't know where Izaya lived. There was, however, one person he could trust to help him, hopefully.
Later that day, Celty would find herself trying to relax with Shinra, leaning against each other, when her phone went off. "Maaah.." Shinra groaned,"Just ignore it Celty.." He nuzzled against her neck in an attempt to stop her from answering her phone. [No] Celty told him firmly [It might be important]
Opening her phone, she saw it was a text message from Mikado. She had given him her number after the whole Saika incident just in case he needed something.
[Celty] The message began [I need your help, desperately. Can we talk?]
Wondering what was so important, she replied quickly. [Of course we can]
The reply came quickly after.
[I'll be over soon]
