Well I posted this ahead of when I thought I would. You may or may not have noticed the new story cover. There's a bigger version on my tumblr. Not sure when I'll be posting the next chapter, like usual. I'm not sure when I'll post the next one but writing isn't going all that quickly for me right now.
Just let me know if it's at all difficult to discern what kind of speech is which.
Chapter Two
"…It is currently unknown who caused her disappearance and the police are currently working on several leads. They suspect that whoever it is has ties to a gang and hope to bring her home safely. The daughter of Kazuo Rin, the ambassador for-"
Laughing, Izaya turned off the television and sipped leisurely at his coffee. He had expected the gang to rush into it the plans and indeed he was right and was quite impressed that they hadn't been caught already. When he opened up the laptop on the table in front of him it was already on an e-mail composition screen and an e-mail was waiting to be sent.
"Izaya, I swear, if I get involved in this stupid plan of yours I will kill you," Namie spoke up, reading Izaya's intentions.
"Oh relax, I'm not doing anything illegal."
"It doesn't mean it's not dangerous for me."
"Don't be such a stick in the mud~ Anyway, you won't have to worry about that. I just need you to keep the business going for a little while. I may end up not being around for a while."
"I expect a pay-rise."
"Proportional to the amount of extra hours you'll be doing, the same rate."
Namie made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat sounding suspiciously like 'cheap bastard'.
"With the extra assumed responsibilities I expect at least a ten percent rise in my hourly rate for the period I'll be working," she insisted, looking at him with a cold glare.
Izaya sighed. "Very well, but if you work extra hours if I'm not here, don't expect me to make allowances for it. And if you don't work the hours, I will know about it and you'll lose that extra ten percent."
"Acceptable."
"You can sing tales of my generosity if you want, I'm sure it'll keep me entertained if I record it~" He pulled out his phone and pointed it at Namie.
"Not on your life."
"Disappointing, oh well~"
[Kanra: Have you heard about the kidnapping? So scary~]
[Setton: I have. I hope she's okay.]
[Tanaka Tarou: Ah, you mean Kazuo Noa-san? Yeah I've heard about that. Apparently the police think gangsters are involved.]
[Kanra: Yeah, they're asking for a massive ransom for her and I hear she's not the only one to have gone missing too. I haven't heard from my friend in a while, could she be with them too? Ah! I'm so scared!]
[Setton: That's terrible! I hope she's not with them. Those lowlife gangsters! I wish I could do something to help them.]
[Kanra: I know! I hope the police solve it soon.]
[Tanaka Tarou: I hope so too, I'll keep an eye out for anything that can help but I don't think there's much I can do. Let's all keep alert, yeah?]
[Setton: Yeah, I hope your friend is okay, Kanra.]
[Kanra: Thank you guys, I hope so too!]
Rumours surrounding the case were being spread like wildfire in the Dollars chat room just a day later and Izaya was grinning widely at his screen when he'd seen what he'd caused. He made sure to subtly say that 'Orihara' was talking to the police about the case and, in a way, he was. He'd dropped off some files with omitted details to the police station to entice them along with a means of contacting him. He'd made sure to be in view of known Dollars members to confirm it for him as well.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled widely. Yes, things were turning out well. He picked up his paper coffee cup from the restaurant table and sipped at it. It wouldn't take long at all for word to reach his intended audience. He wasn't normally excited about the thought of being hunted down but this time it felt different for some reason unknown to him.
Navigating the busy streets of Tokyo, Celty raced through traffic on her steed. She turned a corner so fast with bone-breaking forces pulling at her that it was a wonder she wasn't torn from the seat of the bike and the bike sent careening into other cars. Despite the speed she was travelling at, Celty wasn't doing a job or being chased by the police. Shinra had shown concern that Izaya hadn't been sending her jobs to do for a few days now and she was going to head over to the Shinjuku apartment when she caught sight of Shizuo crossing the street up ahead.
The paths weren't so busy now because of the late hour and she pulled over not too far from the crossing and Shizuo wandered over to her.
"Hey Celty, what's up?" Shizuo asked, extinguishing his cigarette underfoot as he walked up.
She pulled her PDA out and typed with deft fingers before lifting the screen up for Shizuo to read. [Nothing much thank you, Shinra's just asked me to do something. I thought I'd talk with you for a moment since you might be able to help me.]
Shizuo removed his sunglasses so he could read the screen better. "Hmm? So what's Shinra asked you to do?" He tucked the glasses away into his pocket.
[He's asked me to check up on Izaya. We've not heard a word from him in almost a week now. Have you seen him recently?]
"Not for a while now, must've been about two weeks almost. I'm not complaining; the louse is finally staying away from Ikebukuro." Shizuo grunted.
[That's strange. He's often out somewhere in Ikebukuro.]
"Don't I bloody know it," he grumbles. "If he's finally got himself killed, I don't care."
[I understand. Thanks anyway, Shizuo.]
She knocked the kickback back up on her bike and was about to drive away when a policeman started running towards the pair of them. "Hey, wait there a minute!" Celty jolted and looked towards the man in scared shock and Shizuo slowly turned around to face him, pulling a cigarette from his packet in his shirt pocket and lighting it.
"What?" Shizuo says plainly.
"A-Are you Heiwajima Shizuo?" He stammers, losing his confidence as the taller man turns around. "W-We need you to uh… come to the station."
"Hmm? Why is that?" He exhales the smoke and looks at the police officer with an annoyed look on his face.
"I'm not sure I should say any details of this in such a public place but it concerns Mr. Orihara. "
"If it concerns him, it doesn't concern me."
Celty tugged on his arm making Shizuo look at her and she quickly typed into her phone. [Maybe you'll find out what happened to him.]
"True but I don't care."
She looked like she sighed before she typed again. [He won't be at his place if the police are looking for him. I'll be going home now.]
"Alright, see you around." Shizuo waved goodbye to her and she sped off.
"Please, we were told you'd be the best person to find him." The policeman pleaded with him.
"So he's missing huh? If I find him, the first thing I would do is kill him, you understand that?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry to have bothered you."
When she turned up to Izaya's apartment the following morning, Namie was surprised to find the door locked. Thinking nothing much of it she pulled her key out from her bag and let herself in and looked around. She was used to him giving her a greeting as soon as she walked through the door but this time she was met with a cold silence, not that the greeting was any warmer. Sighing, she switched on her computer after closing the door behind her and opened up her e-mails.
['Subject: Stalker-chan']
Groaning, she opened up the e-mail and as she predicted it was from Izaya.
['I'm terribly sorry I can't be there to see one of my darling humans however a change of circumstances has had to receive my full attention. From this day forward you'll be looking after the business until I return as we agreed and in the mean time, if any thugs associated to the case show up, just don't let them in; I've attached a file with photos I've taken in my spare time. I don't want them to mess up the business.']
Whatever, at least I don't have you breathing down my neck. She flexed her fingers and set to work.
The bustling streets in Tokyo felt alien to Izaya as he slipped through the crowds with his hood pulled up over his head. He didn't like feeling the need to watch his back but if he wanted to stick around long enough, and survive, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. At that moment he was heading towards a safe house and he was carrying a bag over his shoulder with some spare clothes and his laptop inside. The added weight was a bit annoying but necessary.
A cold chill from the wind blew up the back of his neck and he pulled his hood up. It served as a guard from the wind as well as providing anonymity. Though some local gangs knew of his trademark fur-lined jackets, Izaya knew the gang he was messing with wasn't local and only two of their lackeys had seen him in person. He glanced around at the buildings, seeing nothing of particular interest.
He didn't know when exactly it got there but there was a car crawling along just behind him and he cursed himself for not noticing the slow revs of the engine sooner; he picked up his pace subtly and started turning corners away from his intended route. He wasn't afraid but still his heart started beating faster and faster and his hands felt close to trembling. Holding onto his bag with both hands, he tried to appear calm, and he did to the casual observer, but he wasn't sure he was fooling his stalkers.
Before he was even aware of it, he'd strayed into Ikebukuro and he was walking at a brisk pace, trying to fight the urge to run and let on that he knew they were after him. He wasn't sure what kind of weapons the men had but, if they started shooting at him and making a scene, he didn't want to be involved in that.
Glancing around, he spotted his opportunity to get them off his tail. Thank you one-way systems. He turned up the path of a one-way street and thankfully there were several oncoming cars. Finally able to get out of their sight for a moment, he relaxed a bit and started running up the path. Yes!
Tom had allowed him to wander for a little while whilst he sorted out his business with a debtor. They were being very agreeable, surprisingly, so Shizuo had asked if he could leave for a while to pick up some more cigarettes. Despite a week free from Izaya antagonising him, Shizuo felt restless and he'd noticed he'd been smoking a lot more each day than the usual. He was constantly on the lookout for that stupid jacket and that stupid face. He groaned aloud at what he was thinking. I keep thinking about that damned flea. Even when he's not here, he finds ways to piss me off.
He was just leaving the shop with a new packet tucked into his shirt when someone jostled him as they clumsily stumbled past after turning a corner. Shizuo rounded on the smaller man just as the man turned with the beginnings of an apology on his lips.
Dark reddish eyes, wide with shock, clashed with blue veiled caramel.
Anger rose in Shizuo and as he was about to swing a fist at Izaya he was interrupted by slams of a car's doors, startling Izaya from his stunned inaction, eyes widening further before his nimbly darted through the crowd before jumping up onto the buildings and vanishing before Shizuo's eyes.
All the while, Shizuo stood there confused at the lack of the customary taunt and the almost panicked look in those reddish eyes. He was broken by the spell by someone else running into him. Reflexively, Shizuo grabbed whoever it was and lifted him with ease from the ground.
"Watch where you're going." Shizuo deadpanned. "If you're chasing that damned flea, you've lost him now."
He put the man down and walked away as if nothing had happened.
"Shit, was that Heiwajima?"
"Yeah, fuckin' hell, he just picked me up like I was nothing! That shit's scary, man!"
Shizuo didn't catch the rest of what they were saying to each other but found he was a little amused at their reaction.
Izaya came to a stop in a small park area and he caught back his breath, hands shaking with the adrenaline. Stumbling into Shizuo had made his nerves a mess. He'd almost forgotten entirely what he was running from, if it wasn't for the doors slamming then his pursuers might have succeeded in catching him.
A gnawing feeling in his gut told him that Shizuo was going to mess up his plans in some big way. Shaking his head as if to dispel the though, Izaya scoffed at his silly 'premonition'. It made sense that Shizuo would get in his way; that was what kept things interesting. There was no way to tell how things will turn out; there was no routine.
He burst out into laughter, drawing a few furtive glances from others.
He laughed because he wasn't trapped in routine. He laughed because things kept changing yet he was still thinking of silly things like premonitions. He laughed because he could, because he survived.
