Hi, here comes chapter 2! I've noticed a huge spelling mistake in the last chapter. When Izaya that Masaomi woke up the bear fanfiction took out words. I checked the chapter on my laptop and it was right there. When Izaya says he found Masaomi, Mikado and Erika in the bedroom, it took out Erika. After Erika followed a period, then came Masaomi-kun. I dunno why it took out the names but oh well; I hope it didn't cause too much confusion. In the following chapters I will actually write what people are saying in Russian say but I'll mark it the end of the sentence with a '*' so you guys know when Russian is spoken. Enjoy;)
Finally, the sun settled down in the horizon. Only an hour and it'd be pitch-black. Using a lighter, Walker carried with him they lit a candle they'd snatched beforehand. With the sun leaving, the cold of the night moved in. even though it was there, the nights still tended to get bitter cold. Izaya had it warmer than the others with his coat. But since his coat is short, he shivered once in a while, too. After mumbling and grumbling, Mikado put out the thought everyone was thinking, "We should have searched the camper and taken supplies with us." Everyone sighed in agreement. With the whole bear fiasco happening, none had thought about that. But going back was no option. The bear could still be lingering in the scrap yard. The villagers settled down and as the sun completely vanished, the group searched for a carriage. Finding one wasn't too hard. At the edge of the village, one stood by a shack with the horses still attached to it. But of course, the owner wouldn't leave the horses all night attached to carriage. Said owner ambled outside the shack, oil lamp held in one hand. They had to think fast. None of them knew how the whole harness mess worked so this was a golden opportunity, except that the owner was present. It slowly slipped, their chance diminishing as they huddled around the corner chewing their lips. Attacking the guy would cause trouble. He'd probably remember their faces and go to authorities. Shizuo really hated violence, but in such a situation no one could think of any answer but violence. Out of the corner of his eye the bartender clad man spotted a loose shingle swaying right and left right above the guy's head. Wide eyes locked on the rock coming out of the blue colliding harshly with the shingle, sending it straight on the guy's head with enough force to knock him out and cause a bruise. They looked at each other and after shaking their heads, everyone looked at Shizuo in surprise. "What? We need to get going. He's not dead, you know. Besides, now it looks like an accident." Shizuo shrugged and pushed forward. Everyone blinked, not because of Shizuo being violent, but because Shizuo initiated the hijacking of the carriage. Mikado uttered a 'wow' and 'I can't believe we are stealing a carriage.' To their luck, the horses didn't seem to care that their owner got knocked out, at least they didn't look disturbed. Strangers on the carriage didn't bother them either as the gang piled on. "Does anyone even have an idea how to do this?" Tom inquired.
"I think I've seen on TV one time…" Kida climbed forward and took the reins into his hand. "You kinda just grab those… and then you flick your wrist… to give a little slap or something… Like this!" unfortunately, Masaomi flicked the reins too hard sending the two steeds galloping down the road in full speed. Pebbles trembled and the whole gang almost got thrown out as the carriage lurched forward. Masaomi would have been catapulted out if it weren't Shizuo holding on to him. The horses raced down the road, the occupants holding on for dear life. At least they were on the right road. "Slow them down!" Shizuo yelled. "I don't know what I'm doing!" Masaomi yelled back. "Try pulling on them!" Mikado shouted. Masaomi followed his friend's at advice. Inexperienced and with the horses going full speed, Masaomi yanked on the reins rather harshly, causing the horses to throw their heads back and neigh in protest coming to a bucking stop, each abrupt halt throwing the group forward. The horses snorted coming to a full stop, nostrils flaring. Due to their sudden sprint, the village was already almost out of sight. "M-maybe a little gentler next time." Mikado panted. Glancing over his shoulder, Masaomi was relieved to find no one thrown out. Chewing his lip, he fidgeted before flicking the reins again this time much gentler. Kida flicked them again and the horses changed into a gentle trot. Getting used to the motion, Mikado climbed forward seating himself next to his friend. The two looked at each other and suddenly burst out laughing. The others stared at them but quickly gave in to the laughter bubbling inside them from the absurdity of their day. Tom noted while laughing how just how crazy this all was. They'd fought a polar bear in Russia, well, Shizuo did; they'd probably stolen a camper at some point; and just now they'd stolen a carriage, knocked out a villager with a shingle and a teenage boy drove said carriage with no previous experience at all; Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima were sitting in a carriage laughing together instead of trying to kill each other. Their laughter echoed through the silent night, although Masaomi dropped out laughing quickly since his chest complained after four minutes. The rest of the night ticked by slowly mainly in silence with a few quiet conversations, Izaya being remarkably quiet and not talking to Shizuo at all and each of them napping a bit. In between, Masaomi showed Mikado what to do and handed over the reins, snoozing off a bit while using his friend as a lean to. An owl hooted into the night. Only half of it had passed and Shizuo found it increasingly hard to keep the rage in. Being so close to Izaya and doing nothing gnawed on his nerves. If he was not going to kill the informant, he needed time away from the man. Pronto. The constant stomach growls of everyone didn't do enough to distract. Tom and Shinra both slept and conversation had rather ceased and each pondered more on what had happened. Not helping. At all. His wish was granted as the horses suddenly slowed and stopped refusing to keep going. They'd been pulling the carriage all day already and the gang's stunt pulled them out their daily hoop where they would be usually sleeping now in their stalls. They demanded a break. Masaomi persuaded the two animals to at least go to the side of the road before turning to the others. The horses neighed in thanks and one lowered its head to graze a bit while the other closed his eyes resting a bit while standing. "They want a break." Masaomi announced. "Fine, by me I'm going for a little walk. Don't worry I'll stay close." Shizuo growled unable to keep the bottled up aggression out of his voice. Tom had awoken to their stop and joined Shizuo grabbing an oil lamp from the carriage. The two wandered off always staying in sight of their transportation though. The whole van gang was asleep huddled together into a bundle, undisturbed from the stop. Mikado had snoozed off again and Shinra had opted for a walk too. Izaya stayed in the carriage along with Masaomi. Kida debated to hand the reins over to Izaya since Mikado had just fallen asleep after they'd switched but decided against it. He'd probably ditch them and they would get stuck unable to understand anything. Slowly, Kida scooted away until Mikado gently slid off lying sideways on the driver's seat and tied the reins lightly to the carriage while Izaya watched him.
"Stop watching me." Kida growled feeling Izaya' smirk fixed on him.
"Fine, would rather talk instead?~"
"No!"
"I'll keep watching you then.~"
"Ugh." Masaomi climbed off the carriage and wandered to one of the horses stroking its broad, warm neck. Seeing the horse didn't mind and his shivering body yearned for heat, Masaomi wrapped his arms around the animal soaking up the heat. Ignoring the informant, he glanced at Mikado his thoughts drifting back to the morning. His waking was abrupt and he hadn't even noticed Erika since he yelled at Izaya right away. But he couldn't shake that weird feeling that Izaya knew something he didn't. He probably knew a lot of things, Kida didn't but he couldn't shake off the feeling that whatever he knew he could and likely would use against him. His head went back to counting who was in the room. Erika, Mikado, him and Izaya. Izaya was obviously earlier awake, he woke Masaomi up. Whenever the teen caught Izaya smirking at him he noticed the smirk grow that was etched on his face. The smirk would when he looked at Mikado and Masaomi. What was so frigging amusing? Did he lie when Kyohei asked if anyone remembered anything? What else was there? Masaomi had noticed that he and Mikado woke up close together. In the darkness no one noticed as his face heated up. Did Mikado and him do something embarrassing? Possible. He wanted to ask, but not Izaya. Erika was asleep. But for now, it was just him and the informant. If he was going to ask, he didn't want anyone to hear. Izaya already knew and the suspense killed the kid. "Hey Izaya, how, like did Mikado and me sleep in a weird position or something?" Masaomi regretted asking as Izaya's predatory grin widened.
"So you want to talk now?~"
"Just answer!"
"Well, you know my profession it would cost."
"Stop being a jerk and just tell me!"
"I don't know, with that attitude~"
Masaomi sighed, "Fine, how much?"
"A favor.~"
"Hell no!"
"Do you want to know?~"
Kida grit his teeth, favor or no favor? Screw it, he'd have to miraculously get blackmail on the informant to counter the favor. "One favor."
"You and Mikado were spooning.~" Izaya chuckled.
"Oh please, that's ridiculous, besides only you and Erika saw it if you try to use that as blackmail, I'm sure no one will believe you."
"I thought of that. So I took a picture before I woke you up." Izaya took out one of his phone, swaying it back and forth adding emphasis to his point.
"I hate you." Masaomi pushed his face in the horse's mane. Damn that man and his "games". Why couldn't he just leave him alone?
Mikado yawned and pushed himself noticing his friend's face buried in the fluffy mane. "Hey, you ok Masaomi?" Mikado easily worried for the blond.
Masaomi flashed him a smile quickly hiding his distress with a fake happy demeanor. He was good at that. "I'm fine. Just cold, he horses are warm." Mikado climbed down and stepped next to Kida, cuddling against the horse, "So warm. I'm freezing; shouldn't a town or city come up soon?"
"Should. We have to lose the carriage by dawn if that villager wakes up soon and decides to report it we can't let anyone see us with the carriage." A few more minutes passed in silence before Shizuo came back with Tom and Shinra in tow. Mikado and Masaomi climbed back on the driver's seat and eased the horses back into a trot. Shizuo conversed with Tom while Shinra talked to Izaya mainly letting everyone know how much he missed Celty.
The girls sighed. Day and night they searched for leads. Eating and sleeping had become irregular. They'd search and search until they either were too hungry to go on or they were too tired in which case they'd flopped down on the couch. Saki and Anri basically lived at Celty's 24/7 now, while Verona usually stayed at Russia's Sushi reporting regularly for any progress. Just before Celty could snooze off a thump pulled her off the couch. She wandered groggily into another room to see that Saki had been so long on her phone and laptop again searching for info that the girl fell asleep, face falling smack onto the laptop. Celty sighed and carried Masaomi's girlfriend to her bedroom resuming her position on the couch again.
"Finally guys I see the town!" Masaomi exclaimed waking up everyone. His yell got immediately followed by violent coughs, his chest burning. Great, now he'd be rasping and whispering for at least an hour again. Everyone groaned, shivering. The cold night had taken its toll on everyone with Kida having it the worst. The sun peeked out just the tiniest bit from the horizon. Mikado immediately turned to his friend awkwardly rubbing his back cuz he had no idea what else to do. He couldn't really help him right now. A few miles before the town, Masaomi gently stirred the horses off the road towards a clump of trees.
"Geez, I'm sore." Kyohei muttered climbing off the carriage. Grumbles of agreement answered as the others dismounted off the transportation. With everyone off the carriage, the group debated the horse's situation and decided to unhitch them from the carriage. The animals softly snorted and roamed around the carriage nibbling on the dewy grass. Masaomi groaned at the awaiting task; walking the rest of the way to the town. Except his groan sounded more high pitched than usual with a little of wheezing in there. "Hey, can you walk all the way? If you want to, one of us can carry you."
"I'll be fine. Let's find food, I'm starving." Masaomi whispered. Kadota kept an eye on the teen as the group marched forward. Halfway there, Shizuo had swept up Masaomi bridal style growing annoyed as Kida lagged behind yet kept insisting he was perfectly fine while Izaya kept in throwing comments to rile the teen up. After passing the first few houses Shizuo put Kida down again. They huddled unconsciously closer and closer pressing on as the stares of townsfolk burned at them from every side. Besides stares and glances people whispered to each other. Saying the group didn't look too well was an understatement; they looked absolutely miserable: thin with at least one stomach growling all the time, Shizuo keeping his rising irritation in looking ready to murder someone, their damp clothing sticking to their haggard bodies and Masaomi wheezing, sneezing and coughing almost 24/7 now his voice a whisper or high pitches leaving the townsfolk to wonder if he'd drop dead any minute now. They attracted so much attention that every single person turned their head when they passed by. Uncomfortable and miserable, the Ikebukuro residents quickly darted into a random shop seeking refuge from the onlookers. Inside the small building they formed a circle completely ignoring the elderly man gaping at them.
"We need a plan! We need rest and I mean proper rest with a warm bed and a roof over our heads. Masaomi needs it the most." Shinra started.
"And food with, Shizu-chan's glare people will think we'll eat them." Izaya added.
"Fleeaa, shut up! I'm pissed, don't piss me off more, I'll kill you!" Shizuo roared.
"Izaya stop it! No killing!" Shinra intervened loudly again. This was exhausting. Tom calmed down Shizuo, while Mikado made another point, "And we need water, I'm thirsty."
"Well, first off to get food and water and beds for the night we need to change our money." Tom pointed out.
"We could ask someone again." Walker suggested.
"I don't know if anyone is willing to talk to us by the way we look." Kyohei mentioned.
"Then let's find a spot where Masaomi can rest a bit while we scout out the town!" Erika added.
"It's you again!*" The sudden outburst of the ignored old man made their heads turn to him standing in the back, finger pointing at Tom. The finger wandered to Shizuo over to Izaya then on Masaomi and back to Shizuo. The others blinked at him except for Izaya who approached the man.
"Do we know each other?*" Izaya asked.
"You guys are the whack jobs from last night! You, blond, tall one! You better pay for that wall, summer doesn't last long and I need the hole gone!*"
"Could you tell us what happened last night? We can't remember so please enlighten us. By the way those retards don't understand you, they can't speak Russian.*"
"Hey! I've played enough Counterstrike to know that you just called us retards!" Kyohei growled. Shizuo growled but Tom kept him from lunging. Everyone glared at the informant while Masaomi muttered, "Bitch". Izaya ignored the glares and the insult and expectantly looked at the man for a recap of last night. Clearing his throat, the man began while Izaya translated every few sentences.
Flashback
The elderly man scratched his head wondering about the ruckus outside. Somebody kept honking and laughter and yelling echoed through the streets. The man had just finished another customer and tidied up the workspace in his small shop. He listened closely as footsteps and chattering neared the door. The door flew open and five guys stumbled in; a blond teen, a raven haired man with a fur trimmed coat, a blond bartender clad man, a guy with thick brown locks wearing a suit and guy in a doctor's coat. They spoke foreign language and the poor old man had no clue what happening. Masaomi walked backwards in front of the other four twirling his finger and babbling on and on about something. Tom kept shrugging and the others chattered on seemingly encouraging him. Eventually Tom stumbled over almost missing the chair in front of a mirror sitting down. With a grin Izaya skipped over to the dumbfounded senior and spoke almost too fast for the shop owner to hear what was requested. "My friend wants a nose piercing.~" The senior just nodded looking at Tom nodding to what Izaya said although he didn't understand a single word. The senior wondered if he should follow through with request. It was obvious his customers were whacked out of their minds hardly able to stand on their legs. But alas, they did have money to pay for it so why shouldn't he heed their wishes? He only did his job. The entire time when Tom received his piercing, the others watched. At some point, piercing almost done, Masaomi burst out laughing for no apparent reason and clung to Shizuo's sleeve so he wouldn't fall. Shizuo watched the Russian closely. In between he turned to Izaya and shouted "Die!" as if Izaya would fall over dead on command. Izaya ignored it watching Tom. Shizuo would grumble and attempt it again saying "Die!" over and over again using different levels of his voice. Izaya didn't die. When the old man finished Masaomi still giggled madly and almost fell as Shizuo pulled away. The entire group turned to leave while Tom kept touching his piercing walking out the door. Shizuo didn't bother using the door and walked straight through the wall a few inches away from the door with a neutral, mindless expression firmly on his face leaving a Shizuo shape in the wall. The others cackled and Masaomi almost got left behind. The boy still giggled and hardly walked but stumbled repeatedly missing the door and smacking into the wall instead. After a few times forward, Kida had tried walking backwards which didn't work either. The others dumbly watched him waiting for him to leave the shop. After watching Masaomi for a whole five minutes, Izaya staggered inside and picked him carrying him bridal style inside into the camper. Whatever Masaomi had found funny, he still found funny, laughing uncontrollably clinging to the informant's coat. The senior blinked and out of curiosity poked his head out to see Saburo climb into the driver's seat to drive completely out of it, too. The man sighed and his gaze fell onto the Shizuo shaped hole in the wall. Grumbling he tidied up his workspace pondering how to get the wall fixed in time.
A minute of silence prevailed after the man finished the story. The next minute every head turned to Tom to confirm the nose ring. Every pair of eyes widened and Mikado whispered, "How didn't we see that before?" Tom's hand rose touching his piercing. Shizuo blinked slowly unsure how to react. "Man, we were messed up." Masaomi added. Although upon taking a closer look, Tom did kind of look funny with his nose ring, no one laughed in order not to hurt his feeling. Izaya hid a smile when swiftly turning to the old man and thanking him and telling him that they couldn't pay for the wall now but that it would be taken care of. Leaving the shop, the group stopped in front of it. "Hold on, we had money to pay for that piercing?" Kyohei brought up. If they had Russian currency last night, why wasn't any in their pockets now the following day? Their minds still drew blanks so they relied on Izaya telling the truth and strangers. Just peachy. Erika was the first one to throw in an idea, "Maybe we spend it all and this was the last thing we paid for." "Or we lost it all. It's not unlikely; we didn't even know what we were doing." Shinra added. Agreeing that the money was gone now they pondered the next question leaving the shop: how did they get the money in the first place? "Any ideas?" Saburo asked into the round with a sigh, hand combing through his hair. It'd really help if they could remember something even the tiniest bit. "Maybe we entered some contest and won it?" Mikado suggested. "Well, we stole a camper already. And a carriage. Maybe we stole something and sold it?" Walker offered. "Great, that would cause more trouble. Last thing I remember I was in Ikebukuro. And if we started off in Ikebukuro and ended up in Russia we could've exchanged money on the trip or before we even left for Russia." Shizuo concluded. Izaya seethed at Shizuo's sharp observation although not showing it, "Please, Shizu-chan, knowing us the money is probably bound to something illegal, definitely trouble. I mean we already know that we stole a camper and we were completely out of it."
"Masaomi!"
"Gah!" Interrupting their discussion everyone turned to Masaomi being floored by a girl with slightly curled light brown hair in pigtails with red ribbons, a red & black striped long sleeved shirt, a black frilly skirt and black fur trimmed boots. "Ow…"
"Oh no, I'm sorry, I hurt you! Let me help!" The energetic girl stood up and stuck out her hand for Kida to grab. As soon as the blond stood firmly on the ground, the girl about the same height as him latched onto him in a tight hug. "I'm so glad I found you! I got worried!"
"Umm… no offense but who are you?" Masaomi tried to gently pry her off but to avail.
"You're silly! Well, I already thought you had something by the way you acted. Oh well, I still love you! I'm your girlfriend and you're my badass boyfriend!"
"Well, I am a- hold on, what!? Girlfriend!?" 'Crap what the hell did I do last night?'
"Don't worry, I'm not losing you again, we have lots of time to catch up. It took two days to find you! Don't you run off again! And you don't take him away again!" She pointed an accusing finger to the others looking at the two in utter confusion.
"Two days?..." Mikado stuttered. But they were whacked out of it yesterday! That girl had her math wrong…
"Well yes. Ah I guess I was on the search for two days including the day Masaomi and I became a couple when he hit on me. Adding this morning I guess this is the third day." They only stared lost for words. Kida still couldn't pry off the girl's iron grip around his waist.
"But if we were whacked out two days ago and yesterday and can't remember the day in between, we were actually nuts for three days in a row!" Shinra concluded.
"Is that even possible!?" Mikado exclaimed.
"Obviously, it happened." Shizuo answered.
"Please let go." Masaomi's plea ripped everyone out of their shocked stupor and the girl looked at him with big eyes. "You won't run? Hihi now I'm silly! You won't, you're not nutty now!" Keeping her word, the Russian girl let go but not before pecking the blond on the lips making him blush.
'Oh man, this is gonna break her heart… but I have to. Here I go.' "Listen you seem really great and everything, but… I already have a girlfriend. I love her very much and I'm sorry for giving you a false impression. I was whacked out, I don't even remember you or hitting on you. I don't think you're lying, but I didn't really mean what I said you know… I'm so sorry, you understand what I mean, right?" Masaomi panicked as her eyes started to water and she began to cry. Waving his arms frantically, he quickly embraced in a hug. 'I made her cry!' "I'm so sorry, please… don't cry." Sniffling, she took a step back and looked at Kida, "N-No, don't apologize. I should've known. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up so high since I knew you were acting a little whacked out. I-I understand, Masaomi." 'Phew… I hope I didn't hit on more girls when I was out of it.' "Umm, well, sorry again, -" "You apologize too much!" The girl giggled having found her composure again. "S- I mean, I have to go now. I'm sure there's someone out there just for you. You're great but I'm taken already." "I'll miss you; maybe we'll bump into each other again. I suppose your girl is waiting for you, you better hurry. I have a feeling you're not from Russia and have quite a long way to go." "Hey, I noticed I could understand you. I'm from Japan, are you too?" "Nope, I'm Russian but I can speak your language. It was quite funny actually. I saw you hit on another girl before but she didn't understand a single word you said so she looked at you like you had two heads!" the girl chuckled. "Hahaha…" 'Great, I hit on more girls!' Masaomi rubbed the back of his head during his awkward laugh and turned to the others, "Let's go guys. Bye!" Masaomi waved and the group headed down the sidewalk further down the road.
"Bye!" the girl called, waving after him watching as the group broke out into bickering, Kyohei smacked Kida in the back of the head and the others laughed at the pouting teen. She darkly chuckled to herself continuing to talk to herself in a hushed whisper sliding a knife out her sleeve and clutching it tightly, "Not for long, Masaomi. You're mine now. Mine! And I will never let you go. You're all mine, all mine. I love you, Masaomi. I'll be back and we are going to have so much fun!" The girl stroked the knife and cackled to herself. Masaomi hit on the wrong girl.
Kasuka stared at his phone. He'd been trying to reach Shizuo but to no avail. His calls hadn't been answered for a week. He'd visited Shizuo's workplace but no one knew where the blonde was. They hadn't seen Shizuo or tom for a whole week now. Kasuka pocketed his phone and decided to find answers. It was Shizuo like to vanish just like that without a trace. The young man gazed out wondering how to go about it when Ruri tapped his shoulder interrupting his thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"
"Shizuo. I'm worried he hasn't answered calls and didn't show up for work for a whole week. That's not like him." "You want to go look for him?" "Yes, but I don't know where to start." "How about the underground doctor? If your brother got hurt and in trouble, he'll probably know something. It's a start at least." "Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Let's go right away." Grabbing jackets, the couple left heading to Shinra's place. Upon arriving, Anri opened the door, Saki and Celty sobbing holding each other in the arms as comfort.
"Umm, hello. Please, come in" Anri gave a little bow and le the pair in who sat down on the couch glancing over to the sobbing females. Noticing the visitors the two pushed down their sadness and dried their tears heading to the couch. Celty quickly typed away, "Hello, Kasuka and Ruri. How are you two doing?"
"Good but you don't look too well. What happened?" Ruri asked.
"Shinra has gone missing for a week and a day now. I'm just really worried."
"Mr. Kishitani has gone missing too?" Ruri whispered.
"You two must have noticed Shizuo missing too. Mikado, Masaomi, Shinra, Shizuo, Tom, Izaya, Kyohei, Walker, Erika and Saburo are all missing. We have no leads except that they left a party all together completely whacked out of it. They've been gone for the exact same time as far as we know. I'm sorry, I can't help more."
"It's alright. You three look like you barely eat, sleep or drink. You're doing your best, we'll help too. I don't know who the others are though, I only know Shizuo, Tom and Mikado. I might know who Izaya is. Do you have pictures?" Kasuka inquired. Celty nodded and the three girls showed pictures of the missing group.
"I think I'm going to die!" Masaomi dramatically rasped. Halfway through town, they'd stopped under tree and Kida and Mikado claimed the bench. Izaya tried to plop down next to Masaomi but to the informants surprise the blonde had anticipated the move and pushed the informant away before his butt could touch the bench sending the man stumbling into the dirt earning from everyone a snicker. Izaya glared at the grinning blonde and settled with leaning against the tree.
"We really need money. We found an inn but there's no place to exchange currency." Tom sighed. "Huh?" the other's followed Tom's gaze as the debt collector ran up to street heading straight for them waving his arms widely. Panting, the young man came to a stop and settled his gaze on Saburo. "You! I can't believe you're back. When you ran off laughing with your friends and piled into that camper, I thought you're never coming back! You're damn lucky, dude, we were about to give the prize money to second place since you didn't take it! Dude, you were awesome! I mean you and your friends were totally screwed up but you still won first place at the derby man!*" As response to his hasty speech he got two blinks from everyone and what seemed like an eternity of staring before every head turned to Izaya asking silently for clarification. Izaya translated and turned back to the others immediately bombarded with question.
"What derby?"
"Where is the money?"
"How much money?"
"What happened at the derby?"
"He better not give that money to anyone else!"
"Did we break stuff?"
"In how much trouble are we now!?" As the group followed the man to the outskirts of town where the derby took place Izaya asked the questions and relayed the info back to the others slowly unraveling what happened with each answered question.
Flashback
"You guys hear that?"
"Masaomi, you're hearing stuff! You're gone craaazy!"
"I'm serious Mikado! STOP THE CAMPER!"
The camper came to a screeching halt entering the town. Everyone glared at Masaomi and Saburo sighed, "What? I swear if we're stopping for another girl-" Sluggishly heads turned to the window as their ears picked out the sound of engines. "Cars. Happy now?"
"What that?" Masaomi slurred almost tripping over his own feet as he pointed at a sign leaning forward. Izaya staggered closer to the window, "A derby. You drive in a big ass car and squash other cars for money, I think. There's a cash prize."
"Let's do it!"
"That's dangerous Masaomi. You will get hurt if you try, you're a goner dude."
"You're no better buddy."
"I agree with Kida, let's do this! I'm doing the challenge though." Saburo shouted excitement in his eyes. "We are low on money anyway, we need the cash anyway to keep going after we lost the other money."
"No!" Kyohei made a half attempt to stand up and stop his friend but fell promptly back onto the couch left to staring at the ceiling in utter amazement. Saburo hit the gas and almost whacked at least ten cars and mowed over fence by the parking lot, the others staring on indifferently eyes glazed over from whatever the hell they had. Saburo parked and everyone tripped out of the camper entering the fenced in area where the derby got held. A few stands were set up close by the fence towards facing towards the center where the tribune surrounded the arena. Within the arena rested on of those huge monster truck thingies sun reflecting off of it. Cars got lined up for a jump and a few other cars stood on the sidelines ready to be used in a different part of the challenge. Quite a few had gathered already and Izaya turned to random stranger asking where to sign up. The guy directed them to the registration stand wondering what the hell was wrong with the bunch. Saburo registered and got ready for the contest while the others lingered around. Masaomi and Mikado wandered around to take pictures with Izaya trying over and over again to photo bomb. Tom and Shizuo grabbed everyone a seat in the front row, while Erika and Walker got snacks. Kyohei and Shinra wandered around aimlessly switching between random topics to talk about. Five minutes before the start the gang assembled in the tribune, eyes glued to the arena. Saburo was the last contestant out of ten and the referees sweat dropped as he entered the giant, dangerous vehicle laughing and grinning like an idiot. Masaomi took out his phone and started recording. Saburo gripped the wheel, adrenaline rushing through him as the crowds cheered. In front of him stood a ramp with cars lined up after it. At least the adrenaline helped him focus on the challenge, mind a tiny bit less foggy. With a yell, Saburo hit the gas pedal and the vehicle roared lurching forward. If he managed this jump, he'd win this part of the challenge. It was a long line of cars, so long that if Saburo managed without squashing a car he'd make a new record. The crowd silenced, eyes trailing every movement of the derby truck as it took off the ramp. Time seemed to slow down as the monster flew over the cars, the arena struck in silence. Missing the last car by an inch, Saburo landed perfectly driving down the little bit of ramp provided at the end of the cars. The arena exploded in cheers and Mikado and Masaomi watched the jump again on the blonde's phone. Saburo stumbled out of the car fist thrown in the air and cheering like an idiot. Immediately ladies impressed by his stunt surrounded the brown haired man. Of course, Masaomi the big flirt wanted to get with the ladies and almost fell forward off the tribune to do so. Only with Mikado's help consisting of tugging on the blonde's and elaborate hand signs did the flirt manage down the tribune safely. After announcing Saburo holding first place for the challenge and the resulting cheers died down, the second challenge got announced starting in ten minutes. After ten minutes, Masaomi being horrendously repeatedly rejected and looked at like an alien and Saburo being surrounded by strangers congratulating him, the troop assembled back to their front seats on the tribune while Saburo readied himself for the second stunt in which the contestant had to squash as many vehicles as possible in two minutes. As the contestants finished one by one Izaya heard how one of the contestants was quite experienced and got damn close to the record. Everyone was psyched as Saburo rolled out with the monster truck. Sure, he got talent but would he beat the score set by an expert entering the derby every year? Would he even survive any longer in that vehicle in his whacked out state? As soon as Saburo drove into the arena, Masaomi took a video again. 3…2…1…GO! Saburo slammed onto the gas pedal wrecking three cars in the first fifteen seconds. At thirty seconds the young man lost five seconds from being stuck but quickly caught up by expert driving skills showing no mercy the cars squashed underneath the heavy giant wheels. Twenty second left and everyone was at the edge of their seats. Five more cars spaced rather far from each other and he'd beat the yearly contestant by one cars. The score board rang, the timer hitting zero. The arena exploded in loud cheering chanting Saburo's name. He did it beating the yearly winner by two cars. Masaomi pocketed his phone and the group raced down the tribune cheering with their friend. More of Saburo's newfound fans surrounded them and the dude giving them the recap of the derby walked up to Saburo congratulating him in Russian to which Saburo wildly nodded. To the man's surprise the group went straight for the exit completely the wrong direction for picking up the prize money. Before the man could stop the rag tag group smiling contently exited the derby and piled into the camper only to drive literally just a few meters further into town and stop again stumbling out of the vehicle to go spend money on some food, Tom's piercing, and 'drinks'. After their round about in the town, the group hit the road again.
The man finished the story from his point of view. Since the man had mentioned seeing Kida take his phone out, Masaomi and Mikado checked watching the two videos of Saburo's derby performance. Saburo had to smirk a little watching himself skillfully win the challenges. He was quite a formidable driver. The man led them to the derby which was in the process of being taken down now and hurried the group along to the stand holding Saburo's prize. The man and Izaya explained everything and upon recognizing the bunch, the guy and woman behind the stand handed a stack of cash to Saburo and shook his hand. Izaya bid goodbye as the others walked ahead eager to spend the money on the inn. The quick stroll prevailed in silence and they almost got stuck in pairs in the door reaching the building racing to get in ahead of each other. Which was ridiculous, because in the end they would have to wait for Izaya to do the talking anyway. Izaya entered last as the other more or less left him in the dust when grabbing the money. Izaya turned to the receptionist and asked for the biggest room and asked how many were left. Since the money was supposed to last for who knows long, they went along with the cheapest. In the end they rented three rooms for one night, two having four beds and the third two beds with all three having a little bathroom connected to them. After much discussion and careful consideration, Tom and Shizuo took the room with two beds while the van gang shared a four bed room and Shinra, Izaya, Mikado and Masaomi took the other four bed room further away from Shizuo's and Tom's room for obvious reason. The group split up to their rooms after they send Mikado and Kyohei to go buy food at a restaurant and bring it back to the inn. Shizuo plopped down on the bed on the right with a sigh. His anger finally started dissipate having some distance between himself and Izaya. The room was small but cozy. Beside the bathroom door stood a small wardrobe to store a few packed things overnight. A carpet nestled between the beds pushed to the wall on opposite sides of the room. A nightstand with a reading lamp accompanied each bed and sunlight filtered through the window adorned with curtains pulled to the side between a bed and the wardrobe. A few feet away from the foot of the other bed rested the light switch right next to the door to the room. "Do you think Masaomi will be okay?"
Tom blinked before responding since the question came out of nowhere. Tom had noticed Shizuo had a soft spot kids and cared for them and he also knew that Kida had been framed and therefore the blond man wasn't mad at the teen, but the question still came unexpected. But Tom was pretty sure everyone was worried for the blonde. He wasn't sure about Izaya though… "I think so. The kid is strong and is stubborn. Plus we have Mr. Kishitani with us so he can check up on the kid regularly."
"True…"
"How come you're so worried? The kid can hold his own."
"Still, I know that, but he's cooped up in a room with the flea. And the flea has been bugging him ever since we woke up. The two are fighting all the damn time and I know the damn flea is taking advantage of the fact that Masaomi is hurt and his voice gives out when he talks too much. And the flea uses that to have the last say in their arguments every damn time. If he hurts the kid I'll kill him!" With an angry huff Shizuo flipped on his side facing the wall, closing his eyes for a nap.
"But you already want to kill him how does that make a difference?" Tom settled down on his bed.
"I'll kill him twice then! Twice as hard!" Shizuo angrily replied, grumbling and going back to his nap.
Tom sighed closing his own eyes for a nap. This was going to be a loooong trip.
I hope you liked this chapter, I had fun writing it! Lol so much writing ahead with all the trouble they got into. Thank you so much for the review catkittypoke. I'm glad you like the polar bear it was hilarious to write. Good thing the polar bear will have a few more appearances;) See ya next time!