Tyffanie.T: I'm still alive! :) Sorry it took soo long to update, but since school started I have a lot of hw to hand in... :( But I promise to finish this story! :) Thanks to all those who reviewed, I really appreciate this! :D
Cheryl had woken up to a huge headache, and not a very good night's sleep. She moaned as she stretched, but gave a gasp of pain. She realized she had a cast on her wrist with big bold letters in English saying "Get well soon!" Memories of last night came flashing towards her, the hosts, the drinking, the two men who tried to abduct her…then, that other strangely dressed man…
Cheryl looked around and was rather unnerved. The room wasn't hers, and she was wearing…pyjamas? She got off the bed, and opened the door rather nervously. What greeted her was a rather clean apartment, and a man with a doctor's coat. "Good morning!" said the man in English.
Cheryl was shocked to say the least, but gathered her nerves and said back politely in Japanese "Good morning?" The man looked shocked, "Ohhh! So you do speak Japanese! That's wonderful! I was so nervous about speaking English to you since my English isn't that great…I've been to America of course, but—"Um, I'm sorry…but where am I?" Cheryl interrupted; his constant talking wasn't helping her headache. "Oh, where are my manners! My name is Shinra Kishitani, and I'm a doctor!" "Ah, hence the white coal,." thought Cheryl "I was the one who treated your broken wrist, Shizuo told me all about—"Sorry, to interrupt but the man who saved me…his name is Shizuo?" "Shizuo Heiwajima." He stated and then continued "He brought you here very late…I was almost going to bed when he started banging at my door…"
While Shinra babbled on, Cheryl was thinking deeply. Her headache had mysteriously disappeared when she heard of that surname, "Heiwajima…I heard of that name before…" Then it was like a light bulb that formed in her head, and she quickly asked Shinra "Excuse me, and is he the brother of Kasuka Heiwajima?" Shinra's mouth opened and closed, "Ah, yes he is! You are well-informed, not many people know that!"
"Oh, it's nothing…" Cheryl trailed off and stared into space. An awkward silence filled the air and Cheryl continued "Um, thank you for everything but I really can't intrude on your hospitality any longer…" Shinra quickly exclaimed "Oh no, my pleasure really!" He pointed towards the chair on the dinning table "You're clothes are there, it's been washed."
Cheryl nodded and muttered a thank you as she grabbed the clothes and entered a room to change. A few minutes later she came out and bowed "Once again, I thank you so much. Please tell Shizuo-san that I said thank you when you see him." Shinra smiled and nodded, while Cheryl went to get her shoes.
She was about to walk out the door and reach for the doorknob, when it opened and there stood a person. Cheryl stared and was met with a memory of her first day in Japan. Skin tight, shadowy like suit and a rather strange yellow motorcycle helmet...if Cheryl had to make a logical guess based on her memory, she would say that this person looked exactly like the so called "Headless Rider."
A few moments later Cheryl realized she was staring and quickly bowed "Um, good morning!" "Oh um…Celty! I didn't expect you to come back so early…um…how was it? Said Shinra rather nervously, the person didn't say anything and simple took out phone and typed quickly on it "Good morning," and typed on it again, this time to Shinra "I didn't know you had a guest."
Cheryl stared at the kanji Celty had typed in and realized that the 'Headless Rider' was a female. "Oh, um…She's not actually…you see, Shizuo-chan brought her…" As Shinra was explaining why she was here, Cheryl quietly walked out, but not before saying "Um, it was nice meeting you…Celty." Then she quickly walked towards the elevator. "What a day…" she muttered to herself as the elevator closed with a soft 'ding'.
As she walked outside into the bright sunlight and groaned slightly, there were still people all around. She glanced at her watch and realized that it was barely eight. She cringed as she heard cars honking and school girls giggling. She needed some coffee—and fast. She looked around for any coffee shops and spotted one right across the street. She let out a sigh of relief and quickly walked as fast as her sore feet could go.
It was a maid café. It was a maid café, filled with slightly provocatively dressed maid outfits. They had immediately greeted her with a "Welcome home mistress!" and proceeded to give her a hand towel and a menu. She thanked them warily in Japanese and sat down at the nearest table. Cheryl felt rather silly being inside a maid café, especially she wasn't at all an otaku or a tourist, but she was in desperate need of coffee. So, she looked down at the menu and realized they didn't just sell coffees or pastries; there were also complimentary services—such as grooming services, or simply playing video games with them.
Cheryl ordered a coffee and a bottle of water, as she waited for her drinks she looked around. There weren't many people as it was still a quarter to eight. But she saw someone that intrigued her eye; it was a man and a woman.
The man had a carefree smile on his face, he seemed to look like someone of a mix race, and the woman was dressed in all black, complete with a black hat. They seemed to be discussing something important in low voices, Cheryl could only hear snatches of their conversation, "…I dunno…she does seems like it though…" "…rare collection…only seen it once in my life!"
"Here are your coffee, and your bottle of water!" said one of the maids; Cheryl snapped back to reality and said "Oh…thanks."
Cheryl sipped her coffee and added a drop of cream. She listened in on their conversation again, as she stirred the hot liquid, "…her? Yeah, I noticed her…why?" "She's quite pretty…do you think she could be…" "Nah, I don't think she's an otaku…" Cheryl glanced behind her and they immediately stopped talking, "I think she can understand us!" Cheryl couldn't help but chuckle and took another sip of her coffee.
As the odd couple left, Cheryl sat in silence and took a large swig of her water. Her pounding headache had gotten better as she took another gulp of water. The cooling liquid ran down her throat pleasantly.
Cheryl opened her purse and began searching for her wallet, and as she opened the zipper to pay for the coffee and water. She looked into the large canvas mirror in front of her and realized in horror what a mess she looked.
Her mascara was smudged all over the place, her hair was tangled in curls, and her clothes once new and rather fashionable for the night-life, now looked utterly ridiculous in the morning.
She slapped down the money on the table and proceeded to go to the washroom to freshen herself up. But as she past the table where the otaku couple sat, she realized that one of them had forgotten his or her cell phone. It was vibrating and Cheryl felt inclined to look at the caller ID. She read the name on the screen: Erika Karisawa. The screen on the cell phone was glowing a bright light and it showed a woman with a black hat.
It was that woman from before…She clicked the answer button and said "Hello?" It was a man that answered, "Ah! Hello! Um…" Cheryl interrupted, "Hi, it seems that you left your phone at the maid café you were at earlier." The man let out a sigh of relief "Oh! Thank you for keeping it safely! I'll be back in a minute!" With that, the conversation ended with a click.
Cheryl sighed, as she looked at the time. That guy better be here within 3 minutes; she couldn't stand being in these ridiculous clothes any longer. But instead of going to the washroom to clean her face, she simply retrieved a couple of sanitary wipes and used her compact mirror to clean off the smudged mascara.
When time passed the two minute mark, the door suddenly swung open and a breathless man walked inside. "Welcome home master!" chorused the employed maids. His eyes wandered around, and saw his phone on her table, "Oh, thank you so much!" he said in English.
Cheryl rolled her eyes, apparently he didn't realize that it was her on the phone, "It's no problem, I was going to the washroom and I saw it lying on your table," she responded in Japanese. The man's eyes widened slightly (though it didn't make much of a difference) "Oh! So you do understand Japanese! I thought it was one of the maids that picked up!"
Cheryl gave him a tight smile, "No, it was me…glad I could help." She rose up and was prepared to leave. "Ah! Wait up!" yelled the man, Cheryl stopped and waited. "I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Walker Yumasaki, pleased to meet you!" He bowed, as Cheryl sighed inwardly, her enthusiasm didn't match with his as she introduced herself as well, "I'm Cheryl Danes, and I'm sorry to be rude but I kinda have to go…"
Walker's dumb smile faltered for a moment but said, "Ah! I'm sorry, but I feel like I owe you a favor for my phone!" Cheryl shook her head, and said "No…I just happen to…" But then she trailed off and thought of the man who saved her last night… "Do you know Shizuo Heiwajima?" She blurted out suddenly.
The man looked very surprised, and said, "Oh…Shizuo? Well, you can usually find him at night in Ikebukuro…" he said hesitantly, "Just follow the thrown vending machines and you'll find him."
Cheryl looked at him, debating whether or not if he was serious, but that was rather hard since he still had that stupid smile on his face. "Alright...follow the thrown vending machines…gotcha." She said sarcastically, but Walker seemed to miss her sarcastic tone and replied, "I'm glad I could help!" and walked away cheerfully.
Cheryl stood there dumbly for a moment as Walker walked passed her. She shook her head, "I've forgotten how strange Japan was…" she muttered to herself.
The moment she entered her penthouse, she immediately took off her clothes and jumped in the shower. 10 minutes later, dressed in a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt she flicked open her cell phone and realized she had a missing message. She realized the number was Mr. Nobu's private number, so she redialed the number…her call went straight to his voicemail.
Nonplussed, she went towards her purse and pulled out her checkbook and wrote down the amount of money she owed to Izaya. She grimaced as she wrote down the significant amount of zeros and sealed the check in a plain white envelope. This man was getting absurdly overpaid.
Cheryl groaned at the thought of going back to that place, but sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do; so she picked up her cell phone and purse and walked out the door.
Some twenty-minutes later, she got out of the cab and walked into the upscale apartment. She rang the doorbell and she waited for almost a full minute with half-in mind of simply leaving with the money, when the door opened with Izaya Orihara smirking at her. "Hello, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."
Cheryl smiled at him sarcastically, "Please, don't flatter yourself; I'm here to give you another job." Izaya continued to smirk and motioned her to come in, "Charming as always."
She took off her sneakers and stepped into his apartment, but suddenly something caught her eye. It was a coat hanging on the coat hanger and she realized something strange about the coat. Something was off about that coat; it gave off a feel of nostalgia. She walked towards it and felt it with her fingertips; the material was made out of expensive sheepskin and upon inspecting it closer she realized that it was hand stitched.
"Is something wrong?" asked Izaya his voice of mocking concern, Cheryl immediately stepped back from the coat, "I-it's nothing, I just thought…" but she trailed off, Cheryl stopped for a moment and asked, "Did you have a guest?" Izaya appeared not to have heard her as he was already by his desk, "Do you have something for me?" he asked.
Cheryl took out the envelope and gave it to him; he opened it and gave out a low whistle at the number of zeros. "I need another job for you," she explained, he grinned "I'm all ears," "The host I met yesterday, I want you to search his background for any info, who he is, his family, etc…" Cheryl thought for a moment, "and there is someone else I want you to find…his name is Shizuo Heiwajima."
Izaya's fingers stopped typing, "Shizuo? You want me to find Shizuo?" Cheryl looked at him, "Yes, is that a problem?" She looked at him carefully, and for the first time since she saw him, he stopped smirking. It was as if, he was angry, but his angry expression flickered so quickly, Cheryl wondered briefly if she had imagined it.
He didn't say anything as the sound of his slender fingers taping against the keyboard.
Finally he responded back, "You can find him in Ikebukuro at night—look for someone in a bartender's outfit…usually followed by thrown vending machines or stop signs."
Cheryl looked at him closely to see if he was joking or not; she saw none and the look in his eyes meant that he was being very serious. Izaya was already printing out a document, and passed it to her "This is a list of everything you need to know about that host Issei Isayama, his address, his income, etc…It should suffice for your investigation."
Indeed it did, the list included everything to his spending habits and his juvenile record. Cheryl bit back a smile and without another word, she left his apartment. But snuck another glance at that oddly nostalgic coat, "I swear I seen it somewhere…" she murmured to herself, but continued walking straight out the door.
Cheryl crossed the streets as she pondered, and suddenly she accidently bumped into a tall man wearing a long trench coat, "Sorry!" she exclaimed and the man said nothing and continued on walking. Then it was like a light-bulb appearing over her head, she realized why that strange coat was so familiar to her. It was a gift from Clarissa to Mr. Nobu.
Izaya wasn't very happy at all. Damn, him for ruining his plans…and now, she wants to find him. He saw the whole thing from afar, and how Shizuo played the knight-and-shining armor and carried her gallantly over to Shinra. Oh, how he wished for a bus to come and run him over…But the foreigner hadn't suspected anything…yet. But really, sometimes she was too observant…and the way she was staring at that coat—it was as if she knew something about it…Izaya sighed as he looked out the window, into the bustling streets of Japan. Knowing what Cheryl was capable of, she had probably figured out who the coat belonged to, he only hoped that the old geezer knew how to talk himself out of her questions.
If the coat belonged to Mr. Nobu, what the hell was he doing in Izaya's apartment? "No, no…Maybe I'm overreacting…" But she knew that coat was his. She just knew, since it was Clarissa who picked out the coat herself. She remembered that time when Clarissa showed it to her and Cheryl had asked her who it was for, since she could tell that this coat wasn't cheap. Clarissa simply giggled and told her it was secret. But it was for Mr. Nobu? True, he was a close family friend and was always extremely nice to the two of them, but Cheryl didn't really see the point of giving him a ridiculously expensive coat. Cheryl started walking faster and thought furiously, "Great, more questions to ask…"
Tyffanie. T: :P Why was Mr. Nobu at Izaya's place? Does he have something to hid? Or was he trying to help Cheryl find her sister? And, what will happen when Cheryl meets Shizou? Stay tuned for the next chapitre! :)
