A/N: Thanks for reading!

Chapter Three

Saki had spent an enjoyable morning sitting in an internet café, texting and e-mailing her various contacts to catch up on the gossip she had missed during her absence. She was not at all surprised when Izaya sauntered in as if he owned the place. She ignored him as he went up to the counter, got himself a coffee, and then strolled over to her table. "This seat taken?" he asked, with a charming smile.

"Feel free," Saki said, gesturing to it.

Izaya plopped down and sipped his coffee for a few moments. When she continued to ignore him, he said, "Aww, Saki, don't be like that. You know you were always my favorite."

"Mm hm," she said, amused. She put down her phone and said, "Was there something you needed?"

"I just wanted to stop by and say I'm glad you're back in town," Izaya said. "Ikebukuro was so boring without you."

"Now I know you're lying," Saki said, with a laugh. "Ikebukuro is never boring. Besides, you have a new protégé to liven things up for you, now. Whatever scheme you are currently cooking up, I'd advise you to check it at the door."

Izaya studied her for a few minutes. She picked up her phone and began to text again. "I didn't think you would convince Masaomi-kun to come back."

"You clearly don't know him as well as you think you do," Saki said.

"Well, that's the thing," Izaya said. "Actually, I do know him that well. I really didn't think he would ever be back. You must be a stunningly good influence on him."

"Which I'm sure you would know all about," Saki said. She folded her phone and tucked it away. "Izaya, I'd like to get something clear. I don't hate you. I'm not even really angry. You are what you are, and I understand that. It would be pointless to hold a grudge. I'm still willing to work with you in a professional capacity. But I have no desire to be friendly with you. And given how well I know you, I'm very sure that this is not a social call. I know you're not going to forgive me so easily for tattling on you to Simon and then running away with Masaomi. So. What do you want?"

Izaya stretched and tucked his hands behind his head. "Masaomi-kun paid a visit to Mikado-kun yesterday."

"I'm aware. So?"

"He seemed very intent on apologizing for something."

"Masaomi blames himself for losing control of the Scarves. Does that surprise you?"

"Yeah, actually."

Saki kept her voice even, though inwardly she was puzzled. Masaomi had told her that he had argued with Mikado. He had said nothing about attempting to apologize. One of these things was a lie, and unfortunately, she couldn't be one hundred percent certain that it was Izaya who was lying. Not that the broker wasn't capable of it, but she couldn't see the benefit for him in this lie. "Did Ryuugamine-kun accept his apology?"

"I think he was too bewildered to know what to do with it," Izaya said. "He said that Masaomi-kun was acting like he should know him."

This didn't fit in either, and now Saki was uncomfortable, although she gave no sign of it on her face. "So? I'm rather surprised that your new protégé didn't recognize the former leader of the Yellow Scarves when he showed up on his doorstep to make a perfectly logical apology."

"I was actually surprised by that, too," Izaya said, waving a hand as if to brush this aside, "but they never actually met, and plenty has happened in the intervening six months. I honestly think Mikado-kun had mostly forgotten about it. But what I want to know is why Masaomi-kun felt the need to come apologize to someone he barely knows."

"He caused a lot of trouble for the Dollars. Ryuugamine-kun is the leader of the Dollars, or founder, or whatever you want to call it. Masaomi can't exactly apologize to every Dollar, so issuing an apology to Ryuugamine-kun seems quite reasonable to me." Saki shrugged. "I think Masaomi just wanted to make a fresh start. He couldn't be sure that the Dollars wouldn't want some sort of payback."

"After their crushing victory?" Izaya let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, I can totally see how they would want payback for that."

Amused, Saki said, "Your plans never do go quite as you intend, do they? All your architecture for a grand war, and then Ryuugamine-kun came out of nowhere with his Dollars and Kadota-san and squashed it into the ground. Yet you still employ him. Which makes me wonder . . . did you know he was going to do that? Or did he go behind your back and do it without your knowledge?"

"Ah, ah, ah," Izaya said. "We all have our secrets, Saki."

"So true," Saki said. She finished her coffee and stood. "Which makes me wonder . . . how many is Ryuugamine-kun keeping from you?"

Izaya said nothing.

"See you around," Saki said, smiling as she turned and left the café.

Masaomi looked at the stack of homework in front of him and wondered exactly how Saki had convinced him to start school again. He had never particularly cared for it in the first place. It had always disappointed him somewhat that Mikado wasn't in his class, so he couldn't copy his homework . . . not that that would help him now.

It didn't help that he had never been very good at concentrating while he was at home. Somehow, the silence always bothered him, no matter how loud he turned his stereo.

With a sigh, he packed up his books and left the apartment. Saki would be able to get him to do his schoolwork with one of those disapproving looks of hers. He texted her to let her know he was on his way over, and she replied with an affirmative.

By now it was well into evening, so the subway was crowded, and keeping his balance was a full-time occupation. Once over at Saki's, he let himself in with the key she had given him, then dumped his bag on the floor by the foot of her futon and flopped onto it. "My first day back, and already they're trying to kill me," he said dramatically.

Saki looked up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table and said, "I re-enrolled too, you know."

"Online classes don't count," Masaomi said, feeling grumpy. On the whole, he had felt better after his date with Anri, but from the way Saki was looking at him, he had a feeling that his good mood was about to be ruined. "What's up?"

"I spoke with Izaya-san today," Saki said.

"Ah ha!" Masaomi said. "Now you see what I mean about being able to avoid him."

Saki couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. "Yes. He is something of a plague on humanity. He was curious about what happened between you and Ryuugamine-kun."

"Figures," Masaomi said, feeling quite put out about this. That was all he needed along with everything else: Izaya sticking his snaky nose into things. He paused to wonder whether or not snakes had noses, then saw the look on Saki's face. "Exactly how much trouble am I in here? Are we beyond 'sleep on the floor' and into 'get out of my apartment'?"

"I think we're still currently on 'I would like an explanation'," Saki said. "Izaya-san didn't say anything about an argument. He said you went there to apologize."

Masaomi ducked his head. He knew there was no way out of this discussion, and his mind was already racing, trying to figure out how to explain the unexplainable. "And?"

"I need you to tell me the truth, Masaomi," Saki said. Her voice was gentle, but there was a note of steel underneath it. "Things are hard enough without you lying to me. There aren't words for how much I don't like it when I know someone's lying and I have the feeling it isn't Izaya-san."

"I don't want to tell you," Masaomi said. He didn't think he could tell her. It was bad enough that he had told Kadota. He didn't think he should tell anybody else. If the news of it spread, it could be disastrous, presuming it didn't result in everyone thinking that he was a lunatic. "I don't want anybody to know."

"I wouldn't tell anyone."

Masaomi rested his forehead against one hand. "Saki . . . you tell people things. It's what you do. You said you wouldn't tell Izaya anything, ever, but you already told him things today, didn't you, about why I might have gone to apologize to Mikado-kun."

Saki shook her head. "You haven't grown up enough to realize that it is always less dangerous to tell Izaya-san something than it is to tell him nothing."

"I guess." Masaomi sighed.

"But if it will make you more comfortable, I promise that this conversation, at least, I will not repeat to anyone."

"Okay." Masaomi stared at his school books to avoid looking at Saki. "Yes, I went there to apologize."

"Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"It just . . . it's a little embarrassing, okay? And saying we'd had an argument seemed like a better way to explain it. I didn't think Izaya would come ask you about it."

"He said you seemed to think Ryuugamine-kun would know you."

"I thought he would," Masaomi said, and stopped there.

"He said you seemed very upset that he didn't."

Masaomi couldn't tell the complete truth, but there was something else, in all honesty, that had been bothering him. "Well, I was," he said, almost snapping. "For the last six months, I've been feeling awful about what happened. I came back here and finally scraped up the balls to apologize to him – and why should I really owe him an apology, I don't even know him, but it seemed like the right thing to do – and he didn't even know who I am. He moved on. He forgot all about it. Tell me that wouldn't upset you."

Saki sighed and reached out to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "I wish you would move on. Why is it so hard for you to forgive yourself?"

Masaomi leaned into her embrace and closed his eyes. "Because I haven't earned it yet."

She held him for several long minutes. Then she let him go and sat down on the futon beside him. "What was your impression of him?"

"I . . . don't know," Masaomi said, not sure how to answer this question. "He doesn't seem like the type to be drawn to Izaya."

"It bothers me as well," Saki said, and Masaomi looked at her, surprised. She arched her eyebrows at him. "I would know better than most, don't you think? From what I know of him, he doesn't exactly seem the type. He's obviously capable of being devious when the occasion calls for it, but I don't see him enjoying it the way Izaya-san does. What happened six months ago was awful, primarily for you, but it could have been much worse. Izaya-san stirred everything up and then Ryuugamine-kun came in and shut it down cold. I can't figure why he would have done that, or why Izaya-san allowed it, and it bothers me. Either he and Izaya-san are working at cross purposes, or there was some purpose to it that we're not seeing."

Masaomi said nothing. He had a feeling that the answer might lie somewhere in his own dilemma. How much magic or spiritual mojo or whatever had been involved in creating this new universe? Things would have stayed the same as much as possible, which meant that some people might have acted out of character in order to keep events on basically the same track. He shook his head slightly. The metaphysics were making his head hurt.

He realized that Saki was expecting a response and said, "Ah, well, you may have a point. Anri-chan likes him. She said they went out a few times while we were gone, and I can't picture her having done that if she didn't think his heart had basically been in the right place. Anri-chan has a pretty good sense about people."

"Which would make sense," Saki said. "Are they still dating?"

"Not really. She said his heart didn't really seem to be in it." Masaomi realized he had better explain his plan. "Uh, she seemed a little upset about it? In her own, Anri-chan sort of way. So I told her that I would take her out on a date to see if it made him jealous. Unless you minded."

"I don't mind," Saki said, but she looked less amused than he had thought she would. Saki normally enjoyed his crazy schemes. "But I don't think it will make any difference."

"Why not?" Masaomi asked, puzzled.

Saki tapped her fingers against the table. "One of the people who would have gotten hurt most if things had gotten worse six months ago would have been Sonohara-san, yes? So as far as I can see, the most likely explanation for why Ryuugamine-kun intervened is because he was trying to protect her."

/ I tried when I could, I tried to protect Sonohara-san, which I didn't see you doing – " /

Masaomi shook off the echoes of the argument. "But then why wouldn't he want to go out with her?"

"Because he's still protecting her." Saki's eyes were full of sorrow. "Masaomi . . . Ryuugamine-kun works for Izaya-san. He knows what Izaya-san did to you . . . using me. And then to me, using you." She reached out and gripped his hand. "He tried to tear us apart, and use us against each other. We were too strong for him. But if it suits him, he will try again. The best way for Ryuugamine-kun to protect Sonohara-san is to pretend that he's lost interest in her."

Masaomi stared at her, feeling sick rage start to twist and coil in his stomach. "He wouldn't," he said, knowing even as he said it that it was untrue. Saki didn't even bother to reply. "Saki . . . I want to . . . I need to help him. To get him free from Izaya. For Anri-chan's sake."

Saki sighed and sat down next to Masaomi on the futon. "Masaomi, I'm not sure he needs your help. If he was willing to go against Izaya-san like that, I think he can take care of himself."

"Just because he can doesn't mean that he should," Masaomi argued. "I need to make it up to him. The trouble I caused. I need to take responsibility."

"It's not your fault that Ryuugamine-kun chose to work for Izaya-san," Saki pointed out.

Masaomi knew there was no way he could explain that in a way, it was. "Will you help me?"

"You know I will," she said. "Let's start with your grand plan to date Sonohara-san and make him jealous. Because the first thing we need to know is whether or not we're right about why Ryuugamine-kun crossed Izaya-san."

"Excellent," Masaomi said, feeling better about everything.

"And that's it," Izaya said. "Beginning, middle, end."

Mikado considered everything Izaya had just told him and decided that it fit in pretty well with what Masaomi had told him earlier that day. To have confirmation from a separate source was somewhat reassuring. So why couldn't he shake the feeling that there was far more to this than what he was seeing?

"Okay," he finally said. "Now, what are you leaving out?"

Izaya laughed. "Mikado-kun, you wound me! You just assume I haven't told you everything!"

"Well," Mikado said reasonably, "you haven't. Right?"

"Right," Izaya said, spinning around in his chair. "Saki seemed pretty interested in what happened six months ago. How you came in behind my back and shut down my beautiful setup." He sighed dramatically. "You're so mean, Mikado-kun. That was going to be so epic. You and Kadota ruined all my fun."

Mikado continued to look at Izaya with a level gaze. "Don't pout," he finally said. "You're too old for it to be cute."

"I'm only twenty-four."

"That's about twenty years too old for it to be cute."

"I have every right to pout."

Mikado shook his head. "I didn't break any of your rules," he reminded Izaya. "We agreed after Yagiri Pharmaceuticals that if I could get behind your back and outmaneuver you, that was not only my right but my job. Because if I could do it, so could somebody else."

"Not likely," Izaya said with a snort. "Oh, you were sneaky, I'll give you that. Smuggling all those Dollars into the Scarves or Squares or whatever you call it."

"You can pretend you saw it coming all you want," Mikado said, "but I know you didn't, because if you had, you would have stopped me."

"Ah! You want to see something interesting?" Izaya asked, changing the subject abruptly with a somewhat wicked smile. He punched buttons on his phone rapidly and then held it up to display a picture that somebody had taken of Anri and Masaomi having tea. "Looks like they're pretty cozy together."

Mikado looked at the picture with a blank expression that he hoped adequately hid the twist of jealousy that wrenched through his stomach. "Okay. So?"

Izaya smirked at him, and Mikado wondered uneasily if the information broker was buying his nonchalance. "Just putting it out there. Filing it away. Who knows? It might come in handy later, ne?"

"Consider it filed," Mikado said. He wanted to get out of the office before he punched Izaya in the face. "Do you have work for me to do today? Because if not, I should get home. I have a physics test tomorrow that I need to cram for."

"Nah," Izaya said. "Go be the responsible member of society that I know's in there somewhere. Have fun."

Mikado nodded, shouldered his bag, and left the building. He walked home slowly, thinking things over. Obviously, his attempts to convince Izaya that he was no longer interested in Anri weren't working. That was something he would have to keep in mind, although if she were going to date Masaomi, he supposed it wouldn't matter. He tried to convince himself that he was completely okay with that, and sighed. Self-deception didn't fit him very well anymore.

Worse was the feeling that now that Masaomi was back in town, Izaya was scheming something else. Of course, Izaya was always scheming things. Mikado just wished he would stop scheming things that involved him personally. He knew it would never happen. Izaya had too much fun seeing how he reacted.

He wished that there was someone he could talk to about this, but there was no one. He had never been good at making friends to begin with, and since coming to Ikebukuro, he had felt increasingly isolated. He had acquaintances. Anri had started to become a friend, but then he had been forced to back away from her. There was no one he trusted. Izaya had drilled that into him from his first day in Ikebukuro.

"Remember," the broker had said, "don't trust anybody. Don't believe in anybody."

"Not even you?" a much more innocent Mikado had asked.

Izaya had laughed. "Especially not me."

Good advice, which Mikado had learned Izaya had honestly meant far later than he should have. He still remembered the anguish that had accompanied learning his employer had been the one driving the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars against each other. People had been hurt then. People he knew. People in the Dollars, that he was responsible for protecting.

He didn't think Izaya understood that part at all.

Mikado remembered somewhat wistfully the time back home when he had created the Dollars. He had wanted a family, a place to belong. He had encouraged them to do good things. For the first time in his life, he hadn't felt alone. Had he really changed that much?

He let out a sigh and let himself into his apartment. There were people he could talk to now – he was friendly with Kadota and Celty, somewhat friendlier than he thought Izaya might have preferred, as Celty now refused to talk to the broker at all but always insisted on using Mikado as an intermediary – but he didn't think he could burden any of them with his teenaged angst. He shook his head at himself and sat down with his trigonometry.

He didn't trust anybody.

He didn't believe in anybody.

So why was it that when he thought about Masaomi, for the first time in years, he wanted to believe?