When Izaya returned to his apartment, the graffiti had been carefully scrubbed off of his front door. Namie must have had the good sense to clean it up, as he had forgotten to text her about it. Suddenly, an alarm began blaring in his mind, and he slid his flick blade into his hand. It had occurred to him that Namie wasn't necessarily the person who had cleansed the graffiti from his entryway. If she hadn't, the person who did could very well be waiting for him inside. He had been so consumed with other thoughts on his way home, that he had almost completely forgotten that he himself could be in danger. Cautiously, he unlocked his door and stepped inside.
The room was completely dark, and completely quiet. Namie had probably left at least an hour beforehand. After Izaya flicked on the light, he became almost positive that he was alone, but he still kept the knife in his right hand, just in case. The sling had already begun to annoy him. He had managed to unlock the door with his left hand, but it was virtually useless, and if someone were to attack him, he would be at a serious disadvantage. As he made his way through his apartment, a piece of paper on his desk suddenly caught his eye.
You're not paying me for manual labor. I expect a bonus.
-Namie
He smiled with relief, and sank into his desk chair. It had been awhile since he had been so on edge. Immediately, he turned on his computer and plugged his phone into one of the USB ports. All of the pictures he had taken day began to flash across his screen. He first saw the menacing, black line painted across his own door, binary code scrawled above it in crooked, dark strokes. He immediately brought up a binary to text converter and typed in the sequence of zeroes and ones.
"BH" was what the converter returned, and Izaya opened a Word document where he began to compile the photos and the new information he was discovering. After, he opened up his email and clicked on one that Shiki had sent him hours prior.
Along with a short, vague message, including a rough estimate regarding compensation, Shiki had also included copies of the photographs he had shown him earlier that day. Izaya replied, saying that the compensation would be fine, and also included a couple photographs of his defaced door. Typing out the email took longer with one hand, and he hoped that he wouldn't have to write anything too extensive over the next few weeks.
After answering a few other emails, he pulled up the Dollars website, and began scrolling through the message boards. There were a few posts that caught his eye, but nothing involving BH, WG, Shiki's murdered men, or the girl in the carpet. He was slightly surprised at this. Whenever a new gang or two popped up in Ikebukuro, there were usually dozens of posts about it. Now, he had a few things to consider. He could post something himself, but the people involved with the graffiti clearly knew who Izaya was. That didn't mean they knew who he was online, but the possibility of that was very much alive. Shiki had also wanted to keep the murders of his men as secret as possible and if he violated that wish, his relationship with the Awakusu could turn sour. As far as the girl in the carpet, he wanted to talk to her personally, and besides that, he didn't see how posting about her would be helpful, anyway.
With a frustrated sigh, he turned back to the pictures. Izaya now had four separate examples of the graffiti: Shiki's photos, his door, the WG above the carpet-clad girl, and the circle and line by the alleyway where she was found. The last example was the one that interested him the most, as it didn't seem to be directed at a specific person or group. The photo itself was slightly blurry, as he had been running from Shizuo at the time, but it was still easy to see the white circle and black line painted onto the bricks of the building. Inside the circle was the "WG" and above the black line was the same string of binary that had been pained onto his door that very morning. After a moment of consideration, Izaya turned back to the Dollars page, wrote up a brief post, attached the picture, and uploaded it to the message board under the subject: New gangs in Ikebukuro?!
He knew that this move wasn't necessarily safe, but he wanted to use the Dollars to his advantage, and this was definitely the least risky way of doing so.
He stretched his right arm over his head and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost ten o'clock, and he figured that he had time to do a little more research before bed. He logged onto the chatroom.
Kanra: Good evening!
Tanaka Taro: Evening!
Setton: Evening.
Tanaka Taro: So, this is everyone here tonight?! I'm surprised.
Kanra: Are we not good enough? That's so mean!
Tanaka Taro: Huh? That's…that's not what I mean.
Kanra: Hey! Have you guys seen any weird graffiti around, recently? I saw it everywhere today, and it was really freaking me out!
Setton: Graffiti? I don't think I have.
Tanaka Taro: Me either…
Kanra: Better keep an eye out for it! I think a new gang might be in Ikebukuro.
Izaya could picture the panicked expression that had certainly appeared on Mikado's face after he read that last sentence. The Dollars leader already had enough to worry about, and a new gang or two would definitely make his life more difficult.
Tanaka Taro: I better go.
After Mikado signed off, Celty followed, and Izaya happily closed out of the chat room and shut down his computer. Although he hadn't found out anything of use, he had certainly got the ball rolling, and was sure that by the time he woke up he would have all sorts of information.
Just as Izaya stood up, someone knocked on his door.