"Yokohama?" He wants to go to Yokohama?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"This – brute! Wants me to travel all the way to Yokohama for a date!"

"Brute?"

"Ah," Izaya said, blinking. He grumbled under his breath and began to type a reply.

"So," Namie was clearly amused, "A date with Heiwajima Shizuo? And you said you hate him."

"I do hate him. That hasn't changed," Izaya replied testily, "But I require information from him and I can get it if I go on this…" he spat the word out, "Date."

"To Yokohama," Namie added with the new information he had just received, "Well, it is quite a romantic spot for couples."

"Shut up. It's a one time thing." Izaya scoffed. "Why Yokohama? I didn't know he even knew where it was!"

"Where did you expect him to take you then?"

"I don't know. Ikebukuro? The city where we always meet?"

"What's wrong with Yokohama?" Namie scoffed.

"You go to Ikebukuro all the time, wouldn't you be bored if you went there on a date?"

But I've never actually seen the various attractions with someone

The moment he had that thought, he decided not to voice it, for he was already internally horrified at himself for considering Heiwajima Shizuo as a potential companion.

"Yokohama is far," he replied instead, almost pouting at having his barely constructed expectations ruined.

"And it's like…."

"Like?" Namie prompted, amused at Izaya's indecisiveness.

"Like a…date."

Namie looked at him as if he had no knowledge of that word.

"It is a date."

"Yeah," Izaya said petulantly, "But it's Yokohama! Yokohama, Namie! It's like a real date!"

"It's like if you walk around Ikebukuro with Seiji-kun it's no big deal but if you go with him to Yokohama it's different."

"Don't be stupid. Wherever I go with Seiji, there's no difference as long as I'm with him."

"Well, since it's Shizu-chan, it's different."

Namie looked at him as if trying to make sense of his words, "So," she said, "If it were Ikebukuro, it wouldn't be a real date?"

"It'll still be a date but at least I wouldn't have to travel so far!"

Izaya complained as he glared at his phone, waiting for Shizuo's reply.

"Why do I have to travel to meet Shizu-chan outside of Ikebukuro?"

"Well that's what you do on a date," Namie pointed out, "See the city with each other."

"And since you're both already familiar with Ikebukuro, I'd say Yokohama's not a bad choice. Heiwajima's pretty thoughtful."

[You don't want to go to Yokohama? Where do you want to go then? Shibuya? Kyoto? Or do you want to have a date at Shinjuku?]

Izaya frowned at his phone, and reluctantly typed a reply back.

[Of course not. Shinjuku? I'm the information broker of Shinjuku in case your protozoic brain has forgotten, rumors will spread like wildfire and for once they won't be by me. But why Yokohama?]

I don't get it. Why Yokohama? In the first place, why is he going so out of the way?

It's like he's actually planning this date.

Can that protozoic brain even plan?

[No particular reason, but I thought it would be a nice place to see. I don't mind having a date at Ikebukuro, but I thought you'd be bored since you come here all the time. Shinra said so.]

- Damn Shinra. Always saying unnecessary things. And since when did Namie become a mind reader?

Izaya thought in annoyance, for the first time not liking how his humans had surpassed his expectations.

And the monster, but that unpredictability was usual.

[Anyway if you're fine with Ikebukuro we can have our date here.]

And have everyone staring at me and you in that bartender suit?

[No. It's fine, Yokohama is a fine city. Still, I'm surprised you're going so far.]

There went his plan to observe the fishes in the Sunshine 60 aquarium and completely ignore Heiwajima Shizuo. Which would hopefully have led him to shatter the glass in his anger and cause chaos in the famous place.

[Why wouldn't I go far? Actually, I'd rather go to Kyoto and that's much further. But Shinra said you're a man of the city, so I thought Yokohama would do.]

Izaya mentally noted to teach Shinra a lesson on how to not reveal information about him especially to Heiwajima Shizuo.

[And Shizu-chan is a man of the wilderness. Fine, let's go to Yokohama then. I'd prefer it to Kyoto.]

[Yeah. I love nature, it's quiet and peaceful. Great. See you on Saturday then, Izaya.]

Saturday. It was Wednesday.

He knew he was the one who had decided on the day. But knowing it was Wednesday and their date was on Saturday brought to him the realization that Shizuo had actually planned. He had actually gotten Izaya's schedule early to check it with his own. He had confirmed the timing on Tuesday, and had messaged to tell him he would confirm the location tomorrow. And he had.

Had this date been important to Izaya and he was the one planning, he would have done everything two weeks in advance and cleared his schedule for the week in case anything came up, and specifically told his clients to not contact him at all on Saturday. He would have left all his nine phones at home and only brought his personal one.

But for Shizuo, Heiwajima Shizuo, the brute Izaya didn't think could even think with his protozoic brain, Izaya thought such efficient planning ahead was already remarkable. He'd half expected he would get the location one day before the day of the date, or even on the day itself. In fact, before Shizuo had confirmed with him the timing on Tuesday, he'd expected it would take the brute a week to work out the free slots on both of their schedules and find a suitable place and time they could both agree with.

But Shizuo had defied his expectations by marking out all the time slots where they both didn't have to deal with their jobs and even pointing out which would be more suitable. Izaya had practically just tossed Shizuo his schedule, and hadn't expected Shizuo to analyse that last Thursday wouldn't be good for Izaya would have clients the next day, Thursday would be better for Izaya only had one client on Friday, but Saturday would be best for Izaya's first client on Sunday was at 3PM and if their date ended late, he wouldn't have to worry about waking up early, unlike Thursday where he would have to meet a client at 10AM the next day.

He's really serious about this huh.

[Don't be late.]

[I know. You're big on punctuality when it matters. Heh, I'm glad to hear this date matters to you.]

[Don't misunderstand. It's bad enough I have to travel to meet you outside of Ikebukuro, I won't stand waiting for you.]

[You won't have to wait a single second. I'll be early.]

[Whatever you say, Shizu-chan.]

Izaya sent the message then put down his phone. There was a thudding sound in his ears and it took him a while to realize it was the sound of his heart.

He stood up and turned, his hand coming up to clutch at the material over the organ pounding in his chest.

What is this…?

The information broker swallowed, as he tried to calm his racing heart down.

Is this….anticipation?

No way.

- How can I look forward to a date with Shizu-chan?

Namie glanced at Izaya. She was about to say something, but paused when she caught sight of the expression on Izaya's face. Having never seen the frivolous man look so serious before, she decided not to voice her thoughts and occupied herself with her work.

- If he would look like that all the time, he could actually be more appealing.

- It's really too bad he has such a horrible personality along with those looks. Why, he could have even been popular.

A smirk crossed Namie's lips at that amusing thought.

- But then I suppose, even if Izaya were popular, only one person would have his full attention.

Oblivious to Namie's thoughts, Izaya let out a breath. His hand slipped away from his chest as he made his way smoothly to the glass panel, placing a hand on it as he stared out into the city below him.

And then his mouth slowly stretched into a smile, a smile that lacked malice, a smile that lacked amusement, just a perfectly natural smile formed from the emotions in his heart in his chest.

"That city…I wonder how it will look like –"

Images came to him. Images of himself travelling all over Japan, of seeing the various sights and sounds, of people, humans with companions, friends, lovers, talking and laughing with each other as he always walked alone.

And then that image appeared in his head, the man in a bartender suit he couldn't get his mind off, who always surpassed his expectations, and who always paid attention to him no matter how much time passed.

"– Seeing it with Shizu-chan."


"Well, I'm leaving then Namie."

"The day's finally arrived huh?" Namie commented as she glanced at Izaya, "…You're wearing that?"

"Why not?" Izaya said with a smirk as he slid his hands through the sleeves of his fur trimmed jacket.

"Shizu-chan probably chose Yokohama so that no one would recognize him in his bartender suit anyway."

He lifted his arm, "At least I changed my shirt. See? It's maroon. Though I doubt that protozoic brain will notice, much less that it brings out the color of my eyes."

"You're more socially retarded than I thought," said Namie with a deadpan look.

"It's a date. It's a date that Heiwajima Shizuo invited you on. That he planned for. He's taking you around Yokohama. You'll probably be going to the famous Minato Mirai 21. Of course he's not going to be wearing his bartender suit."

She scoffed.

"Do you see high school boys wearing their school uniform on a date with their girlfriend? It's the same thing, idiot."

"Impossible," Izaya waved off, "How can Shizu-chan not wear his bartender suit? It's his precious brother's present to him! Surely I'm not more important than his brother!"

"Present or not, it's basic etiquette to dress nicely on a date," Namie rolled her eyes. "Which you seem to lack." She shrugged.

"Oh well, it's not like you have to make an impression on him anyway, you've already captured his attention."

"Haven't I?" Izaya said with a confident smirk, and whirled, his fur trimmed jacket fluttering behind him.

"Anyway I have never seen Shizu-chan out of his bartender suit the moment I saw him in it, and today's not going to be any different."

He grinned, as if at his own imagination as he made his way out of his apartment.

"Bye Namie! Have fun being alone and thinking how you wish you could go on a date with Seiji-kun! Haha! Hahahahahaha!"

The door closed behind him, leaving Namie glaring through the door after the black haired man.

But then she imagined the expression on Izaya's face when he saw Shizuo was dressed more elegantly than him, and an amused smirk made its way to her lips.

"Tch. Serves him right. He'll never learn to not underestimate that man, will he."


To the anon, thanks for your interest in May the Best Man Win. :) But, it's not going to be updated anytime soon because the next chapter has spoilers for the second season and I don't want to accidentally ruin anyone's watching experience in case they haven't read the novels! (I'm not exactly putting season 2 spoilers in the summary or anything). There will be a part where practically the whole thing including what hasn't been shown yet will be described. So I will post it once the second season ends. But if you really really want to read it like now I guess I can send it to you through whichever platform's most convenient for you lol.

(Still, it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon, at that point in the novels I mean since I don't think they can cover so much so fast. If it really doesn't...I'll have to think about it.)

But then even if you read it nothing much happens, Shizuo is still making his preparations. And can I say I don't know exactly what he's planning. I know, it doesn't make sense, I should know because I'm writing him right? But I don't know, sorry. I can only wait for him to do what he wants to do and I'll just observe him and write as he does. That's all I can do, I don't write Shizuo, he writes himself...if that makes sense. (Like in this story I didn't plan for him to snap, he just snapped and I couldn't exactly stop him) So if he's still planning...I need to wait for him. Sorry but I can't control Shizuo. So I can only wait to see who he goes to next for his plan, if he even wants to show that. If he doesn't then Izaya will enter the scene and I don't know what he's going to do either, who am I to predict how Orihara Izaya will react? Izaya is Izaya and he certainly won't react the way I want him to and I have to change the whole scene with no idea where it's going...until I actually write it out. So it may be surprising but except for future scenes, I really am as clueless as you are lol. So even if I do update the next update will have to wait a while.

Also thanks to the other anon for your kind words! I'm really flattered by the praise ^^ I do need to plan my stories beforehand so I'm glad you like the suspense lol! Also it was a pleasant surprise to see another review when I just went to my profile to access my tumblr!

Anyway I knowwwww you all want to read the date I want to too! But as you can see Shizuo and Izaya will be going to a place in real life Japan (I have no creativity sorry) so I need time to write. Good news is, I've already done research beforehand so at least that saves time (I had sudden inspiration). The next chapter which is the start of their date will definitely be longer! But their date will be long (of course) so I'll probably have to split it into parts, I'm aiming for like 3 or 4 or the max, 5 parts (hopefully it won't be that long...). So I thought I'd put this scene which seems more like 'before the date' before it...to make it neater.

(You can google the place if you want while waiting and use your own imagination xD. Like the Minato Mirai 21 Namie mentions~)

Sooo yeah it's short but I managed to write 'before the date' before my busy week starts lol so have a fairly early update! I'll try to have the next chapter up in a little more or less than two weeks hopefully. Eh I'm a touch typist so if I really can't update means I really don't have time lol or ideas haven't formed. Still, I'm also working on The Butterfly Effect so I might be able to update that if I have the time! Hopefully that will make up some lol.

Oh and someone drew art of that scene in the last chapter omg I still can't believe it thank you crimsonfire3! It's on tumblr and I've gotten the artist's permission to post the link on my profile under Stories in progression! Do check out that cute scene ~!