Chapter 8: Nothing To Do

Izaya spun around in his chair endlessly, a scowl deeply engraved in his face. Alex glanced at him, worried he was going to sprain a face muscle. The reason for the discontent was due to the fact Izaya was busy making comparisons between his new secretary, and Shiki-san's wanted murderer. They both seemed to be from overseas, they both recently came to Japan, and it would explain Alex's very rough hands... And that weird salute thing he kept doing.

Izaya knew better than to jump to conclusions, but remembering how coincidental the world could be, he was a little concerned. (A demon sword possessor, a gang leader and a hugely popular website/gang starter JUST HAPPENED to become friends at the same middle school without knowing who the other was, though Izaya did help out a bit, the coincidence was a miracle).

"Alex-kun, I've noticed you have very rough hands~" Izaya stated nonchalantly, deciding to be frank, "did you do swordplay or something before being a garbage-man?"

"Yes sir," Alex nodded his head, as he hung up Izaya's laundry in the laundry room, "I did get into it, but I dropped out..."

"Ehh? Why?"

"I... I lost interest..."

That didn't serve to ease Izaya's suspicions at all, only leading him to deepen his scowl.

"Sir, if you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles," Alex said lightly, laughing while he gestured to his face as if demonstrating where the wrinkle would be.

Izaya sighed and gave up. If he wanted to know if Alex was innocent, he would need proof. And proof wasn't coming by scowling and contemplating. Plus, only a killer who is a stupid protagonist of some manga would name himself a 'garbage man', saying that he cleaned up 'trash' for a living. So cliche. Realizing he could be almost offending all the garbage men, he mentally said 'sorry', rubbing his hands together as if giving a prayer of apology. Being a garbage man didn't affect his love for them after all.

His love for humans was a love for all humans~

He leaned back on his seat, and set his feet on his desk, using them as a push off to spin himself around. And around, and around. Today was to be a quiet day, the breaking point between the gangs, therefore there was nothing much to do. Tomorrow, all hell would break loose and he would relish in ecstasy, but today was going to be boring and full of tension. Tension. Hmmm. Izaya didn't want to push things too far and reveal that he had a little bit of a hand in the events, but the thought of tension made him excited. Tension made humans make rash decisions, eventually either they would fall or rise.

Tomorrow would be a good day.

Hmmm.

Tomorrow...

Seemed very far away from the moment right now, Izaya groaned, and began to spin himself faster, hoping that he could spin himself into tomorrow. What could he do if there wasn't his precious humans around to entertain him? Do the job Shiki-san gave him? Like hell, when there was so many better things to do, but what? ...nothing. Nothing came to his head at the moment. The job Shiki-san gave did pay a pretty penny after all, but that pretty penny was the pretty penny he always received. He would survive.

Of course, Shizu-chan!

He should go mess up Shizu-chan's day!

Izaya nearly leaped off of the spinning chair, legs itching for activity, but he waited for it to stop rotating so the world would stop tilting and turning. When did he start spinning at that ferocious speed? Mysteries, always a mystery. He grabbed his fur coat and was about to head out, when Alex stopped him.

"Sir, are you heading out?" He asked, airing out Izaya's t-shirt.

"Yep."

"Shouldn't you dress up as a..." Alex's cheeks reddened, "Uh, you know, girl so-"

"-No one recognizes me?" Izaya continued, before giving a dark smirk, "If I do that, then Shizu-chan won't recognize me, so not this time..."

"But what about the yakuza?"

"Ah, they should be busy enough with themselves today. Gang wars, all of that," Izaya rolled his eyes, "I'll be going now, Bye~"

He turned around and closed the door behind him, leaving Alex awkwardly standing alone in the hallways, holding Izaya's red boxers dripping with water. Alex scratched his head, wondering why Izaya was in such a rush before turning around and heading back towards the laundry room, humming slightly as he went. One thought resounded in his head.

Who was Shizu-chan?

Meanwhile, Izaya skipped towards the street, his flashy smile radiating like a thousand suns. Finally, something to do. Ever since morning, he had been slouching around, not in the mood for anything, and meeting Shizu-chan's angry, pissed off face would definitely get him back to working mode. Think of it as a wake up call from a loud annoying alarm clock that wouldn't stop ticking even if you stabbed it with a knife (which was most definitely true, the monster just wouldn't die).

He skipped around Ikebukuro's alleyways, peeking around corners and smiling at strangers, also effectively creeping them out. As he had said, the yakuza had lessened their numbers today. Grand yakuza gang meeting today, after all. Deciding there was no trouble prancing out in the open, just for today, he frolicked towards the crowd and blended in with ease, even with his unusual hopping and jumping. Ikebukuro must've be used to this type of stuff by now, because everything unusual was usual.

Izaya spotted the bartender slouched on a park bench, smoking cigar. Feeling a grin creep across his face, he sneakily approached him.

Shizuo, on the other hand, was feeling pretty content. Someone had understood him yesterday. Just someone normal, even seeming to like him, to go as far as giving him chocolate and thanking him for something he didn't understand. She didn't see him as a monster or someone to keep away from. It assured him he was less of a monster than the public believed him to be.

He realized his cigar had become uselessly used up, and he reached his hand in his vest to take out his packet of cigars. He stuck one in his mouth, and tried to light it with his lighter. Shit, he thought, as the lighter wouldn't work. He realized he must've broken it the last time he beat the other stupid tenant-who-doesn't-pay-his-bills up.

"Oyah, it seems it's broken. Let me help you."

"Thanks," he muttered, as he felt a small spark of warmth, then he tasted the nicotine coming back as strong as ever. He opened his eyes, realizing someone had just lit his cigar for him, and turned to find a detestable flea seated comfortably beside him.

"Hi~ Shi-zu-chan~~~!"

Izaya watched amused, as Shizuo's face contorted into a look of hatred and anger, and began to count down from five for the explosion.

Five, four, three, one.

"IIIIIIIIZAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAA!" Shizuo roared, standing up and flipping the park bench, only leaving enough time for Izaya to jump from his seat and proceed to use the flying park bench as a spring board over the angered bartender.

"Wah, I helped light your cigar and this the thanks I get?" Izaya said smoothly, looking amused, as he landed with grace onto the sidewalk, "I hope you die soon from lung disease Shi-zu-chan~!"

"SHUUUUUUUUT!" He stomped his way towards the flea, every step leaving a mark in the concrete, "UUUUUUUUUUUP!"

He swung a fist at Izaya, grabbing a lamp post in process while the informant fell back, dodging it by a hair's width, and flipped back onto his feet. Public property was thrown in one direction while knives were thrown in the other. The crowd gathered around backed up, and many fled from the scene, afraid to get hit by the flying objects, both of which could possibly be lethal (the vending machines or the knives? Hm, decisions.)

By the time Izaya got back to his apartment, 2-3 hours had passed, leaving Izaya in a very productive and content mood. He had managed to swipe the monster a few times on the neck, and a little deeply too. He mentally made note that Shizu-chan's neck was better to cut than anywhere else -which usually only went in as far as 5 centimeters. Izaya realized that the only place he hadn't tried cutting, was the monster's little monster, which he made sure to aim at so the monster wouldn't be able to make more monsters. Thinking of more little replicas of Shizu-chans running around and wrecking havoc gave Izaya a headache.

"You look happy," Alex stated the obvious, observing Izaya happily spin around in his seat.

"Yep."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yep."

"Hm..."

Izaya stopped spinning for a moment and glanced at Alex, who was hard at work organizing official documents and valuable papers. Izaya thought he had noticed a slight hint of a certain emotion he was most familiar with flash across his secretary's face, but as for now, Alex held a blank and virtually emotionless expression. Izaya felt a grin coming on, and fell into a fit of giggles.

"What's funny sir?" Alex inquired, looking up for a moment with curiosity.

"Nah, it was nothing~!" Izaya sang, and continued to spin around in his chair, with an almost satisfied look.

Alex blinked, and looked back down at his work. His employer sure was a strange one.