Chapter 7
Work flew by that day but Lily didn't quite want to go home yet so she ended up wandering around Ikebukuro alone with her thoughts. For some reason she couldn't stop thinking about how Izaya had helped her, she didn't feel right not doing anything to thank him; she didn't expect him to go out of his way like that after their first encounter.
"Sushi, Russia Sushi! It good, one time not enough to kill you!" a man's voice rang out.
Russia Sushi? Why did it sound so familiar…? Of course, it was written on a box in Izaya's kitchen! So, he has sushi from this place, maybe she could get some for him, hopefully it'd be enough to thank him.
"Excuse me," she whispered loudly.
"Yes? You want sushi?"
"Well, maybe. Do you know what kind of sushi Izaya Orihara likes? I-It's okay if you don't, I just…"
"His favourite fatty tuna, why? Does Izaya have girlfriend?" the tall Russian man raised a suspicious eyebrow.
The girl blushed furiously "No! No, no, no, no, we're just neighbours."
"Hmm, that's probably for best. Go, go, buy sushi," the man ushered her inside.
Lily couldn't help but wonder what he meant by that but shrugged it off, it's not like she was interested in him anyway so that was irrelevant. Once she had acquired the sushi for her quest it was time to head home to deliver the item to Izaya. Speak of the devil, she'd just caught sight of the fluffy trim on the hood of his coat disappear around a corner so she jogged/speed walked after him. It requires too much effort to run.
"Mr Orihara!" she called out so she could stop with the strenuous, demanding exercise.
"Miss Addison? This is a surprise," the informant whirled around upon hearing his name.
"I wanted to thank you for letting me stay over last night so I got you this," Lily went to give Izaya the box of fatty tuna sushi but the informant had since stepped closer and the velocity at which she thrust the box forced it to hit him squarely in the face before it dropped into his hands.
…Oops… Why did this always happen to the both of them? Not giving Izaya any time to react Lily ran down the street in embarrassment of how stupidly clumsy she had been, what was she supposed to say after that? Precisely, she had no other choice but to run and come up with yet another apology for the unfortunate crimson-eyed man.
To clear her head from the self-pity a bit and cool down Lily continued on with her walk before she'd been interrupted by the Russia Sushi guy taking her time strolling down the winding roads. It didn't take too long to relax as she walked on aimlessly, absent to the rest of the city. Being so lost in thoughts Lily didn't notice a tall figure standing in front of her and she inevitably made contact with their back with a small 'oof'.
"What the hell was that for?" a blonde bartender asked angrily.
Lily's head snapped up, warm brown eyes widening "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
The blonde man sniffed suddenly and stiffened "You smell like the flea."
"I-I'm sorry?" confusion etched onto her face.
"Izaya Orihara. Why do you smell like that flea?!" they got increasingly angry.
"I a-accidentally threw a box of s-sushi in his face not too long ago, m-maybe that's it," Lily squeaked.
It was now the bartender's turn to look confused, "Have I seen you before?"
This person seemed to get distracted a lot. "Um, I think I saw you when with Erika and Walker once," Lily suggested.
"Ahh, that's it. So what did the flea do now?" he questioned as he lit a cigarette.
"Nothing, I was just t-trying to thank him for h-helping me the other day," she explained.
"Help? That doesn't sound like the flea, don't thank him for anything. He probably has some plot or something. If he does I'll kill him!"
"Is Mr Orihara r-really that bad? A-A lot of people keep telling m-me to stay away from h-him."
"Like I said, he's a flea. Do you have a stutter or something?"
"No, I'm just n-not good with people," despite this, Lily was pretty impressed with herself that she had been speaking to a stranger for this long.
The tall blonde bartender, Shizuo, had calmed down considerably after a while just talking to the brunette. She seemed calmer than some of the other people in this city, it was refreshing to say the least. After a while the girl's stuttering had ceased as well as she became more comfortable around the 'monster' of Ikebukuro as many people referred to Shizuo as. Lily really didn't understand that, at the start he'd been a little temperamental sure but she had walked into him.
Maybe she was naïve. People appeared to have conflicting views to her about both Izaya and Shizuo now. Lily had quickly gathered that Shizuo was not a huge fan of the raven, who wouldn't be able to tell though? He'd referred to her neighbour as a plotting flea; it was a pretty easy interpretation.
For some reason at some point the conversation had drifted onto cats and the both of them had bonded over the topic of small furry felines because seriously, who doesn't like cats. The enthusiasm that went into the discussion caused onlookers to stare at the pair strangely. 'Bukuro's toughest was expressing his fondness towards a tiny, innocent creature (although we all know they're not very innocent… Manipulative little things, they could be Izaya's minions).
Entering the station after waving goodbye to Shizuo Lily sighed in content, the afternoon was spent quite well if you forgot about the incident with Izaya. She couldn't wait to get home and sink down into a fortress of pillows with a cup of steaming hot chocolate and watch the new episode of Blue Exorcist.
