:::::::Izaya:::::
I stare at my phone screen as Rio and I sit outside on the balcony. The music was just as loud out here but my guess was that Rio didn't want to sit in silence. She loves the music.
I gaze over at her. I have no way on knowing if she is also looking at my screen as her head lays on my shoulder. She holds my arm tightly and I almost want to lie to her and say I'm not going anywhere.
She moves but only for her to grip onto my clothes some more. I lock my phone and I put it away.
"It's scary... flying in a plane." She says. I look down at her. "It was my first time..." I have an urge to tell her to look at me when she talks. "Have you been in a lot of planes, Izaya?" But I don't.
"Yes, I'm obligated to." I answer. She turns her mood fast around. It's hard to keep up with her sometimes but I manage.
"I guess the other scary part about it was a conversation I overheard..." She says. The way she said it made it seem like she intended me to keep asking her about it. "But before that... I want to ask you something." I feel her rise up and she looks into my eyes again. "It was you who sent me those three tickets... Am I right?"
There's a lot to explain but I'm sure I can successfully tell her everything.
"Yes, I sent them-"
"Why?" Her voice interruption sounded stern.. Almost scared.
I took a moment answering her.
"Because I wanted you out of Ikebukeru for a while." I feel her odd breathing. She panics but I don't stop her to reassure her. I find some ease when she does this. "I screwed up Rio. Now some people are looking for you." I don't understand why I added more to the fire... But I accept it. "I need you to tell me what you heard in the plane."
Her hands were loose on my clothes for a while but she grips onto them again. "I..."she buries her face onto my shoulder, "I was so scared!"
Something tells me they found out she's here in this beach... I look in front of me. The room is still dark.
"They talked about how they're looking for a girl my height, black hair, and they mentioned your name..." I touch her hair lightly. I've noticed the change in her hair a long moment ago... But I didn't want to switch the main idea here.
"So you're saying they're here right now?"
She shakes her head and tries to control her emotions. "They got angry when they noticed the description they were looking for wasn't on board... I think they went back..."
Right... Because for some reason... Rio got the brilliant idea to change her hair back to a honey color...
Things work out in mysterious ways...
I sigh. "Well... Just as long as all this is between only us, I'm sure this will all blow over." I tell her.
Her eyes widen and she presses her lips together.
::::::::Rio::::
His shoulders collapse and he makes an exhausted looking face. "Who did you tell?" He asks. I don't say anything for a while and I guess that angers him. "Was it Mikado?" I let go of his hands and I stand up quickly. He raised his voice there... I try walking away but the minute he tells me to stop I do. "Was it Masaomi?" No yelling. That's good... But I then turn my head slowly to him. How does he know Masaomi is even here?
"Why did you choose this beach...?" I ask.
He stands up and doesn't take his eyes off of mine. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to. I know why.
"Was it easy?" I start. "Was it easy to find him?"
He couldn't help but smile. I walk away and enter back into the noisy room. I'm surprised no one tried coming in here yet...
So the tickets were to simply take me away from danger. But why this beach in particular? I'll tell you why: It's because they were also to lead me back to Masaomi. I don't know if I should be great full right now...
I don't know what to feel at times like this...
I stand there looking at the floor. There's a lot of things we both don't know about each other at this point. A lot can happen in a couple months...
"I like your hair by the way..."
I look up and turn my whole body to see him still standing there. I could of sworn he said he would only give me an hour to talk to him...
I touch my hair and look at the floor. "Thank you..."
It's great that the music is still playing in the background... But why did they had to break out the sad slow songs?! What are they? 47 years old?!
I breath in and look back up at him. "I told Mikado and Anri... I barely talked to Masaomi yesterday. I was suppose to be downstairs talking to him and saki right now." I explain.
He makes a pouty face. "Am I keeping you?"
I glare at him as I take my gaze to the bed.
"It's fine you told them." He says. "It surprised me to know you did, that's all."
Right... Because last year I was so well kept with my secrets that it completely almost destroyed my friendships and relationships with everyone I love right now... I'm glad they're so good to me...
"I'll get on it." He tells me. Before I can ask, he says "I'll try to keep those men away from you, your friends, and family. It worked before."
I wet my lips and I manage to thank him again.
"May I tell you about one more thing...?" I ask.
He smiles lightly and says "go ahead."
"... Anri told me about your deceleration of war against her... Should I be worried...?"
He tried hiding emotion by smiling at me and says,"That can wait."
I felt heaviness in my heart. I want to tell him more things and be close to him... But I can see him already in a hurry all of a sudden. I don't want to be a bother...
He walks towards me and lays his hand on my head. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Just be patient."
The water works come. I nod to his request and he left me again shortly after that. I sit on the bed and stare off into space. I should of told him I love him again...
I walk down to the room again and I breath in deeply. I'm super late. This type of late has no excuses. I still haven't thought of a way to tell Mikado and Anri that I was talking to Izaya just now...
Can I tell them? Am I not aloud to? Izaya didn't say no, right?
...
What do I tell Masaomi...?
I moved back from the door and I felt my stomach get all tangled up. All of that can wait. I must meet with them... All of us together...
I smile trying to lift up my spirit and I walk in. The first thing I see is a table with half eaten chips and empty paper cups on top. The table was alone.. Except one...
"Hey..." He says and continues to shuffle some playing cards he had in his hands.
My hands shake but I tried saying a greeting back. "Hello Masaomi... Whe-where is everyone else...?"
He continues to shuffle the cards and doesn't break eye contact. "I told them if they can drop saki off." He tells me.
I close my eyes. I'm so stupid!
"I'm so sorry!" I say "I got caught up in something and I just..." Why... Do I feel like crying all the time...?
I look away very quickly. He doesn't say anything for a while and neither do I.
I'm not expecting him to forgive me. I practically stood them up. I hear his footsteps and I look up quickly.
He stops close by but not so close to me. He places his hands in his pockets and he smiles softly.
I manage to smile too... But the pain was still there...
He reaches out his hand and I look at him as I take it. He tells me to sit down and I want to ask about Mikado and Anri... He saw that. "They're doing fine. I called them and I hung up just as soon as you walked in!" He smiles while speaking to me. It calms me.
I sit down and he hands me a water bottle. "Thanks..." I say.
"So... You didn't feel like meeting saki or...?"
I jump up in my seat ready to beg for his forgiveness. He grabs my arm and smiles softly. "I'm just kidding." And he chuckles.
Does he see how sorry I am by now...? I hope...
"I thought maybe it wasn't time to let you meet her... Mostly because... We still haven't met for real, you and I." He tells me.
I understand what he means... Besides... I can't imagine someone else in our small group... I'm sure saki is a nice girl... But maybe I was lying to myself that everything would of been peachy from here on out...
Plus... I'm sure Masaomi doesn't want to meet Izaya that way either...
I smile at him trying to erase everything on what happened up stairs.
"I'm sure you were late for a good reason anyway, right?"
My smile faded and I look over to my left trying to avoid his eyes. In between our small talk... I decided that the meeting upstairs isn't really important enough to be shared but... That's convincing myself to lie...
"If it's personal it's okay... I don't want to know.."
But it's not that personal... It's something that might make everyone I know get into trouble... A situation where those two men would make everyone's life that are around me in danger...
But I can't tell him that... I don't want to tell him... It's scary to know that stuff...
"Rio...?"
I look up at him. Why did he wait for me...? Wasn't he even slightly mad that I didn't bother coming those first hours?
He smiled at me. I have gotten better at seeing the sad smiles and the real smiles... He's not upset that I'm late... He's upset that I'm not telling him why I'm late...
"I met Izaya. That's why I'm late." I blurt out.
He tries to keep his smile... But it didn't work out okay...
"He's alright I see..." He says almost whispering. I nod and I felt good telling him. "He's been treating you okay?" He asks.
I smile at him, "He's been gone... Just like you..."
I realized my choice in words... Did I really just compared him to the man he hates more than anything? I hope he hates me... I deserve it...
It took him a while to say anything. I wanted to get up and tell him I had to go... But I realize that our time is limited... Just like Izaya's and mine... I don't know if Masaomi even wants to come back... With saki and everything... Maybe he can even come back to school too and everything can go back to normal while we're at it.
He still doesn't say anything... So I step in.
"What were you talking to Mikado and Anri about..?" I say. Maybe some closure would of gotten out from the Izaya topic... But I don't think it all should come out all at once...
"We talked about what we both talked about when you found me." He tells me.
So mostly about what he's missed about school... Not what he's been up to...
"They like saki?"
"Oh yeah, they're probably talking about all my embarrassing life stories together." He laughs.
I smile. It's great seeing him in a good mood... It's always good to see that...
"Mikado and Anri told me some embarrassing stories about you too so don't go on and laugh when they both start telling you my stories." He says.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" I challenge while I reach for more water.
"When you died your hair back, they told me it came out purple!" He says.
"They did not." I say. "Jokes on you; I went to the salon alone to die my hair back." I stick my tongue out at him and he makes a face. I laugh and open up my bottle.
More talking came from that... It never occurred me that I was relieved that it was just the two of us. Maybe because things didn't get personal so fast... But it did eventually... It did eventually...
The room's still filled with music and it mixed in with our long conversations and the long laughter we both shared... And then it just kept getting brought up...
"I guess... Izaya isn't as careful as he thinks he is..." He says as he serves himself some soda.
My stomach turns and I stare at my half empty bottle. "Wh-why do you say that...?" I ask.
"Because he left you all alone." He says.
"Oh..." I say quietly. I thought for a second that he knew about the screw up and now I'm some price to those mean sounding men...
But I know... I have to tell him... Right here right now... I'm readying myself first...
"He wasn't the staying type anyway. We all know he's not committed." He drinks some of his soda. I stop him before he tells me 'You deserve better.'
"M-Masaomi... Izaya and I are still together... I just saw him upstairs..."
He narrows his eyes at me. "Why?" He asks me. He didn't want to ask before... But now that he's comfortable...
"What do you mean why?" I ask. Why I just met him upstairs or... Why I'm still with him...?
"He's going to probably do something to you one day." He states. So it's the second one... "I'm just really surprised he hasn't yet."
"He's Izaya not a monster..." I say. Great... Now I'm sounding like Izaya...
"Rio... That night on the day that I was hurt far from repair from any brain recognition, I was ready to actually understand as to why you're with him. It's because you lo... like him a lot. That's great! I'm happy for that." I was ready when his voice altered, "but then I realized something... You're a nice girl. Too nice even. He's a broken person..."
I stand up quickly. I stare down at him and my hands shape themselves to fists. I don't understand why I even did that... Right now I was angry at Izaya for leaving me again but I guess it was a more selfish kind of anger...
It's probably because... He's sounding like Namie... She used to tell me these sort of things too... And what Masoami doesn't know is that I'm already hurt... Very...
He softens his face and stands up with me. He didn't apologies but... I wasn't sad that he didn't...
"I... I'm just glad we all got the opportunity to see each other again..." He says. "Just like old times." I look up at him giving him a light smile. I forgive him... "It's a good thing you got those tickets, right? It was perfect timing!" My smiles fades just a little and I began to feel second thoughts. "I'll walk you home."
I thank him and he nods. We exit out of the room... And I began to think about how he didn't ask for a reason as to why I was upstairs with Izaya...
I press my back against the elevator's wall. I told Masaomi that I would head up myself... And I couldn't stop thanking him for forgiving me. Now I stand here... Thinking about how I don't know if I should of told Masaomi about the tickets... I guess it's okay to let him stay out of my problems for now since he's taking things slow with saki... And I wouldn't want to drag her into this either...
I start to wonder if Anri and Mikado are okay but I realized that if I call I might disturb a moment between them... I wouldn't want that...
Thinking of this made me think about Izaya... When he kissed me... It was the first time that I've been kissed in months... He still knew exactly what to do and I'm happy we're still in good terms.
I smile a little bit and tug on my headphones. No music was playing... The song ended but I was too tired to look for a good song.
I look over at the handle to my right. I hope Izaya's okay... I hope everyone is okay... I also want to know if things like this have ever happened to him before.. Maybe that's the reason he doesn't want to have so much friends... He likes to concentrate on himself maybe..
I smile slowly. I realize that I like to thing the best in him. I see the good in all his bad.
The elevator stops and I take my gaze slowly at the door. Two men enter and one of them sees me looking and holds his hand up like a greeting. I smile back and I look away trying not to make small conversation.
They push for a button and wait as I take my phone out to look for a song... Then they did something suspicious...
"Did you find..." The tall one gazes at me and then turns to their friend. "Your niece?"
I didn't think too much on it... But I was curious.
"No. I didn't find her. And by the sound of it you let me down too."
"Um... Grandma said that she really was here... Did we really take a plain for nothing?"
My eyes open wide and my lips start to tremble for a moment. I pretended to have found a song to make it look like I'm ignoring what they're saying. Though... I want to scream in fear right now...
Is it really them...?
"I knew this was a waste of time."
My hands shake... My legs do too...
"Or maybe we didn't look hard enough."
My heart starts pounding even more.
"No. I'm leaving tomorrow."
I finally broke.
I walk casually to the buttons and press for a floor. It's not my floor but I... just want to get away.
Once the doors open I practically rush out when...
"Hey miss, you dropped-"
"Keep it!" I answer without thinking and I continue to run. My face was rushing with headaches and my stomach felt like I was punched a million times. I did not feel good...
I begin to slow down after a few hallways. I begin to rummage through my light blue skirt's pockets. My key to my room is still in here... Everything seems to be here but the paper Masaomi gave me to go to the party... I try breathing normally. I know that these men aren't suspicious of me... Who cares about a girl who goes out partying, right? This is the best thing I can tell myself right now... The best thing...
I begin to walk to the nearest staircase and my spirit lifted just a little when I saw I only had to go up two floors.
I begin to ask myself if I really want Anri and Mikado to know what just happened in the elevator... The two men said they would go back home... So why worry?
I stop midway on the stairs. These are excuses.
Am I really making excuses to not tell them anything? Did Izaya got into my head? Did he really?
I grip onto my phone and stare at the handle that I'm also gripping onto. I hate him...
I finally arrive at the room. I look around to see if anyone is watching me and I go for the handle. I enter... The lights were off.
I go to the small table to put my keys there but I see a plate covered in foil with a note on top. I take the note and I read.
'We're sorry we left so early... We figured you wanted to talk to Masaomi more! Goodnight...'
I look away from the note to see my empty bed. Anri sleeps across me so I couldn't see her. I smile as I put the card down. I'm just glad they're both safe...
I take my shoes off and begin to walk right in. I check my phone and see a message has arrived. It's from mikado...
'Are you home?'
I go over to my closet and send back: 'yeah, I'm here now.' Followed by a smiley face.
I get my sleeping clothes and I hear another message arrive just as my shirt falls on the floor. I reach down and check his message.
'You're okay...?'
I stare at it for a long time. I don't know how to respond... I stand up from where I crouched and look over at Anri. She's asleep still...
'Yeah! Why do you ask?'
I walk to my bed and set the clothes down. I get another mail.
'I... Was just wondering... Also because Masaomi sort of told me that you talked to Izaya again...Or something like that...'
I scoff under my breath. Masaomi told mikado...?!
Why didn't Masaomi tell me he did that? Doesn't he know I would of told him anyway?
I read his message over again... And I begin to see a past self feeling. The feeling that... I was thinking of not going to share anything with Anri and Mikado at all... Just for their sake...
My excuses...
I type back fast. 'I'll be right there.' And snatch my clothes up. I walk almost stomping my feet on the ground. I reach for my keys and I exit out the hotel room.I was back in the hallway. I walk next door and knock two times. I wait.
He messages me again a md I ignore it. I knock again.
Silence.
More time passes... And finally the door knock opens.
I smile bitterly at him. "May I come in?" I ask.
He gives me a worried look and then steps back. I enter but don't worry... I'm thinking what to say.
A/N
It was such a long chapter and the wait was ridiculous, I'm very sorry about that! I wanted to also add that I read the comments from time to time to boost up inspiration ^^ thank you those who take their time to comment :D it means a lot ^* stay tuned for the next one :D
