Yup. Another double update. :P

You are welcome.

...~-~…

The next morning was just as dull and dreary as the previous days had been. The sun was constantly hidden behind gray clouds, bringing the crisp, cold weather which Izaya hated so much. The streets were still quite crowded despite the chill in the air, and Izaya couldn't help but be reminded of his deep love for these creatures that currently surrounded him in the bustle of city life.

He was presently on his way back from a brief meeting with a client. It was a fairly simply job in which a man had suspicions that his wife was cheating on him. It was a fairly common job for Izaya, and one that in all honesty, didn't involve that much work at all. It seemed that people just weren't willing to pry into their lovers' lives; yet, they were more than happy to pay gratuitous amounts of cash for a complete stranger to do it in their stead.

Izaya laughed to himself as he stepped inside the apartment lobby and headed for the elevator. Pressing the button for the ninth floor, Izaya waited, humming lightly to himself.

The doors opened on the top floor and Izaya skipped over to the door of his apartment. However, what he found inside had him suddenly confused.

Izaya paused for a moment taking in the sight of Namie and a man Izaya recognized as Kishitani Shingen sitting at his table. Shingen held a gun to Namie's back, while Namie simply sat there with a rather unenthused expression on her face.

Shingen was the first to break the silence.

"Hey, welcome home!" he said casually. "When I conducted my own search for Miss Namie after Nebula merged with Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, I found out that she frequently comes to your place. So I threatened her with this model gun and she let me come in with her!"

"Model gun?" Namie questioned, turning to look over at Shingen.

"Oh? Didn't I tell you?" he said simply, aiming the gun into the air and shooting confetti out of the barrel.

Namie then turned her attention to Izaya. "Shouldn't we report this guy to the police?"

Without a response, Izaya turned and walked into the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of tea to warm himself from the chill of the outdoors which seemed to be embedded into his skin. Meanwhile, Shingen continued his rambling.

"Oh? Won't you be the ones in trouble if you do that?" Shingen began, "Once the police conduct a search of this room based on my testimony, they'll find the head of some young woman! I see... This might become a first rate scandal to take the place of the Slasher."

"So, Shinra does get his twisted personality from you after all." Izaya pointed out while pouring his tea.

"You won't get anything for complimenting me." he responded, "Well, to be honest, I'm in no rush to get the head back."

"Oh?" Izaya had to admit, that was a bit surprising to hear. He had walked over to his desk and now leaned against it, waiting for Shingen to continue.

"The executives at my company are quite surprised at what they saw of Celty on TV." He explained, "They've decided that her body should be studied before her head. That's why I've unilaterally decided that the location of her head is 'currently under investigation'. After all, it seems that you've taken quite an interesting approach concerning her head. Based on the theory that a valkyrie is a dullahan, you try to awaken it by causing a power struggle. What a unique idea."

"Well, I'm testing it in various ways." Izaya admitted after taking a sip of tea, "If worse comes to worst, I might just have to bring it to a war zone. Anyway, I'd be happy to cooperate with you."

"Great. I'm also interested in you. There aren't many people around who'd conduct research from a mythological point of view, including myself."

"Thanks." Izaya said with a light chuckle.

"Well now, why don't I give you a piece of advice? If you do cause some manufactured conflict in order to stimulate either Celty's head or spirit, Don't involve her in some clash of wills between other people, but rather, make her body the center of it all." Shingen picked up a handful of game pieces and dropped them over the board as he spoke. He then turned around and headed out the door while he put in his final thought. "And then throw those around her into the fire."

"That's what I plan on doing." Izaya said quietly. "In fact, things are progressing in that direction much faster than I'd anticipated."

There was a pause as Izaya stood at his desk and sipped at his tea.

"So what is it that you have planned exactly?" Namie asked after a few moments.

"I don't know, Namie…" Izaya began, breaking out of his quiet tone in favor of a more scornful one. "I'm afraid if I tell you, someone might pull a cardboard knife on you and you'd spill the beans on my little conspiracy."

"Oh, shut up." She defended, "It wasn't like I could see the damn thing clearly when he had it pressed against my back!"

Izaya set his tea down on the desk as he laughed, afraid he'd spill it as he doubled over from his laughter at Namie's justification.

"Ouch!" his laughter was cut short when a small hard object struck the side of his head. Holding the spot in his hand, Izaya looked to his left to see what had hit him.

It was the small compact mirror that Namie kept in her bag. Picking it up, Izaya quickly caught a glimpse of a bright red eye in the mirror, but when he looked back it was gone. Namie didn't seem to notice anything, so Izaya opted to ignore it for now.

"You know, at any other job you'd be fired for throwing something at your boss' head."

…~-~…

It took a little while, but eventually, Izaya and Namie had gotten to work. They were very productive for the first hour, but it didn't take much longer than that before Izaya let his mind wander.

For the next two hours, Izaya didn't get much work done. His thoughts always returned to the Slasher, and of course, Saika.

By about eight o'clock in the evening, Izaya and Namie were both working in absolute silence.

Well, Namie was working while Izaya stared absentmindedly at his computer screen. Even though he had a lot he wanted to say—mainly about the Slasher case—Izaya had decided to keep quiet for once, and he was sure Namie appreciated it. Besides, he could always just annoy her more when he was finished with his work if he wanted.

"Cut…"

Izaya jumped at the sudden voice, which once again, sounded as if it was being whispered in his ear. He shivered as the familiar chill ran down his spine.

"Everything okay over there?" Namie asked, eyeing Izaya suspiciously.

He quickly thought of an excuse. "Yes, yes. It's just a little cold in here and I got a bit of a chill, that's all."

Namie raised a brow. "You sure? It looked like you almost jumped right out of your skin."

"As I said, it was just a chill." Izaya repeated, "Now get back to work. I don't pay you to question my body's reaction to temperature changes."

"Okay, okay. I was just wondering is all."

Namie continued talking a bit more, but Izaya completely shut her out. It was beyond rare for Saika to speak to him when there is someone else around. He had been caught off guard, and to top it off, Namie had seen him.

Yet even though the voice was clear as day to Izaya's ears, Namie didn't look as if she had noticed anything at all other than Izaya's reaction.

Izaya waited in anticipation for what would come next, but strangely enough, he didn't hear or see any more of Saika that evening.