Author's Note: It's Mikage today. Once again, work ate up most of my day. But, I pulled through once again. This came out amazingly well. I especially like the ending. Let's see who's up tomorrow.

Chapter Eleven: Mikage:

-Mikage-

What did that idiot get himself into now?

Izaya has been calling me lately. He talks in hushed tones. I tried to ask him what is going on, but he won't give me a straight answer. If he's not complaining about how Mari-san is blowing him off, he's trying to find out what I'm doing. At first, I thought he was bored. Now, I am starting to think that he's scared of something.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" I asked him one day.

"What are you saying?" Izaya asked. "Can't I talk to a dear friend without any motives?"

"Come on," I said. "I know how you are. What is going on?"

"I have to go," he said.

"Izaya!" I shouted. He had already hung up. I have tried to call him back, but Kururi won't let me through.

"He's not in right now," she tells me.

"Can I leave him a message?" I asked.

"No," she always says. Kurui hangs up before I can say anything else. What is it with her? She always glares at other girls that even look at Izaya too long. Kururi didn't used to be like this. I don't remember when she changed.

My phone rang again.

"Hello?" I asked.

"I apologize for that," Izaya said. I felt myself getting annoyed again.

"Stop playing games here," I said. "What is going on here?" There was a pause on the other line. I braced myself for Izaya to dodge my questions. He seemed to be whispering something the phone.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Listen, I have to go," he said.

"Izaya!" I shouted. He had already hung up—again. For the next three days, I didn't hear from him. He wasn't in the Dollars chatroom. Nobody had seen him around Ikebukuro. Aoba didn't tell me where he was. (He didn't even look happy to be there.)

"How should I know where he is?" he asked. "He just emailed me instructions to come here and get to work."

"And when was that?" I asked.

"About three nights ago," Aoba said. He wasn't much help. Mari didn't know where he was either.

"When did you say you heard from him last?" she asked.

"About three nights ago," I said. "Why, did something happen to him?"

"I am not sure," Mari said. She moved her to her mouth and started biting on her thumbnail. "I have been so busy with work and Kururi won't tell me anything either."

"Yeah, she claimed that she didn't know where he was either," I said. Mari gave me a strange look.

"You actually talked to her?" she asked. "She wouldn't even open the door for me."

"Yeah, his sister is kind of like that," I said.

"I know," Mari muttered.

That evening, my phone rang. It was Izaya's number.

"Hello?" I asked.

"So this is who Izaya-san's been communicating with on this phone," a man's voice said on the other line. I froze.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Kitano Katsuhiro-sensei. Please to make your acquittances."