"I was just curious since he disappeared."
"I only know that Izaya was tired so he went somewhere to rest."
Shizuo tried a different approach.
"How do you feel, Kanra-chan?"
"I am so happy to finally be here."
Izaya smiled warmly. There was a certain grace about him, an aura of subtle delicacy. Shizuo associated it with girlish charm. He was in strange awe of it. Izaya tucked a bit of hair behind an ear. Shizuo searched for something to say.
"We're glad to have you here too."
Izaya brightened up. Carried afloat by some inner joy that was as powerful as it was unwarranted. Shizuo could hardly repress his relief as he heard Shinra's voice chattering even before he reached the room. Having informed the doctor previously, Shizuo now trusted him to take it from here and reestablish as much normality as possible.
"Hello, Kanra-chan. I brought you a little something."
Shinra produced a pretty purple dress and handed it out to Izaya. Shizuo was not at all expecting this but Izaya took the garment without hesitating.
"Thank you! I'll try it on."
"Make sure Celty bandages you up while you're at it."
"Sure thing."
Shizuo watched Izaya skip away.
"Shinra-"
"Not now. Later."
There was only silence until Izaya returned in the dress.
"What do you think, Shizu-chan? Looks good on me?"
Izaya turned around, skirt blowing in the air. Shizuo was shocked anew. Not so much at the weirdness of it all but at how naturally Izaya pulled it out with not as much as a hint of unease. He leant forward, arms behind his back, a certain sly coyness in the way he asked for an approval that he knew beforehand was already his. Whatever might be said of Kanra, she had plenty of self-esteem.
"Yeah. Looks great."
Shizuo did not even have to lie. Izaya turned around a few times, half-dancing. The short piece revealed bandages wrapped around his slender limbs but his buoyed up attitude almost made these irrelevant.
"Spring time means new clothes. And summer is right around the corner, too. I want to go gold fish scooping with Shizu-chan. And watch fireworks in a yukata while we share cotton candy."
"That would be nice."
Shizuo was aware that he was being hit on. It was impossible to miss it. But he was too much in a daze to even grasp the implications.
"But Shizu-chan's girlfriend would get mad at me…"
"I'm single."
Izaya jumped up and down.
"Really? How come! Oh well, so much better for me. Say, Shizu-chan, have you heard about the human experiments that have been taking place around 'bukuro?"
"Not really…"
Shizuo could see Shinra making himself scarce without leaving the spot.
"There are a lot of rumors about it. I wonder if there's any truth to it."
"I wouldn't give much credit to urban legends if I were you."
Izaya rocked back and forth, almost tiptoeing in a silent dance routine.
"Oh? But the headless rider exists. This is a city of secrets."
Shizuo corrected his perception of Kanra. As a figment of Izaya's imagination, she shared his instinct and sharp insight.
"I guess."
Izaya smiled enigmatically.
"Imagine if you could shape someone according to your will. The end result would tell so much about you, wouldn't it?"
"I'm sure it would be so."
Izaya turned to chat with Celty and chatted about designer clothes, ice cream, kitties and cake stores. Shizuo wondered how many girls in Tokyo were covering these exact same topics at the moment. He could not shake the feeling that Kanra was seizing her up and learning all that could possibly be learnt.
"Who- or what is Kanra?"
Shizuo asked Shinra over a cup of coffee. They were in the office while Izaya was in the basement with Celty.
"From what I've heard from Izaya, the infamous Kanra-chan is his female alias online."
"As in…he pretended to be a girl?"
Shinra nodded.
"It's an information gathering method. Izaya has invested a lot into creating her personality and now that he's under such pressure, he seems to think that he really is Kanra."
"But…can't he look at himself and see that he's not a girl?"
"I'm sure he sees a woman's body."
Shizuo sank in his chair.
"He's not making fun of us?"
"Izaya is dead serious. Or you could say Kanra is dead serious."