Izaya waved amicably. He smiled so widely that his eyes dimmed into almost invisible slits.
"See you later."
"Don't forget to tell me how the marathon went. Neh?"
Kadota was careful not to let the door bang on his wake but as soon as he was outside the building and outside the range of those elusive cameras he could not help but break into a run. He knew that if this encounter had been a battle, in a way it was, he had surely lost but at the same time he had gained something. Information.
Things were beginning to click into place. He turned a corner and slowed down. Needing time to process everything. Izaya had given him a clue, perhaps even intentionally but Kadota dismissed it for now. What Kadota saw as crucial and it came as a surprise was that he had just learned that talking could be exciting, dangerous and absolutely exhilarating.
This had been the first real conversation he had actually had with Izaya. Everything up to this point did not count. And realizing the power of a war of wits gave him more than an inkling into Izaya's self. It showed Kadota that one of the drives to Izaya was precisely this intellectual conflict and more, Kadota realized that he too could enjoy it. Of course now that he was out in the open and Izaya was not hovering about with half-concealed threats it was easier to breathe and to look back with a thrill of excitement but there was more to it.
Kadota considered Izaya's character anew. The main reason why Kadota was allowed to go about his way unhindered by Izaya, directly or indirectly, was because he did not even register on Izaya's radar. Others who did feature on Izaya's agenda found themselves bogged down in one ordeal or another, Shizuo being the most obvious example but Kadota knew that if he probed in depth he would find more victims along the way. Kadota had just shifted the status quo by putting himself dead smack in Izaya's observation field.
Whether that was a smart move that would pay off in the long term or something to regret was still unclear but Kadota now had something very specific to observe, namely Izaya's future actions toward him. He slowed down even more and took a seat on a bench.
Kadota could not tell for sure but he had the impression that somehow Izaya sympathized with him. It was not something that Kadota had ever considered before. He had attributed Izaya's lack of overt hostility to indifference but he now wondered. And just as strange was the fact that Kadota found himself seeing Izaya as relatable. Maybe even potentially likable. Going along this line of thought he considered Izaya's love life. Of course Izaya did not have a girlfriend, as far as Kadota knew he never had one. That was a given, Izaya was not one to indulge in close relationships of any kind. But there was no end to rumors about his many affairs with a plethora of girls.
Kadota thought about Yagiri Namie. There could be something but it was impossible to find out for sure. Either way there was nothing official and that alone was interesting. If they were indeed involved then they opted to make it secret. Kadota did not precisely know. Perhaps Namie did not want her private life to at all be made public. There were many reasons and people had no shortage of them. But all of them were rooted on the natural assumption that there was more to Namie and Izaya than a work relationship.
Kadota veered off in another direction. All the gossip about Izaya's many one night stands and frequent orgies were always second or even third hand information. Girls sighed as they chatted about how a friend of a friend had had the time of her life with Izaya and why did such things never happen to them, they were simply so unlucky, like totally. No one ever claimed to actually have had a sexual encounter with Izaya. There were urban legends with more direct witnesses.
Kadota thought back to their high school days. He had never seen Izaya do as much as look at a girl with anything other than his broad interest in human beings at large. Not even in Okinawa with so many scantily dressed women prancing about had Izaya bothered to even cast them a passing glance. Kadota could be wrong but he doubted it. Of course, Izaya could pursue whoever he pleased when no one was looking but it was odd.