"I know. You walked passed me and got into the cab before I could stop you." He had been in a bad mood for almost a week after, because his mother hadn't even recognized him.
"How come I didn't see you?" She wondered, failing to mention why she hadn't even tried to call him when she hadn't found him, or why she hadn't contacted him anytime during the entire week she had spent in Tokyo.
"Probably because you don't even know what I look like anymore." He explained almost coldly. It was rare for him to be so blunt.
"That's an evil thing to say, you know. As if I could forget what my first born child looks like." He was immensely glad that she didn't call him her 'accidental child' any more and was angry at himself only a second later for even caring.
"What's my hair color, Kyouko?" he asked neutrally, while he got a few odd stares from random strangers around him, who didn't seem to be accustomed to hearing someone who looked Japanese speak flawless English.
"You still won't call me your mother, huh?" She concluded, not surprised in the least by him calling her by her first name. He had done that for quite a long time now. "And it's brown, just like the twins."
"It's black, mom." He corrected, raising his voice slightly, while he drawled the affectionate nickname mockingly.
"I know that, dear, I was kidding." He highly doubted it, but decided to just ignore it.
"Whatever." He sighed, swallowing down disappointment. "Listen, I need you to do me a favor."
"A favor?" She asked, sounding excited. He guessed that she hoped to redeem herself and at the same time, he doubted she was ready to admit yet, that leaving a 14 year old teenager alone with two 4 year old girls and a grandmother who seemed dead certain that her deceased husband would come back from work any second, and who counted from 1 to 6 in rythmic patterns every five seconds, had been pedagogically incorrect.
"Yeah." He affirmed, all of his worries starting to crash down on him again, smothering him for a second.
"What kind of favor?" She asked, slightly unsettled by his silence. Despite all their lack of contact and time spent together, she remembered that her son talked incessantly and was probably physically incapable of shutting up. That's what he had been like as an adolescent at least.
"I...got caught up in some trouble-" He suddenly felt very much like a little boy who was telling his mother that he was being bullied, crying and howling and wanting to be held. "I'm worried that Mairu and Kururi get roped into this, so I was hoping you could take them in for a while."
There was silence on the other side of the line. Izaya waited patiently.
"And this trouble you got into requires your sisters to leave the country?" She sounded sceptical. He didn't blame her. "To leave school mid semester and live in a country whose language they don't understand?" By now, her voice had gained an accusing undertone.
"It's just a precaution." he assured, although he was certain that if he failed with what he was attempting to do, Mairu and Kururi's well being would be in danger.
"Sounds like you've been up to shady stuff. You're not breaking the law, are you?" The law. Of course, that was what she should be caring about when he was telling her that his sisters might be in danger, which naturally meant that he was in danger, as well.
"Not directly." He evaded her question. She didn't actually know how he made his money, or how he was able to pay the ridiculously high rent of his Shinjiku apartment. He could have probably whored himself out in order to make money for all she cared.