"I see. I appreciate the feeling and your honesty but in practical terms I am something of a hostage, am I not? Since I can't exactly leave if I want."
"See it as a holiday."
Izaya chuckled.
"Like you told the girls at the club?"
"Pretty much."
Izaya's smile faded and he locked eyes with Shiki.
"I don't like this. I really don't like this."
Shiki considered his options. Ultimately emotions could be extremely useful and Shiki was not without skill when it came to manipulating them. His methods diverged from Izaya radically and his scope was more limited to the strictly practical.
"I want to protect you."
Izaya remained silent for a while.
"Ah, I see. That was something of a low blow, Shiki-san. I think we both know it. Could you do me a favor? It's nothing dangerous, just getting me this particular manga title."
The tone changed mid-way very suddenly but Izaya smoothed it out by defaulting to the mundane realities of circumstance. Shiki was impressed. To do Izaya justice he adopted the same attitude.
"That shouldn't be a problem."
"It's a page turner, isn't it? See what you guys have been missing out on?"
Izaya beamed as one of his new yakuza friends proved him right by turning another page. Izaya had introduced them to Death Note and got them to read during breaks in between shifts. They remained as strict about their duty as ever, the only difference was that those on break now spent it in Izaya's room while their colleagues remained parked just outside.
"It's a good thing these notes don't exist. Our job would be completely impossible if all it took was writing people's name to kill them."
Izaya had to laugh.
"That's what caused an impression on you fellows? I suppose you do have a point. It'd make a bodyguard's job null and void."
"Unless it was Shiki-san who had one. That would be great."
"Possibly but there is a theory that the Death Note ends up ruining the user in one way or another."
"And this is popular?"
"Extremely so. There's the manga and spinoffs and then the anime along with live action movies. There is an arc in the anime with yakuza, I seem to remember. Can't remember if the manga featured it or not. Yakuza tend to be portrayed rather unrealistically in fiction as it is."
"Orihara-sama, this is fiction, right? Pardon me if I sound out of line but as of late we see so many weird things that belong in fairy tales, stuff like headless riders and who knows what else. It wouldn't surprise me too much if Death Notes actually existed somewhere out there."
"Heh, I can assure you that there is no such thing as a real Death Note. If there was I would most definitely know about it. Since I'm an informant with an interest in the supernatural."
It saddened Izaya a bit that as friendly as all this interaction was, these men were still akin to prison guards albeit of the very mild kind. Izaya held no illusions, if he attempted to flee they would surely force him to stay in one way or another. Still, they allowed him to receive an unexpected visitor on his own.
Izaya was fully prepared and knew exactly what he wanted to do and say.
"Hi there, Celty. Long time no see."
[I heard it from Shinra. Are you better?]
"Fine and dandy."
He smiled at ease. If possible he would rather receive her sitting on a chair instead of propped in bed but he needed to cast the illusion that he was indeed still not fit to be walking about and simply putting in a front of well-being that was to be expected of him. It crossed his mind briefly that there was something uncanny in covering up lies with the truth.
Celty walked into the room somewhat reluctantly. He could almost see the hesitation in her and congratulated himself on having perfected the ability to read others to even cover non-human beings and based solely on body language. Izaya could tell she had reached a decision a split second before she even began typing.
[About your memory, is it back? I didn't tell anyone]
"Oh, that. I suppose fairies can't recognize a joke. Then again my humor is a bit different. Most people don't get. Such a shame."
Izaya sealed his nonchalance with a shrug. But he could not tell whether she was entirely convinced.
