"Dotachin, did you buy it?"

Izaya spun around in his seat to look at Kadota, resting his chin on the back of his chair. He twirled the mechanical pencil in his hand although he'd stopped working on the assignment fifteen minutes ago. It was only for show—to show that he was perfectly capable of finishing the task alone. They didn't need to know that he grew bored and distracted so fast, even though it was obvious he'd been out to find the frog and caterpillar.

Stretching a hand out, Izaya enclosed his fingers around the can of coffee, "I'll pay you later!"

"He always says that…" Kadota muttered to himself with a sigh.

"Have you finis-"

The four of them had been together for awhile now, over a year and yet he was still shocked every time Izaya did something like this out of nowhere. Kadota couldn't finish his sentence when Izaya brandished a knife in the classroom. That kind of weapon was certainly prohibited by the school but it wasn't like Izaya liked to follow rules.

"Shizu-chan!"

Izaya frowned and swung the tip of the knife towards his head. Only with a closer inspection did Kadota notice the caterpillar Izaya decided to 'gift' Shizuo with was placed on the crown of Izaya's head.

"Ha! How do you like that now?" Shizuo laughed rather proudly, his hands set on his hips. It was as though he'd created a masterpiece. Izaya begged to differ as he smiled at his arch-enemy and still attempted to stab or swipe the caterpillar off his head, Kadota couldn't figure that one out.

"Ne, Shizu-chan… When someone gives you something, you're not supposed to return it." said Izaya.

It took a nudge of Izaya's knife against the belly of the small larva to make Shizuo give in (which wasn't much at all) and come running towards Izaya to stop him.

"Don't kill it!"

"If you don't take it back-"

"I'll take it off! Put your knife away!"

Izaya stubbornly tugged at his wrist which Shizuo restrained in order to save the caterpillar from dying at Izaya's hand. Even though it was a gift from Izaya, he wouldn't want the innocent thing to be hurt.

"Izaya!"

Frowning, Izaya finally stopped struggling, giving Shizuo a chance to find a piece of paper from any desk he laid his eyes upon -which turned out to be Izaya's notes about Russia- and scooped the caterpillar onto it. Shizuo then went over to windowsill to put the paper down on the ledge carefully.

With everyone trying to be so mean today….

Kadota smiled at the sight before him as he watched Izaya's expression turn from sulky to one of realization before he rushed over to Shizuo and bickered about how important the paper was and Shizuo must retrieve it.

It's good to see at least these two have been normal.

"Guys!"

Hiroto came dashing into the class with a big smile on his face,

"We need to go to the library."

Everyone immediately jumped in excitement at the sound of visiting another place other than their classroom. A place with air conditioning at that! Half of the students quickly packed the things they needed for the subject and walked alongside each other to the other part of the building.

Shizuo, too, went back to his desk to grab his books. He regarded Izaya's whine about the loss of his notes with a simple wave of his hand and an 'I'll take it back later.' Izaya wasn't quite satisfied with the answer.

There was only about four hours left until school ended. None of them had cleaning duties after classes today either, which was perfect for Shinra.

Izaya really couldn't have picked a better day to make it his birthday.

"I heard there's a new ice cream place near the train station." Shizuo said as he recalled the information Kasuka told him yesterday.

"I really want to try that soybean flavor they have." Shinra chirped in, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose before reaching over to give Izaya a light pat on the back.

If there was a chance to get on Izaya's nerves, Shinra didn't let it pass by without an attempt.

"Ah, it's a shame Orihara-kun can't go," he said, "You have to do that assignment, right?"

Izaya angled his head to the side to gaze at Shinra. The books in his arms, he dumped them all in Shinra's hands, right atop of Shinra's books along with his pencil case. Anger which he predicted to be painted on Izaya's expression wasn't there.

"I'd rather get sushi than that sickeningly sweet ice confection."

Izaya gave a breathy, gleeful laugh and walked ahead, leaving his bespectacled friend sighing upon having to carry twice the weight he was carrying before.

Of course, it's not easy to beat Izaya.

"Wait up!" shouted Shinra and he ran over to catch up with Izaya.

Unbeknown to them, there stood a shadow behind the wall nearby, paying close attention to their conversation. The feet belonged to a brunette shuffled out of hiding once the students disappeared into the library.

"Here you are, Orihara Izaya." The brunette couldn't suppress a snicker, their arms folded across the chest— counting down until the time to strike.

.

.

"Open your textbook to page 29. I want you to finish that exercise for today."

Kadota and Shinra exchanged a glance while Izaya had himself busy flipping through his book to find the right page. After a silent nod came from Shinra, Kadota cleared his throat and slid his own book towards Izaya who was seated right next to him.

"How do you do this?" he asked and pointed at the first question.

As if he was used to this, Izaya lifted his pencil, immediately tending to Kadota. Meanwhile, Shizuo didn't bother being subtle whilst he attempted to peer at their work. It caught Izaya's attention, but Izaya didn't say anything about it. Instead, he fixed the book's position so that both Kadota and Shizuo could see the solution he was jotting down.

"Here, use this formula. See if you can expand it." Izaya circled the formula given at the corner of the page.

"With x2-xy-6y2+2x-y+1, if we factor the x's like this…"

Kadota kept nodding understandingly during the lesson. Well, that was until he received a kick to his legs underneath the table. He had to purse his lips to contain a pained groan from slipping out due to Shinra's attack.

"…This is what we get. x2-(y-2)x-6y2-y+1. That equals x2-(y-2)x-(…."

"I still don't understand." he cut Izaya off mid sentence.

It felt bad to lie to Izaya like this. Kadota wasn't really fond of lies. Lies could tear relationships apart but what else could he do? He had to contribute to the plan at some point and this was the time. Truthfully, Izaya was a good teacher. He often understood things Izaya taught.

"The way you're explaining it is complicated." Shinra stated in a strong, matter-of-fact tone.

"What? How else can you explain it?"

"There's a simpler way."

Shizuo blinked when the two chatterboxes started quarreling again. Things seemed to be tense between them today. It made him wonder if he was better than Kadota at mathematics, because he actually got something from what Izaya taught.

"I kind of understood it."

"See, Shizu-chan did!"

What Izaya said flew over Shinra's head, however. Shinra gestured Kadota to lean forward and closer towards him in order for him to teach, which Kadota complied with. Izaya's fingers fell onto the cold surface of the table without resistance when Kadota took his book from underneath Izaya's hands.

"I'll help you, Kyohei!"

Kadota had to turn his head away since he couldn't mask the grimace on his face, bottom lip caught between the set of his teeth and he forced himself to lie yet again, "Oh, it's like that."

"This is how you do it, Orihara-kun." Shinra leered, catching a glimpse of Izaya's puzzled expression.

"I see," Izaya flashed a grin and set his pencil aside with a happy demeanor, leaning back and looking out of the window behind him as he hummed under his breath.

Little did anyone know, Shizuo caught the grin dissipating into a small smile, one of which the only reason Izaya kept it on was because of his refusal to lose to Shinra. His gaze seemed sad as it drooped ever so slightly, set on the clouds but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere.

Izaya was like a child, in Shizuo's opinion.

Izaya had no friends, a lonely person, and in turn decided to bring trouble so everyone would pay attention to him. It was something a child would do when things don't go their way. After all, the best and fastest way to gain attention is by negativity. He claimed to be brought up in a normal family but Shizuo wasn't sure what was normal to Izaya.

Izaya was a coward. He wanted people to be close to him yet he kept pushing them away before they could get past his guarded heart. Shizuo was sick of seeing Izaya's arrogant smile that remained in-tact even when the occasion didn't call for it, as if he'd lose if he showed the emotions he bottled inside. Shizuo deemed someone to be more courageous when they're not afraid to express their true feelings.

But Izaya was a person Shizuo hated the most. Izaya liked to play sick pranks on people for his own amusement. He claimed to love humanity nevertheless of his ways of showing love seemed to contradict that. The correct word here should be 'fascination' instead of 'love'. Shizuo hated Izaya for Izaya didn't have a short temper and abnormal strength. No, he had an intelligent mind and good looks, yet he threw all of his chances to be happy away—just to play scientist using living souls' sentiments.

"Does Shizu-chan need help with question 2?"

Kishitani Shinra thought he was the only one who knew Orihara Izaya well, but he was wrong.

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Note: I said this a lot but really, thank you for reading and commenting. I'm truly happy when I see people enjoying this story. I didn't know it'd get so much love. Every time I receive notifications from you guys telling me you loved the chapter, I feel motivated, hyped to write the next chapter and I end up smiling a lot! It makes my heart feel warm. Thank you so much. I love you all.