"Two hours of math is really not good for my brain."

Shizuo gave Kadota a nod of agreement, "Science was boring too."

"I think science was wonderful! We learnt more about the human body and-" Shinra began, but his sentence died as quickly as it came with Shizuo's glare boring into him that he expected a pen to shoot through his shoulder soon if he carried on. He tried to made up to Shizuo by sharing some good news, "Well, good thing our English teacher is absent."

"She's absent?" Izaya popped out of nowhere and dumped his books in Shinra's hands once again before giving them a cheery wave as he walked backwards towards the opposite way of their classroom, "I'm going to have a little stroll, then!"

Shinra frowned, "Where is he going now?"

Izaya tucked his hands into his pants, finally facing the right way, and he breathed in the fresh air from the small garden of potted flowers arranged neatly along the road. It felt comforting after having to sit through Shinra's glances which by the way, said 'I-am-better-than-you'.

"Orihara Izaya."

God forbid his peace last long.

Quirking a brow, he met the sight of angry looking boys before him. They were all well equipped with the usual weapons, baseball bats, planks, and metal pipes. It was the same group he'd sent to challenge Shizuo, too— that for a brief moment he thought they mistook him for Shizuo (he didn't even have blonde hair!) until the leader continued further.

"Kishitani Shinra sent us."

"Interesting," Izaya straightened his arm, the switchblade he hid in his sleeve drawn out and landing right on his awaiting palm. It was flicked open with a quick rotate of wrist, and with his beady stare fixed on the opponent— he trailed his tongue along the blade, grinning. "I'm honored that you'd ditch your class for me."

It would make more sense, more convincing if they were to say that Shizuo sent them. Izaya didn't even need to think about why Shizuo would do so, but with Shinra, it turned to be a bit more complicated than he was comfortable of.

Of course, the boys would always charge first, so he had fun dodging the attacks fired at him. Come to think of it, he hadn't had his daily brawl with Shizuo, which made this sufficient for now to satiate him. With every attempt to land a hit on him, he retaliated with a slash of his blade in spots he knew to be able to make them fall unconscious.

"Ah, I miscalculated." Izaya panted.

This fight wasn't fair. Izaya was outnumbered. He predicted it to be easy to work his way through but they'd managed to corner him to a dead end. If this was anytime else, he could've used them as jumping platforms but they surely would harm him then, with this amount of people.

"Wait till I stab you with your own knife." The leader surprised him while he was engrossed in scanning over the others, seizing his wrist to snatch his switchblade. But Izaya wouldn't let it go without a fight. He quickly extended his arm to get his hand back on it, fingers curling around the upper part since the leader was already holding the shaft.

The blade was starting to cut its way in, blood oozing when the sharp edges dragged across his palm, and he wondered if he should've just given up on his favorite weapon since it was getting painful— too painful, actually. His hand trembled from the intruding object penetrating his hand, halfway in and perhaps to pierce through the back of his hand shortly.

It turned out he didn't need to make a choice when he heard a yell of a name from behind him.

"Daisuke!"

Izaya whipped his head around, barely dodging the baseball bat that came in his way. He was thankful for it, though, as he leaped in the air and foot falling back on the wooden bat as leverage for him to hop over the crowd at a better height—finally making his escape. It wasn't going as intended. The fight was taking longer than it should, so the safest way would be to flee.

As fun as it'd be fighting on his birthday, he'd underestimated Shinra.

"Don't want to be late for class now." Izaya beamed at them, feet touching the ground again before turning to dash with his attackers following suit.

Izaya didn't go far, deciding to put his skills to use by taking a risk of climbing to the roof (even with the others getting closer) instead of escaping further, placing his feet on the stacked boxes and reaching for the tree. A boy got to him at the right time and he yanked at Izaya's leg to restrain Izaya from running off.

A hiss he couldn't stifle spilled out as the rough surface of tree trunk scraped across his skin, causing his already injured palm to worsen. He gritted his teeth and suppressed the pain, turning around to swiftly swing his leg at his attackers. They retreated for a split second and it was all Izaya needed to carry on.

Izaya hauled himself up with the fire escape, scaling to the rooftop. He didn't let himself take any rest but continued to sprint down the stairs and to the classroom, in case they were still going out their merry way to hunt him down. He did, however, permit himself to rest in front of the door to catch his breath.

It was important to show Shinra that he wasn't swayed by all this, Izaya mused to himself, wiping the sweat off his bangs with the back of his palm.

Of all days to pick on me? He just had to choose today.

He leaned his head against the door, a wry smile carved on his lips and Izaya had to swallow the incoming fit of laughter at all the bad things happening on his birthday.

When he stepped in, the first thing he did was make his way to his so-called friend.

"What are you planning?" Crimson gaze narrowed into slits, and he stood by Shinra's desk, fingers twitching near his pocket. He really wished he still had his switchblade. The least he could do after what Shinra had orchestrated upon him was to threaten Shinra with his blade. He probably wouldn't get scared, but having the tip pointed under Shinra's neck would be the first step.

"Orihara-kun! What do you mean?"

"You sent that gang to me. I don't know what you're gaining… and you've been acting really off today."

For the first time, Shinra was genuinely clueless. He hadn't asked any gang to go after Izaya. Though he did practically tell everyone to give Izaya a bad time, so it all boiled down to his fault, anyway.

"Is it because of my birthday?" Izaya pressed on further.

Shinra was amazed it took this long for Izaya to finally figure it all out, but he wasn't done playing. He hadn't finished the decorations back at home and the cake was still at the bakery, so he had to drag out the plan until about five to six pm. What good would it be to end it like this?

Shinra feigned shock, "It's your birthday? Ah, I forgot about that, I'm sorry," He got up and threw his arms around Izaya, catching his friend off-guard with the sudden affection.

"Happy birthday, Orihara-kun!"

"Happy birthday, Izaya." Kadota joined in with a smile, and soon the rest of the class. All except Shizuo who only watched from the side.

This was what Izaya wanted but it would be a lie to say that he was happy with it. When Shinra hugged him, he felt the warmth radiating off of Shinra, seeping into his very being and making him want to fall back into Shinra's embrace to rest after a tiring day— yet he could feel something painful twisting inside of him the longer the hug lingered. It was sort of puzzling.

Izaya scrutinized Shinra's expression with his sharp gaze, looking out for any telltale sign of a lie. He was good at detecting lies of humanity. However, Shinra wasn't just any human. He barely fit into the category, and Shinra was good at lying. He could lie to just anyone and even Celty (though he would feel bad for being untruthful towards Celty, unlike Izaya who'd lied to him a lot in the past and it'd just be payback).

Drawing a deep breath, Izaya's eyes lit up, "It is in fact my birthday today. Thank you. I'll be expecting gifts!" His index finger gave Shinra's watch a little tap as though telling them that he'd be anticipating presents by the end of the day. He spared Shinra a glance, then his good hand moving to slam on the desk, "Don't mess with me anymore. I'm going home early."

Izaya walked over to his desk to get his bag, ignoring Shinra prating on useless matters (he didn't care to listen) and forgetting about his wound in the midst of his annoyance towards Shinra. Shizuo caught a glimpse of the blood. It was a blurry image but he thought he'd seen something.

"That's weird."

"What is it?" asked Kadota.

Shizuo rubbed at the back of his head in confusion as he mulled over what he noticed -although he couldn't discern what it really was- when Izaya rushed by them, brows knitted and pondering if it was just a mistake or Izaya had been up to no good again. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.

"I thought I saw something red."

A boy stepped into the classroom just as Izaya was about to make his exit. It was a grand entrance, pushing the sliding doors open like he was someone important. He wasn't, though, Izaya knew that. That face was no stranger to Izaya.

"Oh, it's nice meeting you again." He greeted Izaya, hand on his abdomen and he bowed, as if mocking.

"I don't think I granted you permission to show your face in front of me." said Izaya.

"Although it certainly looks better now," Izaya simpered and tilted his head, fingers acting as a frame as he held them up in the form of rectangle in front of the boy, "after the procedure Shinra gave you."

"Who's that?"

"From another school?"

"He's kind of handsome…"

Shinra turned to see what the commotion was all about, with all the girls going crazy and didn't bother to keep the noise down. It was outside his expectation to find out the reason why. Gasping, his eyes widened, and he muttered under his breath, "What's Nakura doing here? Did… Did the news travel that far? I didn't tell anyone outside!"

Kadota and Shizuo could only blink. They hadn't gotten a clue of what Shinra was rambling about, but perhaps it was regarding that boy who wore a different school uniform, standing by the door with Izaya. Whoever this Nakura was, Shizuo would like to thank him, for being able to set that slightest hint of distress on Izaya's exterior.

"I'm just meeting Shinra for an after school ice cream date. He'd been saying that he loves the soybean one." Nakura gave a nonchalant shrug.

Izaya chewed on his lower lip, fist clenching around the strap of his bag—brain linking the connections between Nakura's words and Shinra's. The similarity was definitely evident. It made him wonder if Shinra actually went out of his way to contact Nakura. Shinra was strange enough to do so even with someone who'd stabbed him.

Nonetheless, he snorted with laughter at the absurdity, "Don't make laugh. Shinra and you aren't even friends."

"Why's that? Is it because he's yours? I don't remember anyone liking your company."

Izaya remained silent this time around, expression amused while his gaze followed Nakura's movement with a glint of interest. Nakura appeared to be exuding confidence today from the way he kept their distance close and used a carefree tone when he spoke.

It was like he didn't remember Izaya swore revenge upon his life.

"Say, Izaya," Nakura circled around Izaya's frame, and with a whisper, he offered a little push to the already cracked heart.

"You wouldn't know what we do behind your back."

.

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Note: I'm so exhausted so I'll reply to everyone's comments tomorrow, okay? (It seems like people rarely use PMs here, so I don't really reply to reviews and I feel sort of bad. ㅠㅠ If you want me to reply to you, send me a PM or comment on ao3!) It's getting very, very late. But I'm so happy that I managed to finish this chapter for you. I hope you'll enjoy it! Thank you again for all the love you've given to this story. ( ^ー^ )