Chapter 1:
An Informant's Stage
"Hello, Ha-chan, how good to see you! I had no idea you go to Sobu High School." A young man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, smiled mirthfully.
"You again." Hachiman Hikigaya glared. His voice was strained with annoyance and his teeth gritted.
Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama watched with wide eyes as the strange man, who suddenly showed up outside their school, immediately leaned over Hachiman.
The man was handsome and his hair was as dark as the shadows lurking around him. He wore a black fluffy fur-lined hoodie and two silver rings glinted on each of his index fingers as he moved his hands, certainly an odd sense of style.
Izaya Orihara now entered the fray.
He was an infamous information broker in the city of Ikebukuro known by everyone as being "dangerous" or rather "unpredictable."
Growing up, he was considered to be a prodigy by most people. He came from a respectable family, did well in elementary school, but he was not very sociable since he preferred to watch people from the sidelines than actively interact with them.
In middle school, people heard about an underground student gambling he was running, and they had heard rumors that he got in trouble for supposedly "stabbing" a kid, but all that was quickly brushed under the rug.
In high school, not much had changed, only the rumors intensified. Izaya started working information on the side, and people definitely heard about his many scuffles with Shizuo Heiwajima. Some might even say they saw Izaya talking to the local Yakuza.
By the time he got out of school, Izaya was set to become the notorious information broker that people would quickly know him to be.
The one piece of information Izaya was quick to share was that he loved humans.
All humans.
He loved watching and studying humans, seeing how they react to different situations and conflicts.
He loved humans the same way a child loved prodding at beetles to get them to fight; the way a doctor loved dissecting a cadaver to see how it works; the way a chemist loved seeing volatile chemicals mix just to see how big they would explode.
If there was one thing everyone knew in Tokyo's commercial district of Ikebukuro, it's that when compared to the brutal serial killer Hollywood, the mysterious headless rider Celty Sturluson, and the superhuman blonde man dressed as a bartender Shizuo Heiwajima, no one in the city was scarier than Izaya Orihara.
"Is that any way to treat your big brother?" The informant teased.
The two girls gasped. Big brother?!
"Where is Heiwajima-san?" Hachiman asked derisively.
"I ditched him in order to meet you." Izaya answered dismissively.
"There was no need for such a thing."
"But it's all for my cute bro."
"Don't call me that. We're not related in any way."
Hachiman was well aware that Izaya was obviously imitating his little sister Komachi's mannerisms just to mentally screw with him.
"So cold~ I'm freezing Ha-chan! Freezing! You need to treat your siblings less cruelly! Call me Onii-chan!"
Hachiman almost hissed as he spoke in the same strained voice. "Over my dead body."
The teen looked like he wanted to strangle the older man.
"Please, I thought we were close." Izaya smirked. "By the way, my apologies for making your arm look like that."
"Hikigaya-kun, you were attacked?" Yukino asked in shock. "But you said it was a bike accident."
"Shit." Hachiman whispered under his breath, rubbing the cast that was covered on his right arm. "Maybe." He answered back while glaring at the man.
"Of course he was, after all he is my 'cute bro!' Even with his gloomy, down-to-earth, realist ideas, someone may even be interested in that. Like him!" Izaya said, grinning devilishly.
"Even with his rotten dead fish-eyes?" Yukino questioned skeptically.
"That's what makes him the most interesting!" Izaya beamed brightly at her.
"Just who are you?" Yuigahama inquired, her discomfort building up.
Before Izaya could say anything, Hachiman shot him a freezing glare, cold enough to make dogs run away, but all Izaya did was smile back at him like he was at the theater, watching a movie about Jack the Ripper, or 100 Ways to Die.
"There's really no need to know." Hachiman replied, trying to calm himself down.
"Oh, Ha-chan, aren't they your friends? Surely they can know." Izaya dragged his words in a teasing manner.
"No need to tell them, Orihara-san." The teen frowned.
"Call me Onii-chan." Izaya voiced out in a Komachi tone. "And you're making me feel so special. After all, I'm one of the few handful of people to know this scandalous secret."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"It does, along with you calling me Onii-chan."
As the two manipulators stared at each other, one with a freezing aura and another with a mischievous one, the two girls on the side could only watch.
Hikigaya had not told them he was reluctantly involved with the gangs of Ikebukuro, much less with an information broker. He acted pretty much normal in school and during club hours from the girls' perspective.
Before Yukino and Yui could think about it more, Izaya snapped them out of their thoughts.
"Anyway, Yuigahama, right? A friend of Ha-chan's? A close friend? Best friend? Who?"
"I'm a friend of Hachiman." Yui replied nervously.
"Well, since you're his friend, you should know the people he is around with and—"
Before Izaya could give out any more hints, Shizuo Heiwajima opened the school gates with a slam.
"IZAYAAA!"
Hachiman's face morphed into something of relief.
"What the hell do you think you're up to now?!" Shizuo exclaimed. "You can't sneak into Hikigaya's school just because you want to mess with him."
"Is it such a bad thing for one to want to meet their 'cute bro?' We're not staying here for long anyway." Izaya responded with his eyes twitching.
Shizuo, in response to that, heaved a sigh, ignoring the gathering of students and teachers behind them who heard the commotion.
"You were staying here for a week, that's plenty of time to talk to him you bro-con."
Hachiman looked sick at the thought of having an interaction with Izaya at all.
Before Izaya could make a snide remark back, Yukino spoke and her voice was quivering strangely.
"Wait…by Orihara Izaya, do you mean to say that you are THAT Orihara Izaya?"
It wasn't a question, rather, it seemed like a plead for this to not be true.
Izaya blinked at her a little, then his face morphed into something that could be called "downright evil."
"Aaaah, your family does know how to pay me well. Although, I have to admit, your older sister lacked manners as far as I recall."
Yukino shuddered. She couldn't believe it. Her parents actually hired him for his informant services?—
"Oi, flea, this isn't the time to torment people. You're having a meeting with that one guy you injured, aren't you? You're making my job harder." Shizuo huffed, itching for a cigarette but was unable to due to being at school grounds, and he wasn't about to influence high school students with the idea of getting lung cancer.
"Mouuu fiiiine~ I'm satisfied from my visit anyway~" Izaya did a stereotypical anime hand wave at Hachiman, before whispering something in Yui's ear.
Izaya then started running away from Shizuo as the latter began chasing him.
Soon, the area was enveloped in silence. Hachiman was anticipating questions, and he tensed as he prepared himself for the onslaught of chaos Izaya started on purpose.
He hated that information broker so much.
Last Week
How Hachiman Hikigaya rued the day when he met Izaya. He was just having a perfectly normal day, like any other day, walking alone, filled with silence on a fine sunny Saturday.
Of course, he would have liked to stay at home in his bed doing nothing but sleep the day away. But that was not the case caused by his dear sister. She wanted to make him somewhat normal and be with friends. The only people he considered to be somewhat friends with were Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama. Although, he could not go with them today as they were having a girl's day out. Whatever the hell that was.
There was also Totsuka but he had tennis practice. Hachiman did not plan on telling his darling sister so that she won't bug him. So the only thing he could do as a loner was to leave and go somewhere else for a while.
So then, he was minding his own business until he saw a dash of black. There he saw a man with raven locks and brown eyes that screamed of trouble jump on top of a building. Then he heard a shout of something... no, a name.
"IZAAAYAAA!"
It was the sound of a voiced filled with anger, and frustration. Then he saw—no, more like he heard a "whoosh" when he saw Izaya being hit by...a vending machine!?
Of course, any other person would have run away if they saw a vending machine come crashing out of nowhere.
Not Hachiman Hikigaya, though. He stopped being overly surprised and scared long ago, and was just a bit shocked now. After all, it must have took a huge amount of strength to even lift an inch of that heavy vending machine, not to mention throwing it like it was a normal ball.
It seemed he was not the only one who was not scared. Izaya seemed to be having fun as he was laughing like it was a normal thing to get something thrown at him. Honestly, Hachiman would not be surprise if that was the case.
He saw a blonde man with sunset eyes in a bartender suit come running from somewhere, shouting at Izaya. The teen seemed to be angered, worried, and relieved at the same time.
"Shizu-chan, what a surprise to see you here. Doesn't this bring us back to the old days?" Smiling teasingly, Izaya answered back to the man dressed as a bartender. After Izaya had jumped on top of a building, he sat down on the edge.
"Stop playing around!"
"Wow, Shizu-chan, announcing our 'so-called rivalry' to the world. How bold of you."
Hachiman saw the blonde man's left eye twitch wildly.
He is, isn't he? Witnessing a fight between gangsters. The teen felt a bit bad for that "Shizuo" guy since his rival seemed to be a handful to take care of.
"Izaya! What did I tell you about doing something sketchy again?" Shizuo went straight to the point.
"Mmm, what was it again?" Izaya tilted his head while resting his index finger on his chin, pretending to look confused.
Nope. Hachiman took that back. He felt a boat load of pity for the blonde bartender man.
Shizuo ignored Izaya's comment.
"And what did you do?" He asked in an irritated tone, without even giving the other a chance to reply. "You did the exact opposite! You went off and pulled the same shit again, and endangered others in your schemes!"
Hachiman, of course, pride himself in his skill of observing people so he thought Izaya seemed like the type who love danger.
"But Shizu-chan." Izaya said mockingly. "The fun would have been over by the time you arrived!"
"You could've gotten my friends hurt, you flea." Shizuo went on. "Or worse!"
"Shizu-chan! Are you worried~"
When Shizuo didn't respond, Izaya took something out of his pocket.
It was a silver pocket knife.
Why was Hachiman not surprised?
"I have this after all." The information broker smirked as he threw the knife to...
Izaya was so into the conversation with his rival that he failed to realized someone else was there. So when he threw the knife without looking, he accidentally threw it at Hachiman who did not dodge since the teen was not expecting the knife to be thrown at borderline mach speed.
The knife lodged into Hachiman's right arm.
And that was their first bloody meeting. Long story short, he got injured by a reckless idiot and had to be sent to the hospital to get stitches and a cast.
Afterwards, said idiot had the gall to visit him at the hospital to "apologize."
The Present
Now back to this stiffening silence, Hachiman knew his club mates wanted answers but he simply had no need for them to know—or for him to tell them.
"Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, I know you have questions—"
"How are you associated with him, Hikigaya-kun?" Yukino's voice was strangely quivering in fear. Her question didn't sound like a question, but more of a demand for answers.
"...He's just someone that personally stalks me. I can't shake him off." Just like your older sister. Hachiman left that last part unsaid.
He wasn't going to give her the full details. Yet.
Yuigahama immediately changed the topic to something that could be either more or less important. Either way, Hachiman had hoped they would forget about it.
"Hikki, he impaled your arm with a pocket knife of all things!"
Before she could say any more, Hachiman immediately started walking past them, but soon paused.
There was a moment of brief silence before he turned his head around towards the two girls.
"This conversation does not leave between us. I am looking at you, Yuigahama." He said, glaring at her as she slightly cowered.
"O-O-Ok-kay..." Yui stuttered.
He let out a breath, relaxing his stance and changing his face back to a neutral expression.
"Yes, it's true. Orihara threw his knife at me."
More silence. Then Yukinoshita spoke.
"How long?" She pressed on while clenching her fists.
"It's only been a week."
"What was the reason for you to not tell us this?"
"Because I wasn't sure how you two would react, and I knew that the two of you would try to search for him. I didn't want rumors to spread."
"H-Hikki…" Yui began. "We wouldn't spread rumors about—"
"Yuigahama, you always gossip and have already given way too much information regarding myself to your clique. They already know enough weak spots of mine, and I didn't want this to be another way for them to have an advantage. Not saying that you do it on purpose, but you do have a loud mouth."
Yui stood silent, her mouth turning into a pout. Hachiman wasn't going to give any juicy details anytime soon.
"...I cannot say that it's unreasonable for you to not trust us, Hikigaya-kun." Yukino said. "We are not exactly…close as a group, I suppose."
It hurts to hear it being admitted. They weren't exactly friends; they were more like close associates.
"But still..." Yukino went on. "I—we would have appreciated it more if you hadn't hidden these things from us. This relationship we have...I-I thought it would at least have a bit of trust in it."
The atmosphere began to become tense. Hachiman felt his heart ache slightly.
"It's not because I didn't trust you. The problem is that I...I don't think I can handle being bad mouthed by others simply because he associates with me..." He said, averting his eyes.
That would be a low blow for Yukino.
"...Hikki." Yui spoke, breaking the silence.
Hachiman looked at her and saw a sad smile on her face.
Another reason was that he didn't know how to break it to Yuigahama. He knew she had a crush on him. Therefore, she was so worried about him. Or perhaps something more than a crush…either way, he found himself unable to return such feelings.
A/N:
Thanks Betrayed Dreams for beta-reading this.
Okay, I inserted Izaya Orihara (from an anime called Durarara) into the Oregairu setting because he is essentially a male version of Haruno Yukinoshita since they both have a lot in common.
I don't think Haruno and Izaya would get along, especially since they are both people that act for their own enjoyment and satisfaction. One would clearly mess the other's dynamic. I can see them respect each others' intellectual wits, but in my head they both want to be the "puppeteer" in their own story.
Haruno might even begin to dislike Izaya and change herself, soften a bit as she comes into contact with her "unhealthy" counterpart. While I don't think that Haruno is a completely happy and healthy person, I don't think she would ever go to Izaya's length just to satisfy her own curiosity.
They are both sides of the same coin, but I think what ultimately separates them both is Haruno's unwavering loyalty and duty towards her family, her strict upbringing to be exact. Her messed up love for her younger sister and family can almost be compared to Izaya's love for humanity, but at the same time I think this makes Haruno a more "healthy" person.
Haruno is mostly entertained by Yukino and Hachiman's interactions with the world and how they solve the small schemes that she comes up with. Izaya, however, enjoys manipulating whoever it is and see the chaotic nature of humans in full display. He's a lonely extrovert that expresses his need to belong in a very unhealthy manner.
Oregairu is a series that tries to focus more in the realistic aspect of youth and high school life with completely ordinary characters...until Izaya Orihara shows up.
Anyway, please leave a review and tell me your thoughts! Constructive criticism is welcome.
