The day was fine and peaceful, that was what he thought. Well, he did have some troubles keeping himself from throwing the nearest large objects towards some people, but other than that, Shizuo thought the day was pretty decent. Now that the tiring work was done, Shizuo thought he could have some peaceful time for himself to relax and all.. But that bastard named Orihara Izaya somehow decided to ruin everything. And when that bastard disappeared, he might have started to think that whatever Gods watching above him has decided to spare his poor soul.. But somehow he ended up stuck with Tom , an ever-smiling, meek man, and his pissed off sister who kept throwing scornful glances at him a bit too often, in the one and only Russia Sushi.

"A-Ah, we're very sorry for troubling you."

Shizuo shifted his stare towards the meek man. He watched as the man laughed a little and smiled apologetically towards him and Tom. Shizuo decided to keep silent and leave the talking to Tom. The peeved woman who sat across him must have noticed, cause damn, just when he thought her staring couldn't get any more intense, it did.

"You are. I'm not."

In that very moment, the cup in the blonde's grip broke into hundreds of shards. While Tom and the meek man was evidently aghast, the woman barely showed any reaction.

Oh, the burning anger.

With a smile, Tom patted Shizuo's shoulder and spoke, "Well, calm down a bit, alright, Shizuo?"

Shizuo shook as he let out a long, deep sigh. Hell, if it wasn't Tom, Shizuo would've strangled whoever it was who told him to calm down in such circumstances. Apparently, his evident rage started to appall the meek young man, whilst his sister started to seem a bit.. cautious. Somehow he felt a bit.. victorious, as he finally managed to get a new reaction other than the spiteful stares from her. But no matter what, he was still burning with anger. That was no where near sufficient to get his mind off the burning feeling and appease his rage.

"It's alright, Shizuo and I were planning to have dinner anyways," Tom answered with a smile, "Besides, when you actually think about it, it's not really your fault-"

"Yeah, perhaps fate was just being mean, huh?" Kaname answered nonchalantly before chugging down her drink. She truly was pushing her luck. She let out a slightly exaggerated sigh and continued, "And here I thought being 5 feet 8 inches would've had some benefits.. like how you could hardly be not seen, so, well, perhaps there's a rather small possibility of being crashed onto. Ne, Takumi?"

Haruka cringed inwardly at the mention of his fake name. Kaname was acting unusual. Well, she was never the patient type, but she was never this bad either. Perhaps the whole return-to-Ikebukuro thing was getting into her, but he had faith that she knew where and how to vent it, and he truly believed that she was fully aware that total strangers are not the right targets. No matter how stupid it sounded, Haruka was starting to think that his sister might be hit in the head a little bit too hard. He looked at her and patiently waited for her to look back. When she did, much to her surprise, Haruka immediately shot his trademark warning glare. No matter how soft a brother he was, a brother always have to has a certain power over his little sister, right? It was always one of the things he prided himself in. Then, in a split second, his firm stare was replaced by his usual, soft gaze, as he smiled kindly at his sister, whilst she could merely gape at him with a forced smile plastered awkwardly on her face. Haruka easily succeeded to remind his sister why she found him scary sometimes.

Finally, finally, the man bearing the name of Heiwajima Shizuo decided to speak up. "I apologized, alright? Stop making such a ruckus."

Kaname was more than ready to respond with another of her snide remarks, but her brother's quick glance easily silenced her. Although very, very reluctantly, Kaname decided to go along with her brother's instruction. She settled with merely narrowing her eyes at the blonde sitting across her before looking away. Her decision was not what Shizuo expected.

Ah, somehow Shizuo felt like he has renewed the spark of hope for some peace.

However, the air between them was still very tense. The question 'Why did they-as in Shizuo and Kaname-'happen' to sit across each other?' started to dance across the everyone's minds. Silence ensued, and it was starting to grow a bit awkward until Tom decided to break the silence. He cleared his throat and smiled at Haruka, "Anyways, we don't really know each other yet, don't we?" Tom offered, "Why don't we introduce ourselves to each other?"

It was as if the table was split into two. It was as if Tom was only having a conversation with the man sitting across him, whilst Shizuo, who sat beside him, and the woman who sat across Shizuo, were off in their own world, throwing cold glances at each other every once in a while.

"Ah, right. I'm sorry, I couldn't believe we somehow forgot to introduce ourselves!" Haruka spoke. His air was cheery and all, much contrasting the look he gave his sister just a few moments ago. He gestured at himself and Kaname whilst the latter stared right at Tom in silence. Then, he proceeded to introduce themselves with the fake names they agreed on. "My name is Yamamoto Takumi, and this is my little sister, Yamamoto Hikaru. It's very nice to meet you."

Tom nodded. "I see. Well, I am Tanaka Tom," Tom gestured at Shizuo, "and he is Heiwajima Shizuo. It's nice to meet you too."

Upon being introduced, Shizuo looked and nodded at Haruka and only Haruka. That gesture definitely didn't go unnoticed by Kaname. But alas, she truly was powerless against her brother.

"Ah, right. I see that the two of you are carrying suitcases. Are you tourists?"

"No, we're moving in." Haruka answered. "Actually, we spent most of our childhood here. When our parents died in an accident, we left to stay with our grandparents in the countryside. However, our grandfather died about a month ago, so we decided to move back here." It was a story spiced up with lies here and there, of course.

"I see.."

"Well, judging on how the girl seemed to have the guts to stand against Shizuo, maybe it was quite obvious that they don't live here, huh.."

Silence ensued. Of course, Kaname noted, it was to be expected. After all, it was a conversation with complete strangers. Kaname sipped her drink, gradually growing more and more uninterested in the conversation. It was the usual chit-chat and all, nothing interesting.

"Ah, right. Tanaka-san," Kaname glanced at her brother when she noticed how his friendly tone seemed to be more heartfelt. She even raised an eyebrow when she saw how her brother beamed. "We're very sorry for the trouble, but, if it's possible.. Would you please help us find a place to stay? We're-"

Haruka's words were interrupted when somehow, Kaname suddenly slammed down her drink and choked. Frankly, it startled everyone at the table. The black-haired woman coughed loudly and pounded on her chest violently. Her brother quickly came to her rescue, whilst Tom and Shizuo could only watch the scene before them in a rather awkward silence.

When her coughing fit has finally started to cease, Kaname wasted no time to throw a piercing glare at her brother. In a hushed tone, she spoke, "What?! What the hell are you saying?!"

Haruka merely grinned and forced out a small, nervous laughter. As if they could communicate through telepathy, somehow Kaname just knew exactly what he was saying. She could perfectly picture it in her head, and somehow the image peeved her.

"Ehehe, I'm so sorry! I didn't have enough time to take care of so many things in just a few days, so..."

Somehow Kaname had a sudden urge to just.. punch her brother somewhere, but unfortunately, she couldn't. Kaname merely buried her face in her hands. Perhaps it was time for her to give up to whatever fate has in store for her..

"Hmm, I wonder.." Tom tapped his chin and mumbled. Suddenly, his eyes widened. He quickly turned at Shizuo and asked, "Ah, the man who lived next to your apartment have just moved away last week, right, Shizuo?"

Another deafening sound was heard from that table as the man in bartender suit easily broke another cup. It took a lot of courage, even for Tom, to look at Shizuo. One quick glance at the fuming blonde's shaking fists was enough to make anyone wary. However, despite how it seemed, it was pretty much a 'yes'.. right?

Haruka decided to push his luck even further, and not even Kaname's don't-you-dare glare could stop him. "A-Aah, i-if it's possible, Tanaka-san, would you please help us to move in there? We would really appreciate it."

Tom shot a quick, nervous glance at Shizuo, whilst the blonde merely rested his chin on his palm and glared off towards the distance, probably lamenting the sudden turn of events mentally. Seeing his lack of response, Tom finally came to the conclusion that there was no use to wait for Shizuo's.. 'feedback'. Smiling back at 'Takumi', Tom answered, "Well, I guess I can. After all, the landlord is a close friend of mine."

Two happy laughter, fusing like a cheerful harmony, emanated from the table, as both Haruka and Tom laughed. However, it was still not enough to overpower the dark aura the other two emitted. It was far from enough. In the end, Kaname could only rest her chin on her open palm and lazily gazed off towards the distance, finally admitting her total defeat against the mysterious power called 'fate'.

Thank goodness, when Kaname thought things couldn't be any worse, a tall man approached the table with four servings of sushi. Her eyes sparkled as her attention was immediately fixated on the food. Finally, God decided to have mercy on her.

"The sushi is ready!" The dark-skinned man exclaimed cheerfully with a peculiar accent which even the very hungry black-haired woman noticed as he served the food.

Kaname wasted no time and quickly ate a sushi. She studied the taste thoroughly, before happily humming her approval. The hungry woman took another one and was even more convinced with her opinion. Turning towards her brother, she spoke with her mouth full, "Mmm, this sushi is good." She was beaming with pure, genuine happiness. It was as if whatever gloomy feeling she had was never there. "It might be even better than the ones you make!"

"Yes! Good sushi is good!" Simon agreed. He laughed heartily, and not long after, the same happiness was heard from Kaname's own laughter. Shizuo raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. Well, perhaps hunger made her grumpy.

"Ah, right, Shizuo," Tom turned towards the blonde man, "didn't the man who moved away from the apartment next to yours work here before?"

Shizuo merely responded with a silent nod.

"Simon, you'll appreciate a helping hand, won't you?"

"Ah, yes! It is very sad that Yoshida moved away while we're quite busy here." Simon answered with a slight frown.

When Shizuo thought the woman sitting across him couldn't look any happier, he was proved wrong. Now, it was Kaname's turn to push her luck. "Then, Simon-san," Kaname beamed at Simon. With a hopeful look, she clasped her hands and said, "Would you please employ my brother? He's an awesome cook, you know!"

Although it was a bit unexpected, Haruka still managed to put on his trademark charming smile whilst Simon studied him thoroughly. Simon looked deep in thought until he hummed his approval. "Well, alright then," Simon finally answered with a kind smile, "but he needs to prove his skills. This place only makes good sushi!"

Kaname immediately turned towards Haruka with a wide, excited grin, which Haruka responded with his own. Of course, who wouldn't be ecstatic in such circumstances? Kaname was actually giggling in pure happiness. Without any preparations whatsoever, the siblings have managed to acquire a housing and an opportunity for stable income. Well, perhaps fate was not being as mean as she thought it was, huh?

"Wow, thank you very much, Simon-san," Haruka turned towards Simon and thanked him, the same grin still present on his face, "You're very kind."

"It's okay!" Simon laughed. "Ah, I have to go now. Come meet me later, alright?"

"Yes! Thank you very much!" Then, Haruka shifted his attention towards Tom. With a grateful smile, he said, "Wow, we have just arrived and we didn't have anything planned yet, but now we're safe! I really need to thank you, Tanaka-san!"

Tom laughed. "It's alright. Besides, I guess we do have to apologize to you and your sister, Yamamoto-san."

Whatever tension there was in the air was now forever gone. Haruka continued to express his gratitude towards the man sitting across him, whilst Kaname merely smiled silently at Tom. However, god knows how, her gaze somehow landed on Shizuo. Whilst Shizuo raised an eyebrow at her, Kaname didn't seem to notice, and somehow the smile on her face was still present. It caused Shizuo to start wondering whether hunger really aggravated her mood that bad. Well, Shizuo wouldn't usually care for a small smile, but somehow her smile was.. vaguely familiar, and definitely contagious.

He even ended up having the slightest of smile on his own lips.

There you go, Chapter 3! I had some difficulty to decide where to end this chapter, but nah, I decided to leave the rather juicy part for the next chapter. Hope you look forward to it! ;D

And well, uh, sometimes I feel sad when I see how many other authors update their stories on a regular basis. I envy them. God, I would love to do so, but I just.. simply can't. I guess you can say that my life is currently in one of its busiest phase. Ah, I'll be even busier by the end of this year. Later on, starting from around October or something, my school will start at 5:30 AM and will end at 6:00 PM, and no I'm not kidding.(I even wrote that in bold, how's that? How serious do you think I am? Lol) Even now, my school starts at 6:45 AM and ends at 3:15 PM. Heck, it used to end at 4:00 PM!

Well, perhaps me nagging about my school and life isn't really interesting, so anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry if it's not quite interesting or something, I was quite distracted *cough*by delicious, real-life sushi*cough* when I was writing it. As always, please follow/fav if you like it and would love to read more and feel free to leave a review. It will all be very appreciated! Thank you and see you in the next chapter! :3