Chapter Two

School started early the next day for Suzume. She sat in the back right corner hiding her face from the world under her straight across bangs. The teacher dragged on his history talk in a monotonous voice that made the entire class sleepily nod off.

Several seats in front of her was the boy that Kanra said she should introduce herself to. His name was Masaomi Kida and was supposedly the leader of the Yellow Scarves before it had disbanded. When the class was left to work on their first assignment, the room started to grow in loudness as they worked together in pairs. Unsure who to ask, she saw that Kida automatically moved to a boy who was in the back left corner named Mikado Ryugamine.

She sighed heavily as she looked around for a partner. There was a young girl in front of her who she knew whose name was Mayu Kaibara. She tapped the back of her shoulder awkwardly as Mayu turned around, blinking in confusion. She had long, black hair that was parted to the side and had bright brown eyes.

"Hey. Want to work on this with me?" Suzume asked.

Mayu started at her for a moment. It was obvious to Suzume that she was looking at her appearance with odd eyes. After all, it was odd for a girl to have dark red hair with black tips and purple eyes. Suzume gave no attempt to smile as she waited for a reply.

"Sure…" she wasn't sure what else to say, "What's your name again?"

"Suzume," she replied shyly, "Suzume Inoue."

Soon, the two began working on the assignment and discovered that they were both educated on the subject and finished it in no time. This left them lots of extra time to get to know each other. She did promise Ide, her brother that she'd try to make more friends. The only ones she had were her online ones.

"So... Suzume. Are you new to Ikebukuro? I've never seen you around here before…"

"No, I just got a new look," Suzume sighed, "I used to have long, back hair and dark brown eyes."

"Isn't that just about everyone here?" Mayu laughed, "Of course, that kid over there working with that newbie is the exception."

Suzume looked to where Mayu was pointing and saw that it was to Masaomi. She wondered about how he was with strangers. She wasn't very good at making friends and wondered if he'd completely ignore her request to find Russia Sushi.

"So… you've been around then?" Suzume asked.

"Yeah. I've been here since I was a baby," Mayu nodded.

"Same here. I used to live with my mom and dad for a while, but they left and I stayed behind with my older brother."

"Your parents left you behind? Why would they do that?"

"They didn't leave me behind… they were divorcing and thought it was best if they both left the areas to cleanse themselves of the city life. They said it was a curse and they needed to move out near the country…" Suzume looked toward the windows on the other side of the classroom, "I didn't want to leave. I loved the city. I was only ten at the time, but I begged them to let me stay with my brother who had just graduated. He was in college studying to work in forensics.

"It took them a long time to think about it, but eventually, just before they moved they decided that they would let me stay. My brother graduated college last year and began working for the Police Department of Ikebukuro. He's not really home much…"

"I'm sorry! I've just lived with my parents my entire life… I'm an only child though. It gets lonely sometimes," Mayu sighed.

"I can imagine. I have my brother, but sometimes it seems like I live alone. He's always at work and never talks to me unless I'm in the main room when he gets back. That's a rare occasion though. I'm always in my room."

"That sounds like my life. My parents work all day and leave me to my room to do whatever. It sucks."

"It would have been helpful if he was around through my middle school years…" Suzume shook her head, "He wasn't even there for emotional support. I was bullied until I lost all feelings. I just feel nothing inside of me except hatred it feels like."

"You don't even feel love for family?"

"How can I feel love for people who have always been away in my time of need?"

Mayu got quiet for a moment as she thought about it. Suzume leaned back in her seat, thinking about everything she had just talked about. She wondered how she could let go of all these memories so quickly to someone who she had just met. She was usually one to keep things in, but it felt good to let it out to a stranger. She didn't care if she was judged, yet she knew that if she talked to this person, she wouldn't be. Mayu seemed like someone who was a good listener who had empathy for her. She didn't mind letting these things slip from her tongue.

Thankfully for Suzume, this was the last class of the day. She only had to wait until the bell rings for she had to ask Masaomi her request. Why was this so complicated? She was making it sound like a nearly impossible task. She continued to think of ways to ask him to make it not awkward, but every way she thought of seemed to be weirder than the next. She only hoped that he wasn't an asshole like most guys she was used to.

Mayu and she continued to talk until the class had ended. They switched cell phone numbers and immediately, Suzume knew that she had made her first friend. This was a bit of a relief for her since she had someone to talk to other than Kanra and Yukio. She hadn't met either of those two, but she was about to meet Kanra of course. She couldn't help but wonder if he was who he said he was. What if he was some weird pedophile who was going to shove her into a van the moment she caught sight of him?

Suzume gathered her materials and shoved them into her backpack as she headed for the door and waited outside for Masaomi to exit. He was talking to Mikado loudly as they filed out of the classroom.

"Masaomi! Masaomi—" she spoke rather loudly, but he didn't seem to notice. He shoved right passed her as he strode alongside Mikado down the hall. She sighed heavily, knowing that this was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

Well I don't have to meet Kanra until six, right? I have a while. Maybe if I follow Masaomi home, I can knock on his door later to ask him where to go.

Suzume knew that she was probably stalking him at this point, but she didn't care. She let a distance form between her and the two as she began to follow them in silence. For all the years she lived in Ikebukuro, why couldn't she remember where Russia Sushi was? She knew it was somewhere within the hub of the city, but she couldn't remember exactly where.

Unfortunately for her, Masaomi decided to hang out with Mikado for a while, so she had to wait around for them to finish their little play-date. After several hours, she realized finally that it was almost six. She knew she had to say something now.

She got herself off a bench nearby and walked right up to Masaomi in silence with a determined expression. He wasn't facing her, but she could hear his obnoxious laugh as she took every step forward to him.

"Excuse me," she spoke in annoyance as she tapped his shoulder.

He turned around and looked at her for a moment before blinking. "Well, hello there, cutie! You here to ask me on a date? Well I accept!"

Suzume watched him for an extensive, obdurate moment with a confused expression before she face-palmed. Oh lord. He's one of those guys…

"Sorry, I'm not here for a date… I was wondering if you could tell me where Russia Sushi was. I have no idea how to get there. Especially from here…" she replied hotly.

"Have no fear, I will lead the way! Just follow my lead and don't fall behind!" he triumphantly crossed his arms as he turned to walk. Suzume followed, both embarrassed and disappointed.

I can't believe this was the guy who led the Yellow Scarves…

After a while of walking, they arrived to an enclosed area covered with tall buildings that blocked the sun and had barely any walking space as the busy roads took over. From afar, she could see that Russia Sushi was in view, with a large, black man who was wearing a chef uniform, holding a sign and yelling to the crowd. She could hear a very distinct Russian accent from him as he yelled to the crowds in the streets.

"Well, here it is! I hope you enjoyed your walk with me! I know I did," he winked at her as he gave her an unwelcomed hug, sticking something in her hand. He then backed away for a moment as his face went serious. Suzume watched, unsure what was going on.

She read the paper and it had a phone number on it, along with Masaomi's sloppily written name. She knew he was giving her his phone number.

"I know that Izaya is here to meet you. He texted me earlier and told me you'd approach me," he spoke quietly, "If he does anything at all to you, call me. I'm not letting him be in control of manipulating pretty girls anymore."

Suzume tilted her head in confusion as he then walked away without a goodbye. When he disappeared when turning the corner, she looked to the large doors to Russia Sushi and then to the paper in her hand.

"Izaya…" she pursed her lips, "So that's his name?"

"Indeed it is," someone whispered behind her.

A/N: Yes! It's here~ if I had thought about this sooner, this would have been the first chapter rather than the second, and the one before this one would have been the prologue, but I decided not to do it for some reason. Anyways, yeah I'm so sorry the last chapter was so boring. Hopefully this one is a bit more interesting. Please review and lemme know what you think! :3