I ended up rewriting this chapter multiple times. I wanted to try a different character's POV for each chapter, but it appears that Masaomi wants to be the sole star. Sorry for taking so long with this.

Previously: Masaomi finally sees his childhood friend, but Mikado has also changed a lot in the last three years.

Chapter 2: The Pariahs of Ikebukuro

"Then I won't go either!" Ryugamine Mikado had said when he first heard Masaomi's predicament.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow him to introduce you to his best friend. Even without him asking Mikado to, Mikado was willing to drop the future that he'd been planning for a year. Mikado was more than willing to sacrifice the life he always dreamt of. Mikado was ready to stay by his side, no matter what happened. Because that was what friends did for each other.

And as his best friend, Kida Masaomi could not allow that to happen.

"Don't be silly," he forced himself to say. There was a barrage of emotions warring within him at the moment, but the shred of logic was something he couldn't ignore. "You go to Ikebukuro. That way, you'll be able to show me around once mom gets better. This isn't for forever, you know."

Mikado hesitated in answering, but Masaomi saw the relief in his eyes. He saw the excitement. Because even though Mikado was willing to stay, it would've been like keeping a bird caged after promising it freedom. And just how could Masaomi do something like that to his best friend?

The image of Mikado's excited smile as he said, "Thank you," became overlapped by the image of the cold Mikado who hadn't even recognize him. Just what had happened in the last three years? How could Mikado have change this much? Well sure, Masaomi had changed, too, but…

"Hey you!"

Masaomi snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see someone grab him by the shoulders. He quickly brushed the hand off, and while he was distracted, the newcomer began talking.

"You! What are you to the Emperor?"

The newcomer had sleek back brown hair and looked way too serious for Masaomi's comfort. There was a slight panic in his eyes that Masaomi had seen one time too many, and the newcomer had an edge to his voice that brought up Masaomi's guard. Whoever this guy was, Masaomi got the feeling that he wasn't going to enjoy this.

"What the hell is this about an Emperor?" Masaomi asked. He felt himself slip into a defensive stance, ready to fight if things escalated. Well, it was fine, wasn't it? He had wanted to spend the rest of the day with his best friend, but if Mikado was going to be this cold, then he might as well as relieve some stress by fighting.

"The Emperor. Ryugamine Mikado. You know him," the newcomer continued as if he didn't notice Masaomi's stance. "For how long? How well?"

"What's it to you?"

Finally, the newcomer seemed to realize that he had come off too strongly. He took a small step back and took a deep breath. "Sorry," he said. "Let me try again. I'm Yagiri Seiji. I have reasons to believe the Emperor… that is, Ryugamine Mikado… He took someone important to me. So please… I need to know. What are you to him?"

Masaomi wasn't too sure how things ended up like this. He sat across from Seiji, who looked around the burger joint with a mild look of discomfort as if he had never come to places like these before. Masaomi ordered himself a full meal as if this was a natural occurrence while Seiji just stuck to a drink. And once they finally settled in, they talked.

"Aw, it's such a shame! I really wanted to come to places like these with Mikado to pick up chicks!" Masaomi whined as he bit into his burger.

Seiji didn't even blink twice at those words. Instead, he took a sip of his drink, making a small face. Could he not be used to drinking soda?

"Do you… do these types of things a lot with the Emperor?"

"Okay, first off, stop it with this 'Emperor' business. It's creepy. Second, yup. We used to stop by a lot of places to pick up chicks." Masaomi took another bite. "And third, what the hell did you mean that Mikado took someone?"

There was a small pause before Seiji put down his drink. "It's a long story, but the best way I can phrase it is this: Ryugamine Mikado stole the woman I love and has hidden her away."

"Yeah, you're going to have to tell me the long story. What you just said doesn't match his personality at all." Masaomi picked up a fry and dipped it in ketchup. "Mikado can barely work up the courage to talk to a girl, let alone steal them. And even if he has changed to that degree, he's not the type to steal people away just for fun. You must've done something to him first."

Seiji picked up his drink but didn't put it near his mouth. He just stared at the closed lid in deep contemplation. "She… Technically, she wasn't mine."

Masaomi rolled his eyes and bit into the fry. "What the hell? Then it's not like you have any room to complain, now is there?"

"You don't understand!" Seiji slammed down the drink and looked away from Masaomi. "She's… my everything."

Just as Masaomi had feared. Seiji was a troublesome guy. From the sounds of things, most likely, Mikado had realized that Seiji was being a creep to the girl and rescued her. Any way you looked at this situation, Mikado was the hero here. And now the sore loser wanted to get information on his friend through cheap tactics like this?

Jeesh, the city sure was filled with filth.

"Why 'Emperor'? I mean, yeah, it's fitting. But there's more to it than the fact that it's his name, isn't it?"

Seiji looked a little taken back at the sudden change of topic. He fiddled with the drink in his hand before taking a sip. Again, that face of discomfort appeared. If he didn't like the drink, why did he force himself to drink it?

"… Hey you… How long have you been in Ikebukuro?"

"I just arrived yesterday."

A dark look came across Seiji's face. "That means you have nothing you can offer me. Good bye."

As suddenly as he had appeared, Seiji walked away, leaving Masaomi to finish the meal by himself. To be honest, Masaomi felt relief at seeing that retreating back. At least he didn't have to prepare himself for an explosion.

Perhaps he shouldn't have been so happy that Seiji had left him. Masaomi rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Really… where am I?"

He had studied the maps intensely the night before, but that was only the route to and from school. Small detours like the burger joint hadn't been a part of that calculation. He supposed if things got desperate enough, he'd just ask a pretty girl walking by for help, but he really wanted to be shown the city by Mikado…

"Such is the dilemma of one Kida Masaomi," he mumbled to himself. Ah, if only Mikado was here to chuckle at his lame jokes.

"You've got some nerve!"

Masaomi peeked over to a darkened alleyway, where a group of colored gang members seemed to have someone surrounded. This city must be determined to turn him into some kind of a hero with the way it kept shoving him into these situations. He sighed a little. Should he help? Well, it wasn't like he couldn't…

"I'm just pointing out the truth. The reason you've cornered me is because despite the demise of the Pharmacy, you're afraid of its reach," came the calm answer of the victim.

Ugh. Of course. Of all the people that the color gang had cornered, of course, it was none other than Yagiri Seiji. Masaomi hesitated again. Should he help? It wasn't like Seiji was that good of a person that made Masaomi want to jump to his rescue. But at the same time, he disliked that the odds were stacked so high against Seiji right now.

Well, Mikado always admired his heroic tendencies.

Masaomi pulled out his yellow scarf from inside of his bag. It wasn't much, but he got the feeling that he should at the very least cover his face. That way, even if they knew to track him down to Raira Academy, they wouldn't be able to get Masaomi in trouble with the school.

"Hey, leave him alone!"

The color gang members turn to him with sneers on their faces. They eyed the bright yellow of his scarf with clear disdain.

"What do you want, brat?"

"Get out of here! It's dangerous!" Seiji exclaimed.

Huh. So maybe Seiji wasn't that bad of a guy. Masaomi waved at him to stand down. "It's distasteful to gang up on one guy," he said. "So why don't I take you on as well?"

"You probably think you're being a hero, kid. You probably think you're saving some poor sap. But this guy you're trying to save? He's a Yagiri."

"Yeah, I have no idea what that means." Masaomi said with a shrug. "But see, that guy's a classmate. And I'm not the type to let others bully in my territory."

This time, it took him a little less than thirty minutes, even with Seiji's help. It was pretty obvious from the fight that these gangsters were more powerful than the ones who attacked Saki earlier. Either that, or these guys came here prepared to fight. But in the end, Seiji and Masaomi stood as the victors, even though they did suffer minor injuries.

"Thank you," Seiji said as they walked out of the alleyway. "You didn't have to, especially after I was so rude to you."

Masaomi pulled down the yellow scarf. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm just naturally a good guy, you know?" There was a small lull in the conversation before Masaomi finally asked the question. "So what did they mean that you're a Yagiri?"

Seiji stayed quiet. And just when Masaomi was ready to give it up, he finally opened his mouth to speak. "That's not a safe conversation. It's not much, but I have some basic first aid at my place. Let's talk there."

Seiji's apartment had as much personality as the person himself. For the most part, the place was squeaky clean. Seiji seemed to be a little OCD about putting things where they belong, which kind of explained his reaction to Mikado "stealing" his girl. The messiest part was the trash, which was overflowing with convenience store food and instant noodles.

As soon as they arrived, Seiji headed towards the kitchen, where he pulled out a first aid kit from under the sink. Masaomi wisely did not question why they were there. The first aid kit was actually a rather giant box filled with ridiculous amount of medical supplies. In fact, Masaomi was pretty sure some of those things couldn't be bought over the counter.

"Whoa, what's up with that?" Masaomi mumbled as Seiji pulled out random supplies. He passed an ointment to Masaomi.

"It was the family business," Seiji said. There was the smallest hint of a smile, but for the most part, he looked stoic as he applied the ointment on himself. "The Yagiri Pharmacy. For a short while, we even had a monopoly over Tokyo's medical supplies."

Masaomi whistled at that. He opened the ointment and applied some to where he had been hit earlier. "That's really impressive."

"It didn't last too long. Our company was always shady. So the fact that we entered the limelight only meant that it became that much more obvious on what kind of dealings we did at the side. Not to mention sis has a bad habit of making enemies with the wrong people."

"So the shady business was brought into the light, huh?" Masaomi concluded.

"Yeah, the Emperor was pretty thorough about it."

Oh great, back to the "Emperor" business! Masaomi blinked, when the words actually sunk in. Wait. What? "Are you saying that Miakdo-?!"

"It couldn't be helped!" Seiji grumbled. "It was the only way to free her from the company."

"… Huh?"

Seiji sighed heavily. "I didn't want to say everything but… Okay, the woman I love? She was one of the guinea pigs for the Yagiri Pharmacy. For me, it was a way to free her. For the Emperor, it was a way to shut down opposition."

"Wait, are you saying that you made a deal with Mikado and…?"

"In a sense."

How scary. To throw away his family business like that. Not to mention Mikado's involvement in this as well… Masaomi screwed the ointment close and passed it back to Seiji.

"I provided him with information secretly. It didn't look like he'd be interested in her, so I didn't think it'd be important to tell him my goals. But instead he…" Seiji aggressively put the medical supplies back.

Oh, so it wasn't a case of back-stabbing. Masaomi let out a small sigh of relief. Mikado must've noticed that she was being used for illegal things and whisked her away in order to save her. Ah, why was it that his friend suddenly seemed more and more cool?

"Jeesh, and I thought I was a hero," Masaomi thought out loud. "But hey, can you answer me another question?"

"If you mean about why he's called Emperor, I'll tell you."

Masaomi grinned. Finally! Now they were going somewhere!

"How many color gangs do you think is out on the streets right now?"

"Eh? I think I saw… at least five different colors?" Masaomi made a face, clearly not liking detours to get to his answers. Why couldn't Seiji just get straight to the point?

"Three years ago, there was a color monopoly. The group was called the Blue Squares and they were led by Izumi Ran. Two months after the school term began, the Blue Squares was completely destroyed."

"Wait… You can't mean that…?"

"At that time, he was still a no-name person. But after making that kind of a splash and with his flashy name, he soon became the Emperor."

"But how could he…?" Hell, Mikado was in middle school at the time! That was when he first arrived at Ikebukuro! How could he have brought down such a big color gang by himself?

Seiji shook his head. "I'm sorry. But that's the extent of my knowledge. I've never been too interested in other people."

"Is that so? Well, it's fine. I managed to find out quite a lot thanks to you. I wonder if Makijima-chan knows anything more?"

"Wha… What did you say?"

"Hm? You wanted me to thank you louder? Jeesh, you're a troublesome guy-"

"No… You… You know Makijima Saki?"

Could it be? Was Makijima Saki the one that Seiji liked? Well, Masaomi supposed that would explain the creepy feeling he got from her. She was a test subject! And if that was so, then he could just let the two get together and not involve Mikado and-

"Are you planning on being the Emperor's friend again?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I am!"

"Then you need to get away from her. Don't meet her, don't even mention her in front of the Emperor."

Masaomi frowned. "What are you freaking out about? Makijima-chan is-"

"If I am hated due to my association as a Yagiri, then Makijima Saki is hated for her association with… that man."

"… Who?"

Seiji growled lowly, obviously frustrated by Masaomi's lack of knowledge. "In Ikebukuro, there are two people whose name will undoubtedly come up if you ask who the strongest man is. One is Heiwajima Shizuo and the other is Orihara Izaya."

"But what does that have anything to do with me?"

"It has to do with the Emperor!" Seiji exclaimed. Despite the loudness of his voice, his face didn't show much expression. "Orihara Izaya is Ryugamine Mikado's sworn enemy! And Makijima Saki is his puppet! Are you putting it together now?"

Actually, a lot of things were finally clicking into place. The reason that Saki was being attacked when he first met her, the reason that she quickly left him alone at the school, the reason that Mikado was the Emperor, and the reason that Seiji was hated…

"So basically, I have to find Orihara Izaya," he concluded.

"Haven't you heard a single thing I said?"

"No, no," Masaomi said, waving a hand. "I listened closely. This is the only way. After all, Mikado's not going to let me get close, not with his goons standing by his side. You don't know what happened. Then the only person who can give me any kind of help or information is this Orihara Izaya person as Mikado's enemy. Therefore, I have to talk to Makijima-chan."

Seiji's look clearly stated his disgust with him. But at this moment in time, Masaomi didn't have that many cards to play.

"So Seiji, why don't you help me as well?"

"And why would I do that?"

"To find the one you love. Didn't you say that Mikado has her? If I get close to him, we'll be able to figure out where she is."

Seiji sighed. "... You actually thought this through... Okay, fine. I will cooperate with you. But hey, don't forget that I warned you. Orihara Izaya is dangerous."

But compared to Mikado's behavior, Masaomi highly doubted that anything could hurt him more.

"So what is this Orihara Izaya like?"