Third Chapter: From the Informant's Side

Last year of high school. So much to record... So much to remember... The people they met, the people they had fun with and all the other things that go on at that stage of life. Some would say it was the best time of most people's lives. For most of them it could be true. However, for some it could be a living hell. It was something interesting... How the same thing could be experienced and remembered in many different ways depending on the point of view of the spectator or rather the main character in their own little world. Yeah, because life is just like a show and the ones to do the act are all his lovely and despicable humans, while he would expectantly watch them all struggle to find their place within the others. So fascinating and yet...

-So disgusting.-

For Izaya it was a pity high school was about to end, but also a relief. He found it all too boring, but there were a few things that kept his interest on that specific place. However the main object of his interest now was Shizuo Heiwajima. That abnormal monster with a great strength and short temper. He wanted to test his limits, to see how far he could go in the worst situations and how messed up he could get with time. It was so beautiful... Seeing him breaking. His mind shattering into small pieces. Like as if his heart was being eaten by that monstrous rage he had inside. But... Once the blond graduated from school, he was out of Izaya daily life. He would still go around to mess with the blond, of course. Or rather be chased by him. But the time at school became quite boring for him now. There was no fun in that place with those ordinary humans. So boring... But they were still his humans, so he gotta love it. That was probably the only thing that kept his attention to school now, or else he would probably have quit it. There was no point to follow society's regular educational trajectory, but also there was no point on quitting it. Just one year wouldn't be this bad. He could still meet his monster after class.

Izaya yawned lightly in the history class, feeling utterly bored with all those subjects he already knew by heart. The teacher was giving them a little review for their last exams and he knew all the subject. He just stayed in class because he had nothing better to do now. Shiki wouldn't make him lose school to work. It had been around one year? No... Perhaps half an year he started to work as an informant to the Awakuzu kai. Though he didn't have a strict contract with them, it wasn't like he could betray them as well. After all, they were still yakuza. No one in their perfect mind would mess with them. Unless they were yakuza as well. Izaya knew that, but even though they were dangerous, they were strong allies. Life could be easier or rather more interesting with them around. Having an ordinary life wasn't for him... At all.

Break time! As the bell rang, the informant's eyes wandered through the classroom full of people walking out of it as if the world would come to an end if they didn't go now. Well, their 'precious' rest time wouldn't last forever, would it? The informant chuckled to himself at this thought. Somehow he could imagine Shinra saying that to him in counterargument to his statement and adding that human body and mind need intervals like that to rest from their daily activities. Yeah... It sounded like something the other would say. Shinra now was making a life with his dearest Dullahan. As an underground doctor. What an 'appealing' job. Well... For Shinran's concepts at least. But who was him to say? An underground informant. Each of them got to do what they were good at. Also, Izaya wanted the job he had. He wanted that life. To watch his dear humans and get more and more information. It was never enough. Quite addicting he would say. After all, the more you know, the more you realize how much you still have to learn. The world wouldn't stop spinning and as long as it kept this way he would still have things to learn and secrets to collect. Information was never enough.

Soon some giggles could be heard coming by the door. A bunch of stupid blushing girls standing there with some chocolate boxes. Wouldn't his humans stop amusing him? He sighed with a forced smile in his face and looked right to their direction. Every year it was like that. Some girls would come to his class to give him chocolate, even if he never gave anything in return on white's day or threw all their gifts on the nearest trash can he could find out of their eyes or still in front of their eyes. There would always be some miserable girls who would come to disturb him. Well... He loves his humans. So he would just enjoy the those moments to observe them better and have fun. He loved everyone of them, but not particularly any of them. For him the fact one human or two could hate him, or even the whole humanity didn't matter to him. He didn't love the human being itself. Not an individual. But the whole humanity. All of them. They are his humans.

Once the girls finally approached the informant, he just silently heard all their excuses of confessions and watched some just quietly giving him the chocolate boxes and running away. Well, they saved themselves from what would come next. With all the remaining stubborn girls still in front of him, Izaya stood up. "I really do appreciate your courage, girls. All of you took your time to choose and make those gifts with so much love and care. That's really sweet. However..." The raven made a pause and dropped all the boxes on the floor. "I don't like sweet things." His expression changed from the gentle smile he was wearing before to a devious grin. He laughed madly as he started to stomp on the gifts given by the girls. People that were still inside of class and some who were at the corridors stopped to look from afar. Izaya seemed like the perfect picture of a mad man. That was one of the reasons some people would keep their distance from him.

As the girls left the room in tears -and some boiling of anger- he just watched with evident boredom in his face. It was harsh and he knew that pretty well. Breaking little girls' hearts wasn't his favorite game, but this time he was pretty annoyed. "Valentines... Huh?" He muttered to himself and looked to a specific envelope over his desk and sighed. That was already going too far. He was happy that high school was ending, but knowing it would be over and he hadn't found out who was that person... It was somehow frustrating. No... It was COMPLETELY frustrating! How could it be someone had outsmarted him until the last moment of high school?! At least now he knew it was either someone of his age or younger or someone who deliberately went inside the school and planted that envelop and the chocolates inside his locket. "I hate valentine's day..." He muttered to himself and threw the chocolate box through the window, not caring about the others stomped on the classroom's floor.

Not like he lived his life just around that fact, but still, he gave it a good parcel of thoughts. Who could it be? Who was the mysterious admirer? Who could it be that every single year managed to put those chocolates in his locket when he least expected? No eyes had seen who it was. Or perhaps it was someone they would fear to snitch. Shizuo was his first suspect, but soon the suspicious disappeared. Not even a second after he thought about the possibility. The blond wouldn't take his time to do such thing. It wasn't his style. Also... Why would he? They hated each other and even if it was for revenge or as a prank, he highly doubted the other could manage to place the chocolate inside the locked locket. So the monster was discarded. Shinra? Well, he was the type with that kind of sense of humor. In fact it could easily be him, but he surely doubted the other would use his time with something like that. He was way too busy with his studies and obsessions, in which one is that Dullahan he fell for. No... It wasn't Shinra. Also... Once he questioned him about the subject, the doctor just said "Do you really think I'd be crazy enough to mess with you? It's not like I have a death wish, y'know? Unlikely Shizuo, you wouldn't kill me with only one blow". Izaya could remember Shinra saying those words with a smile on his face and at the end of it shivering playfully.

No one else could be a suspect, right? Dotachin? Nah. Nakura? Impossible. He wouldn't dare. After his little 'incident' with the biology club involving a knife and Shinra, he woudn't dare to mess with Izaya. He knew the informant could use those facts to blackmail him or even destroy his life. Also, they were both in the Ambhisbaena club. If he tried anything weird, he could put all the blame on him. Another person out of list. Who could it be? Who could it be?!

And so like that it went another year. As soon as the valentine's day was gone, he focused in other affairs. With time he became a quiet known as a reliable and accurate informant from the underground world. Once he finally graduated from school, he also had more time to work on what really mattered. His job and his humans. There was a rumor about the Yagiri's Pharmaceutical, but it still had to be examined better. Seems like they have been making experiment on humans and even been involved on the disappearances around Ikebukuro. Fascinating... How much would one pay to have information about that? How much would they pay to keep it a secret? That was the most fascinating thing about his job. No matter what secrets someone had, it would always have a price. He could sell it or keep it depending only on the price. Or at least most people would do it like that if given the opportunity. Of course, money counted and was an important part of his job. Money bought information and kept some mouths shut. The human world spins around money. Another fascinating and yet disgusting thing about them. Well... As long as he got what he wanted, he wouldn't care to pay the price. Of course, as long as it was fair... For him at least.

One more time he went home to find that damned box. "What the...?" At first he got a little amused of how much effort one would do to keep up with this sort of creepy tradition. They indeed found out where he lived, didn't they? It was hard to tell who it could be... Even the security cameras got nothing. Or either this person was a ghost or they knew this place really well. How could it be they could find all the blind points on the lobby downstairs and on his own apartment? After he opened this box, he noticed there was no chocolate inside. For the first time they didn't put it. Instead... There was a little letter. Why would one put a letter inside a box...? "Well..." The raven opened the letter. It didn't have much written on it but.

-Surprised? Yes, I know where you live! Hahah! I guess you can't wait to know who I am, huh? Too bad~~ Unless you find out on your own I won't tell you! With love, Your Secret Admirer.-

Ok, that was becoming just plainly teasing. They were really challenging him! Izaya would usually just ignore that, but... It had been years since he left high school and they kept on with that prank! Without even hesitating, he took a cigarette lighter and used it to burn it down to ashes. "Stupid admirer..." He hissed lowly and walked away from the remains of the letter. They thought they could outsmart him. They thought they could keep up with this joke forever, didn't they? The informant took his cell phone and sent a few messages. A malicious grin grew on his face and slowly became a wide grin. "Gotcha." He hummed softly.

This time he would be the one to laugh in the end.