Shizuo had something of a predicament. To the last moment he hoped that Erika was simply joking but no, here he was again in the hovering arena after so many steps and she was clearly ready for battle. Even the hat was gone, Shizuo had never seen her without it and it was rather disconcerting.
"Come on, I can't fight a girl…Izaya, say something will you?"
"'Just believe', Erika-san."
"Heh, making fun of me. You might regret that later."
At this point Shizuo became seriously freaked out. He had assumed that extracting swords from people was some sort of trick but now that Izaya reclined before him and Shizuo grabbed the hilt emerging from his chest there was no denying that it was all very real.
"Woah, what is going on here?"
Shizuo was so stunned that he reacted to Erika's sudden attack out of sheer instinct.
"I told you not to underestimate me."
Shizuo sparred around the arena without seeking out opportunities for attacking. He could tell that Erika was dead serious about this, more than once her blade swished in the air far too close to his ears.
"Erika, will you snap out of it already! There's no way I can fight a girl!"
"Great! That means I win by default. Just stay still and let me knock out your rose."
In the background the Rose Bride adjusted glasses that shone. Shizuo considered it. He could get out of this insane deal just by forfeiting this one match. But somehow it sat ill with him. Shizuo tightened his grip on the sword.
"I can't do that. I promised Izaya that I wouldn't hand him over to anyone. You seem nice enough, I don't think you'd hurt him but a promise is a promise."
Erika laughed.
"My, you'd make a great shounen hero. Let me win and you be just that!"
Erika was in a roll, so much so that she stretched her arms wide. This was the opening Shizuo needed. He dashed forward and simply nipped the rose off her chest without as much as touching her. Erika's eyes widened. She did not even hear the chorus of bells towing. It crossed Shizuo's mind that bells towed for people's death and a shiver ran through him.
"It's over now. I hope we can still get along. I'd really like to be friends with you."
"You really don't have a clue, do you?"
Izaya stepped unto the scene and in the sweetest of tones said,
"'Despair. Losing this match has left me in despair'. Neh, Erika-san?"
Erika gave Izaya a long hard stare.
"You…if you have a sense of humor then…what are you?"
"'You can (not) advance.'"

Ryuugamine Mikado followed the duel very closely from a distance. It was not a favorable outcome. He had plans to challenge Aoba when this Heiwajima Shizuo had appeared out of nowhere and messed up his well arranged project to bring about the revolution of the world. No matter, Mikado needed only work around Shizuo.
The moment he held first letter from End of the World Mikado knew that he had been waiting for it his entire life. It was his own chance of having something great, something extraordinary, something beyond this world. And for that reason he was willing to accept the motto of the student council and even preside it: Mikado would shatter the shell of the world and overcome all limits.
But if he had taken up his sword for the irrational excitement that gave his life meaning, he followed a highly rational plan to see through that he won in the end. Mikado wanted the Rose Bride to enter the castle and thus prove to himself that he was meant to win. That he was not a face in an anonymous crowd.
Motivations, however, are twisted things. And his was connected to pain as much as it did with a desire to be acknowledged. In fact, the two were so co-dependant that he could not tell when one ended and the other began.
For the time being he needed to find out all he could about Heiwajima Shizuo. Mikado started by meeting Izaya in the greenhouse.
"Izaya-san, your roses are blooming as beautifully as ever."
"Would you care for a bouquet of yellow roses?"
Mikado's friendly smile faltered a bit.
"Yellow, you say?"
"Yellow roses represent 'friendship' so they can be given to anyone."