"Izaya! There you are, I was looking for you. And you are?"
"Ryuugamine Mikado. I meant to introduce myself sooner and properly welcome you to school."
Shizuo looked for the tell-tale rose crest ring.
"You're not with the student council people, are you?"
"No, not at all. I'm with the committee for student integration."
"I see. Well, that's good. You're friends with Izaya?"
As far as Shizuo could tell Izaya was lacking in that department.
"I get along just fine with Izaya."
"Yeah, he even gave you some flowers. That's great, then."
Shizuo was a simple person who did not see past first impressions. So he naturally assumed that he could trust Mikado. Shizuo's standard for valuing a person's sincerity was now lined with how friendly they could be with Izaya.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I'm Heiwajima Shizuo. Nice to meet you."
"Why don't we have a cup of tea?"
"Sure."
Shizuo ordered a strawberry parfait.
"Shizuo-san, you seem to like sweet things."
"Why, yeah. Cuz they're sweet, you know?"
Mikado smiled his most affable smile and wondered if this might not be too easy. Aoba was sneaky and a sly one, dealing with him would prove considerably complicated but this Shizuo was clearly plain and straight forward. And if there was one thing that Mikado had realized, it was that the duels had little to do with fencing skill in itself.
"I know what you mean."
"By the way, who is the president of this student council I keep hearing so much about?"
"That would be Yagiri Namie-san. Why do you ask?"
"I have a score to settle with those people. Izaya, what do would like? I just got my allowance so you order anything you want."
Mikado did blink. He could not conceive how anyone could possibly expect the Rose Bride to make any decisions whatsoever. That was the opposite of his role, Orihara Izaya existed to serve whoever he was engaged to. Mikado was curious as how Shizuo had missed it. Perhaps Shizuo had not received any letters.
"Thank you very much, Shizuo-sama."
Shizuo frowned at the menu.
"Hmm…on second thought, I can't really afford this banana sundae…but apart from that it's all good."
Wasting money, such a rare commodity, on the Rose Bride struck Mikado as nothing short of stupid. Especially if one was not rich and clearly Heiwajima Shizuo was not.
"It seems like you're getting used to life in campus."
"I wish. It's so big I keep getting lost and there are no maps either. Not to mention the buildings are weird. So many roses, roses everywhere."
Mikado decided that Shizuo was not completely out of the loop. After all he was keeping his silence on the duels.
"The architecture is peculiar, isn't it? It's so different from my town. There was nothing to do there and all buildings were tiny houses that all looked the same."
"So you come from a small town?"
"Very small. I doubt you can find it on the map."
"It must have been a huge change of pace, huh."
"I like it better here."
Mikado could see the tower just beyond Izaya's shoulder. It cut the sky in a clear vertical line. Mikado appreciated that. Too much sky was stifling. And on the arena the upside down castle blocked out the sky entirely, perhaps even replacing it.
Yagiri Namie was the acting president of the student body for a sole reason: the position allowed her a greater berth to carry on her experiments in the laboratory. More, it also insured that the chemistry facilities received a larger portion of the school budget. Apart from that she had no interest in participating in any form of student activity and had no problems allowing Mikado to run whatever agenda he had in mind. Namie was fully aware that Mikado was the true president when it came to actual power but she did not particularly care even if she suspected that his motives were far from pure, otherwise he would not opt for secrecy.
As it was Namie had not even opened one of the letters she had received from the End of the World and had shredded them promptly. Such mystical shenanigans had no standing with her. She found it utterly absurd how the supernatural could even be considered as an actual existing entity.