Chapter 21: Plan in motion
The room was one hell of a mess. Empty coffee cups, sweets packaging and what Izaya guessed to be chips were sprawled on the desk.
Just as he had anticipated, the "only staff" room contained what you would usually expect. Serving as an emergency storage it was holding dozens of coffee beans, milk packages and cleaning utensils.
A desk was placed in the corner, right next to a shelf filled with various folders.
The owner of the shop was doing the accounting here it seemed, but that was not what Izaya was looking for.
Striding towards the desk Izaya quickly slipped into the old creaking chair and opened what seemed to be a laptop.
A password.
Clicking his tongue Izaya looked around- why would they even lock their laptop with a password? Their coffee shop was not interesting enough to ask for such safety measures.
… then again he was sitting here right now trying to get into their system so maybe it was after all. Scrunching his nose Izaya glanced around. Papers, files, empty coffee cups- there was so much junk lying around-
… if he were the owner, where would he put the password?
A glance was cast at the device and then the laptop was raised.
Bingo.
Password21 was written on a yellowed piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the device.
Izaya snorted at the immense creativity the owner of the shop had excelled when choosing the word as he logged into the laptop.
A blue screen with just three icons on the desktop greeted him with the familiar sound of a computer booting up.
Staff.
Expenses.
Videomaker2000.
It wasn't hard to guess which folder belonged to the surveillance cameras and Izaya hurriedly clicked on the icon of an old fashioned camcorder.
Files over files over files loaded as the great bar on top of the folder struggled for completion. Joy filled Izaya with the mess he was presented with.
Just like the rest of the coffee shop the files were a mess- and that worked in his favor.
Usually people were required to delete the acquired videos at the end of the day - but it seemed the owner had gracefully forgotten to fulfill that duty as Izaya clicked on the video that was marked with the correct date.
24h.
He could narrow that down - considering the degree to which his apartment had been turned upside down they probably arrived around evening if not night.
Clicking the play button Izaya realized the cameras switched perspectives. Quite the expensive set, really. They reacted to motion and so the video awkwardly flickered between two sets of cameras. One showing the counter where the waiter scrolled through his phone on an exceptionally busy day. The other was the outside one flicking on and off as people walked by and pigeons landed on top of it. Fast forwarding the video Izay cringed.
Switching for the felt thousandth time Izaya felt a headache approaching and he cursed the owner secretly for not having bought a single camera as he tried to keep track of what he was looking for.
It took a few minutes until the setting of the video lowered to an orange tinge.
Night fell and the frequency of people passing by lowered. Customer after customer went by, and suddenly Izaya blinked as he saw himself. Quickly slowing down the playback speed he watched.
Walking out of the building he just headed past the shop. Shizuo too.
They were heading for Tom.
Damn.
He really did look like shit.
It was a little off putting to watch himself like this. But at least this way he knew the recorded data was correct.
Fast forward.
Those guys had to have appeared afterwards.
Streetlights flickered.
Izaya's patience thinned out.
And suddenly they were there.
At first he didn't realize. It was a group of men in their forties. Nothing too uncommon, no signs of threat, nothing.
But then he heard it.
The laugh.
One of those guys laughed.
The same guttural, pleased grunt he had heard time over time over time-
The screen paused and Izaya flicked out his phone real quick to take a picture. The cameras only caught three of the five faces but that was more than enough.
A feeling of success and adrenaline spiked in his veins as his eyes locked onto the picture on his phone.
He got them.
He got their faces.
Like a painter admiring his lines on an astonishing piece of work Izaya looked at the screen.
The half lidded eyes wrinkled from lack of sleep and age, the three day old bear none of them had bothered to shave. Their stature. Plump. Fat.
And suddenly he just felt sick.
Sick at seeing their faces. Their middle aged bodies, their receding hairlines.
It was them- these people had shoved him down, held him back, choked his throat- these were the guys that used Izaya for their pleasure, that pulled him down and-
Shakily Izaya's hand reached for his face as he softly pressed the bridge of his nose. Eyes closed he concentrated on his breathing.
It was shallow, sickeningly obstructed as his guts rose.
"Izaya?" It just happened to be the moment Izaya heard Shizuo's voice call his name, that he hunched over, returning anything he ate into the dustbin next to the table.
It was too much. The suddenly so much more vivid memory resurfaced with way more gravity than Izaya had expected.
Hearing their voices had already haunted him, but filling these memories with pictures felt as though he was torturing himself.
His guts felt avid.
He glared at his hands as they trembled coldly in their harsh grip on the dustbin.
Before he knew it there was a warm palm at his back, trailing circles in soothing motions.
"You okay?"
Shizu-chan.
He had heard his voice before and adding the familiar smell of tobacco it couldn't be anyone else but him.
Izaya frowned as his face scrunched in a wave of frustration.
He wanted to snap at him for asking such a stupid question, for belittling him, despite knowing that wasn't what it was. Rage of unknown kind just bottled up in his gut from having to succumb to a simple memory like this.
He was safe- he knew that-
There was nothing to freak out for and yet he did. It was hella frustrating.
… but it wasn't Shizuo's fault.
Drawing a shaky breath Izaya tried to chase away the nausea.
It was funny, as much as he hated Shizuo for seeing him like this, he was glad he was there.
"Where is the staff?" he quickly asked instead of answering, shoving the bin away from his sight.
Withdrawing his hand Shizuo took a step back and created room to breathe for the flea.
"Cleaning my shirt in the back of the bathroom," he informed curtly.
Ah. It was funny.
Izaya must have been quite out of his mind, because up until this point he hadn't realized Shizuo was missing a shirt.
Presenting the same abs he had had the pleasure of touching the night before he found himself quite flabbergasted.
"I see." Not much more left his lips, really, as he pushed himself from the chair.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Shizuo questioned softly. It was obvious he was trying to be as careful as he could with his words.
A bitter smile spread across Izaya's face. He didn't know what to make of him.
"Do I look like it?" The question wasn't meant to mock the blond or anything, but it certainly set him back as he turned silent.
Enough.
Violently Izaya dragged his sleeve across his lips as he made his way to the door. He had claimed the evidence he needed, everything else was child's play.
He would only need to search through a couple forums, ask the right people with one of his aliases and within an hours work he would have their names.
Their location.
Along with a plan to kill them
But right now all he craved was fresh air. Slamming the backdoor open he headed for the door. He wanted to get out.
A pretty flabbergasted waiter was met head on as he emerged from the room.
"What are you doing here-" he quickly stuttered, his expression showing an amusing mixture of trying to remain polite while suppressing the urge to just throw the customers out of the cafe. "Uhm- this is a private area, if you could please leave that would be…"
Izaya didn't even listen. There was just no capacity for bullshit left. All he wanted was to get out.
"Sorry for intruding." Shizuo quickly mumbled, snatching the washed shirt from the waiter's hands.
It was still damp to the touch and even more gross to put back on, but what was he supposed to do? Walk out naked?
He preferred drawing as little attention to them as possible. Especially with Izaya like this.
Worry defined Shizuo's expression as they emerged from the cafe.
He was not saying a single word, just walking.
After a few steps he pulled his phone from his pocket and started typing away at a speed that astonished Shizuo somewhat.
Wise enough to not say anything when Izaya was in a mood like this, Shizuo simply followed.
It didn't take long until he figured they were neither walking towards Izaya's old apartment nor to the new one.
He seemed aimless in his path.
Taking a deep breath from his cigarette Shizuo frowned.
Was he thinking about how to kill them?
Eyes unwillingly trailing up and down Izaya's body, Shizuo couldn't help but worry.
How?
Izaya was by no means weak, but 5 guys at once… they had already overpowered him on one occasion. What if things went south? What if-
Swallowing harshly, Shizuo pulled the cigarette from his lips.
Thinking about how Izaya would kill the guys reminded him too much about the reason they were in this situation in the first place.
About what they had done. How they had-
Folding the cigarette in half by accident Shizuo blinked for a second as the hot end met his thumb.
…
He had to calm down.
He wasn't going to provide any useful support with anger steering his limbs.
And yet…
The idea of Izaya killing those guys remained … unsettling.
"Izaya-" he voiced softly, not even thinking the raven had heard him.
They were walking along a busy path. Couples, adults, mothers with their children and more mindless people were walking by in their busy daily lives.
Yet he turned, phone to his ear as he was waiting for a call to connect.
"What?"
Ah.
Crap, how was he supposed to say it?
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Shizuo started slowly.
More people passed and a few business men in a rush to get to work brushed past the two as Izaya's eyes narrowed.
A quick nod with his head was given towards an alley nearby.
Shizuo didn't need any more hints to realize he was supposed to follow as Izaya retracted himself from the crowd.
Nothing but a couple trash cans greeted the two as they stood. Izaya turned. His eyes gave away that he wasn't amused already.
"What are you talking about Shizu-chan?"
Crap.
He shouldn't have said anything.
"To kill them," Shizuo started slowly trying to sound as little demanding as possible. "It's just-"
Cold fury met his eyes as his voice faded out. All sense of reason seemed to be lost as Izaya sneered.
"The best idea I ever had?"
He wasn't going to back off the idea. Not now. Not after having gotten his hands on that picture. Nothing but pure disdain reflected in an attitude that wasn't made to compromise.
Shoulders relaxing, realized no matter what he said he wouldn't be able to change his mind.
"Forget it," he mumbled softly, drawing a pleased grin to Izaya's face.
"Thought so." The phone was brought back up to his ear and the raven waved at the blond. "I need to make a few calls. Arrange for everything you know. Would you be so kind and wait there?"
Really now.
What was he?
His personal guarding dog?
Stepping towards the entrance of the alley Shizuo drew another cigarette from his package as he leant against the wall.
People passed by in a brimming collage of busyness. Happy chattering, annoyed exclamations of lateness and casual conversations were caught by Shizuo's ears.
…
They were going to kill people.
Today.
The idea was unsettling.
Not that they didn't deserve it. Hell, Shizuo would kill them personally by strangling them to death if given the chance.
What worried him more was the fact that Izaya was the one who wanted to finish the job.
…
He just couldn't see the flea kill anyone. Not even in his rage of revenge. But how was he supposed to stop him when he was this dead set on the idea?
A soft tap to the shoulder startled the blond greater than he was willing to admit as he turned.
A very tired flea was looking at him expectantly.
The phone had finally been put away.
"Are you done?" The question was stupid and Izaya let him know by raising an eyebrow at the obvious answer.
"I will meet them at the Shibuya park. They will be going there thinking a client is waiting."
Shizuo's guts plummeted.
Sure, Izaya said he would set everything up- but this quickly? And so soon?
He swallowed hard as a lump formed in the back of his throat.
"Alright."
A short moment of silence filled with nothing but sweet chatters of highschoolers passing by the alley filled the moment.
"Will you meet me there?" Izaya suddenly asked, taking the blond by surprise.
"Meet?" Shizuo didn't plan to leave Izaya's side until this matter was done and over with.
A simple shrug was given as Izaya sighed.
"I need to prepare a few things first. Fetch a gun for one thing. I will need a few hours for that. The meeting is set at 6pm. Can I count on you?"
Ah.
It made sense Izaya didn't want him to accompany him fetching the gun. Whoever was handing it over to him was probably shady and definitely not going to like seeing the fortissimo of Ikebukuro approach.
If worse came to worst he wouldn't even turn up.
"Of course." Shizuo agreed, glancing at his watch all the same.
6 pm.
It was barely 11am.
Seven hours to go.
Walking past the blond, Izaya suddenly flashed a smile.
"Make sure you aren't late~"
Playful.
Like he was looking forward to the meeting.
A bit too happy for Shizuo's taste.
How was he supposed to act?
If he wanted to keep the flea from going through with this he had to do it now- but how?
No words came to mind.
Not a single idea as he watched the raven disappear into the crowd.
His lips were sealed and his guts clenched as what was to come.
to be continued~
Yooo~! As usual I am taking one hell of a time to get the finale out hahaha xD Things are getting quiiiite intense now- behold
This story only has 1-2 Chapters to go depending on whether I will end this with a huge update in two weeks or split it in half xDDDD
Until then~ See you C: