Chapter 11 Rough Draft
"Neh, Izaya-kun, I just got a call from my sister. You wouldn't believe what she told me." said a giddy young girl with wavy brown tresses. The young man sat at the foot of her hospital bed with a smirk and replied with a smug tone.
"Let me guess, something to do with Eri right?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, that Minako friend of hers; she just found out that she's the same girl she mugged and stabbed back in junior high!"
Izaya chuckled along.
"Crazy how the world works." he said.
"Thanks for watching over her like I had requested." The girl added. Izaya got up and walked to the door, his devious smirk still on his face.
"No problem, Nagatani-san."
The next day went through its usual routine. Eri and Minako no longer dwelled in each other's business and past. However, instead of another beating up on the rooftop like Eri usually did. Minako managed to escape Eri's sight as soon as the lunch period began. She scurried past people to a quiet place. Her pace slowed when she confirmed that she had lost her. Then she heard ominous footsteps behind her.
"Hey." she heard. She stole a small glance and saw a group of just four boys. She hugged the book in her hand and calmly walked away. They still followed her. One of the boys moved in front of her, compelling her to a halt. He forcefully snatched the book from her hand.
"Ah, so little miss delinquent wants to be a nurse when she grows up." the boy said.
"It says lawyer.*" she corrected in a flat tone. The boy in front of her frowned.
"Yeah, yeah whatever." he grunted, opening it to a page and then tearing it out of the book, and crumpling it into a ball in front of her, then carelessly dropping the book to the ground. She gave no response to the bullying and bent down to pick it up. She felt one of the guys dig around her blazer pocket. They simply took out her wallet.
"Whoa, she's got quite a lot of bills in here." said one of them.
"Cool; we can go out to eat after school."
Minako let them have the wallet and just stood up. The main boy patted her head and smiled.
"Thank you." he laughed. Before they walked off, someone hollered.
"Hey Shishizaki-senpai, you shouldn't bully people like that."
"And you should have more respect for your senpai, Kyohei." Shishizaki retorted. Kyohei cowered back.
"Sorry."
The group of boys kept her wallet and walked away with a content feeling. Minako didn't acknowledge Kyohei's presence and went on. He grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Hey, wait a sec."
"Thank you I guess." she mumbled, only saying it because she felt obligated to. Kyohei let her go, seeing that she really wanted to be alone.
She sneaked off into the library to the back of the room where the windows were. Like she had seen before, Izaya was there, reading idly and his small odd board game there. She held her breath and tip-toed, hoping she wouldn't be noticed. She grabbed a book, sat down at a table and ignored him. For the first few minutes it was silent before Izaya disrupted it. He turned around, feigned surprise and broke into a good humor.
"Ah!" he screamed in a fakey tone, clutching his chest. "Oh, it's only Maso-chan."
She twitched a bit.
"Please don't call me that."
"Why, isn't it proper to distinguish you as a masochist? After all you suffer beatings and bullying with no end and you still say that Eri is your best friend?" he questioned.
"Are you going to leave soon?" she asked in a soft and impassive tone. Izaya laughed more.
"Hey, hey now, that really hurts my feelings Maso-chan!" he whined childishly. She continued reading her damaged book and didn't look up at him.
"I'm sorry." she apologized insincerely. Izaya walked over and draped his arms around her in a slinking motion like a snake.
"What's with the cold demeanor? Have you always been this ghostly or is this all due to your "friend's" constant abuse?" he questioned nonchalantly, making air quotations when he said friends.
She didn't answer. Izaya continued needling her with questions.
"Do you even consider her a friend? In fact do you even have any friends? All the rumors say that when you're not you're all by your lonesome, drifting idly around like the spirit you are."
She took a pause and pondered. The people she had met so far; Eri, then Shinra, then Shizuo, then Kyohei, and now this young man that always talked to her. She wondered if she could even consider these odd characters her friends. She knew nothing about them and vice-versa, but still...
She settled her book down.
"I don't know." She replied frankly. He released her from his embrace.
"You really are a strange one." He muttered to himself. He heard her chair scrape against the floor and then her footsteps that trailed behind her as she strolled out.
"Strange enough that you're on the edge of not being human."