Title: Things that change for better or for worse
Chapter 14: Ripples of Change 2
By: Sissy
Disclaimer: DRRR shall never belong to me otherwise there'd be more yaoi.
Warning: For the third time in a row, fangirl Aoba. Plus a pair of angry twins.
"I should've known it was Izaya-san who set that up." With a sip of his coffee, Mikado gave a sadden sigh. At the moment, he was on what-could-be-called a date with his kouhai from both high school and university. "Well, ignoring that, I'm surprised to see you in a lab coat. I was going to mention that last time, but the circumstances prevented me from doing so."
Smiling in response, Aoba felt ecstatic simply by being in the older sempai's presence. "It's actually a doctor's coat. After you left, well, I became Shinra-sensei's disciple."
"You mean Shinra-san? Celty-san's lover?" Mikado interrupted with a surprised look.
Nodding, Aoba continued his story. "I was always good at sciences and biology so it was pretty easy to learn from him. Of course, getting my license was a whole other story, but since I followed in his footsteps, it wasn't as necessary as you'd think. Shinra-sensei had a contract of sorts with the Awakusu-kai. And after the whole head fiasco, I inherited that contract."
"Ah, the thing about Izaya-san being the one who had Celty-san's head? Sonohara-san told me about it last week." Mikado smiled at the story, both his and Aoba's. "There really is a lot I have to catch up on."
"Where are you staying now sempai?" Aoba quickly asked, hoping to learn where to visit him as much as he could. After all, now that he knew that his beloved sempai was back in Japan, he intended to spend as much time with him as possible. And for that, he needed to learn where he lived.
"I don't know if I should tell you. You're almost my stalker, you know." Mikado said with a teasing voice but even that didn't bother Aoba. However, before the other could retort anything, Mikado continued. "Don't worry, I know you're not a stalker, just a very avid fan. Well, didn't Izaya-san tell you anything? I'm more surprised you don't know."
Aoba pouted and was about to say something when he was attacked from behind by none other than Kururi. His tenant had wrapped her arms around her landlord's shoulder almost possessively. "Ah, I seriously should've known! No one makes Aoba-kun this stupid except Mikado-sempai! But you see what you did? You've depressed Kuru-nee! And that, I can't forgive!"
"Oh? Well, what would you like me to do? Though I take no responsibility for Aoba-kun's actions, would you like me to make it up to you by letting you to duel me or something?" Mikado laughed at his own suggestion but saw Mairu's thoughtful look and sighed while shaking his head. "It was a joke Mairu-chan. Aoba-kun, please ease their worries."
"I don't know. The thought of sempai fighting for me kinda makes me happy." Aoba grinned aloofly and felt Kururi pinching his cheeks. "Ow! Ow! Ow~! Kururi, seriously, what gives?"
"Belongs." Kururi stopped and proclaimed her desire with only one word. Though, it was just Mairu who understood since she was squealing by herself.
"Who does? And to whom?" Aoba asked with a pout, completely ignoring how Kururi returned to hugging him. "You can't mean me since you two already proclaimed that as impossible ever since sempai went away."
"Hold on, how am I involved?" Confused by the drama unfolding in front of him, Mikado decided to speak up and try to understand the situation. He knew the three were close since their high school days, but how much had that changed since he left back then? And in what ways?
"It was only a joke, dear landlord!" Mairu pouted at Aoba's glare, taking a seat at the table the two were in. "I obviously care about Kuru-nee a lot so I can't just blindly give her away! I play the papa in this!"
Noticing that all three had no intention of paying him any attention, Mikado decided to keep quiet and hear how this played out. "Now you're the dad? All this time you said you loved Yuuhei-san with all your heart and nothing would stop you and Kururi from being in love with him. And even with that proclamation, you throw Kururi at me every chance you get as if she's a toy to play with! And the worse thing is that you know very well how I feel about you both!" Aoba yelled at Mairu, standing up to face the younger twin while the older one remained hanging from his shoulders.
"Yeah, you care enough to let us stay at your place but you have no idea how much Kuru-nee is suffering because of this idiot!" Mairu stood up as well and placed the blame on Mikado by pointing towards her senior. "And you can't blame me for having some fun since it just makes Kuru-nee happy!"
"Hold on. Kururi-chan is in love with Aoba-kun?" Mikado managed to ask and was heard by all three. Mairu looked at him as if it were obvious, while the other two had begun to blush, though Aoba looked shocked and Kururi shy. "Then, Mairu-chan, how about you and I leave these two alone? I can accompany you anywhere you'd like."
Thinking it through, Mairu grinned and took Mikado away from the two who were left to fix whatever misunderstanding they had.
… … …
"Chikage-san, what are you doing?" Masaomi asked his boss, who at the moment seemed more interested in the catalogue he was looking at than the work he was supposed to have been doing.
"Expanding our reserve." Chikage answered with a low grin, pleased with himself.
"Yeah, but you're ignoring the crates we're supposed to be bringing in. And it's almost opening hour." Masaomi reminded his boss while another host came in to help.
"Don't worry about it." While the man laughed by himself, his employees tried to ignore how much he had been slacking. "By the way, I hear your best friend is back in town. Are you planning on going ahead with that little plan of yours?"
Masaomi froze on the spot. How did he find out? Chikage snickered at that and tried to stop his laughter from blowing out. Ah, damn it. His clients; should've known. "Of course I will. As soon as Mikado resolves whatever is bothering him. I'm not so insensitive as to ask him right at this moment. I've learned to read the air." He answered with a small sigh of defeat.
"Good, good. I've been waiting for this for a while as well. I want to go too." Chikage joked with a grin and returned to his catalogue. "So make sure he answers positively or I'll force the answer out of him."
"Don't need to tell me twice, boss." Masaomi laughed himself and picked up another crate. "But help out, will ya? We really are running out of time."
… … …
"Mikado-kun is back?" Kasuka sounded confused by the words his brother uttered. Ruri was playing with Ruka in the other room so she was not privy to the conversation. Therefore, she could not mention how she already knew or that she found out about it back when she saw Shizuo in front of Mikado's old apartment.
"I didn't say anything since I knew you'd be worried." Shizuo explained but kept quiet again. He had been staring at his scar, repeating past scenes over and over in his mind like a broken recorder. It was as if he tried to make a different decision to change the present. However, nothing he thought of would alter the now he lived in. It was simply hard to accept that.
"But you're mentioning it now. That means you want something, doesn't it brother? Or do you simply wish to vent your frustration? I don't mind either way. You know you can come to me for anything." Kasuka tried to soothe his older brother's worries in his own way, though he had no idea what truly plagued Shizuo.
Without receiving an answer, Kasuka sat down on his sofa, next to his brother. He could wait for as long as Shizuo needed. "You talked to him before, right? Did he…seem angry?"
"Before he left you mean?" Kasuka tilted his head in confusion. "No. Back then, he was…worried, I would say. I could tell he had something on his mind but he didn't want to talk about it." He answered while remembering the past. There was something else, but he wasn't sure he could talk about it at the moment.
"So it is my fault he left. Damn it… When will I learn?" Though he muttered that last line to himself, Kasuka still managed to hear his brother's anguish.
"What happened?" Kasuka asked, finding it odd that his brother would torture himself this much because of something from so long ago. But he knew how kind his brother was, so he wasn't that surprised, just worried.
"I pushed him away." Shizuo answered almost honestly. "I just… I was surprised so I wanted to talk about it and didn't realize he was that torn up about it. And even now, that I have his number again, all I can do is push. I don't know if I can be as stubborn as you Kasuka."
"Brother just needs to be brother." Kasuka commented and saw Ruri come in with his son. "Alright, I'll go talk to him myself."
"But you don't know where he is." Shizuo was confused; he didn't know what Kasuka was planning.
"Izaya-san will know." He wasn't saying that to irk his brother, but he knew that what he just said was most likely true. "There's no way he hasn't found out. So, Ruri-san, could you and Ruka-kun accompany me?"
Ruri looked towards her husband with a surprised look. "Eh? Kasuka-san, you want to use Ruka?"
"It'll be alright. That man can't do anything to Ruka-kun." Kasuka pet his son's head softly and with care. The child, in return, smiled at his father before muttering a 'gao' like a small animal.
To Be Continued…