A/N: I made it in time for Shizuo's birthday! Happy birthday, Shizu-chan! ...Though sadly, this is a chapter that I really struggled with. B-but there's Shizuo in it, so at least it can still count for a birthday present, right? Ahaha but then again, I'm not being very kind to him in this chapter...

As always, thank you for favouriting/following/reviewing! Just the fact that there are people who are reading this makes me happy. :)

Edit (5/4/2013): Added in Vorona.

April 15, 2013

Souji, as expected, was the first to wake up. After he washed up and changed into a fresh set of clothes - which included a white long-sleeved turtleneck and a pair of plain, dark blue jeans - he made his way to the kitchen as quietly as possible. The silver-haired adolescent decided to prepare an exquisite breakfast, mostly out of guilt for ordering Yosuke a not-so-pleasant lunch, but also because he wanted to congratulate his friend for making it into the course he wanted. With that in mind, Souji began looking through the fridge for any suitable ingredients.

He was preparing the batter and bread when Yosuke, still dressed in his orange, white polka-dotted pyjamas, strolled into the kitchen, opened the fridge to grab an unsealed carton of milk, and slurped it up sleepily. Amused at the sight, Souji shook his head, chuckling to himself as he dipped the bread into the egg mixture and proceeded to cook it. The aroma of the French toast captivated the brunet who was still in the kitchen, distracting him from the milk carton in his hands and compelling him to move closer to his chef. He looked over Souji's shoulder and watched him prepare the meal, nearly drooling at how delicious it appeared.

Yosuke soon found himself gobbling down the toast as quickly as a bullet train; in fact, he was going so fast Souji was worried that he would choke, and the latter had to keep reminding him to eat more slowly. Still, seeing his best friend enjoy the breakfast he prepared to this extent more than pleased him.

They returned to their respective rooms to recheck their bags, making sure that everything they needed was accounted for. Souji was the first to get ready, since Yosuke needed time to change into proper clothes. The brunet, now wearing a pale pink v-neck shirt and brown jeans, apologised for holding them up when he exited his room. Then, the pair put on their jackets and shoes before they left the apartment together, ready for their first day at Raira University.

News of a dead body being found hanging from a lamp post, as disturbing as it sounded, didn't deter the many inhabitants of Ikebukuro who were filling up the streets as they hurried to work or school. Most of the men and women were on their phones, discussing business deals or other work-related matters as they walked briskly. Students could be found waiting at bus stops, or taking their usual ways to school.

Everyone was living their normal, daily lives, unaffected by what had transpired in the city just the night before. It was as if nothing had happened in the first place.

Though that was to be expected, Yosuke found it slightly frustrating. "I don't remember things being like this back when I was living in the city. I mean, sure, there are more important things to pay attention to, but the people here can't be that apathetic."

"That's just how they are," Souji replied. "They talk about it for a day, and then the next they forget about it."

The brunet sighed. "Well, at least they aren't gossiping about it or saying bad things about the victim like the people in Inaba did."

Souji nodded silently as he remembered the situation in Inaba when the first two bodies were found. The death of Yamano Mayumi and the position of her body when it was discovered caused quite an uproar in the quiet town. Following that was Konishi Saki's death, which was met with both sorrow and contempt. While her family and Yosuke mourned for her passing, most of the townspeople as well as the student body, especially people from her cohort, sneered and talked behind her back. It was a horrible period of time for Yosuke, and seeing his friend so down made Souji feel upset too. In comparison to that, maybe it was better if people were more indifferent.

But of course, if it hadn't been for all the badmouthing, Yosuke wouldn't have had the opportunity to speak up for the senpai he cherished so much, and then he wouldn't have grown as a person. Then, perhaps, the truth was that there were people who despised Saki and didn't feel any remorse towards her passing and, to someone like Yosuke who liked her even though she didn't reciprocate his feelings, it was painful to hear all that and be constantly reminded of her death. But it was by facing that reality and deciding to do something about it that Yosuke could overcome his own weaknesses. When he thought of it that way, Souji decided that it was not an experience that was entirely bad.

Still, it didn't change the fact that nobody would want to be talked about in that way, so Souji could see where Yosuke was coming from.

"Anyway," the brunet's voice stopped Souji's train of thought. "since the victim was a high school student, there could be some commotion about it in the school the victim went to, so we might have some luck in finding the information we need when we head down to the high schools here in 'Bukuro."

"Don't you want to wait for Naoto to give us the information?"

"Well, we can't really tell when exactly the paperwork will be done, right? It's best if we get hold of something first." Yosuke shrugged.

"Hmm...I guess you're right. Ah, then that reminds me..." Souji trailed off, whipping out his cell phone to type out a message. A short moment later, he said, "Done. I hope my juniors at Raira Academy will reply me soon."

"Well, considering that it's a message from their favourite Senpai, I'm sure they will," Yosuke teased, winking at his best friend.

"They're not Rise, you know," the silver-haired adolescent chuckled. "I don't exactly have much of a presence in the school, actually. Since I transferred there as a Third Year student, I didn't get to know many people."

"Huh, really? I would have expected people to flock to you straight away..."

"Everyone was too busy preparing for the entrance examinations, I guess." Souji shrugged nonchalantly. "I knew more First and Second Years than Third Years back then. But it was only because the teachers recommended me to join the student council."

Yosuke gave a whistle, a piece of evidence that he was impressed and proud of his partner. "Still, that's pretty cool. I mean, the student council? You deserve it, man."

The pair continued chatting as they made their way to the university, with Souji revealing more bits and pieces of his life in Ikebukuro after leaving Inaba and Yosuke going more in-depth into things that happened Inaba during Souji's absence. Occasionally, they also reminisced about the year they spent together in the rural town, discussing about both the case as well as school life. They were so immersed in their conversation that they didn't even realise that they had passed by a certain blond ex-bartender, who was walking behind a dreadlocked man.

"You sure you don't wanna take today off, Shizuo? You're not looking too good..." Tom advised worriedly, his brows furrowed as he turned back to face his kouhai.

"Senpai is unwell?" enquired the blonde trailing behind Shizuo. Though she had spoken them out of consideration for his health, there was an evident lack of emotion in her words.

Shizuo gave her a soft smile. "Nah, I'm fine. Thanks, Vorona."

The female whom Shizuo referred to as Vorona kept her eyes on him. "…The words 'I'm fine' - most used lie. Possible motivation behind it is to hide real feelings from other people. Senpai is clearly unwell, yet Senpai said 'I'm fine'. A lie, I affirm."

"What she said, Shizuo."

"Really, I'm okay," Shizuo replied politely, keeping his hands in his pockets as he followed Tom. Then, he looked at the Russian following him, and added, "And that's not a lie."

His senior sighed. "If you say so... Just don't push yourself, alright? We have a long day ahead of us."

"Got it," the bodyguard said, slightly absentmindedly. He could faintly register Tom's concern for him, and part of him felt bad for not knowing how to react to that. On top of that, the blond knew that he should be more focused on his work to ensure that he didn't accidentally give his senpai trouble, but still, he couldn't help but think back to the previous night's talk with Celty. Shizuo hadn't intended to spill out everything he felt to the Dullahan at first, but the more he talked about the day's events, the more agitated he got.

It all started when he was having lunch with his senpai and kouhai, which he ordered from Russia Sushi. Halfway through the meal, he picked up on a familiar odour, and not long after, said odoriferous person was skipping along the street with a smug look on his face, as if he owned the world. Needless to say, it struck a nerve, and so the most eloquent response Shizuo could come up with was to pick up a vending machine and hurl it at the flea across the street.

Ignoring Simon's cries and Tom's exasperated sigh, the blond had begun chasing after the flea, who started running. His frustration continued building up as time passed and, after uprooting a sign post, he went after Izaya again. Neither of them seemed to take note of how much time had passed since the chase began; all Shizuo could remember was that he kept tossing things and missing, as usual. And it just served to piss him off more, as usual.

But when Izaya tried to escape by running into a dark alley and Shizuo followed after him, he knew, then, that something wasn't right. As he went further down the deserted route, he heard the louse knock into something; that, by itself, already struck him as odd because Izaya never moved around so carelessly like that. Part of him was reluctant to go on and wondering why he was suddenly so curious about the flea. The other part of him wanted to know if it was a trick, and if the flea was up to something.

In the end, Shizuo decided to go closer. He kept moving forward until he saw a faint light coming from the left, and then he made a turn there. It took only a few steps to get to the source of the light, which turned out to be Izaya's cell phone. When Shizuo was about to ask what the flea was doing, Izaya simply shone the light in his face and then directed his attention to what was above them.

It was a body, of all things, hanging from a lamp post. There was blood dripping from it, making a pool of blood on the ground. The skin had turned a sickly shade of bluish purple. What made it worse was that the eyes were wide open, but they looked like they had sunken into the head, so Shizuo could see-

He shook his head and quickly lit a cigarette. 'Stop thinking about it, dammit,' Shizuo reprimanded himself, putting the cigarette to his lips. He didn't notice Tom turning back to cast him yet another worried glance and simply carried on smoking, even though he promised his senpai that he would try not to smoke during working hours. It had completely slipped past his mind, and Shizuo was too distracted to realise it, but Tom let it slide.

"...You can always confide in me, you know," the dreadlocked man muttered softly. He had said so, with the slightest bit of hope that Shizuo could hear him. But at the same time, he wanted Shizuo to come to him on his own accord, not because he was doing it for a senpai. After all, to Tom, the blond wasn't simply a junior he got to know from middle school.

As expected, Shizuo didn't hear him.

Lessons ended sooner than he had anticipated.

It wasn't as bad as Yosuke initially thought it would be, but still, the idea of studying and going to school was enough to make him worried that he wouldn't fit in. Going to college might have had been his own idea, but he didn't think that he would pass the entrance exams and land himself a place at Raira University.

While it wasn't a top university like the University of Tokyo was, it was prestigious enough for even people living in a backwater town like Inaba to know about. Neighbours congratulated him for his achievement; even people shopping at Junes who happened to see him would specially go up to him to offer their congratulations and praise. To them, Yosuke suddenly appeared as a confident and capable young man with a bright future, but the brunet knew he was anything but that.

All along, Yosuke believed that him getting into Raira had just been a fluke. The first day proved that. He couldn't really follow the lectures, although he did manage to take some notes, but after re-reading them, he realised that he couldn't understand what he had written, so they became worthless to him. Yosuke expected that, of course. It was the fact that he could even write anything at all that made the entire situation seem not so horrible.

When the last tutorial of the day was over, Yosuke quickly left the room after packing his study material to hurry to the main building's lobby, which was the meeting place that Souji had designated. His partner wasn't there when Yosuke reached, though. The brunet figured that since Psychology was technically a more demanding course, the duration of the lectures and tutorials were probably longer than those of Statistics.

Ten minutes later, Souji turned up. He apologised for being late, and explained that during the last tutorial, he had a peculiar professor, who wanted to get to know everyone in the tutorial group and used some interesting methods to engage the students. In the end, it turned out to be the professor's way of introducing the students to the module and getting them to understand how people behave to certain stimuli.

Yosuke gaped. Souji laughed when he saw that.

"Oh, right." The leader of the Investigation Team now looked more serious, and took out his phone. "I got a reply from one of my juniors. She said that she heard something about the case."

Yosuke regained his composure. "That means...the victim was a student at Raira Academy?"

"Most likely," Souji replied, nodding. "We'll need to head there and ask her ourselves, but it's still too early for school to end..."

They both checked their phones for the time. "Huh, shouldn't it still be lunch break by now?" Yosuke asked after he realised that it was only thirty minutes past noon.

Souji put his phone back into his pocket and shook his head. "Well, yes, but by the time we reach there, there'd be very little time left, so we won't be able to find out much."

The brunet sighed, slightly disappointed. "That sucks. So we have no choice but to wait, huh?"

"We can go have lunch, I guess. Though there might be a crowd at the cafeteria by now. Unless you want to-"

"No no no, we are not going back there again," Yosuke retorted, cringing at the thought of the strange sushi that his partner relished.

Souji chuckled. "Okay, okay. The cafeteria it is, then."

As they began heading in the direction of the cafeteria, the pair shared other titbits of how their lectures or tutorials went for the day. Yosuke spilled out his self-doubt, and handed Souji the notes he had scribbled to prove his inability, but the silver-haired adolescent seemed more impressed than perplexed and assured his best friend that he was coping just fine. The brunet, slightly flushed from the compliment, tried to challenge that statement, but failed to think of a reasonable argument, and ended up thanking his partner instead. He quickly hid the notes away before changing the subject.

They were walking down the steps of the spiral staircase leading to the main building canteen when someone called out to Souji from behind them. The pair turned, and noticed an elderly man, who was dressed rather intelligently, standing at the top of the staircase and smiling as he waved at them.

"Ah, Professor," Souji acknowledged, before turning to face Yosuke. "That's the professor I was talking about earlier."

The brunet's eyes shone with understanding, then gestured to his friend to go meet with his teacher and that he would be fine waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Souji gave him an apologetic look while nodding back, and parted with his friend to walk back up the steps.

"Yes, Professor, were you looking for me?" Souji asked politely when he reached the top of the staircase where the elderly man was waiting.

The professor answered, "Hrm, I wouldn't say so. Just going around the campus for a walk, and then I saw you and found you familiar before I remembered that you're one of my students. So I called you just to make sure."

"I see," the silver-haired adolescent replied, smiling. "Then, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for the tutorial you conducted earlier. It was most enjoyable, and I have learned a lot from it."

"Haha! You're an odd one, Seta-kun," the elderly man commented as he stroked his chin, where a beard was beginning to grow. "It is our duty to pass down our knowledge to people of the younger generations like you. I'm just doing my job, nothing more than that."

Souji didn't quite know how to respond to that. It was strange enough for a university professor to call out to him when he clearly wasn't free, and having that same professor whom he had only known for about two hours or so call him 'odd' was even stranger, but Souji didn't want to seem rude in questioning the older man's way of socialising with his students, so in the end, he settled for a nod to acknowledge that he had paid attention to the professor's words.

"Well, I think we've kept your friend waiting long enough." The elder gave Souji a kind smile. "I'll see you in future tutorials, Seta-kun."

"Yes, thank you," the grey-haired adolescent replied. He bowed, and then he walked down the steps towards where Yosuke was waiting.

Watching the young man's back fading into the distance from above, the professor chuckled softly to himself. "Ah, yes, quite an oddity you are, Seta-kun. Reminds me of one of my former students, I must say. It does make me wonder how he's doing now, that Orihara-kun..."

Then, with another amused chuckle, he turned, and went back to his daily walk around the university.

To the awkward situation that Souji was in a hurry to escape from earlier, Yosuke had only one thing to say: "Dude, that is just creepy." And the pair decided to leave it at that.

Souji didn't want to think about how tutorials that were conducted by that professor would be like in the future, knowing that he would most likely be singled out to answer questions and become the subject of his professor's...rather quirky antics. If he hadn't already.

It wasn't that he felt unsafe in the older man's presence, but rather, Souji simply didn't know how to react to such unexpected gestures and comments.

The idea of someone calling out to him, just to find him odd in the end even though he had been acting perfectly normal? That bothered him more than he had expected.

"A-anyway, let's just focus on the case for now," Yosuke said, trying to sound as soothing as he could muster, even though he was just as unsettled himself.

Deciding that being hung up over what happened earlier wouldn't benefit him, Souji attempted to forget about it by listening to Yosuke's advice. He nodded stiffly. "You're right. That takes priority."

They took their time to finish up lunch before they left the campus to head towards Raira Academy, which wasn't too far away. At the security guard checkpoint, Souji explained that he was a former student who wanted to give a friend a tour around the school, and after they found his records, the guards let them pass. Since classes hadn't ended yet, Souji and Yosuke decided to wait by the council room and sent a message to his kouhai to notify her.

It wasn't long before Souji received a reply. The pair waited patiently, and sure enough, an apathetic-looking student appeared. She had her light brown hair tied up in two bushy ponytails, one on each side of her head, and was dressed in the proper school uniform. Her lips slowly curled into a tiny, but honest, smile upon seeing the familiar silver-haired adolescent standing in front of her.

"Seta-senpai, it's nice to see you again."

Her voice was soft, but because of the close distance between the two older teens and her, they could hear her clearly. Souji smiled back.

"Same here, Kamichika."

Yosuke, face slightly red, poked his companion in the shoulder and then leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Dude, what's with this girl here? She's super cute! Is she the junior you were talking about earlier on?"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce you," Souji said, nodding as an affirmation to Yosuke's question. "This is my friend I met back in Inaba. Hanamura Yosuke."

The girl, whom her senpai referred to as Kamichika, gave the brunet a courteous bow. The small smile was still evident on her face. Her gesture just made Yosuke more flustered than before.

"This is Kamichika Rio-san." The silver-haired adolescent tried not to give his friend a look of disapproval as he carried on with the introductions. "She was a Second Year student when I first arrived here. She helped me out a lot when I joined the student council."

Rio lightly shook her head. "No, it was Senpai who had been a great help to us. I didn't do anything special."

"You're being too modest, Kamichika," Souji commented lightheartedly. Then, his face fell. "Anyway, I'm sorry to ask you to come here right after class. I know it isn't convenient to do so, but we need to ask you some questions regarding the body that was found yesterday."

The smile was immediately wiped clean from Rio's features, whose shoulders sunk a little at the mention of the real reason why they were gathered there that day. "Oh...that's right."

Yosuke flinched upon noticing the Third Year's reaction. "Did...did you know the victim personally?"

"No," the student councillor answered quietly. "But, I think...someone in class 3A was dating that person. I heard that they started going out two years ago, and that they were a very loving couple."

The brunet casted his eyes downward. "...I see," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Souji gave him a sympathetic look, but said nothing.

While Yosuke and Saki weren't dating, it was an undeniable fact that Yosuke harboured romantic feelings towards her, so it wasn't unusual for him to be devastated to hear of her death. Now, after hearing about two people who loved each other dearly but were eternally separated because one of them was killed, Yosuke couldn't help but feel upset for the one who was left behind.

...No, not just upset. Anger, frustration, sorrow-the same emotions that tormented him for months since Konishi-senpai's death were spiralling within him, like a tornado that wouldn't leave anything but destruction in its wake. Even though Yosuke had already accepted the fact that his senpai was gone, it still hurt to hear about something familiar happening to someone else.

Realising that he shouldn't be too bothered by these feelings at this time, Yosuke shook his head in an effort to distract himself, then asked, "Is there anything else you can tell us about the victim? Like, the name or gender?"

"Um, well..." Rio trailed off, taking a careful glance at her surroundings. "I think it'll be safer if we talk about this in the council room."

"Not a problem," Souji replied without a beat. He and Yosuke parted away from the council room door, allowing the Third Year student to enter the room first before they followed her in.

After Yosuke made sure to close and lock the door behind him, Rio nodded. "Yeah, we were told the student's particulars just this morning. The police talked to the principal and the teachers, and then the teachers passed down the information to the student councillors and the students from the class the victim was in."

"Huh? The principal didn't make an announcement to the rest of the student body?"

Kamichika shook her head, then directed her attention to Yosuke. "No, he didn't..." she answered his question. "The teachers think that it's because the less who know, the better. But they felt that they needed to inform the student's classmates and the councillors, at the very least."

"Most likely for damage control," Souji suggested. "If rumours about the victim begin to spread around the school, the councillors may be able to do something about it to prevent them from leaking out to the public. Though it's very risky."

"But why go to all the trouble? Just because the family of the victim doesn't want the public to know about the details?" Yosuke then brought a clenched fist to his forehead, appearing deep in thought. "And...doesn't it seem kinda redundant to keep a closed lid on information about the victim? I mean, even just a handful of people who know can just make use of social networks to spread the information and soon, the whole city will know. It's only a matter of time before the public knows who the victim is."

"They won't," Rio affirmed. "Because nobody would want to get into trouble."

"...And, uh, you're not afraid of that? I mean, wouldn't telling us about the victim get you into trouble?"

"We're away from the other students now, so it's okay." The student councillor smiled faintly. "Besides...if I can be of any use to Senpai and Hanamura-san, I'd be happy to help in any way possible."

Souji nodded. "Thank you, Kamichika. This is more than enough."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Yosuke mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his nose, looking rather pleased with what Rio had said.

The girl, whose face was a little flushed, looked away from the two undergraduates standing in front of her. "U-um, so..."

"Yes, please carry on," Souji requested, gently poking Yosuke's side with his elbow. Recognising it as a sign that the silver-haired adolescent was trying to tell him not to get too carried away, Yosuke nudged him back with the heel of his left foot.

"...The student who passed away..." Rio started, redirecting her attention to the pair. "I think you've heard about him too, Seta-senpai. It's Yagiri Seiji-san...from class 3A."

Yagiri Seiji, age 17. Born on June 13, 1995. Passed away on April 14, 2013. Only living biological family member known currently is his older sister, Yagiri Namie, who was previously the head of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals.

He was attending Raira Academy since the year 2011, and had a tendency to skip lessons and play truant. Teachers and students alike described him as strange, rude, and aloof. Few people in school knew him personally, which included his alleged girlfriend, Harima Mika, who was assigned to the same class as he throughout the years of his education at Raira Academy.

Yagiri Seiji was found dead on April 14, 2013. His body was discovered in an alley by two people - Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya - whose purposes for being in such a remote place are currently ambiguous. Allegedly it was a Russian man named Semyon Brezhnev who called the police, and all three men were taken to the station to record their statements. Forensic pathologists sent to the site confirmed that the deceased had died of unnatural causes, with a time of death at exactly 12.01 in the morning.

A more detailed examination revealed that there were no signs of struggle found on Yagiri Seiji's body, neither were there any fatal wounds nor lethal poisons or harmful chemicals detected. The coroner had also confirmed that the deceased's vital organs were perfectly functional, so it was impossible for the cause of death to be sudden organ failure. The possibility of suicide, too, was eliminated as the deceased expressed no suicidal tendencies, according to Harima Mika's statement. Further investigation will be needed to confirm the cause of death.

But the fifth in the Shirogane line of detectives knew that it would be a fruitless search.

A man in his twenties found himself alone in his apartment that day.

He had slept in - a rare occurrence by itself - and woke up to find no breakfast or lunch prepared for him, which was yet another unusual sight. But it wasn't unexpected.

When he noticed the envelope placed on his work desk, he simply smiled, and walked over to sit in his swivel chair. While waiting for his computer to finish loading, the man reached out from his chair to take the envelope, feeling its contents with his fingers. Instinctively, he turned to face one of his many bookshelves on the second floor, eyes landing on the empty space between the books of the topmost shelf.

Seemingly amused, the man placed the envelope down onto the table. Then he rested his chin on the back of both of his hands, staring at the screen intently.

"...Really, Namie, you're such a despicable woman," he muttered. "But that's just what makes humans like you so fascinating to watch. Wouldn't you agree?"

Silence answered him.

Izaya's smirk widened.