April 28, 2013
At the same time, along the streets of Ikebukuro, Tokyo
"Oh, if it isn't Shizuo," said the man with a beanie, standing in front of a group of three other people.
"...Kadota." Shizuo sent a nod of acknowledgement in his former schoolmate's way. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah we're heading to—"
"Why owe're heading to Tower Records, of course!" Yumasaki Walker, one of Kadota's friends, replied enthusiastically. He had stepped out from behind the taller man and was pumping his fists in the air and in Shizuo's face. "Doncha know about it? Risette's holding an event to promote her latest CD there!"
Shizuo gave a low hum, his reply as monotone as the expression on his face. "Who's Risette?"
Walker looked absolutely aghast. "Whaaaaaaat?! How do you not know about Risette?! You know, the super hot, super talented teen idol-pop star who recently starred in a blockbuster movie?!"
"...Haven't heard of her."
"Ehhhhhh?!"
"Pipe down, Yumasaki, even if someone is particularly famous that doesn't mean everyone would know about them," Kadota pointed out.
"But it's the Risette!" Walker insisted, his normally pale cheeks dusted with red. "The same person who's been singing the opening and ending themes of a whole variety of anime! And get this, word's gotten out that she's been asked to take part in a live-action adaptation, too! That's almost like a three-dimensional 2D dream come true!"
"Ohhh speaking of which," Erika joined in, much to Kadota and Togusa's chagrin, "if we're gonna talk about a 3D-2D dream come true, then it just has to be Shizu-Shizu and Iza-Iza's love—"
"Wha—Karisawa, shhhhh!" Flabbergasted and knees shaking, Togusa managed to stop her before the self-proclaimed fujoshi could finish her sentence. "You know better than to mention that guy's name in front of Heiwajima!" he whispered in her ear harshly, hoping Shizuo's hearing wasn't as unusual as his strength was.
At the same time, Tom sighed quietly to himself and closed his eyes, making a mental countdown. When he got to "one", and realised that nothing out of the ordinary happened, he opened an eye. What he saw made him raise both brows and blink once, then twice.
Shizuo hadn't moved as much as a muscle, and his expression remained unchanged, as though he hadn't heard Karisawa mention the name of the man he detested so much, let alone the unfinished implication that the two were in love with one another.
What the fortissimo of Ikebukuro said in response left everyone, even Vorona and Erika, in bewilderment.
"Huh? What about him?"
"...Eh?"
"I said, what about Izaya?" Shizuo repeated his earlier question, oblivious to Togusa's muttered surprise.
Erika, however, recovered the quickest, and skipped forward to elaborate before anyone could stop her again, "Two weeks back, two weeks back! There was a video clip broadcasted allllll over Ikebukuro, showing you and Iza-Iza being all lovey-dovey with each other!"
"Oi Karisawa—"
"All we could see was just two dark shadows, though, but there's no mistaking your figures!"
Shizuo blinked at that. "Shadows...? Wait, something like that happened?"
"Uh, Shizuo...?" Kadota murmured, brows furrowed in confusion.
"Shadows, huh... I see. I get it," Shizuo said, though it had sounded like it was mostly directed at himself.
"A-anyway, we should get going! The event's about to start soon," Walker cut in.
"Ehhh but I haven't gotten to the juiciest part yet!" Erika pouted as she was dragged off. "Aww, well bye-bye, Shizu-Shizu! Maybe next time we bump into each other, I'll tell you more, 'kay?"
"Enough, Karisawa—sorry about her, Shizuo, you don't have to pay attention to what she told you," Kadota said, ready to follow his friends in the direction of Tower Records.
"Nah, it's fine," Shizuo replied, with a casual shrug. Unsure of what to make of Shizuo's behaviour, but relieved nonetheless, Kadota flashed him a smile and a firm nod before waving farewell and joining his friends.
Meanwhile, Tom and Vorona were left staring at their fellow colleague, questions forming in their minds that also attempted to come up with possible answers to those questions. While Vorona remained silent in her assessment, Tom eventually heaved a light sigh, the edges of his lips curling to a warm smile.
"You've grown, Shizuo," the dreadlocked man said in a gentle tone, reaching up to pat his middle school kouhai on the shoulder.
Shizuo turned to face Tom directly. "You think so?" he murmured.
"That's the feeling I get, after knowing you for so long," Tom said, nodding twice. "Before, you'd get mad at just the mention of that information broker's name, but recently I don't see anything like that from you anymore. I'll admit, it's pretty sudden, but I'm glad regardless."
As Shizuo mulled over his senpai's words, Vorona stepped forward. With her regular vacant, yet contemplative, expression, she spoke, "Can I affirm if the meaning of this is that Shizuo-senpai no longer regards Orihara Izaya as a 'flea'?"
"Hmm..." Shizuo thought about this for a while, before responding, "Nah. Once a flea, always a flea to me. But well... Maybe not a flea flea anymore."
Vorona appeared mildly puzzled. "Requesting elaboration, if it is fine with Senpai."
"Honestly, I'm still in the middle of figuring it out, myself," Shizuo admitted. "I guess it's more like...maybe I don't really see him as that bad of a flea now. Or...maybe it's because there's a flea even worse than him that's out there." As he mentioned this, Shizuo frowned. "Never thought I'd ever say this, but I actually hate that thing more than I do Izaya."
"Yikes," Tom said. "Someone worse than Izaya, huh... Can't say I'd ever want to meet them."
"I'll make sure of that."
"Huh?"
"I'll make sure you and Vorona...and everybody else won't get to meet that thing, Tom-san," Shizuo said, keeping his voice calm and steady.
"Shizuo..." Tom murmured, looking at his kouhai with slightly widened eyes. Then, with another smile, the dreadlocked man patted him on the shoulder again, and thanked him. Vorona watched, at first, before following suit, though hers evidently lacked the same degree of warmth that Tom was able to bring across. Shizuo didn't mind it, however, and was just as grateful to her as he was to his senpai.
"...Ah," Shizuo muttered, turning to Vorona, "yeah, as I was saying, well... The flea's still a flea to me, in the end. Or more like...still being the trashy insect he is. Creepy, slippery, and just downright annoying. Definitely more on the annoying part. Seriously, that bastard... Even when he's not in Ikebukuro, still causing trouble..."
"Understood," the Russian replied in an almost mechanic fashion. "Then I shall file this new flea, that is worse than Orihara Izaya, formerly 'The Flea', under 'The Worst Flea', and Orihara Izaya under 'Trashy Insect', bearing the characteristics of 'creepy', 'slippery', and 'downright annoying', on top of everything else Shizuo-senpai has ever described him as. Additional note – excessive emphasis on 'annoying'."
"Yeah, you do that," Shizuo encouraged.
Tom could only shake his head amusedly.
"—aughable."
"You're so, so laughable I think my stomach is about to burst just looking at you!"
"...Huh? What's so funny? Did you seriously just ask that? Seriously?"
"You're killing me over here. Be careful about doing that – wouldn't want to throw up on you. At least, not right now."
"Well then, let's see, where was I? ...Ah, right. I was in the middle of mocking you. Just thinking about that makes my insides swirl, really. It's so fun laughing at your expense. Especially when you try so hard to avert your eyes even when the truth is right in front of you."
"Yes, that's right. The truth. About what, you ask? ...You're hopeless, aren't you."
"About yourself, of course. Have you even been paying attention to what I've been telling you?"
"What, or you thought I've been talking about some other spineless coward? Oh please, why would I do that when I'm so obviously you? I'm your truth incarnate... I know everything about you, past all the stupid walls and barriers you've created to keep everybody out. And you know that, don't you?"
"After all, you're me."
"So of course, you know everything I've been saying up till now has never been truer. You're just too pissed off to admit it, even to yourself."
"...What? 'There's no such thing as a truer truth since lies and truths are often hard to distinguish nowadays'...? Ha, hahahahaha! What—what on earth are you saying? Are you even listening to yourself?"
"Going by that logic I can claim that your existence is not any less of a lie than your love for all humans as a truth. Isn't that funny? That's as good as saying that you exist and you don't at the same time. Or that you love and you don't love humans at the same time. Doesn't that sound hilarious to you? Does that even sound right in the first place? Oh man, you're such a poor excuse of a walking contradiction you're making my stomach ache."
"You, you do realise that what you've been doing is all in vain, yes? Seriously, even when I'm right in front of you, in this place that sprung from you, you still try to dodge the issue? You're really hopeless, goodness! Are you even worth all the effort those youngsters are putting in to save you from this place? To save you from yourself?"
"...I believe you know the answer to that more than anybody else. Which means... I know the answer, too."
"That's precisely why...I find you so laughable."
In an apartment along the Kawagoe Highway
"...He's burning up," Shinra distractedly noted, keeping his palm rested on his current patient's forehead while Teddie, who had waddled in with him, fetched the thermometer from the tray of medical equipment.
They had entered this same room that Izaya had been occupying since the incident in the TV world two weeks ago, holding some degree of expectation to see the informant awake or making some kind of recovery from his exhaustion. So they had both taken turns to call Izaya awake, and it wasn't until Shinra noticed the quick, heavy breaths his friend was taking in his sleep that he realised something was amiss.
"Shinra, here."
"Ah, thank you, Teddie-kun." Shinra accepted the thermometer with his usual smile back on his face, and promptly took Izaya's temperature. The device gave off a series of beeping sounds in rapid succession, which could only mean one thing, but Shinra checked the screen regardless. "Yup, it's a fever alright. He must be really worn out, if he's developed a fever from that."
"Humans aren't meant to be in that world for too long, after all," Teddie said, lowering his head. Shinra understood that to also mean Izaya had been fortunate to get away with just a fever at the end of it all.
"And by 'that world', you mean the realm our mystery help was talking about, right?" Shinra said, getting up to clean and then place the thermometer back to its usual place. "Not the TV world?"
Teddie hesitated for a brief moment, before nodding as if he was still wearing that large, bulky suit that Shinra had seen when he was inside the television. The blond boy didn't elaborate any further, however, and Shinra decided to leave it at that. Pressing him for answers would make the former Shadow more unsettled than he already was at the moment – that was Shinra's primary concern in the first place, anyway. What was it that Teddie had to come in personally to affirm with his own eyes for? And why was he hoping that his worries would be proven wrong?
Somehow, Shinra had the feeling that his own beloved and even Anri shared such questions in their minds as well. Celty hadn't confided in him about this yet, but now that Teddie had taken the first step Shinra was almost certain that Celty would be speaking with him soon. Souji and his other friends didn't seem surprised at Teddie's request, either, but Shinra chalked it up to Teddie consulting them beforehand rather than there being a supernatural connection.
"So," Shinra started, after they had both lapsed into silence, "did you manage to find what you were looking for?"
"...Mmmrrrmmmrrrmmm..." Teddie rumbled, casting a sideway stare at the raven-haired man lying on the bed. For a split second, Shinra thought he saw the blonde's nose twitching. "I... I don't know. I can't say for sure, but..."
Shinra didn't say a word when Teddie had trailed off, and simply nodded in understanding as he opened up the cabinet to look for an antipyretic that Izaya could take in his current state while waiting for the bear to gather his thoughts.
"But... I think that—oyoyo?"
"'Oyoyo'?" Shinra echoed curiously, tilting his head over his shoulder. When he saw what was happening, the doctor stepped away from the cabinet instantly and towards the bedside. "Ahaha so the stubborn mule finally decided to wake up. How are you feeling, Izaya? Cold, feverish, aching anywhere?"
"...Like you would care," Izaya scoffed as he struggled to sit up, holding his head with one hand but he didn't seem to notice this. The informant then turned to face Shinra. "...So? Anything interesting of note that happened while I was out?"
"Other than Namie-san threatening to kill you after finding out you were keeping something from her, and learning about what a great selfless deed my dear Celty did for you? Not so much," Shinra answered, beaming like the sun. "Speaking of which, I think the both of them would be rather pleased to hear that you're awake. For completely different reasons, of course."
Izaya blinked slowly, eyes still looking slightly clouded and glazed over. "Hehhh... So Namie returned from her little vacation," he murmured with a smirk.
"Now don't tell me, you really knew about that video clip?"
"Some kind soul who happened to be passing by the alley that night sent it to me." Izaya stretched an arm out and waved it, like he was flippantly shrugging the matter off. "But I ought to clarify, I only received that clip after I had my dear secretary go pursue a possible big clue in Inaba. So it wasn't like I was withholding any information from her or anything when she came to look for me."
"I still think she'll kill you regardless."
Izaya let out a chuckle at that. "Maybe. Though I doubt that, since she draws a very clear line between things. But then again, humans can be unpredictable, so who knows?"
Sensing an Izaya-style rant coming up, Shinra motioned for the informant to move his hand away and then touched his forehead for the second time that day. The skin still felt particularly warm, but at this time it was impossible to tell if it was because of the existing fever or Izaya regaining consciousness and getting up. It could be both, Shinra concluded, because somehow it felt like Izaya had gone a tad bit warmer. An inspection this close also told him that there were small beads of perspiration that were forming around the frame of Izaya's forehead.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Shinra asked, despite knowing fully well that his friend would deflect that.
"Never felt better, in fact." Izaya raised his shoulders in a shrug. "Though I can't say if your friend here feels the same."
It was just Izaya's way of getting him off his back. Shinra knew that better than anybody else, maybe with the exception of Izaya himself. But he couldn't simply ignore what his friend from middle school had just told him, not when Teddie had some kind of purpose in coming here in the first place.
So Shinra, withdrawing his hand, turned and locked eyes with Teddie. Or at least, attempted but failed to when he saw that the former Shadow was resting his head against his hand in a manner not unlike that of Izaya earlier, but with his eyes shut tight as though he were in pain.
"Teddie-kun? Is something the matter?" Shinra said, taking a few steps towards the blonde who started shaking his head furiously.
"I don't... I don't know," Teddie whimpered. "I feel like... I feel like I've forgotten something, a-and it...it flashed in my head just now. And now I...I can't grab hold of whatever it was..."
"Do you want to go back to your friends?" Shinra suggested gently, stretching an arm to show the way to the door while placing the other hand on Teddie's shoulder. It was then that Shinra realised that it was the first time he had ever had physical contact with the younger boy, and he almost recoiled when he realised how different Teddie felt under his fingers. Almost like all he could make out was the skin and not the structures that were supposed to be lying beneath it, not even a trace of warmth or hint of a pulse.
How did it feel like to have a body like that, a part of Shinra wondered. How different was it exactly from normal human bodies? Did it grow like a regular human's, did it go hungry or thirsty and regulate energy and temperature like a regular human's, did it even have the vital organs that most humans couldn't live without – Shinra had been thinking about all that, ever since Souji and the others gave a little explanation about Teddie's origins and how he came to be the person he was today. And the same part of him felt a little blessed that he had his own past experiences with the supernatural that made him different from most doctors out in the world, and so he could offer insights that no other doctor could if he had the opportunity. And if Teddie himself was willing to, of course; that made a whole world of difference. He still wished he could have at least a vial of Shizuo's blood to work on. Did Teddie even have blood in the first place...?
"Y-yeah," Teddie said, bringing Shinra's attention back to reality. "I…want to go back to where Sensei and everyone else are..."
Shinra nodded in understanding. "Alright then. I'll join you all later. If anyone asks, tell them I'm having a word or two with Orihara-kun, and that it'd be great if nobody comes to disturb us."
Teddie could only mumble back his agreement and gratitude before shakily walking out and closing the door behind him. Shinra could hear some muffled murmurs from his side of the door, but decided to pay it little attention as he returned to Izaya's bedside.
"I'm flattered. You would choose to have a word with me than to return to your loved one who, I believe, must be waiting for you outside," was the first thing the raven opted to say.
"Well if you put it that way, I'll be leaving now," Shinra responded, purely to tease and to make a witty comeback.
"Fine by me," Izaya said, pulling his shoulders into another casual shrug.
"Ah but you don't really mean that," Shinra said cheerfully. He'd been able to see past Izaya's defenses before, but after the experience in the TV world, he found it much easier to do so now. Which made it all the more fun yet exasperating to see how his friend would choose to dodge or skirt around a topic he wasn't comfortable with. "And anyway I was serious when I said I needed to speak to you and that I don't want people interrupting."
"Whatever floats your boat." Izaya pulled his legs to his chest, rested an elbow on one of his knees, and then, with his chin on a clenched fist belonging to the same arm, faced Shinra directly, keeping his usual smirk on his face. "So? What is it that you wanted to say?"
Shinra grabbed the nearest stool, placed it close to the bed, and took his time in taking a seat as he tried to gather his thoughts about what he had intended to say when Izaya awakened from his deep sleep.
He could see the auburn eyes watching him, glued to his every action. "...And something tells me it's not simply just a word or two," the owner of said eyes added with a somewhat wary tone, yet the plastic smile never faltered as he said so.
"It's not," Shinra confirmed, keeping his voice light. "Izaya, I want you to be frank with me about something."
"Hmm?"
"Did you know all of this was going to happen when you found Seiji-kun's body?"
Izaya's brow twitched faintly, but the smirk didn't leave his face. "Is there anybody who can make predictions about the future and make a hundred percent guarantee that they would come true?" he asked back. "If one hasn't experienced that future for himself, can they really make the claim that whatever they predicted would be something absolute or set in stone?"
"You like to believe you can."
"Indeed, indeed," Izaya laughed. "But unfortunately, I have to admit that's beyond me. It would be nice, of course, but then, where's the fun in knowing everything that is about to happen in advance?"
"So you had an inkling," Shinra ventured a guess, trying to contain Izaya's rambling to a minimum. Under normal circumstances, he probably would've let the informant run his mouth dry, but he didn't want to keep Celty and Souji-kun and the others hanging on something so crucial to the case they had been so anxious about.
"You can put it that way, yes," Izaya said with a nod, looking rather pleased in spite of the true outcome that his "inkling" couldn't have possibly predicted. "That serial murder case in Inaba made a lot of people curious, you know. Not to mention the rise in kidnappings or unexplained disappearances of various people that just so happened to have taken place at around the same time. There were conflicting reports on who the real culprit was, as well as vague accounts about their modus operandi... And then, nearly two years after that, we have something similar happening here."
Izaya then continued, conveniently leaving out the details about him having been the one to have discovered Seiji's corpse, "It wasn't that hard to figure out, especially when Naoto-chan and her friends kindly took the time and trouble to come all the way to my apartment to warn me. In fact, even if they hadn't done so, I was already prepared for the likely event that I would be targeted."
"But you didn't think it'd be something so, ah, thrilling, right?" Shinra said, placing gleeful emphasis on the word "thrilling". "I mean, a world inside the TV, the Midnight Channel...and Shadows, you know?" He had made a deliberate pause there. "No way you could've imagined that it'd involve all of these things. Even I wouldn't have thought so."
To his mild surprise, however, Izaya didn't even seem the slightest bit annoyed. On the contrary, he looked rather self-assured, as though he...
"As a matter of fact, Shinra, I did."
"...Eh?"
"I knew about the existence of that other world. And, definitely about the Shadows, as well," Izaya added with a smug smile.
"Hold up, you knew about it? And you didn't bother sharing such an amazing discovery with me?"
"Haha! I knew you'd be annoyed about that. Why do you think I didn't tell you about it?"
Somehow it felt as if the tables had turned in Izaya's favour now, even if it was just for that slight moment. "You're the worst, Orihara-kun," he huffed, and then he continued before Izaya could have the chance to gloat, "But, I'll admit, I didn't think you knew that much. I was actually convinced you were clueless about the whole thing because it seemed fitting for that Anonymous-san to do that to you. Making use of you without you realising, I mean."
"Because that'd be like I was getting a taste of my own medicine?" Izaya responded, seemingly unaffected by what Shinra had correctly pointed out, but there was no denying the sharp edge that his voice had taken. "Well, not that I was aware that this would happen exactly, though I did consider the possibility that otherworldly beings would be involved."
"And too bad for you, that turned out to be the case," Shinra said, folding his hands behind his back as his smile broadened. "And not only that, you ended up spraying your puke all over us, too. What a turn of events that turned out to be, wouldn't you agree?"
Izaya shook his head in mock disappointment. "That disgusting analogy again? Really, is that all you've been wanting to say?"
"Actually, no," Shinra responded. "While I won't deny that I did consider doing that, even I can understand that nothing I say about it will change your mind at this point. And to be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter to me what your decision might've been. Whatever it is that you choose, you're still Orihara Izaya to me, so that's not my purpose in asking you all of that earlier."
When Izaya didn't reply, the underground doctor gave a firm nod and a thoughtful hum as he got up on his feet. "I'm just trying to have a decent conversation with a friend," he said in his usual flighty tone, "about a funny thing called 'karma'."
"...Shinra," Izaya, whose smile was finally completely wiped off, took pause after saying his name, letting his arm fall across his bent knees, "what exactly are you trying to drive at?"
"Well, I mean, think about it," Shinra started. "Normally, you're the one pulling the strings behind most of the seemingly strange occurrences in Ikebukuro. I say 'seemingly', because even though it may look like a complete mess to both outsiders who are looking in as well as the people involved in such a mess, as long as one takes the time to settle down and think through things and trace it back to you, then it all makes sense.
"But then, while in the middle of a potential cacophony that was bubbling in the cauldron you were looking over, all of a sudden the fire gets put out." The doctor took one step to the right. Izaya's watchful gaze never turned away from him. "And now, considering all that's happened, it's almost like someone has robbed you of that task of watching over that cauldron and pushed you right into it. And, in your stead, has got the fire going all over again. It's something I've been thinking about since Father confirmed your Apathy Syndrome two weeks ago, actually."
Shinra continued, not waiting for Izaya's reply if there had been any, "To put it simply, you won't be safe forever on that pedestal you keep believing you're standing on, Izaya. There'll always be someone on an even higher plane, standing right behind you, waiting for the right moment just like you always do to give you a push in the direction that they want you to take. And if it is a human being that wants to do that to you, and you're aware of it, I know you'd only be too happy to let them – that's what I think. It's like the guillotine I warned you about before, a long time ago. I'm sure you remember that, too."
"..."
"But in this case, it's not a human," Shinra said, face falling without him realising it. "And, yet, you happily walked into it all the same. That's what I don't—"
"I didn't let myself get shoved in, if that's what you're concerned about," Izaya interrupted, sounding as though he had just been thoroughly insulted.
Hands tucked in the pockets of his coat, Shinra returned to his seat and crossed one leg over the other. "Then that can only mean one thing. You thought it had been a human who was targeting you, and because of your curiosity about their motives and reasons for trying to kill you, as well as how they would do so, you wanted to catch them when you were supposedly at your most vulnerable. To see who it was exactly that went to such lengths just to get to you. But then they turned out to be something non-human – a possibility that you did take into account but you took the gamble regardless – and in the moment you realised your own folly, they managed to grab that window of opportunity to push you right into the TV world...isn't that right?"
Izaya didn't directly answer that, and simply let a hollow smile creep onto his face as he said, "Since when did you start moonlighting as a detective, Kishitani Shinra-sensei?"
"Only when I need to be," Shinra said, brightening.
"Ah, to make sure your dearest loved one isn't in danger or at risk of being manipulated by some supernatural element. I see, I see." With an air of confidence, Izaya folded his arms and nodded, mostly to himself. There was something about the way he said it that made Shinra think back to his brief and one-sidedly heated conversation with the Shadow, but he kept that out of his mind for the time being as he addressed Izaya's statement.
"Well, that's not far off the mark," Shinra admitted. "But, see, that's why I said you don't get it. Yes, Celty is my everything, and I have her in mind in everything I do, but that doesn't mean I'm completely indifferent to my own environment."
Izaya was alert enough to not mention about the "not getting it" part, and instead asked for a clarification about the later half of what Shinra had said, which Shinra had been trying to give this whole time.
"I told you, didn't I? You're my friend, Izaya. You and Shizuo-kun both. And I believe I once told you back when we were still in high school that even if it doesn't really matter in the end, I don't want to lose either of you. I still don't, by the way. And that's precisely my point." Shinra paused to shift his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I might not care about you or Shizuo-kun in the same way I do Celty, but it doesn't mean I don't care entirely. I may be a bit removed from normal human lifestyles, but I'm not heartless or anything. I'm still capable of having feelings for other people around me, I'll have you know. Just on a much smaller scale than what Celty is capable of eliciting in me. Actually, now that I'm telling you this, I'm starting to feel a bit hurt that you would think of me as someone so detached that I would stop caring for other people. My darling doesn't want me ending up like that, so for her sake, I've been making sure that I won't."
Izaya avoided meeting his eyes directly at that point, choosing to remain silent.
"I know what you're thinking," Shinra said. "It's back to me being a puppet with no will of my own or something, right? But, listen, Izaya. Celty doesn't like you. I'm sure you know that already, and of course, so do I. Yet I still consider you a friend. I still tend to your injuries when you're wounded – you deserve it, by the way – I still keep all your contact numbers in my phone, and I still drop by your place or let you come by mine from time to time. If I were simply my darling's puppet, do you think I'd still do all that? Still keep someone like you around as a friend?"
The informant didn't reply, and didn't make as much as a twitch, either.
"I won't tell you what you must or mustn't do. If I did that and expected you to follow, then you'd just be a puppet, not a friend." Once again, the underground doctor stood, but this time he used his foot to move the stool away to the side. "But there's someone out there who tried to use you like that, Izaya. Like a puppet, I mean. You might not have realised it, and maybe you haven't even at this moment, but you played right into his trap.
"He knew how the case worked. He knew that you knew how it worked. And when he made that whole setup you unknowingly charged into, he knew how you would react. That was all he needed for everything else to happen, which was, again, all because of you, while you were ironically and completely out of the loop of it all, as if your waltz into this wasn't insulting enough."
Shinra saw and heard the sharp breath that Izaya had taken, but other than that his friend didn't say a word. Shinra took a deep breath himself, before releasing it in the form of a sigh.
"What I'm really trying to say is, I want you to be more careful, Izaya. You're the kind of person who stands out a little too much, and you even take pride in that, which has gotten you a lot of trouble over the years. Now it's gotten to the point where even the supernatural world has taken notice of you, and is, well, in its own way trying to remind you of your place."
"Right," Izaya agreed sarcastically, with a wry smile as he now turned away completely. "My place."
Somehow it felt like he had struck some kind of chord within Izaya, but Shinra hadn't really meant to by saying that. Perhaps it had something to do with the "world" his friend got sent to, which Shinra was most certainly extremely curious about, but he decided against letting that cloud his judgement for the time being.
"And you were lucky to get away in one piece, otherwise you'd be stuck in some zombie state to be left to die and rot for good. You have Souji-kun and the others to thank for that. Ah, and not forgetting my beloved Celty, of course. As well as Shizuo-kun and Anri-chan. Funny how that all works out, doesn't it, now that I think about it? The supernatural world was the one that nearly killed you, and yet at the end it was the supernatural world that saved your life. Unless you count Souji-kun and his friends humans, of course, but in my opinion, they'd still be regarded as having ties with the supernatural world since they used the power of Personas to save you. Well, either way, you can't deny my Celty's involvement in that, too. Plus Shizuo-kun and Anri-chan."
He didn't need any form of response from Izaya to know that struck a nerve.
"Anyway, I just want you to watch your step. You don't have to make drastic changes to your lifestyle or personality or anything, but… Just be extra careful. There's no telling where that Anonymous-san has gone to or if there's still something up his sleeves, so it'd be best if you pay more attention to your surroundings from now on. I don't want my beloved's efforts in saving you to be all in vain, in the end. Neither do I want to see you jumping straight into a trap like that again; you won't always be as lucky, you know. I don't expect you to follow my suggestions, like I said, but still, at least let me do my part as a friend."
"...Shinra."
"Hmm?" The brunet blinked at the sound of his name.
"Do you have anything for a bit of a headache? I'm starting to feel one coming."
"Ah, you mean for the one you've been having since you woke up? I'd been meaning to find you something, actually."
Izaya chuckled weakly. "Please do, Kishitani-sensei," he said in his usual feathery, joking tone, not bothering to make any comment on whether Shinra was right about that headache.
"Ahaha, I'd appreciate if you don't call me that, Orihara-kun. The way you say it makes it sound like you're addressing my father, and I'm not quite that old just yet," Shinra replied, walking over to the medicine cabinet.
"Well, Emilia-san is more youthful than you are, and she's your stepmother. I'd say you're old enough."
"Very funny, Izaya. Here," Shinra dropped two white tablets onto Izaya's palm, "hold onto this first. I'll go get you a glass of water from the kitchen."
"Ye-es, Sensei," Izaya teased again, and Shinra couldn't help but flinch slightly. It almost sounded as though Izaya was doing exactly what he said that Malevolent Entity had done to him: reminding him of his place. That he was still a doctor before he was some kind of pseudo-detective; that he should focus only on what he was expected to do before thinking about dabbling in anything else.
That he ought to stay away from whatever was happening, and just remain in his sphere of isolation from the world.
'No way, no way,' Shinra shot that possibility down the moment it appeared in his head. How did he even jump to that conclusion in the first place? 'I must be overthinking this. Izaya's not that kind of a person. Just being his usual, infuriating self, that's all.'
And a part of him still couldn't believe that he had almost been made to forget that he had ever met this infuriating friend at all, the thought of which was enough to unsettle him, reminding him of how he had felt when the Malevolent Entity made the proud declaration of Izaya's death.
"You're such a handful," Shinra let slip, which earned him an amused chuckle from his current patient. Not that he had meant to keep that assessment to himself, though.
"And you only realise that now?" Izaya knew that was a rhetorical question, but had said it anyway.
So Shinra played along. "Nope, I knew you were kind of an asshole from the start."
"How mean of you, Shinra. Hm, wait, now where have I heard that one before?"
"Izaya," Shinra called out, once he had a hand on the doorknob.
"Yes?" Before the informant managed to accurately recall the incident when that exchange had taken place, he turned in Shinra's direction.
With the most innocent-looking smile he could imagine himself making, Shinra said, "You might be an asshole and one jerk of a friend, but still, before I forget... Thank you."
"...Whatever for?"
"Oh, you know." And Shinra left it at that, opening the door and stepping out of the room to leave a rather confused Izaya to think through on his own.
Only, he wouldn't have the luxury of time for that, it seemed.
"Oh, finally. What took you so long."
"Whoa—Namie-san? Don't startle me like that—hang on, Namie-san?"
And just like that, without getting a further response from the woman who had shoved him aside again, the door to Izaya's temporary room slammed shut in Shinra's face, the subsequent click telling him – as well as everybody else in the living room – that walking into this particular conversation that was about to occur would only end badly for him.
Tower Records, Ikebukuro Branch
The event floor that was normally deserted during the weekdays was now teeming with people – mostly those who looked like they were still in high school – who were chattering and murmuring amongst themselves. Some were holding onto signboards they had personally designed and decorated, some with lightsticks branded with the name of a past live concert, while others were holding up their phones and cameras, ready to snap away the moment the star of the event stepped into the room. Conversations about unfamiliar song titles, movies and concerts abounded all around him, to the point that it was nearly impossible to make out whatever his friend was saying to him unless he spoke directly into his ear.
"Heeey, Mikado, are you even listening?"
"E-eh?" The Raira Academy student whirled his head to the right, and almost collided with Masaomi's face. "S-sorry, Masaomi, it's kinda noisy in here, so..."
"You'll get used to it," his childhood friend said with a wink, playing with the humble-looking sign in his hands. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is, thanks for coming along with me, buddy. I know this isn't something you normally do, but you came anyway. That means a lot to me."
Mikado allowed himself to smile. "Don't say that, Masaomi. It's no big deal. I mean, we used to do everything together, didn't we?"
"Ah, the good ol' times," Masaomi said, grinning, before letting it melt into a frown. "Hey... Is something bothering you, Mikado?"
"Huh?"
"Tell me if I'm just overthinking this, but... You seem a little out of it. Are you still worried about Anri-chan? But earlier she messaged us saying that she's fine, right?"
"Ah, actually..." Mikado trailed off, leaving the crowd's voices to fill in the silence.
'There is something, Masaomi.' He wanted so badly to say that, to spill it to his best friend, but the words died on his tongue along with his courage to do so.
There was the matter of the fog, the strange spell of amnesia that the city of Ikebukuro had apparently been put under without anybody realising it, televisions switching on by themselves in the middle of rainy nights, the fact that Yagiri-kun was dead and still nobody had figured out why and how yet.
And...there was also the thing about the box he received.
'Why did Kanra-san, I mean Izaya-san, send me that...?'
Mikado's first instinct had been to dial the information broker's number and ask him personally, but when he received no answer on the older man's end he immediately turned to the chatroom and left Izaya a private message with the hopes of receiving a reply as soon as possible. But even until now, Mikado had yet to receive any notification of his queries being answered.
He had a nagging suspicion that something was not quite right, even with his memories of Izaya "restored", and that whoever was behind it was intentionally trying to goad him into delving deeper, to force his hand and involvement by dragging Sonohara-san into the matter. Mikado's frown deepened at that without him realising it.
"Mikado?"
At the sound of his name, Mikado blinked back into the present reality. "Oh, um..."
"I knew it. Something's up, isn't it?" Masaomi peered, his gaze questioning yet gentle.
"M...maybe?" Mikado offered, giving an awkward laugh that sounded awfully fake even to himself. Masaomi didn't seem convinced, and only stared further until Mikado relented. "I-I guess... Something's happening to Ikebukuro."
"What is it? Is it the Dollars?" Masaomi leaned closer to whisper, with swift and full understanding that this topic wasn't meant to be openly discussed, even if their voices might be drowned out by their surroundings.
"I don't think so," Mikado whispered back. At least, he'd hoped it had nothing to do with the Dollars, even though a tiny part of him disagreed with that. "I think...it has something to do with Yagiri-kun's..."
"Attention to all distinguished guests who are attending this promotional event," the voice from the PA system cut in, prompting Mikado and Masaomi to redirect their attention to the empty space in the front that had been barricaded with the promise to continue their discussion later. "Attention to all distinguished guests who are attending this promotional event. Thank you for taking the time to come down to Tower Records this early afternoon. We sincerely apologise for the wait. Please give a warm welcome to Kujikawa Rise-san, who is..."
The announcer's voice quickly turned muffled when the crowd gave their cheers and applause upon seeing the teen idol Risette and her manager being led to the raised platform by a security guard. The girl was wearing the most elegant casual dress Mikado had ever seen, the kinds that could only be found under the labels of well-known international brands in departmental stores. A sleeveless, pale pink dress below a layer of translucent, white frills covering the upper torso and ending at her wrists, acting like a shawl or a cardigan depending on how one looked at it, with a matching choker that had the idol's stage name embroidered with golden thread. Atop her wavy, dark brown hair was a visor, looking like a headband from afar. Risette – or, as the announcer had mentioned, Kujikawa Rise – was also wearing neon pink heels, as well as plain, sandy brown anklets which Mikado couldn't help but take notice of when she raised one of her legs and twirled, making a full spin before she waved an enthusiastic greeting to everyone present.
Apparently, that was all it took for the fans to cheer again, waving their boards and unlit lightsticks in the air, all while being mindful of their surroundings, which happened to be the next thing Risette said after saying hello and thanking her fans for turning up at the event.
"I understand you're all excited. And so am I! But this isn't a concert or anything, so let's all try to keep it low for the other Tower Records customers, okay?" she requested, sounding exactly like how Mikado imagined a pop idol of her age would.
"She's even cuter in real life," Masaomi blurted out, sighing dreamily to himself.
"You haven't been to any of her concerts?" Mikado asked.
"Nope," Masaomi said, and then went on to explain even as Rise was addressing the crowd, "When I first heard of Risette, it was when she announced her break from showbiz and songs and...basically, all that idol stuff. I wasn't really interested back then, though. But for the past year, after she said she was going to make her comeback, they've been churning out stuff after stuff related to her, and the fanbase kinda exploded so...I got a little curious."
Mikado's eyes widened slightly. "So all these people are her old supporters from before she announced her break?"
"Well, I don't know for sure, but it's possible." Masaomi shrugged. "She did make quite a splash when she first started her idol work, apparently. An immediate big hit, from what I heard. She even mentioned in one of her recent interviews that she still received letters from her fans even when she was having her break, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple of them around."
"Huh..." Mikado hummed thoughtfully as he returned his attention to the idol, still wondering what it was about Kujikawa Rise in particular that drew all these people, including Masaomi, in. For Hanejima Yuuhei and Hijiribe Ruri, he could sort of understand the appeal, but there had to be some kind of quality that only Risette had that the others didn't, such that her fanbase could still "explode" in the way Masaomi described even after her hiatus. Considering the nature of the everyday life here in the city, and the nature of the media industry especially, it was a little hard to believe that there were still this many people – and possibly even more – who continued to devote time and attention to a young, and likely to be less experienced, figure like Kujikawa.
Or maybe it was precisely because of her youth that made her special, in a sense. After all, most people her age would still be schooling and studying for future careers that they weren't guaranteed of, yet here was somebody who was supposed to be just like them, already making a big name for herself.
When he thought of it that way, Mikado could begin to understand Risette's popularity.
"But... How old is Kujikawa-san, anyway?" The question left his lips before Mikado even realised what he was saying.
"Whoa, that's a bit too sudden of a question," Masaomi mixed his laughter with his words. "But I don't blame you. You haven't heard much of Risette before this, after all."
"A-ah, I was just... I didn't..."
"Relax, Mikado, it's a legit question. I mean, it's not brought up that often, but when it is Risette doesn't mind revealing her age. She even gave her golden-trio measurements once. Isn't she awesome?" With a mischievous, toothy grin, the blonde raised a thumbs-up, holding the board in his other hand which he also used to attempt to make a similar gesture.
Mikado refrained from labelling this as yet another of Masaomi's square root three moments, and simply gave an embarrassed smile.
"Anyway, she's eighteen," Masaomi said. "Exactly our age."
"Ah..." Mikado breathed, though it sounded like a gasp coming from him.
"Surprised? I was too, when I first found out."
Mikado would've been inclined to agree, if not for the fact that Masaomi's voice was tight as he spoke those seemingly normal words, and if not for the fact that he knew why Masaomi had sounded like that.
It was at this point, when both Mikado and Masaomi had nothing much to add to the topic any further, that the high school students noticed that the crowd has gone silent, the only voice that could be heard being Kujikawa Rise's own melodic singing. She wasn't using a microphone, and was doing a few dance steps to the beat of the song, which Mikado figured was a live performance of one of the songs in Risette's upcoming album. Even in the dress and heels she was wearing, the idol's movements weren't compromised in the least, her hands and feet moving fluidly and her voice remaining steady and smooth, giving no indication that she was getting out of breath.
And as he watched and listened intently, Mikado was stricken with a realisation and understanding.
Kujikawa Rise, who was of the same age as Mikado, Masaomi and Anri, was living a life that most ordinary people couldn't. And she was completely comfortable in her own skin, the face of the popular teen idol Risette who was loved and adored by many, even when she left the scene. Though Mikado hadn't any idea of what her reasons for leaving could've been, the fact that Kujikawa decided to return to her life as an idol after a momentary retreat into the everyday life that most teenagers led still remained, and she was met with not only her previous group of fans, but an expanded one that encompassed her new fans who were just as passionate about her.
'It must be nice,' Mikado mused, giving a few weak claps when the song ended. 'Kujikawa-san...probably had problems of her own, when she decided to take a break. But in the end, she returned, happily. That's something I...'
As the thought ran through his head, Mikado looked in Masaomi's direction, and when he saw the bright eyes and genuine smile on his best friend's face, he inwardly shook it away.
'No, even if I can't do that, it's fine.' The founder of the Dollars allowed his lips to curl into a small smile. 'I'm happy this way. Being with Masaomi and Sonohara-san, having a normal high school life with them... It seemed impossible, back then, to experience this again. So... I'm happy. I'm satisfied.'
Mikado repeated that thought in his head over and over, trying to ignore anything that contradicted it, and inwardly nodded to himself when he finally felt his emotions and thoughts settling down.
"All right, show's over, kiddies."
"Wha-?!"
Rise's exclamation was cut off halfway when a man in a suit and sunglasses – one of the security guards, Mikado recognised with a choked gasp – grabbed her from behind and held a gun to her temple. Almost instantaneously, the fans present for the event, as well as Rise's manager, all gave a roar of surprise and fear. As most of the crowd attempted to flee, the other security guards present stepped up to talk to their colleague, just as baffled as everybody else.
"What the hell..." Mikado could hear Masaomi mutter under his breath, the two of them staying rooted in their place as streams of people rushed past them.
"M-Masaomi, what should we do?" Mikado asked timidly, feeling a little breathless as he caught a glimpse of Rise struggling in the man's grip; he could feel and hear the thumping of his heart in his ears.
"Isn't it obvious?" Masaomi tugged onto Mikado's sleeve, and turned in the direction of the exit. "We need to leave. Now."
"Eh?! But Masaomi—!"
"We can't do anything in a situation like this. We have to leave it to the other security guards to settle this."
"B-but... Kujikawa-san is..."
"She'll be fine. Just keep thinking that, believe in it, and get the hell outta here."
"We can't just—"
"Dammit, Mikado," Masaomi bit out, reaching out to hold Mikado by the shoulders. "This isn't something we should get ourselves involved in. That guy's got a gun to her head. Do you seriously think high school kids like us can do anything about it?"
Mikado drew in a sharp breath and fell utterly silent, unable to think of anything to refute Masaomi, because he knew – as much as he didn't like admitting it – that Masaomi was right. That ultimately, even though they once held unique positions and reputations in the colour gang world, they were still at their core high school students who were as powerless before a gun as any other ordinary person.
And that thought alone cut into him more deeply than he had expected.
"...Okay," Mikado relented quietly, resigning himself to be led away from the scene by his childhood friend.
But just as the two of them were about to reach the stairs, they heard someone yell at the top of his voice:
"What the hell are you talking about?! Isn't our current boss the one you're holding in your hands?!"
"She's your current boss, Takayama. Not mine." Mikado and Masaomi had already taken a few steps down when they heard Rise give a choked cry, the sound of the barrel of the gun being pushed even further into her temple. "The boss I need to answer to...isn't Risette or any of the other clients we've protected before."
"Wh-what?"
"The boss – the head of the Dollars… that's who I'm really accountable to."
Mikado felt his blood run deathly cold as he momentarily forgot how to breathe.
Masaomi's grip on his wrist tightened considerably.
A/N: Although the last scene suggests otherwise, the colour gangs actually don't have much of an active role in this fic. It's more of name-dropping and how it ties in with Mikado and Masaomi's respective struggles and the actions they'll take in the later scenes, especially our beloved ballpoint-wielding Dollars founder. Speaking of which, that scene in the anime was done wonderfully. Gave me the chills, just like when I first read that scene in the novels.
As always, thank you all for your support! :)