Mikado woke up the next with a set plan of things he had to do. It was his last day in Ikebukuro so he had to get everything ready. His heart felt heavy in his chest but at the same time, he was excited because he knew it just twenty-four hours he would with Izaya once again.

He got dressed and headed out to the department store. He relished in the city around him, taking special notice of the things that had become so familiar to him over the last four years. The crowded streets, the energy, the tall buildings reaching for the sky, the different types of people – all the things that had taken his breath away when he'd first moved here.

He walked towards Tokyo Hands passing by Simon who stopped his usual terrible ushering to great him.

"Mika-do!" the large man grinned. "How you after party? Sushi good, sushi make everything better! Sushi best to celebrate!"

"It was wonderful Simon-san, thank you." The teen smiled and bowed. When he rose up, he met eyes with the large Russian man who almost looked sad. They looked at each other for a while and Mikado knew, he knew Simon had figured him out.

Mikado averted his eyes not knowing what to say, the two of them stood in silence for a while, a sort of bubble of understanding between them. After a few minutes, Mikado looked up at the blue sky, his chest aching.

"I have to go Simon-san." The words were double sided as Mikado glanced at the man with a sad smile.

"I understand…" Simon said in his broken Japanese. "You have safe travels and come back for sushi soon!" the large man forced a big smile on his way and Mikado gave a sad chuckle, his heart clenching in his chest.

"Maybe one day Simon-san, thank you for everything." He said smiling at the man. "Goodbye." The teen bowed to the man before he started walking once more, he didn't look back.

He reached the department store rather easily but he felt rather heavy as he walked through the sliding doors into the brightly lit store. He had a rather straightforward list of things he needed in his mind.

He walked through the busy shop going to the photo center first. He got out his phone as he approached one of the self-serve machines, he sent the photos of his dinner with his parents and his party to the machine, pausing when he saw them blown up before him.

Everyone looked so happy. Everyone was smiling brightly obviously having a great time but him. His smiles in each photo looked rather forced and his eyes looked rather sad. His heart clenched and the teen felt a cold sadness in the pit of his stomach.

He shook his head and reminded himself that he'd made the right decision. This chapter of his life was over, he wanted to start a new chapter with Izaya. He got the photos printed and went throughout the store to collect the things he needed to buy.

Garbage bags, cardboard boxes, and packing tape. All the thing he needed to pack up his apartment before he left. He decided to have all of the stuff delivered directly to his house so he could go for a bit of a walk.

Mikado walked through West Gate Park with a mixture of nostalgia and sadness. He could remember when he'd first came to the city, eating ice cream with Masaomi and Anri, watching the blond trying to pick up woman with awful pickup lines. It felt like a million years ago, it was saddening to know that that was all an act on Masaomi's part, he was just covering up his pain.

Mikado had also hung out with Izaya at the park, they'd sit under the shady streets and talk for as long as they could before Shizuo found them- sometimes it was hours, they never got tired of talking to each other.

There were so many nice and peaceful memories if he sorted through all the terrible and violent ones. He looked up at the sky once more and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the light breeze rustling through his hair. He took a deep breath and turned around to go home.

But as he turned around he saw someone he didn't want to see. Heiwajima Shizuo stood a few meters away from him talking to Celty, they had their backs to him. Seeing the man filled him with such violent hatred and despair. It didn't matter that he knew Izaya was alive, the man he loved had still been crippled by the monster.

Mikado felt his stomach churning as he turned his back on the man and started walking in the opposite direction, deciding to circle back around the long way to avoid the blond. The teen decided it would nice to go to a place where he wasn't, every time he saw his face all he could think of was the state Izaya had been the last time Mikado saw him.

He'd been so scared that night, seeing Izaya all broken and bloody like that was so terrifying. He'd been almost certain his lover was going to die, that monster was going to kill him right in front of his eyes. Mikado shook his head, trying to force those memories back.

Izaya was alive. He was alive and Mikado was going to see him again.

Mikado's shopping arrived late in the afternoon while the teen was cleaning. He thanked the delivery man and took the items inside.

"I guess I should get started." He sighed looking over his small apartment. It was amazing how much stuff he'd managed to compile in the small room. He walked over to the closet and opened it, revealing a small bookshelf where all of his books were, he had a lot of them.

Mikado made up one of the boxes and got to work. It took a lot longer than he expected too but only because he kept finding things that would make him nostalgic and resurface memories. Before long he had all the things were was going to put in storage including his books and mementos. He decided that he would take all his photo albums with him including the one he'd gotten from Izaya's apartment.

He then packed his suitcase with mostly clothes, toiletries, few of his favourite books and the photo albums. It was completely full by the time he had finished packing. The teen then gathered everything else and packed them up too, his kitchenware, leftover clothes and random bits and pieces.

It took a few hours for Mikado to pack everything he no longer needed up and clean his apartment which was surprisingly dirty for how much cleaning he did on a regular basis. He sorted his things into two piles – things he wanted to keep and stuff that he no longer wanted or needed.

He clearly labeled the different boxes so the people Izaya was paying to take them didn't become confused and throw away something he wanted to keep.

He stood in the middle of his apartment and looked around, his computer, which he had pulled apart earlier was in pieces after he'd wiped the memory – the hard drive was currently placed in the sink in his bathroom where it had been submerged in water for the last few hours.

Everything was done, now all he had to do was wait until it was time to leave.

Mikado rolled over and turned off his alarm, he had crawled into his futon to try and sleep until it was time to get ready but sleep had never come. He got up and rolled up his futon, taping it shut before placing it in the waiting box.

Once he had down that he went to have a shower and get ready. He was strangely calm as he took his hard drive which had been in the sink since the night before and put it in a plastic bag. Mikado stood there for a moment - he was really going to do it, he was leaving Ikebukuro for good. He wasn't going to come back, he was really going to disappear from the city just as Izaya had done.

Mikado took a deep breath and looked at his phone as emotions swirled inside him. He'd met a lot of people in Ikebukuro- the good, the bad. He'd done so many things, become a different person over the last four years.

He grabbed his suitcase and the plastic bag with his hard drive inside and looked over his apartment once more before leaving, closing the door quietly behind him. it was still unlocked and his key was left inside near the boxes. He walked down the stairs and with his suitcase rolling behind him, he threw his hard drive in his neighbour's trashcan and started walking to the train station pulling his jacket up to his chin to try and shield himself against the cold air, he couldn't remember if he'd ever been outside at three in the morning but if he had, it hadn't been this quiet.

The streets were surprisingly dead, it was like a ghost town. He saw a few people from a distance but not once did he pass by someone. His emotional state was a weird one, he was excited to meet Izaya but also sad to leave.

"I guess I should start writing that message." He murmured to himself as he descended the stairs into the station. Mikado took out his phone and opened his messages. He took a deep breath as he added his entire contact list as the recipient, he once more took a deep breath and stared at the screen.

What was he meant to write? There was so much he wanted to say to everyone but he was limited on time.

[Dear everyone,

I'm sure this message must come as a shock to you all but I wanted to let you all that I am leaving Ikebukuro.

I believe this chapter of my life has come to an end and I want to move on. I've done a lot of things during my time here, a lot of which I am not proud of but I am glad I met everyone.

I'm sorry if you think this decision is selfish but I can't bear to stay here any longer, I hope you'll understand. We want to move on and I can't do that in this city nor surrounded by people that remind me of my bad decisions.

You all do mean a lot to me and maybe one day I will return and contact you once more but now, is not that time. I'm leaving and I ask that you do not look for me nor try to contact me.

Thank you all, I love you and I'm sorry but I am needed elsewhere. I want to be elsewhere, Ikebukuro is our past and I'm going towards the future so, by the time you read this, I will already be long gone.

I'm sorry and goodbye, Ryugamine Mikado. ]

{Send.}

As the train approached the platform, Mikado turned off his phone and pulled the back off, separating the battery from the phone and taking out the SD and SIM cards. He slipped his SD card into his wallet and threw the battery and now broken SIM card into the trash can.

He'd throw the actual phone away at a later time. He slipped the disassembled phone into his pocket as the train pulled up to the platform with a loud screech of the brakes. The platform was almost empty as Mikado boarded the train, glancing back one more time before shaking his head and finding himself a seat.

He watched Ikebukuro disappear through the window of the train and smiled, tears burning his eyes.

"Goodbye, and thank you."

The city of Ikebukuro...

Everyone…

This is the end.

Goodbye.