"Timeline first," Izaya said with forced confidence as he strode over to his desk. A light blush still plastered itself across his cheeks. A thin layer of sweat had formed at his hairline. Shizuo sat on the living room couch, head resting on a dark pillow. His eyes had been shut, but he opened them once he heard Izaya enter the room. When Izaya sat at his desk, he immediately felt that something was off, but he couldn't figure out what. Was he missing something? Had his computer been tampered with? No. Nothing had been taken. Something had been added.

His phone sat, seemingly unharmed, to the right of his mouse. Izaya had been so overwhelmed with other thoughts, that he had completely forgotten that he had lost his phone. Yet, there it was, as good as new. He knew he had slipped it into his pocket when Akito knocked on his door. He knew that he didn't have it when he woke up at the hospital, but he had assumed that it had been stolen or had fallen out when Shizuo brought him to Shinra.

"Did you do something with my phone?"

Shizuo—who was now sitting next to him on a chair that he had dragged over from the dining room—raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind," said Izaya as he carefully reached out and stroked the black screen. He pressed the power button. The phone lit up, displaying the battery level, time, and the copious amounts of texts, calls, and emails he had missed while incapacitated. It looked just as it always did. Nothing suspicious, at least at surface level. Deciding that unlocking it might be a bad idea, he quickly scrolled through the notifications on the lock screen, mentally taking note of people he would have to contact later. Shiki came up the most often, mostly calls, but some texts simply reading, "Call me." Namie had texted him a couple times, a few short sentences about trivial things, a snide remark about Shizuo being at his apartment that morning. Several emails had come in from clients, their problems and requests far less interesting than the case at hand. He turned the phone off and slipped it into an empty drawer. He reached for another drawer and pulled it all the way out, detaching it from the desk entirely. A key was taped on the back, outside panel of wood. He peeled the tape off and used the key on another drawer. As he pulled it out, he saw Shizuo's eyes widen. Inside, there were at least a dozen identical phones, neatly lined up, screens free of fingerprints and scratches. Izaya pulled one out at random, stuck it on a charger, locked the drawer, and put the key back where he found it.

"I think the person who attacked me might have messed with my phone," Izaya explained, "if he bugged it, it's of no use to us now."

Us, he thought, almost startled that he had used that word so casually. Their partnership was starting to feel more and more natural by the minute.

Shizuo simply nodded in response. Izaya noticed for the first time how tired he looked. Dark circles had surfaced below his eyes, his outfit was more rumpled than it had been the previous day, and he looked slightly unbalanced somehow, as if gravity was too much for him to handle after a night of such little sleep. For a brief moment, Izaya thought of asking him if he'd like to make use of his shower or take a nap, but he decided against it, as he needed his help to construct the timeline.

As he turned on his computer, it occurred to him that they could have hacked into his hard drive, as well. He let out a sigh. Monitoring the Dollars website or sending any emails to Shiki was out of the question. He would have to use his new phone after it had charged. Turning off his wifi as a precaution, he opened a blank Word document and began to type. Little by little, he and Shizuo created the most accurate timeline they could with the information they possessed:

C. January 5- Tamayo Sugiyama (half-sister of Hiro Igurashi) begins to look into the White Gloves.

January 13- Hiro Igurashi and Hideki Mizuno are murdered by members of the White Gloves in a car close to Haruya Shiki's office.

Night of January 14- Sugiyama goes out to look for Igurashi. She is attacked by unknown assailants, and left in an alleyway.

January 15 (Approx. 8AM)- Izaya Orihara's door is defaced with a binary code that translates to, "BH."

January 15 (9:30AM)- Orihara meets with Shiki and is tasked with looking into the murders of Igurashi and Mizuno.

January 15 (10AM)- Orihara is chased through the streets of Ikebukuro by Shizuo Heiwajima and into an alleyway where they discover Sugiyama, unconscious, and rolled up in a carpet. They take her to Shinra Kishitani for medical treatment.

January 15 (Approx. 9:30PM)- Heiwajima is attacked by three members of the White Gloves.

January 15 (10PM)- A member of "BH," referring to himself as "Akito" shows up at Orihara's apartment, threatens him, and knocks him unconscious. It is currently unknown if he took anything from the apartment or bugged any of Orihara's devices.

January 15 (11PM)- Heiwajima finds Orihara unconscious in his apartment, and brings him to Kishitani for medical care.

January 16 (Approx. 1AM)- Orihara and Heiwajima question Sugiyama (see transcription below)

Izaya decided to leave out the paper that he had found in his pocket, figuring that it was a message meant for him, and him alone. Projection. The word continued to haunt him.

After they finished, Izaya began to type out more detailed paragraphs including the transcription of their interview with Tamayo, Shizuo's account of his attackers, and his own account of Akito's attack. He also included some theories he had about BH and the White Gloves, speculating that they were two separate gangs who had decided to team up. However, he also knew that he couldn't prove that quite yet. At some point, he noticed that Shizuo was dozing, his arm bent on the desk, supporting his head.

"Hey," he said after a moment of hesitation. Shizuo's eyes snapped open. "If you want to use my shower and take a nap, go ahead. It's going to take me a while to finish this…especially with one hand."

"Uh yeah, that would be great."

As Shizuo began to walk away, Izaya called out to him.

"Um, sorry, I don't think I have any clothes your size, but if you want to take a bathrobe out of the closet and throw your stuff in the wash, go ahead."

Shizuo muttered an awkward "thanks," and set off into the bathroom. An image of Shizuo in a bathrobe flashed through Izaya's mind, making his heart skip a beat.

It'll probably be short on him, he thought before he could stop himself.

Disgusted by his own thoughts, he tried to focus his attention back to his work. However, writer's block had taken over his mind and refused to let go. His fingers, numb from the amount of typing he had already done, refused to move, and the only thing his brain seemed to want to think about was Shizuo. Izaya put his one working hand up to his forehead and took a deep breath.

What the hell is wrong with you?

He couldn't answer his own question. He could hear the water being turned on a few rooms over, and decided he needed a distraction. The battery of his new phone was full, so after a few moments, he decided that it was time to call Shiki. There was no doubt in Izaya's mind that he'd be mad at him for missing his calls and texts.

"This is Shiki," said a serious voice into Izaya's ear. He picked up before the first ring had even finished.

"Hey there, Shiki! This is Izaya Ori-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Asked Shiki in a raised voice, unaware that Izaya had asked himself the same question mere moments before.

"I'm sorry Shiki, but something happened to me last night," he paused, choosing his words carefully, "listen, we should meet in person. I have some information I need to give you, but there are certain…precautions I need to take. I'm typing out a report right now, so when can we meet?"

"Anytime. As soon as humanly possible. Something happened here last night, too."

He had never heard Shiki sound like this before. His voice was a mix of anger, exasperation, and maybe even a hint of fear. Something about it sent a shiver down Izaya's spine. His mouth had gone dry.

"What happened?" He had to force the words out of his mouth.

"Last night, three more Awakusu were murdered."

Izaya's heart stopped. At that exact moment, his mind registered that the water in the bathroom was no longer running. Shizuo stood in the doorway of Izaya's bedroom, clad in a bathrobe, his wet hair clinging to his scalp. Even in his now heightened state of mind, he noticed that he was right about the bathrobe being short on him. It only came down to his knees. However, the expression on Shizuo's face was what truly grabbed his attention. His eyebrows knitted together, lips were slightly parted. Concern. Izaya wondered how he could have possibly known what Shiki was telling him before he realized that his own expression must look equally horrified.

"D-don't say anything more over the phone, okay? We'll be over in a bit."

"'We'll?'"

"Goodbye," said Izaya, ignoring Shiki's question.

"Wait, Orihara."

Izaya, who had been lowering the phone back down toward the desk, pulled the device back up to his ear.

"They happened here."

"What?"

"The murders. They happened here. In my own office."