Izaya awoke rather early the next morning, mainly because he had heard his phone calling for his attention once again. He was becoming overly attached to the device, possibly because he kept checking it after his run-ins to see if there was yet another video to add to his humiliation. But, to his relief, it was just another couple of messages from Celty. With his grogginess still evident, it was a little challenging to read at first, but the texts simply stated:
'Hey.'
'I got something interesting to show you. Meet me at the convenience store closest to your complex.'
It was strange of her to be vague, but perhaps it was something she needed to show him in person. Whatever the case, it definitely piqued his interest. A little after fifteen minutes, Izaya was all cleaned up and on his way to see what Celty had to show him. He made sure to be aware of his surroundings as he walked, hoping not to be caught off guard if the dog decided to take another shot at him, eventually arriving at his destination intact.
Celty sat outside the store at a small table, her back to Izaya as he approached. "You called?" he asked, causing the cyclist to jump. Perhaps she expected him to come a different way? He had no idea she even could be spooked. Regardless he continued, "Easy, it's just me. What was it that you wanted to show me that was so important?"
Celty rose from her seat and took out her phone, writing a message and turning the screen towards him to read. 'I know I said I wouldn't bother you about the dog anymore, but I saw something last night after our little talk. Might help you out.'
"Oh, yeah?" Izaya pondered aloud, watching Celty lower her phone and walk to her bike, where she retrieved a rolled-up piece of paper. Before revealing its content, she returned and typed another message for him, 'I figured it belonged to someone, I just never would have guessed this.'
She handed the broker the paper to unroll, which he did without hesitation... only to be met with an unusual sight. He was immediately confronted with an image of the dog who had been torturing him, but this time it was dressed in red and white clown make-up and had a ruffle around its throat — a circus dog.
Its inclination for biting backsides suddenly made sense, which irritated him even more because it meant it definitely had been trained to do so. But then he noticed the print at the bottom of the page.
'MISSING' it read in big, bold letters, followed by simple information, 'Female - Bernese Mountain Dog - answers to Shelby - Beloved performer and pet lost near Shibuya, but may roam further - Reward if found, please call 555-7780 (US)' A lost American circus dog is certainly intriguing. Poor mutt.
"A great find, Celty," Izaya smiled gratefully as he rolled up the poster and stuffed it into his coat pocket. "Maybe this'll finally be the beginning of the end. Thanks!" But as he turned to leave, Celty grabbed his shoulder, making him pause. "Hm?" he hummed, turning around to see her typing another message, which she would reveal once she was finished. 'It might not hurt to see if Shinra could help you. He seems to know a lot about animals.'
"I mean, sure, but that's if he's willing to help me with something… trivial."
She lowered her phone, quickly backspacing her statement and typing briefly before raising it again. 'It might not hurt,' she reiterated, 'And if he refuses, I'll talk to him.'
Izaya sunk his hands into his pockets, one idly playing with the poster, "All right, but I'm not waiting forever. The quicker this is done, the better. Though how it's done also depends on the reward they're offering."
She typed one last message for Izaya to read before putting her phone away, simply reading, 'Don't hurt her, either.'
"Oh, come on, have a little faith!" he called out as Celty went over to her bike and straddled its seat, "I wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone a dog!" She'll have to see it to believe it, but for the time being, she sits down on her bike and swiftly drives off with a loud screech. Now that that's done, he'll leave as well, hurrying back to his apartment to finally get the ball rolling and get this dog out of his life.
The first order of business is to get in touch with the hellhound's owners. With the early morning hour, he hopes Shelby's people on the other side of the world are awake and have their phones nearby. With that in mind, he begins trying to make contact, taking a seat at his computer to wait.
It's slow going at first, and during the first hour of Izaya making continuous calls, he turns his computer back on and begins to look around at things. With a name and breed to match, it's much easier to dig around and find a plethora of articles and videos about her. It also wouldn't hurt to find out if she has any other tricks up her sleeve.
The top results were mostly articles and a few videos about her escape from the traveling circus, but further down were clips of her performances, which Izaya began to scan while he waited. Admittedly, most of what she did was rather mundane for a 'beloved' performer. He observed her jumping through hoops and performing simple tricks on command, though it appeared that her role also included a staged derailment of the show as it progressed.
The broker didn't notice anything unconventional until he saw her give the presumably protected ringmaster an all-too-familiar bite. This bite, however, was more of a nip than the full-on bites she gave him — when she attacked Izaya, she refused to let go. At least until his pants ripped.
He reasoned that being out on the streets, let alone the ones of Ikebukuro, had made her more aggressive, but this didn't explain why she continued to pursue him. He couldn't think of anything, not his clothes, his appearance, or even his scent, that would keep her coming back for him.
The only thing he could think of was that dogs don't seem to enjoy his company in general, but Izaya didn't like theirs either. Shelby could have been drawn back in by his distaste and dread of another attack, easily. He just wasn't sure because dogs were a completely different breed than humans, and reading them was much more difficult for him.
As he tried to think of a reason for the dog's behavior, to his surprise, a voice finally answered his call with a simple, "Hello?"
"Oh, hey! How are you doing today?" Izaya asked, putting the unanswered questions aside for now. "I'm fine," the voice replied, not particularly enthusiastically, "What is this call about?"
"It's about something that's hopefully of interest; have you lost a dog recently?"
"Yes, actually," the voice perked up, "Our dog, Shelby. We managed to go on a trip to Japan and she got loose and we weren't able to find her before we left. Have you seen her?"
"Definitely" Izaya responded, "I could wrangle her in for you, but I wanted to discuss the manner of a reward for her return first."
"Of course, but I'm not sure how to convert USD into yen for you to better understand — we probably should've thought of that sooner."
"It's no problem at all, just give me a number, and I'll work it out," the broker assured, expecting a small reward in turn for the butt-muncher, but what he heard next floored him. "Well, we were thinking of offering about 15k for her return. Uh, in USD, that is. Hopefully, it'd cover travel costs and keep her comfy while she's on her way back."
Izaya couldn't believe what he'd heard; he could understand why it was so generous, given Shelby's history, but he'd never heard of a missing pet reward near that high. "Oh really now?" Izaya asked with a slight smile, "Quite a lot for a dog."
"Her presence is sorely missed," the voice replied, "She meant a lot to us, so money is no object if it means having her back."
"Hm, then maybe a slight bump in the price for her return wouldn't hurt? Pet travel, her comfort, and equipment for catching her will be expensive…" Izaya mentioned, "I'd just hate to have her incorrectly handled!" The voice on the other end went silent for a moment, but he eventually returned with a proposal. "If you provide proof that she is within your care, and is safe, we'll gladly bump your reward up to 20k. We just want her back."
Izaya nodded contentedly to himself, pleased that he had managed to raise Shelby's asking price. "Then you can consider it done. Save my number and I'll get that proof sent as soon as I can!" And with that, the call ended, now leaving Izaya to figure out how to get Shelby off the streets and hold her while he set everything else up.
Of course, the advice Celty had given him earlier was still fresh in his mind, so Izaya's next call was to try to contact his old friend, Shinra.
