Chapter 64: Combined efforts
"Hey, Namie, get your ass up here," Izaya called, but made sure his voice was just barely loud enough for the rest downstairs to hear.
Fear dominated the entire group save for Shizuo and Izaya and it took a few seconds of uncomfortable silence until Izaya saw the scientist's lovely annoyed expression in the staircase.
"Any louder maybe?" she hissed and Izaya shrugged while pointing at their newest find.
"Don't shit your pants. This is what we need, right?"
Excitement reflected in Shinra's expression as he shoved his way past the woman without a care. "Perfect!" The glare Namie shot the doctor for almost pushing her to her knees was as deadly as it went by unnoticed.
Inspecting the machine from top to bottom Shinra couldn't care less about the woman's attitude as he checked for any errors or damage the machine might have taken.
Letting his body rest a bit on one of the donation beds, Shizuo watched Shinra with slight curiosity. He had never been one to meddle with any fragile stuff and this machine was basically the embodiment of that. Lifting what appeared to be some sort of protection Shinra fondled with a couple wires, tubes and circuits as he nodded to himself with increasing frequency.
"And now?" Shizuo asked, figuring that the machine was fully functional and ready to be used.
After all, the entire blood donation facility had basically been untouched. It would be weird if only that machine were broken.
"Now we are getting this new friend of ours back to school," Izaya announced, and moved one of the beds to the side.
He wanted to clear the way to the stairs. Sadly this building didn't own an elevator, not that he would have trusted it in these circumstances, so the only option to move their precious find was to carry it downstairs themselves.
Watching Izaya, Karisawa looked at the machine, "Why not just analyze here?"
Certainly.
"Because that process is bound to be long and awfully prone to mistakes. Shinra will probably be using it for weeks from now on, right?" Izaya answered, and directed the question at his old friend. A smile was flashed and a nod given. "It's either taking it back or setting up a new camp here. But between moving everything we have back at school and fetching the machine the latter comes in more practical," he agreed and Karisawa hummed. "I see."
"If you understand then get moving." Namie complained as it was apparently the only way she could communicate and shot a glare. Setting her hands onto the machine she snapped at Karisawa, "We don't have all day, if we get this in a car and drive right now then we can-"
To say Izaya was amused would be an underestimation. Flaming Karisawa all the way Namie had tried to move the apheresis machine and spectacularly failed with something that Izaya could only label well deserved Karma.
Halting midway in her lecture she now stared at the device as though it had not moved just to spite her and glared.
"Say Namie, are you the type that tries to lift a car when you drop something underneath?" Izaya joked and despite her well crafted pokerface Izaya could very well see the embarrassment she had brought onto herself.
"I didn't know it was this heavy." She hissed, and Izaya laughed. "I thought you were a scientist."
"Not every scientist works with blood."
"Yet you knew what the machine looked like, what now? Do you or do you not know anything?"
"You-"
Stepping into the direct line of sight, Shinra was quick to interfere. "Alright, we should focus on moving this instead of fighting," he announced quickly, and Izaya showed his most professional smile.
"I agree."
Seething hatred slipped from Namies eyes as she sat down on one of the blood donation beds.
"Alright, how do we do it Mr. knows-it-all?" She inquired, whilst crossing her legs and arms in what looked like a short interrogation. It was obvious she wasn't asking to find out but rather hoping Izaya had no idea.
To her demise, however, Izaya merely shrugged.
"Easy, ever heard of shoulder dolly?" he asked with a smile and the expression Namie wore grew even more sour.
"What?"
"It's a two person harness system for lifting heavy, awkward objects, I would dare say this machine fits the description quite well," izaya informed curtly but turned to the one person that was actually listening and waiting for an explanation. "Some people use it when moving out. It looks like they are wearing a backpack backwards, just that the bag is replaced by the object they intend to move. You can move roughly 300kg with that." Face lighting up in recognition, Karisawa nodded. "I saw that, thought it was cool," she commented quickly whilst Namie frowned.
"And you have that?"
To be honest anyone apart from Izaya would have probably been annoyed beyond understanding by Namie's act. She was like a mole.
Digging holes and molehills in this garden, that was their cooperation.
And yet, this exact mole enactment was what Izaya had purposely triggered upon their first meeting. Knowing that her brother had died, knowing that Izaya was the one to have killed him in a way that seemed most gruesome to her, she was never going to tolerate, lest approve of any of his ideas or actions.
But that was fine.
Because as long as that woman was mustering up hatred she was also mustering up a will to live.
"No, but we can improvise one," Izaya said and Namie cocked an eyebrow.
"An improvisation will suffice?"
Besides-
"Our little friend here weighs only a third of those 300kg at most, we could almost lift that by ourselves if it weren't for its awkward shape."
Izaya couldn't quite deny that he enjoyed having someone to tease the hell out of.
Turning his head he looked at the small group that had somehow ended up being led by him.
"Shinra, Namie, you two are weak anyway, go down and watch the entrance. I would really love to not be surprised by any fungi walking their way up here while we try to move our friend," Izaya announced, and Shinra nodded whilst adjusting his glasses.
"Why two people? Isn't he enough?" Namie complained, obviously not up to put herself into even a shred of possible danger.
A smile flashed and his head cocked sideways as Izaya shrugged.
"Well if he gets killed then who is going to inform us?"
The chills that ran down Namie's spine at the idea weren't only exclusive to her as Karisawa mimicked a similarly affected expression.
Only Shinra, the one whose death they had just speculated about seemed to not give the slightest fuck in the world as he skipped towrads the staircase. "You heard him, let's go," he announced, and Namie clicked her tongue, before slowly rising from the blood donation bed.
"If you take your sweet time I will kill you," she spat, and with that followed the doctor in his descent.
"Noted." Izaya quickly replied before that mob of brown long hair disappeared from his sight.
"Alright, then let's see, what do we have here?" Izaya mumbled, albeit more to himself than to the last two humans present as he rummaged in the various cupboards and cartridges.
Fascination, admiration and various other forms of respect glittered in Karisawa's eyes as she watched Izaya move about.
Freely.
Confident.
As if he were afraid of nothing in this world or what was to come.
"... how is he so…" she mumbled quietly, but faded out as she missed the proper adjective to end her sentence.
Shizuo took her up. Having stood closer than she had expected he had caught her words and smiled. "In charge?"
Startled slightly the woman jerked before turning her head towards the guy they had been waiting for days to wake up.
She knew Shizuo of course, but only from a spectator's point of view. Up close like this she couldn't quite shed a slight feeling of discomfort. He had been Celty's best friend. Shinra's too in a way, along with Izaya.
But she herself had never really had the chance to interact with the blond.
"Yeah. He looks like he knows what he is doing and why 100% of the time," she started slowly, "Even now with everything as it is."
No matter the situation Izaya somehow always seemed to be able to make the best of it. Be it when they were trapped in that store or when that unpredicted monster chased them by moving shadows.
"I don't know, but I guess that's just the way he has always been." Shizuo shrugged, and Karisawa couldn't help but cast a side glance towards Izaya, then Shizuo.
These two-
"How did you two end up together?" her mouth was quicker than her mind to catch up what exactly she had just said and her cheeks immediately flushed as she stuttered, "Ah, I didn't mean together, together, that's private of course, I meant uh, like as a group, you know moving and-" digging her grave only further Shizuo's expression showed a variety of changes, from surprised, to confused and eventually amused as her flow of words came to an embarrassed halt.
"Did he tell you?" Shizuo snorted, and Karisawa would have loved to dig a hole to hide herself in right then and there.
"... No," she quickly cleared her throat, and her eyes wandered as she didn't dare look in Shizuo's eyes. "It was just kinda obvious when you woke up."
She still remembered it.
The way Izaya's expression changed to something she had never seen him show before. The memory alone caused her embarrassment to subside as a sense of familiarity resurfaced instead. She could get behind that. The idea of worry, and relief upon finding someone beloved was safe, better than she liked to.
Shizuo noticed that the woman's mood had somewhat changed and his own goal of topic shifted.
"How long was I out for?" Nobody really told him anything and apart from the fact that Izaya could have potentially died while he was being unconscious he hadn't been given any clear information.
"Don't worry. I was with him when, you know…" fading out Karisawa seemed unsure what kind of words to pick as she touched the tip of her chin. "What I want to say is, just focus on getting better, okay? I think that will help him most."
Shizuo snorted.
Yeah.
That was pretty much what Izaya told him too.
Eyes trailing over to their person of topic he briefly watched Izaya as he pulled out a set of various objects from the corner of a cupboard.
He was too immersed in his search to pay attention to their conversation and somehow that suited him. Shinra was the doctor and Namie the scientist, but when it came to mixing up schemes and inventing something new he was just as much of an invested inventor.
"You know, he looks like he is always in charge and knows everything, the best course of action, the right opinion, the perfect solution," Shizuo said, "But sometimes he doesn't and that's when I came up I guess."
A short blink followed in which Karisawa took a second to realize that Shizuo was actually answering her earlier question about how they met. "We met randomly, really, I wasn't in my best state of mind while he was in no physical shape to get by." A soft smile drew upon Shizuo's features at the memory that somehow seemed like it dated a decade ago. "In a weird way I guess we complemented each other," he paused, and the smile intensified. "And still do, I guess."
Because now he was the one out of order and Izaya taking the steering wheel. They were switching.
The soft sound of a chuckle interrupted his reminiscence and he turned his head to look at the girl called Karisawa. She was smiling.
"What?"
Lips opening for a moment the girl shook her head, "No just, I think back in our usual days people would have thought the world would come to an end if you ever joined forces. And now it's exactly you two that will probably save it."
Shizuo snorted.
How right she was.
Between destroying the city and working together, the first had always been the more obvious choice.
"You have high hopes in him, don't you?" Shizuo found himself asking and Karisawa nodded, a gentle expression taking over as she had finally thawed around the blond.
"Kinda. I don't know, everything seems so light with him around. As if this whole reality were just a game that we are all soon going to wake up from," She smiled brightly as she faced the blond, "Makes you want to follow him wherever he goes, you know?"
Ah.
That right now, struck a chord. The right one, one that made Shizuo's chest feel lighter.
Izaya had purposely tried to make everyone still alive hate him. Just for the sake of being able to abandon them at any time given without causing a sense of remorse or sadness. Shizuo didn't agree with that at all, but it was what Izaya wanted and he wasn't going to interfere.
And yet-
He couldn't help but feel his own sense of victory surge at the amount of trust this woman was willing to put into him.
After everything Izaya did, this woman was looking up to him in a way that was similar to Shizuo's.
"What was your name again?" he asked quickly, and the woman snorted before feigning offense.
"Hehh? Really? You forgot? How could you?" she joked, as she had never really introduced herself properly. Shizuo only knew she was one of Kadota's friends, and she was aware. A smile flashed and she answered, "Erika, Erika Karisawa."
The soft sound of a suppressed cheer cut the conversation right there as Izaya strode towards the two of them.
"Alright, Karisawa, if you would," he announced swiftly, whilst pointing to an array of black straps tied to each other that were resting on the ground.
"... wait, I am going to carry it?" Karisawa asked in a moment of stupor as she glanced at the machine and Izaya with disbelief alike.
"With me." Izaya corrected quickly, but that didn't quite diminish her confusion.
"What about-" she turned to look at Shizuo, but that's when she realized. "Oh."
Right.
Shizuo had only woken up from a state of coma. His ribs had perforated his lungs and it was only due to Shinra's efforts that he was alive at all.
Talking to him casually like this and having him walk around faster than a human should physically be possible too had somehow diluted that fact in her mind.
"Yeah, Shizu-chan is kinda out of order," Izaya snorted, picking up on the understandable misconception.
Shizuo seemed to be the only one to not get it as he shrugged, "I could try-"
"No, you don't."
The order came quicker and harsher than expected but was overall only meant well as Izaya's eyes narrowed.
Walking over to the machine Karisawa inspected it with a shred of doubt.
"And we can do it?"
"It won't be easy but I trust you are strong enough." Izaya announced, and with that he moved over. Straps of black that looked like they were used to tie patients to beds were aligned next to the machine and Izaya gave a short approving nod.
"First we need to tilt it. Ready?" he asked, and crouched down. Startled into motion Karisawa found herself nodding and moving without even second guessing Izaya's order.
Tilt.
That should be easy, right?
But this machine- was heavier than expected.
It barely even moved a millimeter- and disregarding Izaya's warning Shizuo's hand was quicker on the machine than he could complain.
With combined efforts Izaya moved the straps of his makeshift shoulder dolly underneath their desired friend. First left then right.
It was only when the machine was set back down that Izaya glanced up to see Shizuo helping Karisawa and his expression turned dark.
"Hey-" he was ready to scold the hell out of this stupid blond for not doing as he said, but a short wince on Shizuo's part instantly shut the hell out of that intent.
Sitting down quickly on one of the blood donation beds Shizuo breathed slowly.
Izaya was next to him quicker than expected.
"You good?" All anger and annoyance for having been annoyed were discarded and instead pure worry screamed from red eyes.
Nodding slowly, Shizuo gave Izaya a quick surge of relief.
"Just a little out of breath."
Of course he would be-
Clicking his tongue Izaya suppressed the need to groan. Shizuo wasn't stupid. He knew what he was capable of. But if Izaya could have chosen he would have wanted the blond to stay behind.
Rest in that library until he was all healed up again.
But in this kind of environment, with jo's hoe's around he wasn't going to last long.
And if anything was scarier than putting strain on Shizuo right now, then it was to return and find him dead or gone.
After realizing that Shizuo was in fact okay, Karisawa quickly moved over. She didn't want to stare and didn't want to disturb the two and so she busied herself.
The straps had been properly adjusted, but the path to the staircase could use a bit more of clearing.
Moving the blood donation beds even further to the side she created more room. After all, Izaya, the machine and her were going to need every ounce of space possible.
A short glance was thrown towards her by Izaya when the last bed was moved to the furthest corner of the room and she smiled.
"I'm ready when you are," she said and somehow she really felt that. An unknown surge of determination had taken hold of her. Maybe it was due to the fact that Shizuo was trying to help despite being in the worst condition of them all, but she really wanted to prove herself useful as well.
Nodding quickly, Izaya moved over. The straps were adjusted, and with one last glance shot towards the woman Izaya nodded-
"Holy shit, this is heavy…" Karisawa strained between grit teeth as the desired machined hovered not more than a palm's width above the ground. It was heavy. Too heavy.
If she had the choice she would drop it right then and there and give up, but that was no option.
"All good?" Izaya asked, and Karisawa strained the last of her strength as she nodded. They were going to get this down, right now.
With steps slower and more careful than a snail moving across a raspberry the two of them made their way over to the staircase.
A momentary glance was cast across Karisawa's shoulder and she gulped.
"If you need a break, tell me, it's enough to have one idiot with squished ribs," Izaya warned, giving a fair pointer to Shizuo and his current state.
A quick, strained nod was given and the first foot set down.
At least this was an old facility. The stairs were built close to each other with not much gap in between.
Karisawa's thighs were screaming as she moved and she realized she would have the sorest muscles of her life the next day. But it was going to be worth it.
Another step passed, then one more, and more- until the middle of the stair case was reached and she gave a quick shake of head.
Instantly recognizing the action as a call for a quick break Izaya carefully followed and the set the machine down.
A deep sigh and groan followed as Karisawa leant onto the device.
"Fuck." She cursed, not adding really much more to it, but Izaya understood anyway and snorted. He was out of breath himself. Being a man and all compared to Karisawa's physique he was putting a little less strain on his body than she was, but damn he could really emphasize with her.
This god damn machine was heavy as hell.
"Where are we carrying this anyway?" Karisawa breathed ragged and Izaya tilted his head downwards.
"Just to the entrance, then we will fetch it with a car."
Honestly? Izaya would have really loved to just gather the entire group to move this shit. But then who was going to secure the area? Who was going to defend them if one of the slow fungi came to take a quick bite from them?
Not to mention the staircase was small as it was already. No matter the perspective or hypothetical ideas, this was still a job that needed to be done by two people alone.
Casting a glance towards Karisawa he drew a deep breath.
"Alright, ready for the second half?" he asked, and Karisawa did the same as she sucked in some air.
"Ready."
But before the two could even do as much as start to lift the object a harsh sound tore through the air. Loud. Alarmingly loud and Izaya's head whipped towards Shizuo.
Following close, his eyes searched for Izaya's immediately as well and Karisawa jumped in her skin.
None of them were injured. None of the people present at least and Karisawa's expression grew horrified as she whipped her head towards Izaya.
"What was that-?"
to be continued~
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See you next Saturday~
xDDDD
