Chapter 97: Lies

No doubt. It was her.

Kururi Orihara.

Memories of the last time Izaya saw her flooded his mind in a burst of emotions. It had been before the outbreak. Before the virus was starting to take over the entire population.

She had come down with a fever. With chest pain. Thinking about it now, it had been similar symptoms to Shiki's before he transformed.

They brought her to the hospital. Fast too- the ambulance arrived in basically no time at all. And then-

Izaya had waited with Mairu as they checked on Kururi. The doctors said something about her condition being unstable and to wait in the corridor.

Izaya was no doctor. He had no means to know whether they were lying, but he was wiser than to delay any potential help for his sister.

And so they had waited.

Waited until the moment that cursed bastard returned and told them Kururi had died.

Died.

Eyes locked with Kururi his body and mind were equally frozen as he watched her move. A step forward was taken against the fence, but the iron rods pushing into her body kept her from advancing. Dirt and dust clung to every part of her skin. Her shoulders, her clothes, her hair- Rain and wind had created a brown mess of knots and chaos that now clung to her cheeks.

She looked thin.

So much thinner than the last time Izaya saw her. Blood that stemmed not from her clung to her clothes and face and for a second Izaya could do nothing but breathe.

How?

She was declared dead.

She was declared as first victim-

Izaya had seen her corpse- he had seen-

And suddenly he blinked and realized the greatest misconception so far

Died.

Died from the virus.

A virus that caused everyone else to transform into what looked like zombies.

This wasn't an illness that simply claimed one's life.

He had been tricked.

What happened?

Had she not been dead after all? Why did they tell them so? Where did they bring her? What happened to her?

Why was she here?

Why now?

Strings of wires shut his throat and minimized his breathing as his eyes narrowed to those of regret and despair. Mairu.

Kururi was alive.

He wanted to tell Mairu. He wanted to tell the twin that her beloved sister hadn't died on that day. That she was fine.

That was the first thought that rushed to his mind and caused it to choke.

Because Mairu was dead. And it was his fault.

He shot her, despite having been able to save her- Now with the antidote, he could have eventually- and suddenly the guilt of that memory transformed into a revelation of truth.

Mairu was dead-

But Kururi was not.

He could save her-

Before he knew it his legs moved and his body tensed.

"Kururi-" he turned, towards the ladder that had helped them get up here. His goal was simple. Get down there. To his sister. Bring her here. Away from those infected bastard and treat her-

"Izaya-!" but he quickly found himself bound by Shizuo's hand circling his wrist to keep him in place.

A deep frown grazed Shizuo's expression as his mouth failed him to speak.

Izaya had been about to simply head down there right into a hoard of hundreds of zombies. And suddenly it was there.

A shot.

Ringing through the sweet harmony of Vivaldi. A stupidly happy melody for the sight presenting up front.

Their heads snapped around immediately, Izaya's towards Kururi, but she had not been the zombie the shot had been directed at, and Shizuo's towards Phil's who was starting to clear out some zombies that started pushing a bit too hard against the fountain holding the phonograph.

It wasn't Kururi that was killed. It was a different zombie. One far away from her and yet-

"STOP!" Izaya yelled, and everyone else turned, including Phil and his friend.

Demise, regret and more emotions Shizuo wanted to take off Izaya's mind swirled in his eyes as he tried to tear himself out of Shizuo's grip.

"Izaya-!" Shizuo repeated and pulled Izaya closer. "Calm down- You can't just head down there-"

But there was no talking to Izaya. Not now.

Turning his head he only showed a desperate desire to act. Now. Do something to save his sister. The only one left.

"I can help her Shizu-chan!" he declared, with no sense of time or location and pulled his sleeve down-

Quicker than anyone else was to notice the healing bite mark, Shizuo pulled it back down. He knew Izaya wanted to show him that he was immune. That no bite was going to turn him and the great misconception that getting bitten was the only danger down there clouded his mind.

He was acting irrational-

Really. But-

Pulling Izaya towards his body, Shizuo quickly trapped him into a tight hug.

"Calm down," he whispered, "You can't go there. Not now, not when they are watching." Phil and his friend. They were still there.

Unsure of what they had done wrong they had frozen on the other side of the building and seemed to hesitate coming over as they watched their actions from afar.

"Shizu-chan its Kururi, it's her, she is still alive she-" Izaya rambled, quick, quiet and in a tone that caused Shizuo's own chest to tighten.

"I know," he whispered and the hug tightened.

He is losing it, little by little-

And it wasn't even like Shizuo didn't understand. If it were Kasuka- if there were a chance to see him again alive- No one would be able to stop him from heading down there.

And that was exactly why he had to stop Izaya right now.

Blond hair entered Shizuo's peripheral vision and suddenly he noticed that they weren't alone anymore.

Vorona had approached. Karisawa too.

"Did something happen?" she asked with a frown, ready to kill anything that was going to try and harm the group. Karisawa was more on the sympathetic side and genuine concern glazed her eyes as she looked at Izaya. "What's wrong?"

"She died- they told me she died-" Izaya whispered-

And suddenly she was there.

"Did he finally lose his mind?"

Namie.

Namie Yagiri.

God damn Yagiri pharmaceuticals.

"You-!" quicker than Shizuo could react, Izaya tore himself away from his body and clutched Namie's collar in under a second. "You damned bitch what did you do to her?!" Pure blooded hatred lingered in his eyes as he words flowed from his lips like poison.

Surprise was the upfront reaction Namie had to offer, and Vorona was quick to move as well.

Immediately following up she yanked Izaya's hand off her body and quickly pulled Namie over before moving in front of her.

"Hands off," she glared, but also held a certain amount of confusion in her eyes. "What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to gain the intel she needed to know how to react, but Izaya wasn't in the mood to talk.

Not when looking at the woman that had analyzed the virus.

Because he realized it.

The second he saw Namie's dumb face, he realized the truth of what had happened.

He never truly saw Kururi's corpse

He saw her face. On a body. Covered half by a sheet of blanket. But only from afar.

The news of her death- a doctor delivered them.

They never buried her.

They never got her body from the hospital.

Hell broke loose soon after.

What if she turned?

What if she turned and left the hospital?

Disappeared?

With no trace?

It would have caused a panic. Panic of an infected girl roaming the everyday streets.

They covered it up.

And suddenly he remembered the way Namie reacted when he said the first that died of the virus was his sister.

As if she had forgotten that she died.

As if she had no recollection of her corpse when it should have been the first to be examined to find out more about the virus that supposedly killed her.

Of course-

How would she when the body simply disappeared from hospital?

"The first victim to the virus, huh?" Izaya glared at her and she seemingly started to realize as Izaya pointed towards the horde of zombies.

It took her a slow moment, but the fence was a good marker in the landscape below and Kururi's face, one she knew well enough to recognize quickly.

She saw her. And she visibly recognized her as her eyes narrowed not with surprise, but displeasure. As if she were annoyed to see the girl alive and kicking.

"You told me she was dead," Izaya hissed and even Kadota who had joined the commotion seemed somewhat disturbed.

Namie was a good liar. A scientist that was used to cover up the facts that would hinder her research from progressing. But right now, with the facts laying as bare as they did even she seemed to see no sense in trying to deny something that was simply the truth.

And that showed on her expression and similarly caused Karisawa and Kadota to look at her with a faint hint of distrust.

"What? You wanted me to tell the population that we happened to lose a patient carrying the potentially most infectious and dangerous virus?" Namie suddenly spat, and her eyes narrowed as if she were waiting to be praised for her noble actions and efforts.

But Izaya had nothing to offer but vile madness as his loose hands balled into fists.

She really hid it.

"What happened?" he whispered, dangerously low, but Namie failed to recognize the amount of anger she had triggered in the man as she simply shrugged with a god damn smile.

"I thought you don't care."

And suddenly it was there.

A gun.

Izaya didn't even truly remember picking it up from one of the boxes serving as supplies to shoot the zombies. But now it was in his hand, and colors of red and black clouded his vision as he aimed the barrel at the goddamn woman.

Everyone present flinched at the unexpected action and even Shizuo seemed unsure what to do as he remained at Izaya's side.

But Izaya wasn't the type to simply kill someone. He was the type to threaten. And so he did.

"The truth. Now." He announced coldly as he unlocked the trigger.

Phil and his friend had caught up to the present mess, but of course had no idea what's going on.

But it was funny. Compared to last time when Namie tried to shoot Izaya for having killed her brother, Kadota and Karisawa were executing no effort to stop his actions as all they had to offer were glances of disgust directed at Namie.

Only Vorona remained by her side and refused to move away from her shielding position.

Funny how the tables had turned.

But Namie was smarter than to keep any unnecessary secrets just to spite Izaya at this point in time and so she clicked her tongue.

"At that time we received a lot of reports on people falling ill. Infected ones. People were sent to fetch them and put them into quarantine, but-" she frowned.

"Let me guess. Most of them were magically gone when they arrived?" Izaya easily concluded and Namie sighed.

"Now we know they simply turned and ran away. Started infecting others. Killing others. They probably went for homeless people and drunk ones first, that's why we realized too late what was going on," she explained awfully calmly, and for a brief second Izaya felt the urge to actually act on his threat of shooting her. "Their conscience was loosely hanging on and we suspected they were walking amongst others without notice."

Like Shiki.

He kept working too. Was he already feeling the need to attack Izaya when he entered the apartment?

He only seemed to have lost his mind after falling over.

"But Kururui didn't disappear," Izaya hissed and his lips curled into an angry smile. "I was wondering why you arrived so fast at our place when I called. Seemed awfully convenient," he pointed out and still failed to see any regret in Namie's eyes as she merely shrugged.

"We got lucky with her. Admitted her to hospital before she turned."

Before she-

Hot blooded anger boiled in Izaya's chest and for a second he took a deep breath.

"And then you lost her." He needed to remain calm. At least until he knew exactly what had happened. "A hospital is surveilled at all times," he pointed out, "You saw her turn, walk off," he spoke slowly, and his eyes narrowed. "And then you prepared a fake body to fool us. To fool the world. To cover up your own damn mistake."

Remorse was still an emotion not to be found in Namie's expression.

Instead she glared and even moved in front of Vorona as if she had nothing to fear.

"I faked my own death too if you remember rig-"

"I couldn't care less about your fucking death-!"

No one had expected Izaya to yell. Not Izaya. Not the one that remained calm at the worst times no matter how bad the situation was.

And neither did Namie, as she flinched and suddenly she looked at the gun Izaya was holding with the respect she should have all along.

Izaya could shoot her. Right now.

Shizuo had yet to hinder him, and yet somehow the urge to spill her guts onto the museum's roof somehow failed to prevail.

Shooting her was not going to help Kururi. It was that simple thought that brought Izaya to lower his gun and toss it back into the box without another word.

Right now all that counted was saving Kururi and so he moved towards the ladder-

"Hey-!"

Funny how threatening Namie with a gun didn't get Shizuo to move, but moving towards the zombies did.

"We have to save her-" Izaya declared and tore his wrist from Shizuo's grasp before he could lock his palm around it.

But Shizuo seemed to hold a different opinion.

"Izaya- You can't go down there right now-" Shizuo repeated, "Maybe later, maybe once we cleared some of the others-"

"What if she is gone by then?!"

Anger, regret and sadness mixed into a dangerous cocktail of bad decisions.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Izaya was aware that Shizuo was right. That moving down there right now was the worst he could do. Because at the end of the day not only could the fungi rip him apart with their strength but Kururi had no reason to follow him quietly and obediently instead of acting just like the rest of them did.

"Izaya we can't do anything right now," Shizuo repeated and despite Izaya hating him for saying what he did, he knew he was right.

He knew it.

They had no true antidote yet. They had no place to keep Kururi in. They had no means to fetch her without attracting too much attention.

They couldn't do a damned thing.

Pain over the decision he had to take clouded Izaya's expression and he jerked away from Shizuo's grasp.

But not into the direction of the ladder, but towards the other end of the roof.

Passing Phil and his flabbergasted friend he paid them no mind and uncomfortable silence filled the air left around Vorona, Namie and the rest of the group.

It was a novum, to see Izaya this worked up, at least to everyone present that was not Shizuo and it showed on their expressions.

They thought he was strong, both in mind and body, but even more in the former. Having led them through the worst situations Izaya had somewhat created a godlike image of his own self to present outwards. Seeing him this despaired right now was hard to look at for not only Shizuo.

"So what?" Namie suddenly said and Karisawa turned to face the woman. "Namie, stop it-"

"We should just kill her, would only be fair," the scientist spat, half serious, half joking, but after this day and having revealed what she did those were just words that Shizuo couldn't stomach.

"Can you shut your fucking mouth?" he warned, and the sadness he felt for Izaya quickly turned into a ball of anger.

"Why are you even taking his side? He is an asshole. Always has been always wi-" the fist that met her face came as much unexpected as it was deserved.

"Namie!" Karisawa quickly moved over, despite everything still concerned about her wellbeing and Shizuo heaved.

Vorona had not moved to block him at all and instead she seemed quite torn which side to take in this conflict.

"Listen, your brother was insane. Bitten all over. Bleeding. He was nothing but a walking corpse that would have transformed and died in a few days," Shizuo snarled. "He ripped a woman's head including the spine off her corpse and kept calling her his beloved." His chest was heaving and the fist he punched Namie was shaking with madness. "I wanted to kill him, to end his suffering, Izaya did it so I didn't have to fucking kill a living person no matter how nuts he was."

Rubbing a bit of blood off her lip, Namie glared at Shizuo from below. Her back had finely aligned with the ground upon the impact but no real damage had been done as even in his outburst Shizuo had restrained his strength to a non lethal amount.

"Bullshit, he told me he-"

"He told you that because he wanted you to live. Because he thought you would kill yourself if you knew your brother was dead. He wanted you to hate him so you had a reason to go on," Shizuo snarled, telling what he knew he shouldn't, but what was the point at this time?

Awkward silence fell upon the group like a blanket and even Namie seemed taken aback at Shizuo's words.

"... am I supposed to believe that?" She asked, with her glare still in place, but her anger seemed awfully shallow and the faintest hint of doubt grazed her eyes and Shizuo turned.

He was done with this stupid woman.

"I don't give a shit about what you believe. But stop running your mouth or I will."

To be continued~

Oh my, oh my, the plot thickens C:

Guess this update doesn't quite fit the Christmas vibe but hey xDDDD Merry Christmas anyway haha 3