Jan 25, 2010 00:04
Shinjuku
"Why, if I may venture, is Shizu-chan in front of my apartment?"
Orihara Izaya was wearing a smile best described as "bitter" as he asked in a somewhat unsettled tone.
"...To beat the crap out of ya, of course."
In contrast to that, Shizuo's smile was strictly limited to the corner of his mouth as the rest of his body radiated anger.
Returning from a nearby 24/7 store at midnight, what Izaya saw in front of his apartment was a Shizuo about to kick down his door.
Although letting him be until the cops take him away would be be a nice choice in itself, Izaya had to appear before Shizuo at the thought of one possibility.
- If Shizuo discovers "the head" in the room before the cops come, Izaya himself will be in trouble.
"And why should I be still and let you beat me up again?"
"'Cuz I'm pissed."
"......At our age, wouldn't that kind of talk sound a little too Gian-ish?"
"Shut up. If there's a real reason...it's that you're fishy."
Izaya frowned slightly at Shizuo's sudden assertion.
"How come?"
"All the batshit people-cutting things going on in Ikebukuro...to what extent do you have to do with those?"
Faced with such a straightforward question, Izaya shook his head in bewilderment.
"Why would I have anything to do with that?"
"'Cuz 99% of these out-of-the-blue happenings will eventually have to do with you."
"...And you're not willing to believe the other 1%?"
"If only I had a reason to believe that other 1%, we would've been on much better terms...isn't that right, Izaya-kun?"
Several veins protruded from Shizuo's face as past events rushed to his memory. A complete stranger would probably think that face calls for some serious medical attention.
"Even if you're not behind the people-cutters, Ikebukuro has gone weird recently. It's your work, right? What exactly are you planning?"
"It's so easy to find a stick when you wanna beat a dog, isn't it?"
Izaya's face broke into a smile - already raising his switchblade into position.
Shizuo smiled as well at that sight and rested his hands on the guardrail in front of the apartment.
"?"
Noticing his adversary's unusual move, Izaya sweated a little.
- He can't be thinking about wielding that guardrail to fight me.
But Heiwajima Shizuo happened to be the kind of person who'd think about just that.
Then - just as he thought, Shizuo's hands on the guardrail began to tighten.
"...You serious?"
If so, he'd have to stab before Shizuo pulled the guardrail off.
Stab - Izaya wiped his own smile off his face at the exact moment this resolution was made.
Shizuo, having noticed that, gave a daredevil sort of "go at it if you think you can" look.
The air was pregnant with a storm for a moment before a "shadow" broke onto the scene.
The Black Rider on her soundless motorbike separated the two.
"Why, hello there."
"Certy...what's up?"
Though Izaya and Shizuo both spoke to Certy, Certy simply made a gesture telling Izaya to stop before she showed Shizuo her PDA. On it she had copy-and-pasted the chatroom log files.
Shizuo eyed it briefly, then frowned and asked Certy:
"...What the hell is it?"
After several seconds of thought Shizuo's eyes went calm. Turning to Izaya he asked again:
"...Is this part of your plan as well?"
"I really don't know what you're talking about. If I could have predicted that Certy would come at this exact moment, I would have been able to make a meteor fall on your house already."
Even with that, Shizuo kept staring at Izaya for quite some time before he gave an "I'll give up for now" tick with his tongue and mounted Certy's motorbike wordlessly.
Really, that guy is too hard to deal with.
Since high school I've made use of everything I could to get my hands on all that I call my own now. Only one person refused to do as I hoped under all circumstances. That's Heiwajima Shizuo.
- At first I had thought I would be able to use Shizu-chan as well.
Izaya smiled sarcastically at the leaving motorbike.
"...Really...why so sharp, when you're got such a protozoic brain?"
It was a smile resting somewhere between unsettled and pleased.
"That - is why I hate you so much, Shizu-chan."
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