Daily Life : Not Available
Chapter 14
Posted: 08/03/2021
Status: Ongoing
Author's note: bet y'all didn't expect a new chapter to drop so soon didja
“What’s the point of us being left alive?” His companion asks him one day, a somber expression on his face. “There’s nothing to live for. Nobody to live for either. There’s only us, alone in these ruins.”
He frowns. He takes his hand in a gentle grip, lets his head fall on his shoulder, and sighs.
“I don’t know, Shizuo.” His voice is barely a whisper, lost in the vast emptiness of their new reality.
But in truth, they both knew why they had to stay alive.
The black-haired young man presses his other hand to his left pocket. Inside, the reason for their being as they are, alive and undying.
Before fading away, they had to make things right.
…
The weeks kept going like that, blending into each other from the monotony. Each day Izaya would meet Tsugaru, and each day the boy refused to answer his questions.
He hadn’t seen Shinra once since.
It wasn’t like him to be absent for so long without even sending him a message.
“You look stressed.” Tsugaru, sitting to his left, had commented calmly.
“I’m not.” He snapped, immediately proving the brunette’s point.
“You are.” Tsugaru insisted. “That’s good, means you care about him.”
“Ugh.” Izaya scoffed, annoyed. “You’re making it sound like I have feelings for him or something. Why are you always like that?” He bristled.
Tsugaru gave him a serene smile. “Well, platonic affection is a feeling.”
At that, Izaya threw his hands in the air in frustration, as if asking the sky ‘Why did you burden me with this guy?!’ . Tsugaru huffed a laugh.
“Why not visit Shinra? He’s been absent for a while, so he’s probably sick, right?” Tsugaru proposed, speaking as if the missing boy was his friend, and not some guy he saw on the first day and never spoke to.
That was another thing Izaya found suspicious about that guy, he seemed to know everything and everyone, yet Izaya had yet to see him interact with someone else but him. Could he read thoughts? Memories? Izaya didn’t have the slightest idea of the extent of Tsugaru’s abilities. He didn’t know how much was bluffing, and how much was actual supernatural abilities (provided the boy was indeed a spirit, which he had yet to confirm or deny).
“I’ll visit him, because I’m his friend and he didn’t even text me even though he always does. And you’re not coming. ”
“I will, don’t worry.”
“Stop ignoring what I tell you.”
Irked red eyes glared at relaxed golden ones. Tsugaru always seemed to insist on following him everywhere. He had even taken residence in his house’s guest room (completely ignoring his protests). The fact the twins hadn’t even commented on the presence of a stranger in their home was proof enough that at least some kind of supernatural force was involved.
So, after school, Izaya went to pick up the twins as usual, holding Kururi’s hand and giving Mairu a piggyback ride (she was getting heavy, soon he’d have to stop indulging her like this, for the sake of his own health).
And of course, that guy was there as well. He sighed inwardly.
Izaya left the girls at home, telling them to be nice, to not destroy the house, and to not let anyone in while he was gone; then, he left for Shinra’s house. He could feel the intense golden gaze piercing into him as the boy following him kept silent.
They walked in uncomfortable silence for a while.
Just as Izaya was taking a turn, however, Tsugaru suddenly grabbed his hand in a gentle but surprisingly strong grip, stopping him in his tracks. Izaya sighed.
“What.” He demanded none-too-gently, not bothering to even turn around and look at the boy who’d grabbed him.
“You can’t go this way.” Tsugaru said simply, Izaya finally turned around to give him a pointed look.
“That’s the way to Shinra’s house.”
“Let’s go another way.” Tsugaru insisted. Izaya could see some kind of anxiety hiding deep behind the gold of his eyes.
That too, was something he had a tendency to do, aside from talking about feelings and following him everywhere. Sometimes, he would stop him in his tracks and force him to take a different route to his destination. Sometimes, he would even stop him altogether from getting to his destination (he was still mad about that time he was supposed to meet Kine, and Tsugaru forced him to stay home; he hadn’t heard from the man since then).
But Izaya had enough.
“Alright, that’s it.” Izaya snapped, slapping Tsugaru’s hand away. “You either tell me why you don’t want me to go there, or I go and find out myself. Your choice.” He said, giving him a dark glare.
Tsugaru actually seemed to hesitate, the anxiety getting more obvious in both his eyes and body language. Izaya crossed his arms as if saying ‘And that’s final’ .
Then, finally, Tsugaru sighed, defeated.
“Fine…” He said, then spent a few seconds thinking about how to say this. Finally, he looked deep into Izaya’s eyes, his tone serious and somber. “If you go that way, you’ll disappear.”
Izaya blinked.
“Huh?” What?
He stared at Tsugaru. Tsugaru stared at him. He could see the worry on the brunette’s face, and had heard the utter seriousness of his tone. Tsugaru was being honest.
“What’s back there?” Izaya asked him. “Kidnappers? Murderers? Some kind of man-eating beast?”
Tsugaru let out a dark laugh. “Hah, it’d be much easier if it was one of those. At least those I can punch.” Tsugaru had a haunted look on his face, as if deep in thought. Izaya could take advantage of the boy’s distraction and flee, see for himself what agitated him so much.
But he couldn’t. He felt himself unable to move from his spot.
“There’s nothing there, Izaya.” Tsugaru admitted. “And if you go there, then you, too, will become nothing. You’ll disappear.”
Izaya’s eyes widened, first in surprise, then in realization. Things started to make a lot of sense now. All the times Tsugaru forced him to change routes, to stay home. Kine not giving any sign of life after their missed meeting. Shinra having been gone for weeks .
Izaya immediately turned around to run in the direction of Shinra’s home but, as if he had expected Izaya to react that way, Tsugaru caught him and held him against his chest in a secure grip as he trashed.
“Let me go! Shinra’s still back there!”
“He’s not! There’s nothing there!”
“No! Shinra is there! I have to get him out before he…” Izaya trailed off, gradually stopping his squirming until he finally let himself fall limp in Tsugaru’s arms. “…Shinra.” His voice was quiet, broken.
“I’m sorry.” ‘Tsugaru’ murmured, enveloping Izaya in his warmth to comfort the distressed boy.
Around them, reality seemed to be falling apart, buildings morphing into abstract shapes, sounds disappearing. Quickly, nothingness was approaching the both of them until they found themselves swallowed whole by it.
Before they could be completely absorbed, ‘Tsugaru’ spoke, his voice unheard in the deep void.
“I won’t let you disappear again, Izaya.”
…
When Shizuo woke up, he was reassured to be waking up in a bed, dressed in hospital robes instead of strapped to a table naked. He really wanted to ask for some underwear, but after having needed to call the nurses to go to the toilet, all while trying to explain with only gestures that he needed to go because of his lack of English knowledge…well, he was way too mortified to call them again.
His head and body still hurt, but he felt like he could move again after a good night’s rest (or, well, he supposed it was one, he had no way to tell the time in there, what with the lack of windows). At least he wouldn’t need to call the nurses again. Once was enough.
After eating the breakfast that was delivered to him, Namie came to his room to check on him. Much like the day before, he asked her to see Izaya again. She seemed annoyed but not surprised, and helped him to the other man’s room.
She did seem impressed by the fact he could walk again so soon, albeit with the aid of crutches.
“I heal quickly.” He had shrugged.
When they arrived at the informant’s room, Namie pulled out a chair for Shizuo, who sat with some difficulty in it, right at Izaya’s bedside. It seemed the scientists from yesterday weren’t there today either. Namie took her place at the desk nearby to file some reports like the day before. Shizuo was thankful to her for not asking questions, because he couldn’t answer them anyway.
He had no idea what came over him, all he knew was that he had to be at Izaya’s side. He observed the sleeping face of his greatest enemy, so peaceful, yet so pale. He hadn’t noticed that yesterday, too dazed by the terrible cocktail of drugs and his own stupidity (as Namie called it), but Izaya seemed even skinnier than the last time he had seen it, and much paler as well. His clothes were different from Shizuo’s; they were still hospital robes, but much thicker, and over his body were layered multiple blankets that hid him almost completely. Shizuo lifted an eyebrow at that.
“How come he’s so…covered?” Shizuo asked, and almost expected Namie to not answer, busy as she was.
“His body temperature is extremely low, unlike yours which is very high.” She said, not looking up from her files. “We actually had to undress you at some point because of how high your temperature was running.”
“That why I woke up naked?”
She chuckled at that. “No, actually, you just woke up at an unfortunate time. The others were performing a regular, full-body checkup, and panicked when you showed signs of waking up on your own. And before you ask, they strapped you down to avoid you moving too much in reaction to their prodding. Reflexes still happen when one is unconscious after all.”
“Huh.” Shizuo said plainly. Well, that was a few questions answered, at least. “So…a regular check-up, you say. How long have we been here?”
“About six months now.” She said casually, but the words fell on him like a ton of bricks.
“Six months?!” He stood up suddenly, then immediately sat back down and looked back to Izaya with a guilty look on his face, as if afraid he would wake up the smaller man. Of course, Izaya showed no signs of even hearing him, his heart rate unchanging.
Actually, Shizuo narrowed his eyes at the heart rate monitor.
“Hey…isn’t his heartbeat kinda slower than yesterday?”
Namie sighed. “Indeed. His heart has been gradually slowing down this past week, another reason for his being so cold. We have yet to find the cause, but if it keeps like that, he’ll end up flatlining.”
And Shizuo swore he could hear some emotion in the woman’s voice. He had been under the impression that, like everyone who frequented him, she would be disinterested in Izaya’s fate. It appeared someone cared enough about him to feel bad about him dying.
Shizuo sneaked a hand beneath the covers, looking for one of Izaya’s hands, then took it gently so as not to break his bones. It was bony and especially freezing against his own, warm hand. He felt like he was holding a dead man’s hand. He frowned.
“Say…can you tell me why we’re here? How’d we end up…mind-controlled or whatever?” His voice was low, barely audible over the sound of the machines surrounding Izaya (to keep him alive, Shizuo realized).
“If you feel yourself ready. Sure.” Namie said, putting down the files and turning her chair around to look at Shizuo. She noticed Shizuo’s hand under the covers, right where Izaya’s own must have been, but made no comment on the scene. She had decided not to try understanding the two men who claimed to despise each other, yet clearly didn’t (at least, not as much as they claimed).
He nodded.
“Very well.” She started. “Since you remember a lot already, this makes my job much easier, I will be able to go straight to the point: the moment you were taken, a year after your final fight with Orihara Izaya, by the people behind the whole issue.”
…
All that stuff with Snake Hands was over, and Shizuo couldn’t be any more thankful. Celty didn’t deserve to be accused like that of crimes she did not commit, and he was glad they could go back to their normal, daily lives, at last.
(Well, as normal as the lives of a headless woman and a man with super-strength who lived in Ikebukuro could be, anyway.)
He had been staring off into space, half-aware of the cigarette he was smoking. That had been happening a lot lately. After that last fight with Izaya, he couldn’t help himself but fall into his own thoughts, thinking about what ifs. What if Shizuo had managed to reign in his anger and ignore Izaya instead of answering to his provocations? What if he had done that from the start, avoiding that bloody mess altogether? Or, what if, when Shinra had introduced them to each other, he hadn’t thrown that punch, angry as he was after that fight with the soccer team?
For a while, he couldn’t help but blame himself for what he thought was the death of one of the most important people in his life (because even if their ‘relationship’ was a mess of violence and hatred, Shizuo couldn’t deny that it had shaped the both of them as people). Then, that journalist came, and his thoughts shifted. Instead of wallowing in self-pity about the murder he had thought he had committed (so what if Vorona had been the one who had knifed him? Shizuo had been the one to break his bones to the point he was unable to defend himself anymore), he thought about Izaya, alive.
He thought about finding him, about apologizing. But of course, those thoughts were just fantasies of a better time. No matter how much he wanted to go back and avoid the whole thing, no matter how much he wanted to fix his mistakes, he couldn’t. He knew Izaya would never let him.
It was as he was deep into those thoughts, that he felt a sharp prick in the back of his neck. As he reached for whatever it was that had hurt him, he grabbed on to some kind of thin, glass cylinder. A syringe.
Ah, I’ve been drugged. Were his last thoughts before losing consciousness.
At the same time, in another place. A man with dark hair, a fur-lined jacket draped over his shoulders, and piloting a custom-made wheelchair encountered much the same fate, unable to run from the masked assailants as they held him into place and prickled him with a syringe.
[Both targets have been captured.] A message is sent to someone. [Bringing them to HQ.]
[Good work.] Was the simple reply.
Author's note: we're now officially into the second part of the story, and i'm so excited about it!
this part of the story will be mostly flashbacks explaining just what the hell happened, hope you'll be liking it!