"And where did you get this outfit from?"
I smugly adjusted the collar of my new white jacket worn over a new green tank top and new denim jeans. "Wouldn't you like to know? I have no other spare clothes and somebody wouldn't let me out."
My new boss shrugged, walking past the couch which I am taking over ('my bed', as Izaya called it) and walked behind his desk, sitting at his office chair. "Well, what would I do if you were to run away as soon as you go out? I am not letting you out that easily, Takiyama."
"With you as a boss, I can't see why anybody would want to stay."
"Touche, touche," he chuckled. "Then again, you are that annoying as well, Takiyama."
"Oh, hating me already?" I swung my legs over the couch and sat upright. "I thought you loved all humans?"
"Perhaps so," his fingers curled around a shogi piece and placed it down, right before a queen. "But you, however are an exception, just like Shizuo."
"What, who- never mind. So. When are you giving me something to do? It's bored enough to stay in this stupid office room and sit on this couch all day, you know that?"
"Do you always give all your previous bosses this much of an attitude?"
"You're not my boss," I snarled as I firmly sat on the chair in front of his desk.
"Oh?"
"You're my..." I struggled for words. "... You're the person I work for." I nodded. "Yes. So. Back to topic. Give me something to do?"
The sound of the keyboard letters being typed filled the room. Each time a ping of a new message sounded, Izaya would type back.
"You're chatting?"
He ignored me and continued typing. Then he idly said, "You should be glad. I'm hardly giving you anything to do-"
"You mean not giving anything at all."
He rolled his eyes and typed more, a smirked tugging his lips as he read off his computer screen. "Well you're hardly doing anything, you still get a paycheck from me."
I gritted my teeth. "Are you calling me a good for nothing?"
After a few moments of silence with the sound of typing of the keyboard and the sound of me typing my fingers against the table impatiently Izaya spoke again.
"Hey."
"What?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Did your parents fight?"
"Of course... not..." I faltered, thinking about the hushed, sharp words they said to each other, the way they each referred me as 'your child'...
"Because of you?"
I narrowed my eyes.
"N-none of your business, Izaya Orihara," I growled.
He smirked and a chuckle escape his lips. My hands shook with anger as I thought of ways to plan his death. This guy; he really, really likes to get me so angry.
"Do you ever feel that you are the cause of their problems? Do you think that's the reason why they threw you away? Have you thought that your existence is useless and unnecessary? Wished that you didn't exist?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I slammed my fists upon the table and stood up, grabbing Izaya by the collar and yanking him up.
My fist clenched and I wanted to slam my fist into his smug face.
His smirked widened. "Go on. I dare you to."
I started to waver. I wanted to punch him. I wanted to hurt him the way he did to me in the short period I knew him. I wanted to make sure that he would never dare to treat me that way again.
But as he continued smirking, eyes challenging me to continue, I knew that punching him would make him even more satisfied. Trembling, I released my grip on him and sat down, my hands clutching my jeans so tight, my knuckles were the color of snow.
He laughed even more. "Humans, all so predictable and I find myself someone who's unpredictable to toy as long as I like!"
I glared at him. Those red eyes stared back at me, taunting me, daring me. He moved his piece.
The pawn piece.
I grabbed the king piece and made the pawn piece move behind, making space for the king. Then I moved a knight piece. "Knight serves king," I said through gritted teeth. "While the king stays at his rook."
A rook piece was placed behind the shogi king piece. I moved the knight piece. "And knight takes pawn."
Izaya continued typing and with last tap, he grinned triumphantly. "Rio Kamichika," he said, turning his computer screen at me. The picture of a brown haired girl in a school uniform looked back at me.
"She's the next pawn," he said. "I want to execute a simple kidnapping and rescue mission. I want you to rescue her and bring her to the roof of the school building."
"What do you hope to achieve?"
"A simple test of reaction," he simply said. "And remember," he went on as he walked to the door. "If you chose to escape, I will find you."
We left the house and soon enough, we reached an alley.
"This is where she will be kidnapped. And here," he said while pointing to a road a little further away, "is where you'll rescue her."
He pointed to a building further away. "This is where you'll escort her to. Remember. If you even attempted to escape..."
Izaya's fingers grabbed my chin, tilting my face up.
He smirked. "I won't promise that I won't scar your face until unrecognizable."
My eyes widened and then I gritted my teeth, batting his hand away. "Your death threat are becoming quite normal, Izaya."
"Oh? And the girl knows my name," he cooed. "How sweet."
"You- urgh, uff, urghmafasd!" My mouth spat out a series of unintelligent noises. "Idiot!"
The idiot laughed. His phone rang and he answered it. Exchanging short brief words, he slipped it back into his pockets and nodded.
A girl appeared, walking down the streets. I recognized her from Izaya's photo.
A man appeared, talking to her, before they walked into the alley. There was a huge roar and a van pulled out. I turned, wanting to ask Izaya do I move now and find myself facing thin air.
That little- When the hell did he leave?
Jumping out and attempting to stop the van, I was about to rescue her when a motorcycle roared past me. A woman dressed in black and donning a helmet stopped the van, pulling the brown haired girl out.
"Eh?" I walked to the woman, frowning.
"Huh?" the brown haired girl said.
The woman typed out a message on her phone. 'I've come to tell you that someone is waiting for you at the roof of a building and bring you there.'
"What? I'm supposed to do that..." my voice trailed off.
The woman shrugged, gesturing for the girl to get on the motorcycle. I sighed, irritated and stomped all the way to that building.
When I got there, the brown haired girl was already standing at the entrance.
"Follow me." I waved my arm at her.
She hesitantly followed me up the stairs. As Izaya came into my view, I walked to him, standing a litter further from him, not bothering to listen much to their conversation.
"Why?" she asked when he told her that he arranged for the guys to kidnap her and for the woman to save her.
(I was already very irritated that he told that women to save this girl, not me when he blatantly told me in his house.)
Izaya shrugged. "Ah, I like humans."
Retarded. I sighed, shaking my head.
After shooting me a dangerous look, Izaya brings the girl to the edge of the building. "Do you still want to disappear?"
The girl hesitated.
"Look down," he said.
Together with her, I glanced down, seeing blood stain. My stomach flipped.
"This is the blood stain of the last person who committed suicide." Izaya smiles and told her a bunch of stuff that just translates to, 'if you jump, you will most likely die. Many people think that their life is a mess and dies this way, so reality check, you're not special.'
Her face contorted into one of anger and sadness. Her hand reached out, trying to slap him.
"Woah!" Missing with her aim, she nearly fell off the edge.
"Oh my God!" I shrieked and dashed forward, trying to grab onto her.
Izaya was quicker. He leaned forward, wrapping his fingers around the girl's wrist.
After a few moments of the girl's eyes wide and scared, and with him just letting her to dangle there, I starting shouting.
"Oi, Izaya! What are you, stoning? Pull her up! Are you an idiot?! Hurry up before she falls and dies!"
"Why should it matter?" he asks. "Doesn't she want to die?" Looking at the girl, he spoke again. "Should I let go?"
Her eyes widened and she shook.
I felt a rush of pity for this girl. "Why do you want to her to die so desperately, anyways?"
"Because my dad was cheating on my mum," she whispered.
The insecurity this girl feels... Because of her family problems. Exactly like how I was too, when I was around her age. You poor girl.
Feeling determined, I started pulling her up. "You don't deserve to die," I said, tugging her arm. "It's because of your parents that you are feeling this way. Nobody deserves to feel this way, or die because of something they didn't do."
Izaya had an unrecognizable look in his eyes before he too started to pull her up. Once she was safely up on the roof, he turned and started to leave.
"This is boring," Izaya said. "It went exactly as planned. And here I was hoping you would prove me wrong." He sighed. "But you are just as ugly as the rest of the world."
I quickly followed him down the stairs. "You are so cruel! That girl - you knew that she was insecure, with her facing family problems and you still preyed on it! What if she truly dies? Can you hold it upon your conscience?!"
"If I truly did held in upon my conscience," he says just as we reached the landing. "I'm afraid my conscience couldn't handle all of them."
"All...?" My mouth fell open. "Just... Just how many have you manipulated and made to jump? I don't believe you! How can you do all these-"
The same motorcyclist woman walked up to us, crossing an arm and showing her cell phone. 'Exactly my question.'
"You know," Izaya said to the woman. "Saving Rio Kamichika when she tried to jump was not part of your job as a chauffeur."
"What?! She tried to jump for real? Oh my God, is she okay?" I heaved a sigh of relief when that woman nodded, affirming my questions.
She typed rapidly on her phone, flashing another statement. 'Are you the one who made the others jump?'
"No." Then his eyes darkened. "But... I will not stop anyone who wants to die."
Back at the place I call home, I sat on the couch, hugging a cushion as thoughts swam in my head. "How could you... Why are you so cruel?"
Izaya strolled to me, sitting beside me and leaning his arm against the armrest. "Takiyama, the world is a very, very cruel place. Humans in it are cruel as well, shaping this corrupt place we call our world."
"But you just preyed on that girl!" I shouted, flinging the cushion to a side and facing him.
"Why do you care? Because she is nothing but a reflection of you?"
I gritted my teeth. Then I asked another question. "Why did you ask me to rescue her when you already asked that woman?"
He smirked. "I wanted to see if you would take your chance and run."
"If I did?"
"You know fairly well what would happen to you."
I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging myself. "You don't care about anything, even though you claim to love everything. You would be pleased if they all die because to you, it's all a game, isn't it?"
I buried my face in my knees. "I hate you."
"I hate you too," was all Izaya simply said before I felt the couch shift.
The door shut after him.