Izaya, meanwhile, goes on a research odyssey. Of course he tends to his business as well; there are clients to see and shit to stir, but his free moments are consumed by attempts to unravel his new friend’s secrets. He scours message boards, reaches out to contacts with connections, digs into classified databases—and finds next to nothing.
It isn’t that Seth is a complete ghost. He doesn’t appear to be in hiding. There’s documentation of him, though the information is minimal, surface-level. Hardly more than simple confirmations of his existence, really. For all intents and purposes, he’s just another nondescript body in Tokyo. A few of Izaya’s contacts did come through with a handful of first-person accounts of what it’s like to work with him, but the reports were skeletal at best: he appears when you need him, suddenly and eerily, then disappears just as quickly. Occasionally he’s been seen lingering on the outskirts of goings-on, watching, “a lot like you actually, Orihara, come to think of it.”
The vagueness of it all is maddening—especially because these obstacles are less dead ends than they are noncommittal shrugs. Seth is an information broker who appears to value mystique and privacy, and that’s all there is to it. Except that isn’t all there is to it. It can’t be.
Several times, he took Seth’s card from his desk drawer, staring at it intently, memorizing the number. He was tempted to call, but didn’t. In a way it felt like that would be admitting defeat.
The day of their next meeting arrives and he’s relieved. Elated, even. He practically floats to the coffeehouse. Of course, he does hover some distance away, lurking, until he sees the familiar silhouette enter first; then he waits another five minutes so as to be tastefully late.
“Oh, good, you remembered!” Izaya chirps, coming up behind him. He starts ushering him toward the counter, arm thrown around his shoulder. “I was worried you’d ghost me. You said you were going to spoil me this time, right?”
The barista already looks slightly tense just at the sight of them.