#0rokamono

“I won’t lie, I was with you up until the face part.”

0rokamono

The smell of cigarettes alone was enough to give him pause.  Smoke hung heavy in the air like a thick fog, masking the smell of stale beer and obscuring the dim, overhead lights.  It was the type of place that Izaya wouldn’t have even gone near had he not had business to tend to, and even then it would have to be important.  Was chasing after a name really worth the effort?  There was absolutely no guarantee that he would find anything useful; the possibility that he was utterly wasting his time was astounding.  And yet his curiosity had brought him this far.  It couldn’t hurt to take a look around.

The bar had probably been considered nice at one point in time.  There was a classical sort of elegance in its decor, but a combination of time and disinterest had caused the establishment to become shabby, dirty, and altogether unwelcoming.  The clientele weren’t exactly dangerous, but they weren’t entirely friendly either.  At least the noise level was low enough that having a conversation wouldn’t be a problem.

A few moments passed before the broker finally took a seat at the bar, sharp eyes watching the employees behind the bar.  It was the younger of the two that ultimately caught his attention, a man who he knew only by name.  After some extensive research on a recent client the name Narukami Yu had cropped up several times, alongside a handful of other, inconsequential names.  Only one lived in Tokyo, and finding him had been a bit more trouble than Izaya would have liked to admit.  His internet presence was practically nonexistent, and there was hardly anything in the police records.  But finally information had trickled back to him that a bartender with the same name was working nearby.

At least this one wouldn’t start chasing him around with murderous intent.

With a smile, the informant raised a single hand, waving the silver-haired man over to him.  The room was hardly busy, but even during busy hours a man wearing a long, fur-lined coat was a bit hard to miss.

It was hardly the first time that Adachi had been called out to some small time shit and it probably wouldn't be the last. But still, getting called out to a minor traffic accident last thing before he was supposed to be leaving work anyway? What kind of shitty luck was this? It was getting kind of cold out so he could do without waiting around for some kid who had allegedly only come away with "a couple scrapes". In all honesty Adachi could think of at least twenty things he'd rather be doing than asking some dumb college kid a bunch of questions that he'd probably go and get all evasive about anyway. But it could be worse. He could always be back in Inaba on salty old people control.

By the time Dumb College Kid was ushered over to him Adachi was pretty sure that he wasn't ever gonna get home. 

"Sorry, I'll try and keep this as short as I can." For a moment he was so fixated on getting out of there as soon as possible that it didn't even register that he ought to recognise Dumb College Kid. Well, shit. That was most definitely Narukami. He'd grown into himself a little better - he was certainly looking a lot less awkward and teenage, anyway. As the realisation dawned on him all of his previous trains of thought ground to a halt a little too abruptly and he paused for a much longer amount of time than he would have liked.

"Oh. I see you're still getting yourself into trouble." The detective grinned in spite of the awkward pause; in spite of the oh shit that grew gradually more audible in the back of his mind. And what for? What was the kid gonna do? Cause a scene now? He certainly missed his opportunity for that one. Then again, he wouldn't put it past Narukami to get all crazy jilted girlfriend on his ass. Adachi supposed he might feel kind of slighted about having been left in the dust for so long. But that was life and definitely not his problem. Oh fuck, he really hoped the kid hadn't stalked him here or something. This could get pretty messy...

Whatever, get it together. He was here to do a job, after all. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad. It might help him get a better read on this whole situation, anyway.

“So, are you gonna tell me what happened?”

Coat or hoodie?

The school trip was a surprise, albeit a welcome one.  Even if it was a study session it would serve as an escape from Inaba for a couple of days, and after they checked into their hotel they were largely free to do as they wanted.  Hopefully they would all be spared the lengthy lectures and would instead be left to their own devices.  Odd, though, that it was only one class from Yasogami High.  Wasn't that kind of a waste of resources?

Worrying about it for too long was definitely classified as a waste, however, and soon Yosuke pushed the concern out of his mind.  On the morning of the excursion, he boarded the bus with the others and took a seat next to Yu, excitedly chatting with him about what they might get to do--rather than study.  Perhaps it was the early morning, but about an hour or so after they had left Inaba, Yosuke found himself growing incredibly tired.  So tired, in fact, that his head dropped onto Yu's shoulder, and he soon fell asleep.  Strange that the rest of the passengers quickly followed suit...

--eh?  What's going on?

                     --so sleepy...

                                            --hey!  Wake up!  Wake up!

The voices of their classmates sounded distant and distorted, like a badly tuned radio.  Though they slowly came into focus, Yosuke found that he had difficultly concentrating on them, and reluctantly lifted his head to see what the fuss was all about.  Though he didn't remember disembarking, it became obvious that at some point they had left the bus and entered a strange classroom.  Had the lecture been that boring that he had completely spaced out and fallen asleep?  Why couldn't he remembered anything...?

"Yu...?  Hey, what's goin' on...?"  The brunet was starting to feel a little scared now, as the others voices' raised in pitch, sparks of anxiety coursing through them.  No one understood where they were or what had happened to them, or what on earth the strange metal collars around their necks were for.  It was like a nightmare, made even more real when one of the girls in the class let out a shriek and pointed toward the front of the class.

Confused, Yosuke turned his head to look at the blackboard, the unfamiliar writing only making things more difficult for him to understand.  A single sentence had been written along the board, in neat, perfect English, and was clearly more than enough to instill panic among most of the class:

❊ I want to roleplay with you

✸ I want to plot with you

✤ I want to ship with you

✥ I have roleplayed with you and it was great

✣ I like the way you express your muse(s)

✡ I agree on all your headcanons

✦ I like seeing you on my dash 

❇ I love the way you write 

Send “ø” for a late night text.

[text: Yu Narukami] You awake??