Guilt (Shizuo X Izaya)

Chapter 20: Facing Him for the First Time

Shizuo POV

I speed along the the roads of Ikebukuro, mind fuzzy and chest pounding, heaving up and down with panic and fury.

He'd actually made it to the destination that Tomek directed him to, but all he'd discovered was a pile of torn wood and paper and a small piece of paper with another address, somewhere between Ikebukuro and Tokyo, jotted down ungracefully with sharpie. At this point I'm wondering why I'm still bothering with this, racing back and forth between cities. But I feel the determination still burning strong throughout my body, the desperation to see my enemy again.

Flea just has to stay alive now, I guess...

•••

It's around 7:00 am when I spot the building connected to the address. Skidding to a stop, I realize that I'd been sprinting nonstop all the way here. Chuckling at myself healf-heartedly, I think to myself. Do I sneak in, find Izaya, and leave? Laughing out loud, I begin to run again and slam into the wall closest to me. I'm not surprised that it doesn't budge, but I feel the tremor inside and the sound of glass breaking. I ram into the wall again and this time, cracks split down the middle of the light concrete. Smiling, I make one more effort and a small hole crumbles down, enough for me to push my arm through and knock down the rest from the inside.

I poke my head through, a rush of adrenaline surging through my head, to see startled men and women in pure white lab coats. They stare at me, not knowing how to react before making a break for it.

"Hold on a sec!" I yell after them. "Where is he?"

I follow them down the hall. It's strange- the entire building feels empty. No alarms are buzzing despite the fact that I had just knocked down a wall. No spectators looking through the door windows I pass. Just the five or six scientists that I'm chasing.

They lead me into a room with no windows and stand in front of a familiar red-coated woman. It doesn't take me long to realize that it's the crazy woman I saw at the hotel.

"You," I say, panting. "Why are you here?"

"I think that's my line," she replies. "This is my building afterall."

"Cut the crap," I growl. "You know very well why I'm here."

"No, I don't. I don't know because you don't know."

"The fuck?"

"Let's put it this way."

The woman walks to a simple white board hanging on the far end of the room. I become aware of the harsh sound of my breathing in the silent room.

"This," the woman says, drawing a circle. "Is your friend. He may or may not be here." She draws another circle. "This is you. You are here."

"Where is this going?" I say.

"And this," she says, drawing a square. "Is my laboratory, where I study the human mind. Cool huh? This square is too small, yes?"

"So," she continues. "We need one circle in the square."

It clicks.

"Wait, what he fuck?" I say. "How are you gonna-"

"Heyyyyyy!" A large man says, slamming open the door. He's smoking a cigarette and grinning with a yellowed teeth. "You want this?"

The big guy pulls out a figure that looks like a stuffed animal compared to his size. I didn't recognize him at first with only a short sleeved black v-neck or the white blindfold tied over his eyes or the mild obedience, but I recognize him to be Izaya. Bruises litter his arms and blood drips down his forehead and off his chin like tears.

"The hell did you do to him?"

"We just roughed him up, he's alive," the big guy shrugs.

"Mura," the women says. "I want you to take the blindfold off of him."

What?

"Wait- now?" Mura says. "I thought-"

"Now," the woman smiles. "I want our visiter to know exactly what he's up against."

Mura looks unsure as he reluctantly pulled off the white cloth over Izaya's eyes. I stare at him intently. I watch him blink for a few seconds and look around before his deep brown eyes fall on me. For a moment we lock eyes and my head is spinning.

Then, he goes full on psychotic.

Mura is holding him back by the arms, but Izaya is snapping and biting at the air, grunting and trying to break free. It's exactly identical to the animal-like way he was reacting to me the night I lost track of Nakura.

Nakura.

"Are you with Nakura?" I ask monotonously.

"That's up for you to decide."

"Are you his older sister?" I ask again.

"See, you didn't need me to tell you,"

"What do you have against me?"

"The same reason why you tracked him down from Ikebukuro to Tokyo and back and then all the way out here, Shizuo. It isn't like knowing will spare your life but you should figure out why if you want to go gently."

The woman pulled on her red lab coat and I wonder how much blood has been rinsed from that fabric.

"Let him go, Mura."