Chapter 5: Everyday in the City—Night PART 1

“Anyway, let’s talk about the kind of stuff you guys wanna do before you die.”

Orihara Izaya asked this morbid question in a karaoke box. Izaya was holding a drink, his steady voice resounding through the quiet compartment.

The two women in the compartment with him merely shook their heads in response to his question.

“I see. But, do you really want to die with someone like me? Aren’t there loads of other great guys who could do it with you?”

“It’s because there aren’t any. That’s why we wanna die.”

“Yeah.”　

 Izaya nodded in a rather lighthearted fashion, and silently studied the two women. Their expressions weren’t particularly depressing, and someone who didn’t know the details, would never expect that they wanted to kill themselves.

The reason for them being here was in fact a response to the invitation: “Let’s die together!” Izaya had posted on a suicide pact website.

The contents of Izaya’s invitation had sounded oddly cheerful and positive. This couldn’t really be helped, because it was really an ad for a social networking site that he’d modified a little and then pasted on the message boards. But, if you browsed through the other stuff he posted, you’d notice that most of them sounded just as upbeat.

The messages were clear and to the point, and explained in great detail, various methods of suicide and gave a tremendous amount of encouragement (to kill themselves), not at all like someone who was intending to commit suicide himself. There were even some which were written very formally, like official documents for some renowned enterprise. Izaya loved looking these impressive ‘Suicide Invitations’ he’d written.

The two women before him had chosen to die. One because she couldn’t find a job, and the other was because she hadn’t been able to recover from the blow of a failed relationship, and both were despairing as such.

At first glance, it seemed unacceptable for someone to kill themselves over such reasons, but ever since the declining economy, the number of people who were committing suicide over their failed careers were increasing steadily each year. If you classified these people according to their state of employment, you’d find that most of them were in fact unemployed. Also, if you considered them according to age, you’d see that the number of suicides by people who were below twenty was far lesser than those in other age groups. Recently, after media coverage on suicides driven by bullying in school, people were given the impression that the majority of people who committed suicide were youngsters. But in actuality, most of them were in fact the so-called ‘adults’.

Like the two women before Izaya. They were both adults, around twenty five to twenty six years old.

Meeting with people who wanted to kill themselves—he’d already done it over twenty times. During these meetings, Izaya noticed that many of them didn’t have much in common. The attitude people had towards death varied widely, with some people maintaining a smile at all times. There were even some who clearly wanted to die, but still recorded TV shows before they went out.

But—none of the people Izaya met had ever really committed suicide in the end. This made him feel rather ‘disappointed’.

The news loved to cover suicide incidents like the ones occurring in the recent years, especially after the media’s influence, where people met online on websites to join suicide pacts. The media did not cover however, the solo suicide cases, which were in fact maintained at around over thirty thousand people these few years.

What were they thinking when they decided to die? Was there really no other way? Or perhaps, who did they want to die for? When people decided to die, just what kind of deep despair did they have in their hearts?

Orihara Izaya loved humans more than anything else, and thus wanted rather badly to know the answers.

But, he hadn’t met up with them because he wanted to talk them out of committing suicide. And the reason those people who met up with Izaya never committed suicide wasn’t because they never had the intention to die in the first place and had come just for fun, nor was it because they’d backed out.

Izaya’s true nature, was slowly revealing itself from its easygoing guise.

After listening to their reasons for suicide, Izaya finally raised his voice and asked a different question breezily.

“So, what’re you going to do after you die?”

On hearing the sudden question, the two women froze, and then gazed at Izaya dumbly.

“Uh...you mean like after going to heaven?”

—She’s already decided to kill herself and yet still wants to go to heaven. How bold can she get? But of course, it’s things like this that make humans all the more interesting.

 “Does Nakura-san believe in the afterlife?” the other woman asked Izaya. Nakura was the fake alias Izaya had randomly come up for himself. Izaya smiled and shook his head at the question and asked them instead, “Then do you two believe in the afterlife?”

“I do. But instead of an afterworld, I think people become wandering ghosts in this world...”

“I don’t. Death is an expanse of nothingness, just a piece of darkness...but that’s much better than this.”

On hearing their answers, Izaya made a huge mental ‘X’.

—Aw, how disappointing. This is really disappointing. A total waste of time. They’re only junior high standard. The atheists last time were much more interesting. These two only care about themselves.

Izaya then concluded that the two women weren’t serious about death. Or perhaps, they were envisioning death in their own ways.

He narrowed his eyes and smiled mockingly.

“That’s not good. How can people who want to die think about life after death?”

“Eh...?”

The two of them were completely baffled, as though they were looking at something completely illogical. Izaya continued.

 “Thinking about the afterlife is a right reserved for only the living. But, if this conclusion something you thought about endlessly, and considered thoroughly, then I have nothing to say. But, being forced into the abyss of despair—like getting your life savings scammed by some Lombard...people who have been forced into their hopeless situations by external factors—only then do they have this right.”

Izaya went on smiling and said lightly, “But for you, you gave yourselves these problems right? You’ve already decided to walk the path of hopelessness and you still place your hopes on an afterlife. I don’t think that’s a good thing to do.”

The two women noticed something. The whole time, it had been them confessing about why they wanted to die, and the man before them had mentioned absolutely nothing about himself.

“Um...does Nakura-san... want to die?”

In response to this totally unreserved, direct question, Izaya answered impassively.

“No.”

In that instant in the compartment, the only sounds that were heard were those coming from the other rooms. Not long after, one of the women seemed to have cracked and shouted.

“That’s too much! How could you lie to us?”

“I think...you’ve gone too far!”

After the woman’s tantrum, the other reprimanded Izaya sternly. But even as he saw their reactions, Izaya remained unmoved.—Ah, it still ended like this...

Izaya had seen situations like this many times before. Everyone reacted differently. Some people got over it without batting an eyelid, and some just left without a word. But he had yet to see anyone remain totally calm. If anyone could meet with such a situation and take it easy by just going “Oh, I see.”, then they probably wouldn’t have needed a ‘companion’ to die with. But Izaya hadn’t seen all of what mankind had to offer, so he felt that couldn’t totally base his judgments on psychology books. He wasn’t that sure yet, but he still thought like that. If anyone one could remain calm in a situation like this, and it wasn’t because they had just come for fun, then it was probably because they secretly hoped that there would be someone who could talk them out of suicide, or it was to stop others from doing so; and maybe even because they were ‘just like him’.

“Despicable! Stop it bastard! Who do you think you are anyway? You’ve gone too far!”

“Eh? Why?”

Izaya’s expression, was one that said “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He swept his innocent gaze across the two women, and he closed his eyes—

Seconds passed and when Izaya opened his eyes again, that cheerful expression on his face had completely vanished, and replaced with an entirely different kind of smile.

“Eh...?”

On seeing his face, the woman who believed in life after death made a sound very much like a scream.

A smile was indeed lingering on Izaya’s face. Only, it was a completely different kind of smile from before. Only after the two women had seen his expression, did they truly understand the meaning of ‘there are many kinds of smiles’.

Although he really was smiling, his expression seemed to be as stiff as a mask. Even though it was a smile, it was also extremely cold. And precisely because it was a smile, that made people who saw it feel unspeakable terror—it was a smile like that.

The two women had originally countless choice words they’d like to impart upon Izaya, but now, they remained momentarily dumb and couldn’t open their mouths. It was like some kind of inhuman creature was standing before them.

But Izaya maintained that terrible smile and asked the same question.

“What? What do you mean I’ve gone too far? I don’t get it.”

“That’s because...”

“You—”

The women were interrupted by Izaya’s hardened response.

“Didn’t you want to die? So what does it matter what I tell you? Even if you were lied to or scolded...you’ll be disappearing in a while anyway. So if you’re anguished because I lied to you, then why don’t you just bite your tongue off? Did you know by biting your tongue off to commit suicide, you won’t die because of blood loss, but because of a momentary shock that causes the remaining part of your tongue to compress the trachea and thus results in suffocation. That way, all the things you find unpleasant will be gone. You wouldn’t exist anymore. It’s that simple, and you say I’ve gone too far. I think you’ve gone too far.”

 “I understand that! But...”

“You don’t understand at all.”

This time, Izaya was talking to the woman who had said ‘death was an expanse of nothingness’, and the tone he spoke in was even more forceful.

—With that smile on his face.

“You’re the one that doesn’t understand. You don’t understand at all. You just said death was just a big piece of nothing, right? But, that’s not true at all. I guess you wanted to say, that you wouldn’t have any worries any more. But death is actually just disappearing. Your troubles won’t disappear, just your existence.”

The women did not respond. They were transfixed by Izaya’s smile.

Izaya’s smile was getting more and more hideous, and it seemed to the two who were listening to him that it was hardly human.

 “A situation where nothing’s there can’t be called ‘nothing’. And it’s not the opposite of ‘something’ either. The nothing you speak of is where there really is nothing but eternal darkness. But, this notion is based on the ‘existence of the darkness’, so how can it be nothing? If you want to be rid of your sorrows by dying, then you need the ‘knowledge that you’ve escaped your troubles’. Isn’t that something? So like I said, you don’t even know what you’re thinking, and you don’t even know that you don’t know a thing, so you definitely won’t be able to envision something like that. Your ways of thinking aren’t different from most people. Opinions at this level are something even elementary school students who don’t believe in life after death can understand, fear and worry about right?”

In reality, these two women both knew Izaya’s theory was full of loopholes, and there was plenty of room for a rebuttal. But they thought, even if they retorted, could they communicate with the person before them with just mere words?—

Such thoughts didn’t arise from doubt, but fear.

“But...this...isn’t this just what you think?”

The woman mustered all her courage to force out those words, which faltered easily as she saw Izaya’s smile.

 “True. I have no idea about that. The fact that I don’t believe in the afterlife, is something I just decided for myself. But, it would be good if there was one—I can only assume though.”

Ha Ha. Izaya let out two syllables of a frigid, dry laugh, and went on in a breezy voice.

“But it’s different for you. You’re doubtful about the afterlife, but you still want to die. Don’t tell me your religion teaches you to commit suicide, and even encourages to ‘kill yourself because you can’t find a job or because you’re having relationship problems’? If it was like that, then I have nothing to say. I would even think that you’re amazing—but if not, then just shut up.”

Finally, as if he wanted them to agree, he cocked his head slightly and slowly revealed his conclusion:

“If you’re just a casual believer of the afterlife, don’t go around discussing it OK? It’s an insult to the afterlife. It’s an even bigger insult to people who don’t want to die, but are forced into it by their circumstances.”

Then, seconds went by. Although it had only been a little while, but it seemed like an incredibly long time to the two women.

In this short time that seemed like eternity, Izaya once again closed his eyes. But when he opened them again, his smile had once again become gentle and relaxing.

The air around them seemed to flow again, but the two women didn’t dare to move an inch. And Izaya began to tell them things that were completely different from just now.　　

“Ah, hahaha, just now when I asked you ‘what was going to happen after you died’...I was really talking about money!”

“...Huh?”

“I hate wastage. So, could I trouble you to borrow as much money as you can, give it to me, and then die? Because those insurance reviews are really troublesome, and probably won’t get through, so it’s easier if you just loan money. So when you die, at least the money you borrowed won’t go to waste. If I sell your registrar and your bodies, I’ll be able to rake in a good price. Besides, I have some connections which specialise in this sort of thing.”

Completely different from the malicious grin from before, Izaya’s current smile was very human indeed, and the words from his mouth were loyal to human desire.

The women made to say something, but Izaya was louder.

“Let me test you. Question one. Why am I sitting nearest to the door?”

The two women noticed that Izaya was seated in such a way that seemed like he was deliberately blocking the door. And they experienced a totally different kind of fear from just now. If Izaya’s smile just now was the devil’s smile, then the Izaya now seemed to be the agglomeration of all mankind’s evil intent.

“Question two. What are these wheeled suitcases under the table going to be used for?”

Only when Izaya mentioned it, did the two women realise that there were two large suitcases under the table, placed opposite to their seats. The kind used to carry luggage on a vacation.

“First hint. The suitcases are empty.”

On hearing this, trepidation rose inside the two women at the same time. Although this was the first time they had met, both of them felt exactly the same way about Izaya.

“Second hint. These two suitcases were chosen because ‘they match your size’.”　　

A nauseating sensation permeated them, and it came from their strong revulsion of the man in front of them. Yet, there was something else that made the world before them start to spin.

“?! What’s...this...”

When they realised their unfavourable situation, it was already too late, and they hardly had the strength to stand up.

“Question three. If you two come at me at the same time, you might be able to beat me, so why don’t you? Hint. I handed you your drinks when they came earlier.”

The world wouldn’t stop spinning. In their blurry consciousness, they heard Izaya’s voice float past their years. His tender voice was like a lullaby, and sucked the two of them into the darkness.

“It’s love! You don’t have any love for death. You have to embrace death with love. And you have too little respect for nothingness. If it’s like this, how could I willingly die with you?”

Then, with her last iota of strength, one of the women glared venomously at Izaya.

“I’ll never...forgive you! I’ll...kill you...!”

On hearning this, Izaya grinned, and gently caressed the woman’s cheek.

“Excellent. If you have the strength to hate, then you can live. I’m awesome. I saved your life. You have to thank me properly OK?”

After confirming that the woman had lost consciousness, Izaya used a hand to stroke her temple and thought for a while.

“Ah~but I don’t like being hated by humans. I think I’ll just kill you.”

It was a midnight, and the day was almost over. In a corner of South Ikebukuro Park, there was a pair of erect human silhouettes. One of them was Orihara Izaya, and the other was a completely black shadow.

So, I just have to put them on a park bench and I’m done?

Holding an advanced electronics user manual, Celty typed out a string of words and held it up to Izaya. Izaya grinned and answered with a brief, happy “Yes.”

Standing in front of the inky shadow, Izaya laughed merrily as he counted his money.

“Actually I wanted to drag them off to some loan company, but honestly, I’m bored of this.”

The cheek of you to say it.

The job assigned to Celty this time was to move two people. After putting on her helmet and entering the karaoke lounge, the personnel had silently taken her to the compartment Izaya was in. And when she walked into the compartment, she happened to see Izaya trying to stuff the unconscious women into suitcases. When she was about to question this, Izaya merely smiled and asked her to help him.

In the end, Celty just helped him to move them to the park, but still wasn’t clear about what was going on.

“I’m tired of this. And this is just a hobby, not work. Ah, thanks for today~ the people who usually help me with this with were all busy so yeah. Usually I’ll want to send them home, but I think your motorbike’s already at its limit from travelling all the way to the park.”

People who would assist a cause like this, probably couldn’t be called decent. Although by doing this, Celty could be considered one of them, but she was more or less used to it.

A quickie job like this wasn’t particularly unpleasant, but she didn’t like it very much either.

This won’t somehow involve the police right? Don’t implicate me.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t asked you to move corpses. I only asked you to move two drunk women to a park bench.”

You don’t need a suitcase for that.

Izaya honestly couldn’t detect the sarcasm in that, and merely gazed meaningfully at the helmeted courier. Then, Izaya suddenly asked, “Say courier, do you believe in the afterlife?”

Why the sudden question?

“You don’t need to know, just take it as part of your job and answer me.”

You’ll know if you die.

Very calmly, Celty typed out this response on her PDA. Then she typed out a question and showed it to Izaya.

What about you?

 “Actually, I don’t really believe in the afterlife. Honestly, I’m really scared of dying and I’d like to live a little longer.”

You’re someone who enjoys drugging women and makes a living out of dealing information, but still wants to have a long life?

On seeing this spontaneous query, Izaya laughed sheepishly. From his current expression, it was hard to imagine he was someone who had sunk completely into the underworld.

“Because if I die, I’ll disappear. So if  I don’t make use of my life to do all the things I enjoy, won’t I have regrets?”

Celty added another line: “Disgusting bastard” and deleted it before Izaya could see it.

Orihara Izaya was an ordinary human.

Even for a criminal like him, he wasn’t especially violent, nor was he particularly callous and was not even to close to being someone who killed without batting an eyelid.

All the mortal desires normal people had, he had them too. Unsavoury things people did on impulse, he’d done it all. It was just like that. He was no extraordinary criminal mastermind, but was merely overly engrossed in his interests. But as his ‘interests’ got stronger and stronger, he managed to learn many things in his pursuits, and eventually became someone who earned petty change from selling this information to underworld organisations and the police. 　

But Izaya’s name was already considerably well-known in many places, and he himself was familiar with this fact. Normally his name wouldn’t be pronounced ‘Izaya’—

His name was derived from the combination of the biblical prophet Isaiah’s name and Japanese for ‘one who looks over the crowd’. But Izaya’s way of life vastly differed from a the biblical account, but perhaps it was because of this contradiction that allowed Izaya to be more skilled at handling various situations than ordinary people. And it was because of this that resulted in the way he lived. He valued life just as any normal person would, and he knew his own limits and played it safe where necessary. It was probably this attitude of his that allowed him to continue immersing himself in his interests and even managed to avoid incurring the wrath of the underworld and thus avoided ‘disappearing’.

After leaving the job to Celty, Izaya deeply inhaled the stale, Ikebukuro air which seemed to be nearly a few weeks old, and decided to leave.

What did the two women he met up with look like? How were they dressed? Were they pretty or ugly? Had their make-up been fashionable or was it a mess? How did their voices sound like? Why did they want to die? And even, the question of if they even had the  intention of dying—all this had already been pushed to the back of his mind.　 　

Orihara Izaya was an outright atheist. He didn’t believe in spirits, nor did he believe in the afterlife. This was why he wanted so desperately to understand humans, and this was also the reason as to why he developed an interest in them so easily, as well as the reason he could trample on them like he did.

As for people who did not need to be understood, Izaya had absolutely no interest in them.

He’d only walked about ten metres, but he’d already completely forgotten the names of the two people who had wanted to commit suicide.

He was an informant, and unnecessary information would only get in his way.

As of now, he was most interested in two things.

The first thing, was the true identity of the courier who always wore a helmet and never spoke a word. It was the existence of the entity which rode a motorbike that didn’t make a noise and wielded a black scythe, like a Grim Reaper.

And the other thing—would be the group roaming around in Ikebukuro called the ‘Dollars’.

“I'm so excited. I'm so excited! I'm so excited! Even though I'm an informant, there are so many things I don't know about in this city and things keep on keep on keep on emerging, appearing and disappearing. This is precisely why I can't leave a city where humans gather! HUMAN LOVE! I love humans! I love you all! And that’s why you should all come to love me.”　

As Izaya proclaimed this, he reached into his chest pocket and fished out his PDA.

He switched it on and accessed his inbox. His gaze fell on a particular person’s information.

The data showed that the subject’s name consisted of some rather impressive characters.

—It read ‘Ryuugamine Mikado’, and it was the name of the youth he’d just met today—