The Happiest of Man

Chapter 12

Shizuo wasn’t sure what happened or why he did it, but his hand met with the incoming car as his body shielded Izaya from the vehicle. A large dent was made in the front of the door, the passenger astounded by what had happened before his eyes. At that moment, all eyes were on them – Izaya’s, in particular, never left Shizuo as shock blanketed them.

“You idiot. Be careful.”

“I was being careful.” Izaya tried to smile, but Shizuo wasn’t having it.

“If you were being careful, you would have been aware of your limits by now, especially with how you are now.”

“Hmm . . . Shizu-chan is sharp.”

Shizuo got up from the ground as Izaya reached for his bag, still remaining on the ground.

“Hasn’t it always been your dream to watch me dead?”

“Shut up and get up already.”

Izaya grasped tightly onto Shizuo’s wrist, using that to help him get back up to his feet. The informant had expected the blond to shove him away, so he was surprised that he was able to get back on his feet without the man complaining or threatening to kill him for touching him without his permission.

“Would you like a ‘thank you’?”

“From you? Nah.”

“Shizuo!”

Hearing Tom’s voice, Shizuo looked over towards him as a frantic look masked his somewhat aged face. Behind his sunglasses, he spotted police cars approaching the scene as he knew that he should leave before he got himself, and Tom, in trouble.

“Coming.”

And he ran, following behind Tom, as he looked over his shoulder one last time to see that Izaya was standing there, watching them go.

- -

“Was that Izaya?” 

Finally, they made it back to their office in one piece. It didn’t seem like the police were following them and they quietly thanked the positive turn of events.

“Yeah.”

Shizuo looked over towards Tom and noticed that he was breathing pretty hard from their run here. Maybe his nose was starting to hurt, too since he had overexerted himself today.

“I’ll get you some cold coffee.”

“No, it’s okay.” Tom laughed softly as he sat himself down.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it, Tom-san?”

“Why did you save him?”

“I . . .” Shizuo was not sure how to answer that. He just knew he felt his legs moving on their own – the only thought that drove him was to keep him from dying. 

“I don’t know.” He looked over at Tom once again.

“Was I wrong?”

“Of course not. It takes strength to save your enemy from dying, you know.”

“That so . . .”

There was a vein that protruded upon his forehead a second later.

“I feel stupid, though.”

“Let’s not think about it, then.” Tom went through the caller ID and noticed that they had a new message in their voice mail.

“Looks like the boss called while we were away.”

“Ah? Does he need something?”

“Most likely.”

And their routine returned to normal – or they had successfully pushed aside their troubles for the time being and decided to focus their attention on something else other than what they would like to complain about.