The Happiest of Man

Chapter 17

“Was I wrong?”

Shizuo and Celty were seated upon a park bench one evening. They had ran into one another and decided to sit down and chat. ‘It’s been awhile’ they have both thought to themselves and since they haven’t spoken to one another in so long, they didn’t see the harm in wasting some time for the sake of their friend. 

Shizuo’s breath smelled of alcohol although he was coherent enough to walk and to form sentences that were easy to understand. Celty wasn’t sure what had caused him to drink all of a sudden, but she was about to find out sooner or later.

“That damn flea showed his face in Ikebukuro again, so it’s not my fault he ignored my warning.”

It has been awhile since that incident occurred, yet he was still thinking about it. He should have forgotten about it long ago, especially since he did not care about Izaya and whether he was suffering because of an incurable disease. For some reason, the way he had yelled out his name, the smile on his face that didn’t resemble Izaya Orihara at all was etched deeply into his mind. He couldn’t shake off the image, the noise, the sudden memory of it no matter how hard he tried.

Celty sat there, silent. The PDA she never left home without was settled in the palm of her hand, fingers grasping it somewhat tightly. 

“I heard he’s going through some hard times . . . Tch, serves the bastard right.”

Despite saying that, his expression remained dark.

“He could have easily dodged the garbage bin. Why didn’t he?”

Celty wasn’t sure what was going on, but no one can escape those rumors that once flooded the streets of the large city. She remembered discussing it with Shinra once, but talking to him about anything was never of any help. He had always made it an effort to steer the conversation to make her the main topic of it. 

“What do you mean by that?”

“The bastard was always quick enough to move away. Last time, I threw something at him, he got hit.”

“You said he was headed to the hospital.”

“Yeah. I don’t know why he bothers. Could all just be an act.”

“What if it’s not?”

Shizuo remained quiet. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Remember that things – people– change, Shizuo.

. . . Even Izaya can’t escape change.”

- -

One morning, he found a digital camera in the back of his closet. 

“Hm, I don’t remember ever purchasing one before.”

Izaya began to wonder whether the previous owner had left it there. If he did purchase the digital camera on his own accord, then it probably wasn’t worth remembering. He most likely used it to take photographs of random things outside of his window. Scrolling through the images, he noticed that there were no photographs taken and the battery was actually fully charged. Digging deeper into his closet, he found the charger and decided to put it to some good use for a change.

During his months away from Ikebukuro, he sold his two other homes and received money from it. It was enough to keep him from working, but he wanted to be productive with his time. Lazing around, doing absolutely nothing was never his thing. He wanted to learn more – particularly about humanity. Lately, he hasn’t been able to do that much. It was too exhausting to go outside at times when he could just be inside, relaxing and taking his medicine.

He went through the process of using a cane and a walker. Now he was stuck using a wheelchair because walking was unbearable at this point. He can take a few steps forward, but his legs would seize up at certain times. Izaya still made the effort to walk because he didn’t want to give up just yet. 

During his appointment that took place a couple months ago, his doctor agreed to transfer him to a hospital in Shinjuku. Since then, his life has been pretty ordinary. There were times when he was still picked on for being “different” compared to others, but knowing how he was, he didn’t care about the opinions of others. In fact, the bullying made him twice as snarky. And those guys who had beaten him up that one time – well, one can say they have gotten what they deserved by now.