Chapter Text
There is a reason why Gifted individuals exist.
What the reason is, is ultimately up to anybody’s guess.
Some people who like to rely on scientific evidence and research claim that it is simply a manifestation of the evolution – or mutation; even that is open to interpretation – of a specific part of the human genome, an adaptation to the environmental stress and selection pressure that the world continuously exerts on the creatures known as human beings. People who subscribe to this particular school of thought would also more or less agree that those who are Gifted would eventually take the place of their less fortunate genetically similar brothers and sisters, becoming the epitome of human evolution.
Some others would like to chalk it up to religious or divine reasonings, that those who are Gifted are akin to the Chosen Ones in religious texts and spiritual myths and legends; Chosen Ones who will either lead the rest of mankind to their salvation, or who will be the only ones who will survive the impending apocalypse as predicted in various texts throughout the religions, or a little mixture of the two; Chosen Ones who deserve to be revered, and the ground that they walk on worshipped, they whose existence should not be questioned by ordinary mortals.
And then there are others who like to believe that Gifted people don’t actually exist in reality. That the so-called “Gifts” these people possess are either no different from any other talent or skill set that anybody can be born with, that they are just elaborate magic tricks designed using computer technology to deceive the world into thinking that such feats are scientifically possible to re-enact the exciting world of fantasy and imaginations that can only exist in fairytales and movies. Such people would look at the Gifted as merely a form of entertainment, a spectacular TV show that they can laugh off or shrug at and forget they even exist at the end of the day.
Whichever the case – whichever the reason or belief – there is a singular underlying similarity shared by all of them.
That these Gifted – are not natural phenomena at all. And that nobody seems to know how and why they exactly exist for.
And what is the one big thing that all humans seem to be afraid of?
Orihara Izaya smirks, a smile as slippery as his motivations and nature sliding in place. He picks up his black queen chess piece, wipes his chessboard clean, and sets it upon the center of the black and white pile of fallen chess, shogi, and go pieces.
“The unknown,” he breathes, as though in admiration of the mess he has created.
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NetwOrK sERveR eNCryPtIoN LeveL uNkNOwN
OpeNinG...
fILE nAMe:
tHE_bLuE_ScreEN_oF_dEATH
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There is a reason why the Class system exists.
That is something Izaya has once mentioned to a certain innocent-looking high school boy before, on a fateful night where said boy singlehandedly amassed a large-scale gathering and intimidated the head of a pharmaceutical company that had been performing unethical research into total surrender.
Of course, Izaya doesn’t mention anything beyond that.
It’s not that he deliberately withheld that sort of information – good heavens, no – but it was the boy himself who didn’t want to hear it from him in the first place.
And so the boy’s search for the answer begins with abysmal progress, juggling between school, friends, and his little tinkering with his own Gift, whilst Izaya remains comfortably seated in his office, shuffling and rearranging and shuffling the pieces on his chessboard, all the while pondering about where the boy named Ryuugamine Mikado will go from here, the actions he may take, the thoughts running through his genetically enhanced mind, how far that lovely, lovely Gift of his will grow.
“I thought you’re interested in humans. Not weirdos that contradict the fundamental laws of nature that look like them,” a sharp, cold voice cuts in, sounding a little bit disgruntled, and Izaya pretends to have the courtesy to cover his mouth as if he just said something inappropriate.
“Oopsie, did I say that out loud?”
Namie looks away, and gives a shrug. “Only for the ten thousandth time since working here.”
“I was not aware I had that habit. Interesting.”
“Oh, now you’re shifting that interest to yourself?” Her nose wrinkles as she says this.
Izaya raises an open palm up. “You misunderstand me, Namie-san. I have always been interested in humans. That has never changed.”
“You’re saying you think of those freaks as human?”
“Of course I do. And by the way, don’t you think that’s a bit harsh considering your beloved younger brother is also enrolled at Raira Academy, of all places?”
“My Seiji is different from all the others,” the woman says, a stern expression crossing her features in spite of the rare gentleness lacing her voice. “I’ve been telling them from the start, but my Seiji doesn’t belong with them. He most certainly doesn’t have any Gift they claim that he has, yet they refuse to listen and return him to me. The nerve of them...”
“Oh?” Izaya leans forward and rests his chin on the back of both of his palms which are folded over one another. “You’re sure Seiji-kun doesn’t have a Gift?”
The response is immediate. “Absolutely positive.”
“And he’s in Class 1A, if I’m not wrong?”
“Yes he is.” Namie raises a brow. “What’s it to you?”
“Ahh,” Izaya lets out a blissful-sounding sigh, like he’s just found his favourite toy on sale while skipping along the aisles of a department store, and leans back into his chair which recoils with a light bounce. “I see.”
“...Hah?”
“I see, I see, that’s how it is!” sings the informant as he spins in his chair, lifting his feet in the air. “As I thought, humans – are interesting!”
There is a reason why the Class system exists. Izaya knows what it is, but Mikado doesn’t.
And that, Izaya thinks, might just be one of the greatest ironies he’s ever heard of.
■■■■■
There is a reason why Kida Masaomi has been placed in the B class despite the sheer potential he possesses.
But first, let’s rewind to a time when the boy was much more than he is today. A moment in history when the boy was not anything less than a beacon of hope for all humans alike, as radiant as the colour of the towel he had used as a bandana around his neck, leading a whole mphasizing by his own lonesome.
A time when Kida Masaomi was better known as the Shogun of the Yellow Scarves, a title that nearly nobody uses to refer him nowadays – and with good reason.
“After all, what kind of shogun would just flee and abandon his own trusted army in the face of a losing battle?” Izaya murmurs, picking up a white go piece and placing it down on the board swiftly, before sliding it across the board in circles. “Yet, there’s no denying that with the power he has, he can rightfully claim that title as his own and nobody can argue with that.”
“...I’ve probably said this before,” he hears his secretary speak from where she was seated, her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her, “but I’m not here just to listen to your spiel as you talk to yourself about things I care not to understand.”
“Oh, but you should!” Izaya exclaims as he looks up, waving the go piece around. “Why, aren’t you the least bit curious about Gifts, Namie-san? Isn’t that why you started on those experiments? What’s happened to that scientist curiosity of yours?”
“First of all, please don’t go jumping to conclusions about things like that. Not every scientist who conducts experiments on those so-called Gifted is actually interested in the Gifts themselves. I’m only looking into this field because I’m interested in designing a drug compound that can...” The former head of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals pauses, her nose wrinkling as she casts her current employer a look of doubt and disgust. “Why am I even telling you all this? There’s no reason for you to know.”
“My dear Namie-san, I am an informant. Information is what I do for a living. It’s every reason to know.”
Namie scoffs. “All the more I shouldn’t tell you.”
“Aw, but why not?”
“Because you’re one of them,” the woman scathingly replies, her voice as cold as the ice the Yellow Scarves’ former Shogun is capable of creating at command.
And that makes Izaya laugh heartily. “Indeed, indeed. I’ve almost forgotten,” he says, before he recollects himself, his laughter easing into a sudden silence that has his secretary suspicious.
“...Dare I ask what’s made you all quiet?” she asks anyway.
“Well, I was thinking.” The informant resumes sliding the go piece around the board, eyes tracking its movement intently. “If there were more humans as bold as you were to kidnap and experiment on those students, the whole thing about Gifts wouldn’t be as mysterious as they appear to mankind right now. And you would have more collaborators who would be more than happy to participate in your research, too. Wouldn’t that benefit you?”
“I’d be more than happy to open you up with a scalpel right now without the aid of an anesthetic, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Oh ho, scary~”
The man leaves the go piece in a position he deems satisfactory, and leans back into his chair with both hands behind his head.
“But then, well. It’s precisely because humans are afraid of dealing with forces they can’t understand that nobody has really been able to pull off the same stunt you did. ...Except for two eccentric individuals I happen to know, but that’s beside the point.”
He pauses to tilt his head further back, looking straight at the lit-up lamp attached to the ceiling. His eyes narrow while the corners of his lips curl further.
“And so humans have to bear with the deceivingly simpler alternative: leave all matters concerning Gifts to the government, and pretend to live in peaceful coexistence with those beings they fear and continue to be in the dark about. And then when some societal issue concerning Gifted humans crops up – you see neighbours turning on neighbours, friends upon friends, family upon family. It all turns into one big mess that humans get themselves tangled up in which they could’ve spared themselves from if only there were more people like you who would invest in this area of research. Ne, Namie-san, are you listening?”
“Unfortunately it’s not like I have anything else to listen to. And it still sounds like you’re asking to be vivisected.”
“Ah but it’s such a human thing to do, don’t you think so?” Izaya carries on regardless, clearly not making any comment on what Namie just said. “It’s precisely because humans are imperfect that they create all sorts of trouble for themselves. And that’s just what I find so fascinating about humans, you know? If not for the problems they create for themselves, why, I don’t think life would be as interesting as it is now.
“Take for example... Masaomi-kun.”
Izaya picks up a wooden piece with the characters of the word “general” carved and painted on it, raising it high above his head as though he’s trying to admire it from afar.
“He couldn’t stand the pretenses people were keeping up when they’re around anybody who’s Gifted, especially since he’s had such a good friendship with Mikado-kun. So he created the Yellow Scarves to fight for a world where everyone can live in harmony with one another. Such an idealist, don’t you think? Ah but don’t underestimate him because of that. He’s quite the capable idealist, being able to convince that many people to join his cause. And in just a matter of weeks his band of Yellow Scarves actually managed to make a name for themselves. He’s certainly not to be overlooked.
“...So why, then, did Raira assign him to the B class?”
Izaya pops the question that, quite possibly, nobody but him would’ve thought about asking.
Curling his fingers together as he rests his elbows on his desk, the information broker grins, a twisted and cruel smile that is distinctive only to him.
“In the end, it all boils down to why the Class system exists.”
At that moment, the doorbell rings. Namie wastes no time in getting up to answer the door.
Izaya stands from where he is, and stretches his arms out wide in a welcoming gesture.
“Hey there, Masaomi-kun,” he addresses the young boy who steps into his apartment, voice as smooth and silky as velvet. “So what brings you to my humble abode today?”
■■■■■
There is a reason why a select handful of students is particularly famous even amongst Raira Academy academia and students.
Although Raira Academy is a school for the Gifted, it is still, by nature, a Japanese high school. And as a Japanese high school, it is not exempt from the popular series of myths and fantastical rumours surrounding the school grounds.
The Seven Mysteries of Raira Academy.
Most of the time, the contents of those mysteries tend to be arbitrary depending on the school intake of students and the pool of Gifts it receives along with them. For instance, back in the ages when it used to be called Raijin Academy and Izaya and Shizuo were still schooling there – and it disgusts Izaya that he knows of this, so he barely if at all mentions it – there used to be one dedicated to the two of them. Something about oil barrels somehow appearing out of nowhere and rolling down the staircases, and knives and random standard classroom furniture flying across classrooms and how a ghost is involved in all this when everyone knows that the school isn’t haunted. Or another mentioning the existence of a top-secret document containing a list of names of Gifted individuals who are doomed to die from the curse of the document, and that if one finds this document their name will be automatically recorded on the list.
Ridiculous little stories that have but just a grain of truth in them, twisted and reshaped as they get passed down from mouth to mouth, from human to human – Izaya adores them all, and he’s made it his habit to know each and every version of all variations of the Seven Mysteries Raira has ever seen, right down to the tiniest detail.
He is an informant who is in love with human beings, after all.
Even if they possess Gifts that should normally not be able to exist in reality… No, it is precisely because they are Gifted that Izaya loves them all the more.
With that said, however, it does not necessarily mean he thinks of all the Gifted as human.
One such exception is Heiwajima Shizuo, whom Izaya prefers not to give much thought to.
The other, is one of the current generation of Raira Academy’s Seven Mysteries in the flesh. The potential leader of a third faction that would participate in the war that is about to break out in the city of Ikebukuro. The person said to have a Gift so dangerous, so lethal, that she is absolutely forbidden from using it and is thus excused from all practical classes and exams at Raira Academy, and very, very rightfully placed in the A Class.
“Hmm, I see. No wonder the rest of the student body labels you as one of Raira’s Seven Mysteries. Everyone wants to know the truth about you, but at the same time they’re too scared to get any closer to you. Am I right? Sonohara Anri-chan.”
“...Saying something like that...like it’s nothing... And being able to hold me back... What the others told me is true. You’re – dangerous.”
Izaya smiles wryly.
“The others? Or do you really mean what you’ve been telling yourself, Anri-chan?”
Right as the informant throws the cold accusation at Anri, the bespectacled high school girl’s eyes flash a brighter shade of scarlet, and in the next moment Izaya finds himself leaping out of the way of the katana he had been pushing back with his own switchblade since the girl appeared at the park, demanding answers from him.
“Whoopsie-daisy,” he says with a chuckle as he lands and twirls on his feet, meters away from the other party. “Watch where you’re swinging that thing. You could’ve sliced me into pieces if I didn’t get away in time.”
“...I wouldn’t...have done that,” Anri murmurs, holding her katana in a stance looking ready to strike again at any time.
In spite of that, Izaya tosses back a nonchalant shrug. “You sure about what? How certain are you that what you’ve been doing and saying is coming directly from your own will, completely free from the external influence that your Gift brings to you? As you said, you’ve only heard about me from what other people have been telling you. And yet you’re already convinced just from that that I’m such a dangerous entity that you need to exert your Gift over me? Tell me, does that make any sense to you?”
“I...” Anri falters, for just the briefest of moments before her grip on the hilt of her katana tightens. “That’s not... That’s not the point here.”
“Isn’t it? Didn’t you come here to see if you could use your Gift to pull the reins on me because you’re worried I might do something to harm your precious Mikado-kun and Masaomi-kun? Would you have even considered that as an option at all if you haven’t been relying on that Gift of yours as of late to get what you want from other people?”
“This isn’t... Please stop making this about me.”
Izaya’s eyes narrow as his smile turns bitter, his expression darkening until it appears as though he’s melting into the shadows of the night.
“Haha,” the laugh he gives is dry and cynical. “This is why I can’t think of you as human.”
“Eh...?”
“You say this isn’t about you? Well then, tell me, what is this all about? Why have you come here? Why are you using the Gift you’ve been so adamant on not using all these years? Why take action only when things between Mikado-kun and Masaomi-kun have gotten to this point? Have you ever wondered about that yourself? I think you know the answer better than I do, so I won’t bother saying it aloud.”
Anri purses her lower lip, but opts to remain silent as she fixes her blood red gaze on the man before her who continues speaking without a care in the world.
“But have you at least considered the feelings of those around you?” the man questions. “You know how Mikado-kun and Masaomi-kun feel about you, but you’re not doing anything about it, except for playing the silent card and pretending to be ignorant about it. And yet, you think the three of you can remain the way you are, even with secrets of this sort between you?”
“I— That’s—"
“You know, if you had just used that,” Izaya tilts his head in the direction of the sword Anri is holding in her hands, “on the two of them, I’m sure it’s not much of a problem to keep things the way they are. They won’t have to fight or come to detest each other and themselves for how things have turned out, nor would they even remember ever feeling that way about you. Isn’t that a win-win situation for all three of you?”
“Please, just – shut up!”
The girl’s eyes blaze brighter than ever before, the brightest they’ve been since the day of her parents’ demise, as she swings the katana through the air with the speed and dexterity of a swords master.
However, even then it is not nearly as fast as Izaya’s reflexes, which bring the man yet another few feet away. His knife is out and blocking the hit before he even sees Anri bringing down a second swing in swift succession.
A blade fortified with a Gift that grants strength paralleling that of a great ancient demon, against the seemingly feeble blade being wielded by a mere human being – yet the human remains standing with a cheeky smirk on his face, not looking the least bit worn out despite the supposedly huge disparity in prowess.
It is a sight to behold – one of Raira’s greatest mysteries pitted against Raijin’s own.
And they are both legends in their respective schools and time periods for similar reasons. Reasons that Izaya would never admit in the open, and reasons he would look upon with the same disdain as he does another monster from his student days.
It is a mystery why there hasn’t been a separate Class just for those like them.
■■■■■
There is a reason why some Gifted individuals should be regarded as monsters.
It isn’t so much of the Gifts themselves turning them into monsters, but how they use those Gifts that becomes the deciding factor in Izaya’s eyes.
For Heiwajima Shizuo in particular, he has always been convinced right from the start that the Neanderthal has no place in human society. Hearing Shinra’s description only reassures him of that very belief.
“Like a tiger that leaves its skin when it’s dead.”
Those were Shinra’s exact words.
In Izaya’s own simpler terms: a beast.
A beast that has the destructive capacity equivalent to that of a nuke, if the school’s records are to be trusted.
(Izaya knows they’re not. After all, he’s a living example of that.)
A being with that sort of power, and yet he goes around using it when someone so much as pisses him off over the seemingly slightest of things, not giving a care for how much havoc he causes to the rest of society. A being that can go straight for the kill, and does so without remorse.
Or, rather, that’s how Izaya envisions Shizuo to be, and what he wants the rest of the world to see Shizuo as.
Someone who abandons all emotion and rationality, and completely gives themselves over to their Gift should not be thought of and accepted as human. Such creatures have no qualities that are deserving of love and appreciation in Izaya’s eyes. And what makes Heiwajima Shizuo all the worse is that he is such an exceptional Gifted the world has ever seen that he will continue to live on in name, in both written records as well as the minds and hearts of the humans Izaya adores, as an urban legend of Ikebukuro itself.
And that is something Izaya cannot accept.
Which is why he’s currently lying in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by glass fragments and pieces of concrete and metal, in an old abandoned building that’s going up in flames that are slowly slithering their way towards him.
And why he is able to force himself on his feet not long after, running after the monster that just tried to leave him for dead.
And why he would get up, again and again, even after the beast has laid waste to his bones and organs, giving the expressionless monstrosity the same smirk each and every single time he does so, until an excruciating pain bursts from his side and his vision blurs from white to black.
■■■■■
There is a reason why Kishitani Shinra was assigned as Izaya’s partner throughout the entire time they had been in Raijin together.
It was the first day of middle school, after a few rounds of repetitive self-introductions. While everyone else in class remained behind to talk to one another, some catching up with old friends or classmates from elementary or middle school and the newly admitted students trying to mingle around and fit in with the new world they were now a part of, Izaya had been the only one to get up and leave, one hand in his pocket and the other carrying the handle of his bag over his shoulder.
Shinra had followed after him, calling for his attention, and asking if they could set up a club together, insisting on Izaya being a co-founder all because of something Izaya had said during self-intro.
Izaya flat out refused.
The next day, he found out, petty revenge on Shinra’s part came in the form of the brunet requesting to pair up with Izaya for all class assignments and practicals. He didn’t even care when he was told, by their very perplexed homeroom teacher, that Izaya was permanently excused from practical classes. He only kept on smiling that infuriatingly cheerful smile of his, begging all over and over again:
“Please, let the two of us be partners!”
Needless to say, Izaya wasn’t present when that took place. The reason he left class early was that he had been called to meet with the board of directors for his routine interview and counselling with the school psychologist to make sure he was “adjusting well”, he would quote, to the middle school environment, and while that had been going on Shinra took the opportunity to look for their homeroom teacher in the faculty office so that he could make such a ridiculous request.
And ridiculousness, Izaya soon learned over the course of time he interacted with his partner, was simply part and parcel of Shinra’s personality.
“I wasn’t originally in Class A, you know. Oh wait, of course you’d know, you’ve been in that Class the whole time since elementary school, huh. What am I talking about? Hehehe.”
An awkward chuckle later, Shinra continued, not even bothering to check if Izaya was paying attention.
(As if he knew that Izaya had actually been listening intently.)
(But that was supposed to be impossible.)
“I don’t really know why they transferred me over, but I stopped caring about that because then I mphasiz that I would be in the same class as you are! And after meeting you in person and hearing you talk about yourself, I knew I was right about you! I knew you’d be the right person to turn to!”
“...Your enthusiasm is flattering, but I still have no idea what you’re trying to prove by telling me all of this,” Izaya replied dryly, flipping to the next page of the plant encyclopedia he had been reading.
“Be-cause!”
Shinra exclaimed the word, mphasizing on the syllables as he leaned over Izaya’s desk, effectively preventing the other from reading the book.
“If there’s anybody I can trust to run the Biology Club well, it can only be you!”
Izaya let out a sigh, stuck a leaf in-between the pages he had been in the middle of reading, and slammed the encyclopedia shut in Shinra’s face.
He thought that would have put an end to it.
It should have been the end to it.
Instead – he ended up having his partner’s stabbing on his permanent record, and they continued to remain as classmates for the rest of the years they had spent at Raijin.
■■■■■
There is a reason why Gifted individuals exist.
And it is for that reason that Orihara Izaya doesn’t, and should never, have a Gift of his own.
“Why, you ask?” Kishitani Shinra echoes his beloved’s question before she can even type it.
She punches him lightly on the shoulder, and continues typing, but she’s stopped when his hand slides over hers, sandwiching them in between his own.
“I’m not reading your mind, honest,” he says, a bright smile on his face. “It just shows how much I understand you.”
She knows that, of course. This has always been their little banter between them, so she knows the routine like the back of her hand. After Shinra says something like that, he’ll lead her to the sofa where they can lie down together, bodies pressed against one another in the tiny space the sofa can provide, and they’ll lay together in complete silence, his eyes watching her every movement, her shadows brushing against his face.
It’s always Shinra who breaks the silence. And this time, he does it by saying, with the same smile that’s plastered on his face even when he received a call informing him that his only friend from middle school got stabbed and was sent to the hospital, even when he’s told that that same friend hasn’t been heard from since the day of the Great Ikebukuro War, the day that same friend and Shizuo got into the bloodiest fight Ikebukuro has ever witnessed between the two:
“It’s because our Gifts manifest when we express a strong desire for something. It’s what makes us human and monsters all at the same time. And Izaya? He’s human, through and through. I daresay he might even be the most human out of anybody else in this city. And I know for certain that he intends to keep it that way, whether consciously or not.”
“Do you understand, Celty?”
“Izaya doesn’t have a Gift because he doesn’t want to. It works well because it suits his flippant, cowardly personality just fine – but can you imagine the kind of Gift that that guy can develop, if someday the balance within that self-contradictory nature of his tilts to the wrong direction?”
“Even I, who can see right through him, can’t predict the kind of Gift he may have, if it ever happens.”
“This is why, Celty. This is why the government is paying such careful attention to a guy like him.”
“Because, as Orihara-kun would say?”
A pause. The smile turns wistful.
“It’s the one big thing that all humans seem to fear.”
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ErROr
eRroR
ERroR
fIle iS coRRuPTed
FiLE Is c■Rr■■ted
ReSTaR■?
rEsT■rT?
R■StA■t?
…
…
…
System successfully rebooted.
File name: The Blue Screen of Death has been opened.
Access authorised.
You now have administrator-level access to all of the archives stored in the shared network server between the Japanese government and Raira Academy and may now bypass The Blue Screen of Death firewall without any repercussions each time you log into the server. Such archives include but are not limited to the following: research advancements regarding Gifted individuals, results of all social experiments conducted with Gifted and Non-Gifted individuals alike, the Class system in Raira Academy, reported sightings of beings still yet to be explained termed as The Others, and so on.
As an administrator, you are also free to remove the access rights of other users, including other administrators, if you so wish.
Welcome, Ryuugamine Mikado.
We have been expecting you.