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Shinra Kishitani didn't know how to react when he first heard the news. His beloved Celty was the one who had told him.
She hadn't necessarily told him as soon as she had heard, no. She had given him time to heal from his own injuries of that night. And when she had told him, he was furious. Why hadn't she told him earlier?
This was his best and one of his oldest friends. Shinra had the right to know!
"Why didn't you tell me!?" the man had cried, his arms almost healed from his injuries.
"Shinra, I-!"
Shinra cut the dullahan off, making her stop typing. "You what!? I would like to know, Celty. You, what!? You kept the death of my best friend from me for three weeks. Three Weeks!"
"It hasn't been confirmed Shinra!"
"Then why are you telling me he's dead?"
"He's been missing for a month, Shinra. Even Namie, his assistant hasn't seen him at their apartment. His enemies are clueless about what happened to him. It's been declared that he's dead"
Shinra staggered backwards as he read the text. Really? Missing for a month, and he's been declared dead?
"Celty, I need a moment, can you please get out?"
Celty nodded, and as she left, she wrote a small message on her PDA, "The funeral is in a month" And then she left, leaving Shinra alone to process the information. Shinra couldn't believe it.
Sure Izaya had a dangerous profession, an even more dangerous life and lifestyle, like walking on a tightrope across an endless abyss of darkness, with a noose around his neck, and Izaya was the type to jump on his own on rope, making the noose tighter around his neck, and making it harder for himself. But it never made sense. He just couldn't be gone, could he? He couldn't have fallen off.
Just moments ago, Shinra himself was watching Izaya jumping, doing tricks on the tight rope. Now he was no where to be found. He couldn't believe it. Everywhere he went, even to sites deemed untrustworthy, he was never able to find any reassurance that his friend was alive.
All sites claimed that he was either dead, or had been declared dead. Shira was surprised at how a person could almost just disappear from sight. But everywhere he looked, it was said that Izaya Orihara died on the night everything went wrong.
From Shinra's point of view, Izaya had finally achieved his dream, he had died in war. But Shira had also known that Izaya had not really planned to go out the way he did, which ever way he did. It seemed as if Izaya had simply lost his balance on the tightrope. Knowing Izaya, Shira knew the the man would lose his mind trying to get his balance back.
No, not for the fear of death, but for the joy of loving his eternal love, Humans.
Because of his hobby, Izaya was dubbed anything but innocent. Izaya knew things about you that you wouldn't even know, and then some. He was the living embodiment of your worst nightmare, multiplied by ten. The kind of person who would tear you kitten a part, limb by limb, and eat it raw, in front of you. For goodness sake! One of the man's hobbies was to make teenage girls commit suicide!
Izaya's hobbies had been there, even in their middle school years. But then, there was always some way to get around the problem. There was always someone else to blame it on. Always a bigger bed to crawl into, for Shira anyway.
But now, as an adult, Izaya was all alone. No one would take his side, share the blame. Why would they? Izaya was a grown man who was capable of making his own decisions.
Izaya Orihara was anything but innocent.
Through Shinra's eyes, the view of Izaya was different though.
Izaya was more human than any other human in existence. His heart so brittle and frail that the only way to prevent it from breaking was to love everyone, unconditionally. His love for humans was what kept the young man going. That, and the undying hatred for Shizuo Heiwajima.
Shira believed that doing all those terrible things was a way for Izaya to prevent himself from getting hurt, to prevent his heart from breaking.
In the end, in the entire city of Ikebukuro, Izaya Orihara was the only man who was truly innocent.
In Shinra's eyes, Izaya was still innocent.