You know this city, not so far away? Down there is a street called No. 6. There, on that street, is a place where it’s fun to come. It’s right next to that restaurant called Hetalian Foods. It’s a bar, it’s called Shinya’s Bar. The owner’s name is Hiiragi Shinya. He is always standing by the counter. By the door, you will usually see a woman named Awashima Seri. She is the one to kick you out if you are causing trouble. Sometimes she won’t be there though. In those cases, you’ll see Heiwajima Shizuo there instead. He is crazy strong but hates violence. Somewhere in the bar, usually in the background, you’ll find a young man named Max Alors. He always has a broom in his hand. He always seems to be working on cleaning the place, and it is needed. If you go behind the counter, you’ll find a door, behind that, you’ll find a hallway. If you follow that, you will reach a kitchen with the chef, Nanase Haruka, in a bathtub on wheels. This is pushed around by his friend, Matsuoka Rin.

In this bar, many strange costumers come by. You might know a few of them, and usually, a lot of crazy stuff happens.

Shinya was standing by the counter and waiting patiently for someone to come. Max was sitting on a chair in the corner, catching a small break from all the sweeping of the floor. Awashima was standing by the door, counting down the minutes before her shift would end for today. She had an appointment, so she had said upon arriving at the bar this morning.

Shinya hadn’t even had the time to get bored before the door opened and a man entered the bar. The man’s hair was black, his eyes were reddish brown and he had a secretive smile on his face like he knew way more than he would ever let on. Shinya found this guy extremely interesting and smiled too.

“Welcome,” he said. “Would you like something to drink? I have this drink with cola, redbull and a lot of other good stuff in it, if you want to try.”

“No thanks,” the man said while looking around in the bar.

“Then why are you here?” Shinya asked.

The man looked thoughtful. “Hmm… I guess I want some good place where I can observe what’s going on outside,” he said.

This was, again, an interesting fact and Shinya found that he would do anything to make this guy stay and learn more about him. It could be that he learned something new.

“I’d still like to serve you something though,” he said. “What about a light drink, on the house?” he asked.

The man looked thoughtful and then nodded, accepting the offer. “Thank you,” he said before sitting down by the counter.

Shinya started looking on the shelves for something to use for a light drink while speaking to the guy. “I’m Hiragi Shinya, what’s your name?” he asked.

“Orihara Izaya,” the man answered.

“Unusual name,” Shinya commented as he picked some bottles from the shelves and started pouring some of their contents into a glass, creating the requested light drink.

“So they say,” Izaya answered. “Ah,” he said suddenly. “That’s too strong. I need to keep my head clear.”

Shinya turned his head to face his customer then he looked back at the bottle he had been reaching for. He nodded and found something with no alcohol in to mix in with the drink.

“So, Orihara, what’s your profession anyway?” Shinya asked while he poured something into the glass.

Izaya looked around. “I wonder if I should tell you… but I guess it doesn’t hurt,” he smiled. “I simply gather information.”

Shinya nodded, understanding what he meant. “I have heard rumors about an extremely effective info broker. I’m assuming that’s you then,” he said while placing the drink in front of Izaya.

“It could be,” Izaya said, not really letting anything on. He picked up the glass and drank a little bit of the content.

Awashima walked up to the counter.

“I need to get going,” she said. “My shift’s over.”

Shinya nodded. “I see, then I’ll see you tomorrow I suppose,” he smiled as Awashima simply nodded and left the bar through the front door. This meant that Shizuo would be here any minute now.

Shinya and Izaya fell silent for a bit. Izaya turned in his attention towards the street, which he could see through the door.

“Do you make these shifts regularly?” Izaya suddenly asked while drinking a bit more of the drink.

“Not often,” Shinya answered. “Seri-chan is usually here and she is the one whom I originally assigned for the job, but she said she couldn’t be here all the time because she is running another job, which takes priority, so I had it arranged that another would come in whenever she had to go. He doesn’t really take an order, but he is fun to piss off,” Shinya smiled.

“Interesting,” Izaya answered as the door opened and Shizuo stepped in. He managed to stand by the wall before he noticed who was sitting by the counter.

Izaya noticed him too and smiled. “Is that him?” he asked. “It is a befitting job to have him kick people out, I must say.”

Shizuo frowned. “What are you doing here, flea?” he asked in an irritated tone.

“Am I not allowed to buy drinks now, Shizu-chan?” Izaya asked in an obviously provoking tone. Izaya then downed the last of his drink before he turned to pay Shizuo his full attention. “I’m just here observing the humans outside,” he said.

Apparently this was enough to make Shizuo lose his temper because he grabbed the chair closest to him and threw it at Izaya, causing both him and Shinya to dodge the incoming attack. Izaya accomplished this much more elegantly than Shinya.

“Is it going down like that?” Izaya asked, and now Shinya noticed a knife appearing in his hand. Max noticed it too and hurried over to hide behind the counter along with Shinya.

Shinya and Max both hid behind the counter, only allowing themselves to peak over it, to see what was going on with Shizuo and Izaya. The two were constantly provoking each other while furniture were flying around them and they were engaged in an intense fight.

“What should we do?” Max asked in wonder. “If they’re not stopped soon, they might destroy the bar.”

As if to underline Max’s words, a chair came flying through the air and hit the shelves, shattering at least 15 of the bottles.

Shinya nodded and stood up, knowing that Max was right. He jumped over the counter and landed on the floor between Izaya and Shizuo.

“Okay, Orihara, Shizuo, that’s enough. Take this outside.” He grabbed both Izaya and Shizuo by the arm and forcefully dragged them out of the bar. He gave them a final push out the door and slammed it behind them.

After this, Shinya looked around to take in the damage that had been done to his bar. Aside from the 15 shattered bottles, there was a leg which had fallen off the table, a completely damaged chair and the remaining furniture randomly tossed around the room.

“Now… who is going to pay the bill?” Shinya wondered. “Sure the table can be fixed, but the chair needs to be replaced and same goes for the bottles.”

Max stood up and looked around as well. “Well, I’m sure that Orihara-guy would just find a way to get around it all without paying for the damage, and Shizuo seems pretty pissed off already, so I wouldn’t ask him if I were you,” he advised drily. “And the rest of us can’t take the blame since we had nothing to do with it….”

“So, what do you suggest?” Shinya asked. “I mean, you’ve closed out all my options.”

Max nodded. “Probably that this is on the bar,” he said, thoughtfully.

Shinya sighed. “That means the money goes right out of my own pocket,” he muttered.

It was then a loud bang was heard and the door was slammed open again. In the process it hit Shinya from behind and caused him to fall forward. He landed on top of the already damaged chair and looked up to see a vending-machine lying halfway inside the bar.

“Guess we’ll need a new door too,” Max commented, looking at the now damaged door.

Shinya nodded. “That’s true,” he answered while wondering if Shizuo and Izaya would ever stop fighting.