As beautiful as the rest of Koi appeared to be, like any other large city with a wide quainity of people occupying it, you only had to look a little closer to find the dark underbelly. Drug dealers, thugs, underground doctors, crime bosses– You name it, he knew where to find it. They tended to lurk just out of the light of day, hiding themselves in the dark shadows that enveloped doorways and the space between buildings.
That might be why he liked taking the back-alleys so much, really. It suited him, in a way. As much as he tended to paint the picture that he was not in fact the villain of any story, he could not completely argue against the fact that he wasn’t a good person. After all, the only thing he was interested in were humans– Or more specifically, just how wide their span of emotions went, their predictability in common situations, and the faces they made when they came face-to-face with despair.
Yes, Orihara Izaya wasn’t a villain, yet nor was he even close to being a hero– That’s why using alleys to get around suited him just fine.
The alleyways that wound in and around Koi were honestly convenient, in his opinion. The way they connected and branched off ended up being a lot faster to travel than the busy, crowded streets. It should be noted that while he enjoyed walking through crowds of people, invisible and unnoticed– Taking the alleys had just ended up being easier for him, and not only on time.
Uta’s studio was hidden away in some nondescript part of the city’s back-roads, the crowd that frequented the front of the store was sparse for the most part but it still made Izaya a bit weird to possibly be seen coming and going as much as he did– But luckily it was easy enough to convince the other to keep his backdoor unlocked, seeing as the man really wasn’t someone that could be robbed easily, and certainly not someone easy to kill.
Trust him, he had tried. All it resulted in was several bent knives and a bit of cursing from Izaya, and a smirk or two from the Ghoul before he grew bored of Izaya’s efforts and either kicked him out for the night or preoccupied his attentions in different ways– Which was what had happened that very night.
Izaya never stayed the night at Uta’s– A rule of his, when it came to the sort of interactions or dealings that he and Uta shared– And instead would slip out the backdoor in the dead of night and make his way home through the twisting maze of alleyways, his hood up over his head and hands buried deep into his pockets, the fingers of his one hand gripped loosely around the comforting metal casing of his knife– A precaution, I assure you.
Now while I say that it’s a precaution, he never really felt the need to use it. Those who frequented these alleys generally kept to themselves, and he would even spare a few koins or more to the homeless that kept shelter in the shadows– Though tonight, the alleys were strangely empty.
It wasn’t until a large, bulky shadow stepped into his path that Izaya realized why that might be, the man was of impressive height; Taller than Shizuo by far, which was honestly intimidating– Though Izaya wasn’t the sort to let something like that get to him.
After all, he might be small, but he was quick. It was much handier to someone like him– A coward like him.
He tensed in surprise, stopping in his tracks immediately–Eyes gaze hardening in such a way that he was giving the man a look of cold suspicion, though he doubted that it could be seen in the dark. The man spoke, and his hands raised in such a way to suggest that he wanted to ease any fear that Izaya might feel– But that’s where normal people and Izaya differed.
He didn’t freeze when he felt fear, instead it thrilled him. It always had, which might be obvious with how the raven tended to live his every day life back in Tokyo– And here he was in a new city, knee-deep in the criminal underground of Koi and yet… Still managing to hover above it. Not to mention that he was actively sleeping with a cannibal with supernatural powers.
Somewhat unconventional, but that’s how he was.
Even so, there was something very wrong with how this man was addressing him– As if he knew Izaya, as if they had a previous relationship of some sort.
Was he merely delusional? Perhaps. Did that make him dangerous? Yes. Did that bother Izaya? Only somewhat.
Now how did he want to play this?
He took a deep, quiet breath to settle his nerves– Then smiled, his body visibly relaxing. He let out a soft hum, leaning towards the stranger in a way that suggested that he was nothing more than happy to see the other as he pulled his hood down away from his face– His knife slipping down his sleeve as he moved closer, fingers brushing the man’s sleeve almost affectionately.
“Oh, is that so? Thanks so much for meeting up with me, you’re so kind~”
“It’s quite scary out here by myself at this hour, I hope I’m not troubling you at all.”