Chapter Three

Izaya sat on a comfy reclining chair in the lounge room of Decims house, drinking tea as he watched a fire crackle in the hearth of an ornate fireplace. He was staying at Decims house due to the conclusion that both Decim and Mei's lives were in danger, what better deterrent for a murderer than a police detective resting down the hall. 

He couldn't quite wrap his head around what was going on with this case, He could think of a few reasons why someone might want to kill Decim but Decim and Mei, he was drawing a blank as to reasons why. He was pretty certain that Shou's death had been a case of mistaken identity, if it wasn't for Shou's death he would theorise someone in the family wanted the two black sheep dead, but any family member who'd visited the house would have known which room was Decim's. He was also confused as to why the killer left Mei alone, did he realise his mistake and panic, was he convinced he only needed one of them dead, so many questions.

He looked up as he spotted Mei enter the room, she wore a violet-blue kimono with little violet patterns on the fabric. Izaya felt a little underdressed in black pants and a black woollen jumper, with his black slippers on his feet.

"Good evening Mei," He said
"Good evening Izaya, do you mind if I join you" She replied
"No not at all it's your house anyway"
"It's my cousin's house, do you have any idea why someone wants to kill the two of us?"

She sat down in the chair accross from Izaya clearly shook up.

"If it wasn't for Shou's death by mistaken identity I would but you won't like it"
"You think one of my family members could be behind it, but why does Shou's death change anything?"
"A family member would know where Decim sleeps and would have been aware Shou was here right, you don't seem all that surprised I suspect your family"
"My cousin and I only have a few things in common, the biggest is that we're both the black sheep of our family, Me for my career choice and Decim for his interests, We both have large shares of the family business and fortune if that wasn't enough our family is made up of some of the greediest people in the country, so no I'm not surprised you'd think they'd want us dead and I'd think you'd be a fool not to"
"Is there anyone in your family you can think of who wouldn't know about where Decim sleeps or that Shou was staying here"
"Truth is not everyone in my family would know about either, we have a big family we don't all get along, I suppose the less of us there are the bigger the shares"
"Are you prepared for what comes next"
"What comes next?"
"The Accusations, you and Decim will be accused by your family and it won't be pretty"
"No one in my family would have the balls to make any public accusations, they'll be too busy worrying about saving face  and milking this for all its worth"

Izaya felt a big wave of sympathy for Mei at that moment, He felt he should change the topic of conversation to take her mind off the fact that her cousin was dead and someone was trying to kill her.

"Let's talk about something else, turn off the whole cop and civilian dynamic, How goes the apartment hunt"
"I haven't really started yet, to be honest, I like living here with Decim, it's a good place to live and with Decim around I'm never alone and don't have to worry about buying groceries, though I admit i do need to live closer to the city, Where do you live?"
"a decently sized one-room apartment in Ikebukuro the rent is good and it's not that far from my work, also I've got some good book stores in the area"
"How did you and Decim meet, you're so very different"
"Oh we're not all that different, we met in university we both joined the anime club hit it off right away, don't get to hang out as much these days with our hectic work schedules but he's still one of my best friends"
"I guess being a detective doesn't allow for much free time to spend with your friends or partner"
"I don't have any partner to worry about at the moment, as for friends some of the people I work with are pretty good"
"I find it hard to believe you're single"
"Well it's true, what about you I imagine there is a gentleman somewhere eagerly waiting for you"
"No there isn't unfortunately"

Mei got out of her chair and sat down on the floor closer to the fire, Izaya followed suit and sat down next to her staring into the fire.

"I wish we hadn't met like this," She said
"I know" Izaya responded in sympathy
"Are you not allowed to date me because it might be viewed as misconduct"
"You're not a suspect, there's no rule in the code of conduct preventing me, but you're emotionally vulnerable right now and that goes against my ethics"
"I'm pretty sure if I'd met you under different circumstances we'd already have a date lined up"
"I'd like to think that to"

Mei leaned her head on Izaya's shoulder and they sat there watching the fire. Izaya could feel his heart melt for the beautiful girl resting her head on his shoulder, her smell was making his brain fry in his skull. He needed to find who was after her, the faster the better. He turned his head to say goodnight and suddenly she reached behind his head and pulled him into a deep kiss, when she finally let him go he was gasping for breath.

"Thanks for that I feel infinitely better now," she said

Mei stood up and started to walk away leaving Izaya stunned on the floor.

"Goodnight Izaya," she said
"Goodnight," He said still processing what had just happened

Izaya sat there for a while dumbfounded. He then stood up and put out the fire, he walked back to the guest room he was staying in. He stripped off his clothes turned off the lights and crawled into bed, he lay there in the dark going over his case notes in his head looking for something that would help to pin down who was responsible for Shou's death and wanted to kill his best friend and his love interest.