Chapter 11

When the picture of the most miserable cat he had ever seen was shown to him, all his expectations had immediately fallen flat.

It had been the earliest cracks of dawn when his cellphone rang. The sun was just starting to dye his dark high-rise apartment a nice warm shade of yellow, and Izaya had been feeling particularly comfy in his bed. When Izaya had found the atrocious amounts of coffee in his drawers, he quickly realized that before-Izaya must have had a habit of staying up right into morning hours. It was hard to believe that before-Izaya could resist the beckon of the blankets that seemed to call for him every night.

Despite it all, the ringtone belonged to a Shiki-san, who would've no doubt been waiting a while for him to pick up the phone, and angering a yakuza was not on his bucket list at the moment. Izaya quickly sat up and grabbed for the phone, managing to receive the call just before it ended.

"Hm, hello," his yakuza boss/ex-boss/client greeted, "I was almost convinced that you weren't going to pick up."

Not quite content by the hours Shiki was contacting him at, Izaya answered simply "My apologies, I was sleeping like most other normal human beings."

"You were asleep?" Shiki commented as he checked his watch, "My bad, I hadn't expected that of you, if you don't mind me saying. Well, now that you're awake, I need you for an important job. It can't wait, so now would be ideal."

"What?" Izaya replied, fully awake and grabbing for his clothes, "This isn't exactly the best hours to call me for a hand Shiki-san... May I at least know the details of this job?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous and it won't get you into any trouble as long as you doing go looking for it. I have a driver outside your apartment... Don't keep him waiting."

Within 5 minutes he was up and out the door, having hastily dressed himself in his fur coat again. With barely enough time to prepare himself, he prayed he looked at least half decent as the checked himself. Soon enough, they arrived at a radiant building where Shiki had greeted them with other anonymous well-built men in black suits.

"If I may ask, what's with all the men?" Izaya said, as he stepped out of the car to stand face-to-face with his employer, "and why did you call so early?"

"Nice to see you again Orihara Izaya," Shiki greeted, disregarding his questions, "You look tired."

Izaya frowned at Shiki, "That's not very polite of you Shiki-san. You call me at the earliest cracks of dawn, expect me to be here in 10 minutes, and at the same time expect me not to be tired?"

"Yes, that was quite rude of me wasn't it?" Shiki let amusement show on his features, which was ruined by his stern exterior, "Now that you're here, follow me."

He followed Shiki into a extravagant building, obviously some kind of hotel for the wealthy, with rows of sturdy men on either side of them acting like a barrier or a wall. All of the extra men couldn't possibly mean anything good, but meanwhile he found the pretty chandeliers to be somewhat distracting. Soon he lost interest in staring at the western-style extra-decorated lights.

"Shiki-san, you still haven't answered my questions," Izaya said, directing his gaze towards the stiff-faced yakuza next to him, "What am I needed for? And why all the men?"

"...Not even half of the men belongs to my group," Shiki started as the numbers in the escalators display started to rise, "A woman lives here gives a lot of money to our organization, and she happens to be having some problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"Hm. You'll see."

The vague words left by Shiki left Izaya's imagination soaring to all new heights.

Very soon, Izaya found himself sitting in a very lavished couch, right across from the most fancy being he had ever laid his eyes on. Presented in front of him, a picture of a fluffy yellow cat who looked like it was ready to put itself to death, as it was nearly being suffocated by a crushing hug given to it from the distressed lady.

"She went missing 2 days ago," the lady said, a frown marking her colored features, "As you can see in the picture, she has fluffy cuddly adorable fur the color of an angel's wings and the greenest eyes that will make you feel like a fairy is putting an enchanting spell on you."

"I... Can see that," Izaya observed, not the cat but the strange woman as she stared lovingly at the photo, "So you need someone to find her for you?"

"Yes," the woman nodded, then added pompously, "these incompetents still haven't managed to find her despite being a huge organization which only means that they haven't been trying. I've given them so much financial support but they won't even help me when it comes to it, but since I'm kind this is their last chance to prove to me that they can do something."

"...I see," Izaya blinked, "well, *ahem* please tell me more about this cat of yours..."

It was already past morning when Izaya exited the building, ears ringing from the love and affection she kept rambling about to him for hours on end. It had taken excessive amounts of time to extract any useful information out of her. The sun had well risen, streets bustling with people, and Shiki was there to once again greet him.

"If I'm not wrong, this woman's 'financial support' doesn't hold that great of an impact does it?"

"No, not really. She caused a fuss but I'm not one for wasting resources."

"So in other words, you called me here in the break of down to dump something troublesome on my lap?"

"Now that's not very polite Orihara."