Someone Like Me [ShizuoxReader] Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In…

soundcloud.com/ris-dominic/nor… (You may have to click play on the website)

Even though it’s Monday, you look forward to starting your second week at the art gallery because you thoroughly enjoy it. You walk through the door, move to the back, and get ready for your shift. The owner of the gallery, Mr. Daniel Rintaro*, comes in with a man in his late 20’s.  

“Oh, good morning Ms. (l/n); I’m glad you’re here already. I’d like you to meet Mr. Yamazaki*; he’s my younger cousin and one of the managers here. He just got back from vacation.”

The man approaches you with a big smile as he holds out his hand to greet you. “Hello, there! It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve been hearing a lot about you recently.”

“Oh, really? Hahaha.” you say, laughing off that last comment nervously. “It’s nice to meet you as well and I look forward to working with you.”

“Uhh....Yeah! Same here...” Mr. Yamazaki fidgets nervously and turns his body away from you as he answers. “Dan, I just remembered, I need you to take a look at something for me.” The two men exit.

That’s a little odd. Was he...lying?

~~~~

One week later, you have your first full day at work. To celebrate, Izaya takes you out to dinner that night. Even though things were a little strange between the two of you after Izaya kissed you, it wasn’t long until your friendship (if you could call it that) went back to normal. However, after the past week, you’re a little troubled and Izaya picks up on it.

“...hey, (f/n).....HEY.” Izaya snaps his fingers in front of your face after he failed to get your attention.

“Ah, what!?” you say as you finally snap to. *sigh* “I’m sorry, Izaya. I’m just feeling a little bit lost...”

“Lost?... Tell me what is on your mind.”

“Well, I don’t know. Last Monday when I got into work, I met the other manager; he’s Mr. Rintaro’s cousin. When he introduced himself he seemed like a nice guy, but the instant I replied and said that I looked forward to working with him, he turned his body away from me and hesitated when he answered ‘Same here.’”

“Hmmm.....Sounds like he lied to you.” Izaya says as his eyes narrow in thought and aggravation; twirling his drinking glass on the table.

“That’s what I thought too. Ever since then it seems that he’s been rather rude to me...and I have no idea why. I haven’t done anything....nothing I can think of anyway.”

Izaya stops twirling his cup and moves his eyes over to you, “Now....I want you to listen to me...,” he puts his arms on the table and leans in, saying seriously, “If he doesn’t stop, or if he gets worse, you will come to me. Do you understand that?”

You’re surprised for a minute; concerned that Izaya is considering harming the man. “I can....as long as you don’t hurt him if I do.”

Izaya falls back in his chair and grins slightly, “I can’t make any promises~.”

You glare at him and reply in an unimpressed, aggravated manner, “Izayaaaa.....”

“Heh. Okaaaay, fine.~”

~~~~

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThX6n0…

The next day you go into work looking forward to the day because of the beautiful weather and the rather nice lunch you packed; now that you get to have lunch breaks. When your lunch time rolls around, you go outside and find a nice spot in front of the gallery to sit. A few minutes into your meal, Mr. Yamazaki walks out and spots you. After giving you a small wave, he walks over.

“Good afternoon, sir. Care to join me?” You say after taking a sip of your drink; gesturing to the bench near you, trying to be polite.

“Good afternoon. And thank you, I believe I will.” You nod approvingly as you eat. Mr. Yamazaki sits and continues, “You know, I’ve been so busy since getting back I haven’t had the chance you talk to you yet.”

“What would you like to talk about?” you ask, as you attempt to be as nice as possible despite the uneasy feeling you’re getting from him.

“I heard you were made a citizen of the city. So where are you from? What kind of things did you do before you came here?”

Uh, personal much?

“Well, um...I don’t remember....”

“Don’t remember?”

“N-no, sir. I don’t remember anything that happened to me before I entered the hospital. Not to sound rude, but did Mr. Rintaro not tell you?”

“No, he told me.” Mr. Yamazaki states nonchalantly. This takes you by great surprise. Then why?...

“See,” he continues, looking away from you. “I really just wanted to know if you were telling the truth. Sure, you say that you can’t remember anything, but how do we know you’re not lying? I wanted to see if I could tell if you were being honest or not. That cousin of mine is too trusting.”

“That does make sense but-“

He cuts you off, “I mean you could have a shady past and be a con artist and we’d never know until the gallery’s work is stolen. Or you could simply rob us blind.”

You start to get aggravated so you try to interrupt just to defend yourself, “I get that. But look-”

He ignores you, “I mean, with the fact we have NO idea who you really are, Dan is taking a huge risk. I have no idea why he would risk the gallery like this with some lowly trash like you.”  

Before he can finish, you snap. You seize him by the front of his dress shirt and force him in front of your face. You have the appearance of an angry dragon: teeth showing, eyes flaring, and a low growl.

“LOOK!! I understand what you’re talking about, but it’s not fair to NOT give someone a chance and help them out. Sadly, a lot of people don’t do that because they’d rather be safe and not take any risks. They have no trust! I’m just grateful that Mr. Rintaro has the freaking decency to even do that! It’s also wrong to judge and criticize someone, but ESPECIALLY when you don’t even know the person!”

You are about to go on when you realize what you are doing. Oh, crap! You quickly let go of the man’s collar and shove him away like he's diseased. Both of you are in shock, but then Mr. Yamazaki regains his composure.

He stands up, adjusts his collar, and says coldly, “This doesn’t help your case you know.” Mr. Yamazaki turns around and walks back into the gallery.

~~~~

www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=8WN…

You and Mr. Yamazaki avoided each other during the remainder of your shift. Just before you are about to leave for the day, one of the other workers says that Mr. Rintaro wants to see you. You move your head back and sigh. Great...

Hesitantly, you enter Mr. Rintaro’s office. He sits at his desk with an unusual look of concern and worry on his face. “Please take a seat.” Mr. Rintaro says, sighing.

As you cautiously sit down in the chair in front of his desk, he continues, “Ms. (l/n), I’m well aware of the incident with Mr. Yamazaki earlier. I really wish you would have come to me as well; but I’m sure you were too scared to, seeing that he’s a manager and my cousin.”

You nod shyly, looking down. Then he asks you, “Would you mind telling me what happened from your perspective?” You oblige nervously.

“I see.” Mr. Rintaro reflects for a second before moving on. “Now, normally, you would be fired at this point; however, you are an excellent worker and I don’t want to lose you. You see, Mr. Yamazaki is the son of the president of the gallery business, so he typically gets his own way....No matter how much of a jerk he is. I would like to apologize for his behavior.” Mr. Rintaro looks at you with an encouraging and cunning half-smile. This helped you relax because then you knew it wasn’t just you, the man really WAS a jerk, and luckily, Mr. Rintaro was on your side.

~~~~

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qnRfT…

Even though the talk with Mr. Rintaro made you feel a little better, you still leave the gallery a little worried and aggravated. You decide to take a walk around the city before going home so you can blow off some steam. When you turn the corner of the street about a block from your apartment, you actually spot Celty coming up the street. You thought you didn’t want to talk to anyone, but before you know it, you begin to wave her down.

Hey there. .... You usually don’t walk home from that direction, right? Everything ok?

You let out a sigh, realizing that you really did want to talk. “Hey, Celty? Do you have a minute to listen?”

Of course. Tell me whatever you’d like to say; I’m all ears.

You begin to relay to her everything that had been going on at work, going into detail about what happened earlier. You even tell her your concern about not wanting to tell Izaya.

I can see why you wouldn’t want to let Izaya know. There’s no telling what that info broker would do... *she shudders* But hey, don’t you at least think it’s a little funny?

“What is?”

Izaya obviously wanted to take care of the situation if something got out of hand, but it turns out you took care of it yourself.

“Hahaha. You’re right. Thanks for pointing that out; it makes me feel a little better.”

Actually, what’s also funny is with that outburst of yours, you remind me of a friend of mine. His name is Shizuo Heiwajima. He’s known for having a very short fuse.

Shizuo.....Wait, Shizu-chan?? You think about the man who interrupted your tour with Izaya and hit him with the sign. Realizing that the two men must be the same, you ask, “Hey, Celty? Does he dress like a bartender by any chance?”

Yeah, he does. I’m guessing you’ve met him?

“Well now, I wouldn’t say that. hahaha”*