Secret Valentine: Erika Karisawa

[UndergroundGod]

When Erika threw herself at him, Izaya… didn't know what was happening for a moment. His first instinct in such situations was to move out of the way—in his life, lunges were usually accompanied by the drawing of weapons and anyone launching themselves at hi was an enemy.

Luckily, he squashed the instinct, otherwise Erika might have landed flat on her face, and that would just have been a terrible way to start the day. Instead, her arms flew around his neck and he caught her around her back. The momentum of the jump sent him spinning around until he caught his balance and set her down, completely unsure as to what had just happened.

Erika… had just hugged him. He didn't know what had inspired the motion or why she'd thought it was suddenly appropriate, but… it had definitely just happened. It had been a long time since Izaya's last hug. His sisters had once dealt them out liberally, but that was years ago, when they were still tiny and he'd looked after them. Honestly, the last contact that he'd had that had even been close to a hug had been from Shinra, and even that had been months ago.

He was in such a state of surprise that although he'd heard what she said, he wasn't able to reply for a long moment, until he cleared his throat and looked sheepishly towards the entrance of the mall.

"No, don't worry about anything, I got it covered," he said casually. He didn’t want her to think he was going to make HER pay for everything, what with him had infinite sums of cash, that just seemed terribly rude. Even though Izaya had a vague feeling that she might try to pay for things anyway, he wasn't going to let her. "I haven't been here in a while, so I don't even know what stores are still around. I figured we could explore. Unless you know a few good places to start, of course."

[unicornhunter]

Erika shook her head. "Nope! I don't get to shop around here a lot, so I haven't a clue. So looking around sounds great!"

She fell into step with Izaya - and had a really hard time resisting the urge to cling to his arm. Erika was just a really huggy person, so she liked a lot of human contact and touching and snuggling, even if she wasn't super close to someone. But she and Izaya had an . . . interesting relationship, and she knew that he really didn't feel the same about human contact as she did. So it actually spoke volumes on how much she cared about what he thought and if he felt comfortable by not clinging to him as they walked.

She also wondered what else they should talk about. Even though they had become kind of close, they didn't really talk about their likes and dislikes very much - and Erika knew he wasn't too terribly into anime. So that left her at a loss of things to talk about. Unless.... No, Shizuo was probably a do-not-talk-about topic right now, especially with what she pulled yesterday.

Gah, what were they to talk about!? This was really starting to bug her.

[UndergroundGod]

Well, he supposed it was a good thing they were on equal ground in terms of their store knowledge. This way, they could walk in and just stop in whatever store happened to catch their eye, which could be anything.

For everything Izaya knew about Erika and her past… there was a heck of a lot he DIDN'T know, which included Erika's taste in clothing, music , toys (if she liked such things, which Izaya suspected she might), food… Hell, he knew she watched anime, but he didn't even know what genres she liked (other than the obvious boys love manga she had left in his office on more than one occasion… and Izaya had "skimmed" with a heated face, especially when reading the ones that involved a muscular blonde top with a smaller dark-haired bottom).

So when it came to sparking a natural conversation with her… Izaya wasn't quite sure where to begin.

Izaya knew how to socialize, of course, that wasn't the problem here. He knew how to tease and provoke people into talking about things, and he could even carry on a casual conversation, but… he wasn't used to being sincere, and that, more than anything, was what was throwing him off here. He didn't know… what questions made it seem like he was actually trying as opposed to the questions he would ask to make it seem like he really cared. And there was a difference.

Well, there was a difference to him. He wanted to be actually sincere, instead of just seeming to be actually sincere and he was perplexed as to how to pull that off.

It turned out that because of this, their first few minutes walking through the mall were spent in an awkward silence that involved the both of them just avoiding the other's gaze. It made Izaya wonder if this had really been such a good idea, and he hated second guessing his decisions. He did, however, maintain that casual grin he was so used to having on his face.

Eventually they approached a store that caught Izaya's eye. It looked like it have a huge selection of skirts and blouses in a style somewhat similar to what Erika might like, so he pointed it out casually, "Hey, how about Alice and the Pirates?"

[unicornhunter]

Erika looked at Izaya, then at the store he was pointing out. Her mouth turned into a small little 'o' as she looked into the display window at the clothes it had to offer. While some of the cuts weren't really to her liking, she did like the prints and designs, and sometimes she was able to overlook how things hung on her in favor of how something looked. Like with cosplay - sometimes, even when she wasn't one-hundred percent comfortable in a certain outfit, she'd wear it anyway because she wanted to properly depict the character.

Erika grinned at Izaya. "Sure! Why not?"

She took his hand into hers, and she led the way inside.

Once inside, she was actually really surprised by how big the store was. Apparently it had three levels, the third level actually being a lolita cafe, the first floor being dedicated to clothes (not just lolita but all sorts of Western-inspired fashion with "Alice and the Pirates" themed prints: Alice in Wonderland-ish, Disney-like, even some anime-inspired), and the second floor being home to every single accessory you could possibly need or want for any of the outfits bought on the first floor. Bags, ribbons, belts, hats, buttons, stuffed animals, dolls - it was one-stop shopping for everything you could possibly want in "child-like" fashion.

And while Erika would stay away from wearing lolita for as long as she lived, she was already in love with everything else in the store.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya watched her reaction to his suggestion as she looked towards the store and he watched her reaction turn from surprise to delight as she turned to grin at him.

Then suddenly, she'd taken him by the hand and was dragging him towards the store and Izaya had no clue how to feel about that. He was used to be handled or tugged around. He wasn't used to the feeling of having his hand held as he walked (or, in this case, it was more like pulled). Izaya was usually the one to lead people if he was going to be in a group at all, and though he had been the one to point out the store, it still felt weird to be tugged over towards it.

Her hand was warm though and the skin was soft… he couldn't say he minded that.

Inside, he was as surprised as she was at the sheer selection of items. They had three floors, and basically anything a stylish Japanese girl could want to wear, dresses, shirts, skirt, belts, pants, stockings, and every other accessory known to man.

They had a selection of lolita styles, but Izaya was quick to avoid looking at those, though probably not near as quick as Erika was. After everything she had been through (everything they had been through?), it was certain that she never wanted contact with any sort of lolita fashion ever again, and he could hardly blame her.

[unicornhunter]

Erika looked all around the store. Now what could she see Izaya wearing . . . ? She started to giggle as she started imagining Izaya in boy-style. He'd look like a really smug, grown-up Ciel Phantomhive! Except he'd be smirking all the time and look very devious, so not like Ciel at all. The more she tried to make the comparison, the more she decided that that was a horrible parallel. But the style was still the same.... And while it was still the same genre of fashion and she wouldn't wear it, she wouldn't mind seeing Izaya in it.

She giggled as she waved Izaya over. "C'mon, I know just what you would look good in!"

Once Izaya walked over to her, she pointed up at a gothic boystyle outfit with poofy sleeve cuffs, a top hat, a cane, shorts with stockings coming up to the thighs, knee-high boots with many, many laces, and a frilly shirt with an embroidered vest buttoned up just underneath the frilly collar. It did have a few red accents that would bring out Izaya's unique eye color.

"What do you think, Izayan?"

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya followed her around the store sort of aimlessly. None of it was his style of clothing at all, so while it was interesting to look, there was nothing in the store he would consider buying. He had an obviously more… relaxed style, preferring comfortable jeans and t-shirts to the fancy, stylish attire of other men his age. Honestly, he'd never been particularly stylish, though Shinra had teased him about what a pretty boy he'd be if he only dressed up more.

So instead, he just focused on tracing Erika's path through the store, letting her look through whatever racks of clothing she wanted to look at and waiting curiously to see if she'd maybe want to try something on (or at least pick something out that Izaya could egg her to try on).

He'd trailed a bit behind, trying to wrap his brain around the number of buckles on a particular pair of pants, when she suddenly called him over with the claim that she thought he'd look good in something.

As he approached her and saw the outfit she was eying up for him, he could barely do anything other than raise an eyebrow at her ludicrous choice… really? The bemused expression occupied his face for a moment before he finally said, "I think you're crazy."

[unicornhunter]

Erika giggled. A lot of people said that about her. "You don't like it even a little bit?" It was fine. She wasn't going to force him into clothes he didn't want to wear. And that actually spoke pretty clearly how she respected Izaya. Normally she would insist that he at least try it on before he said that. But considering the style, she refrained from doing so. It didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't insist on him trying something on later. But she wouldn't start a clothing "war" in a lolita shop. Nope, not happening.

"Is there anything you want to try on?" They were here for Izaya, after all. It was her apology outing with him.

Or that was her understanding of it. She hadn't any idea that Izaya was actually planning on spoiling her rotten today.

[UndergroundGod]

In response, she giggled, and Izaya guessed that it was far from the first time that someone had called her crazy. He didn't mean it in a bad way, of course, just that… she was silly to think he'd consider wearing something like that. Not to mention, he'd look absolutely ridiculous in it.

She teased him a little about trying it on, but he merely shook his head a bit, glancing around the store casually, "Not particularly."

This wasn't his style of store at all, it was way too… hip. Izaya appreciated expensive clothes, of course (he had a $3000 tuxedo at home in case of formal events, and his pajamas were all silk), but he just didn't see the point of trying to look fancy and draw attention when he hoped to be invisible. He didn't see the point of expensive street wear when Shizuo could bum rush him at any moment and he'd need to flee.

"There's got to be something you want to try though," he said with a grin, "I could totally see you in some of the dresses here."

[unicornhunter]

"Me? Um...." Erika tapped her chin with her forefinger. Well, she hadn't planned on trying anything on.... But dressing up was fun, so why not? She looked around, trying to see if she saw anything that she would like....

Oh. My. God.

She ran over to a display of boystyle. "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod, I can't believe it! I thought they didn't like being so strongly associated with anime! I can't believe they have a replica of ALois Trancy's outfit!"

While she did enjoy the manga better, she and Walker occasionally fought over whether or not the second anime series was any good. If for nothing else, Erika liked the anime-only characters they added. And Alois was one of them.

"This is so cool!"

[UndergroundGod]

He watched her as she considered and her eyes continued to travel around the store. There was an awful lot to look at in here. When she ran towards another rack, he walked after her to see what she was freaking out about… and found himself completely perplexed.

Not having watched much anime, he didn't know for sure who the outfit belonged to, or who Alois Tracy was. He definitely had no clue what sort of character would wear shorts like THAT. He took a moment to ponder, the color reminding him vaguely of the Joker from the Batman series he had watched some time ago, though he doubted it had anything to do with that, since Alois Trancy was some other character totally, he assumed. In fact, he couldn't even decide if the outfit was supposed to be meant for a boy or girls, considering the different elements of the outfit.

Izaya shook his head lightly, and commented, "I'm not even sure I want to know."

[unicornhunter]

And Erika more or less interpreted that as "I require an explanation."

So she did.

"Alois Trancy is a character from the second series of Black Butler. He's pretty much an anti-thesis to Ciel Phantomhive, as he's also a young teenage boy and also has a demon butler but makes himself Ciel's enemy. Except the difference between Ciel and Alois is that Alois is a lot more emotional and mentally unstable and would pretty much throw out all aspirations for revenge if it would mean he could be forever together with his demon butler, Claude, who he's in love with. He wears the purple boy lolita outfit with booty shorts so he can seduce other men, which is a behavior he learned from - oh, wait, you might watch it, so I'll keep that part to myself, but it was really dramatic and sad and ugh, couldn't stand Claude in that episode, the jerk, and he didn't get much better later in the series, but I guess he was still a pretty badass character, but not nearly as badass as Sebastian and - !"

Erika came to a halt in her fangirling as she looked at Izaya's facial expression. She tilted her head at him, then blushed a little.

"You don't care, do you?"

She smiled rather bashfully. "N-never mind...."

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya wasn't sure what he had said to make Erika think he wanted an explanation, but maybe it didn’t matter. In retrospect, she probably would have interpreted anything he'd said as a chance to explain, including dead silence. Izaya didn't mind, of course, and it was interesting to hear Erika's very animated explanation.

Even if he was completely bemused. He wasn't familiar with any of the characters she was talking about, and the names were quite foreign, making the whole explanation even more confusing. On top of which, it only added to his confusion because she was being purposely sketchy on the details in case he should watch the show at some point (though Izaya wasn't sure if/when THAT would happen). He felt it was just… a lot of information in terms of character and relationships and backgrounds and…

Though really, if Izaya tried to give Erika a breakdown of the information he had flying through his hands on a daily basis, it might just leave her head spinning too, at least a little. Sure, Izaya had a few shows he watched, but most of his day was invested in the very tangible, real world, the world he had to keep track of if he hoped to stick around to have the time to watch the silly children's cartoons he happened to enjoy.

"It's not that I don't care," he corrected her lightly, giving her a reassuring grin (or something close to it, he supposed), "it's just that I have no idea who any of those people are."

[unicornhunter]

"Oh, okay." Erika pushed her index fingers together, suddenly a bit shy. She wasn't really used to hanging around non-otaku without Walker.... And she often forgot herself, and it had really been a long time since the last time she had hung out with someone without Walker, Kadota, and Togusa by her side.... She suddenly realized she didn't really know how to behave herself in the company of a "normal" person - or at least someone who didn't really get into manga and anime like she did - because it had been so long, and her memories of those days were rather clouded by those of her father and . . . she just really hated those memories. So she pretended they didn't exist and moved on.

She realized she had spaced out for a while, then grinned up at Izaya.

"Do you mind if I try it on?"

She didn't want to hold him up if there was something specific in there that he wanted to look at - though she could tell that he was also wandering around the store rather aimlessly. She sort of wondered why that was, but perhaps that's just how he shopped.

It really had been a long time since she had hung out with someone who wasn't part of the gang....

[UndergroundGod]

He realized after saying it that Erika probably wasn't used to hearing that sentence from people. Izaya was well aware that when it came to anime and manga, her and Walker were pretty much on the same page. If there had ever been a series that one of them had watched, but the other hadn't… well, he was pretty sure that they made each other watch it. Saburo and Dotachin weren't nearly as fluent, but due to their frequent exposure to the two otaku, they probably had just naturally grown accustomed to the language and references at least to the point where they didn't need to questions the things she said.

Izaya, on the other hand, rarely watched any anime. If asked, he might admit that there had been a few series he'd had a passing interest in, maybe one or two he'd watched most of, but it wasn't a big thing for him. It took a lot of effort to devote oneself to an entire series, particularly to serial shows that necessitated a certain order and Izaya didn't always have that energy. It was probably one of the reasons he preferred kids shows, because it didn't matter if he only happened to catch one episode at random.

She seemed to space out for a moment, thoughtful, before she became animated once again… and asked if he minded if she tried it on.

The fact that she was asking for permission made him grin a bit wider, and he leaned casually back on the balls of his feet. "Go right ahead," he encouraged her.