Paperwork was the least fun part about working at the Armed Detective Agency. Nothing killed Atsushi's weekend like making reports, and after a few hours of mind-numbing writing, he wondered if he wouldn't rather go out to hunt some Port Mafia goons, perhaps losing a limb or two in the process. Even that seemed more fun than sitting at his desk slaving away at a report about the latest mystery the Agency had solved.

Since the defeat of the Guild, things in Yokohama had calmed down. The city was peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could be under the watchful eyes of the Port Mafia. At least there weren't any airships threatening to fall from the sky and flatten the city. The apartment in which he lived was in a quiet neighbourhood where not much happened, so waiting for excitement to come to him wasn't something he had much hope for.

He was about to finish the first half of the new report he was working on when something caught his eye. Looking out the window at the balcony outside, he saw something dark move just out of the edge of his vision, followed by the sound of a door closing.

This was probably one of Dazai's pranks again.

But it didn't explain the chills that were going down his spine, or the strange feeling that something malevolent had moved horribly close to him. He looked around the walls of his room, searching for the source of that feeling. Sure enough, he felt something coming from the left wall, a wall that connected to the apartment just beside his on the same floor. He raised an eye.

Something dark shifted along the balcony and lingered near his room's window. Atsushi stood up from his seat and moved towards the window to observe it, but it disappeared as soon as he got to his feet.

Atsushi blinked several times in a row, wondering if he was just imagining things. Only a few days had passed, after all, since Dazai brought Q back to the Agency. Maybe that child's spooky little ability still had somewhat of an effect from him.

Throughout the afternoon, as he worked, he repeatedly caught flashes of darkness moving across the balcony outside, including one time where he thought it was directly watching him through the window. Every time he glanced towards the window, it disappeared, and the only thing he saw was a blue sky gradually turning more and more red as his precious weekend slaved away to the urgency of his report. That feeling of some dark, malicious aura coming from the wall to his left didn't go away, either. By the time evening came, he determined to get to the bottom of it.

Atsushi walked out of his room and approached his neighbour's door with the quiet stalk of a cat. He wondered if someone new had just moved in next door. What kind of person would exude this kind of aura? There was only one way to find out.

He knocked on the door.

When no reply came after about a minute, Atsushi sighed and turned to leave. However, he stopped when he heard footsteps approaching the door. The door creaked open a moment later, revealing a pale face and long black hair tipped with grey.

"Akutagawa!?"

Instantly, his body tensed, ready to fight to defend himself. But the expression on Akutagawa's face was as shocked as his was.

"Just my luck," Akutagawa said in a low voice. "Of course the person I move next to ends up being the weretiger."

"Why did you move here?"

"Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, weretiger." Akutagawa looked like he was about to shut the door on Atsushi's face, but something stopped his hand. He stared defiantly at Atsushi. "Just because we combined our powers to beat money boy back on top his airship doesn't mean I care one bit about you. Are we clear on that?"

"Then why did I see you looking through my window all afternoon?" Atsushi felt his face growing hot. "Uh, I mean, that was you, wasn't it?"

Akutagawa was caught off guard. "You saw that?"

"Kind of hard to miss your black cloak passing by my window every couple of minutes. And what's with that aura? It's like I can feel your ability through the walls!"

"That's the nature of Rashomon. It devours space – or don't you remember, from the time we last fought?" An evil grin came over Akutagawa's face. "Do you need another demonstration?"

"I can take you on, no problem – but I have a report to finish." Hearing himself say that sentence made Atsushi's head swirl as he realized the depths of Agency bureaucracy. "But, please, can't you lower your aura a little? I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight if I can feel Rashomon through the walls!"

"What part of 'I don't care one bit about you' do you not understand, weretiger?" Writhing black blades materialized along the edges of his coat. "Now that I know how you feel about my aura, I'm almost delighted to spread my ability towards your room. Who knows? Perhaps I'll pierce your heart in the middle of the night."

Atsushi ground his teeth in frustration. "Akutagawa! I won't stand having you as my neighbour if you're going to be such a massive nuisance." He raised his fist and felt the powers of his tiger growing within him.

It suddenly dawned on him that Akutagawa would most certainly not have moved into a tiny apartment room in some random neighbourhood of Yokohama of his own volition, even if the Port Mafia forced him. One particular name was plastered all over this incident. Only a single man could have influenced Akutagawa to do something as unappealing as moving in beside Atsushi.

Dazai was certainly behind this. And it was probably a test of sorts, for both of them.

"You want to fight?" Red lightning crackled over Akutagawa's coat. "Bring it on."

Atsushi lowered his fist. "Dazai made you do this, didn't you?"

Akutagawa's eyes bulged, and his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Don't underestimate me, weretiger. Regardless of who made me move next to you, I'm not afraid of killing you if given the opportunity."

"You can't," Atsushi said. "You can't defeat me."

"Are you trying me?"

Atsushi backed away and leaned against the railing of the balcony. He put on his most nonchalant face as he realized that Akutagawa was really just like a rabid dog. A dog with a bad temper, but one that was most definitely subservient to its master. And his master had never changed.

"Akutagawa," Atsushi began, "if we're going to be living beside each other from now on, we should learn to make each others' lives easier. If you promise not to encroach on my room with your ability, I'll give you something that you want – say, a one-on-one duel with me. How does that sound?"

"You think I'll agree to any deal YOU propose?"

"Why not? What is the point of spreading your black tentacles all over my living space, anyway? You want to come in so much?"

The veins on Akutagawa's face were becoming clearly visible.

To Atsushi's surprise, now that he was able to get a closer look at Akutagawa without them jumping at each other's throats, he realized that Akutagawa wasn't actually so bad looking. A bit lean, rather pale, edgy collarbones...but kind of handsome, too.

Wait. Did he really just think his mortal enemy was handsome?

"You seemed to be looking at me through my window all afternoon, too," Atsushi continued. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were into me, or something."

Two rough hands grabbed Atsushi's shoulders and pinned him against the wall. Deadly black blades sprung out of Akutagawa's coat and leered over his head.

"You're truly testing my patience," Akutagawa seethed. "I don't care what Dazai said. I'll kill you right now!"

There was such a rabid dog look in Akutagawa's eyes, a look that seemed to be begging for acceptance. A look that Atsushi almost felt sorry for.

"If you kill me now, you'll never be accepted by Dazai."

"I don't care about Dazai!"

"Oh, really? Then why don't you just move out of here right now? Isn't Dazai the only reason you're here?"

Akutagawa's eyes twitched. To Atsushi's surprise, his coat relaxed, and the blades hanging over his head reclined. But Akutagawa still held him by the shoulders.

"He wants us to train together," Akutagawa said, lowering his head. His voice dimmed and almost became choked. "He believes only when we work together can we achieve our full prowess. Our battle against Fitzgerald confirmed it, in his eyes."

"I see. Well, we can do that later. I have a report to finish–"

"Don't think for a second that I'm going to show you mercy!" Akutagawa shouted. "When we fight, I'll crush your bones and break your limbs. You'll whimper at my feet and beg for death. But I know about that regeneration ability of yours, so I'll just keep breaking you more – I'll break you and break you and break you until you don't have a bone left in your body to fight!"

Unpleasant images flashed through Atsushi's mind of his last fight against Akutagawa. At the same time, the desperation in Akutagawa's voice was almost heartbreaking. For the first time, Atsushi felt bad about being chosen to be Dazai's disciple. He was the one person standing in Akutagawa's way of validation from Dazai, which was the only thing the man had ever wanted.

He felt his shoulders being squeezed by Akutagawa's pale, bony hands, which were turning white.

"You'll never be accepted by Dazai if you do that," Atsushi said, swallowing his own fear and self-doubt. "That probably isn't what Dazai sent you here to do to me."

"Shut up!"

"Listen to me, Akutagawa. I don't want you to feel mad at me all the time. If I could, I'd make Dazai tell you that he accepts you. Everyone deserves validation. No one deserves to be beaten down and told that they're worth nothing, that they're worth less than the dirt beneath their boot..." Atsushi shut his eyes and raised his hand to gently grasp Akutagawa's wrist. "You know what? I accept you, Akutagawa. Even if Dazai doesn't – even if no one else does. I accept you. You were a great help to me in the battle against the Guild, and if I hadn't met you, I'd never have known that there was someone else like me, someone who craved validation, someone who just wanted to hear the words: 'you deserve to live, and nothing can ever take that away from you'. Because I met you, I realized I wasn't alone."

"SHUT UP!"

To Atsushi's surprise, Akutagawa finally let go of him. Akutagawa staggered back against the railing, and Rashomon disappeared back into his coat. His eyes were wide, his hands shaking. A bead of sweat rolled down his face.

"Akutagawa. You've been so hurt." Slowly, Atsushi approached him. "I don't want you to be hurt anymore, because if that was all you ever felt, you'd only resent me. Since we're going to be training together from now on, I want that we see each other as equals."

"You aren't my equal, weretiger."

"No. But if you accept yourself, you'll be."

Akutagawa closed his eyes and lowered his face. For a couple of minutes, he remained still, silent. Atsushi wondered if he had finally made the man snap. He approached Akutagawa slowly, without any sign of enmity, if only so that he could show that his arms were open. He had meant what he said – he'd accept Akutagawa even if no one else accepted him.

The truth was, he never wanted Akutagawa to be his enemy. They were both Dazai's disciples, and to have that under their names, their hearts had to be good.

"Atsushi," Akutagawa said at last.

The sound of his name being spoken by Akutagawa for the first time made Atsushi's heart leap.

"Go write your report," Akutagawa said, before promptly retreating back into his apartment and slamming the door shut, leaving Atsushi standing alone on the balcony, feeling a little confused.

Later that night, Atsushi received the creepy feeling of being watched by a certain fabric-of-space-devouring coat again. He wondered if that man could even shut off his aura. Maybe it really was all-consuming.

Shivers went down his spine when dark, creeping shadows streaked with red began to cover his window.

"Akutagawa!"

Atsushi stomped towards the door and opened it to find Akutagawa standing before him. Akutagawa's eyes were red, as if he had been crying, and his face looked even paler and sulkier than before. Atsushi couldn't help but feel a sudden wave of sympathy for him. And what sharp collarbones he had...

Black tentacles slithered into Atsushi's room, uninvited. Or, maybe, they were...?

"Atsushi," Akutagawa spoke up. "If you're done your report, we'll begin our training tomorrow. Maybe I won't break your bones, but I'll fight you with my hardest. Don't disappoint me, weretiger."

"Okay. But, could you still try to do something about your spooky aura? And what is it with Rashomon creeping all over my walls – and in my room!"

"Can't be helped."

"What are you talking about? You can definitely control your black tentacle things – look, I've seen you do it before! Don't lie to me, Akutagawa!"

Atsushi found himself staring into Akutagawa's eyes. There was a curious glint in those grey orbs – or was it the moonlight?

Akutagawa leaned towards him. "I've never noticed."

"Noticed what?"

"Those eyes of yours. Were they always that colour?"

Atsushi felt his cheeks glowing with warmth. "Wh-what? You mean, purple and gold?"

"What else? Really alluring, under the moonlight."

"Akutagawa...?"

"I saw your kindness in your eyes, earlier today. They really are quite beautiful, you know."

Atsushi couldn't even react before he felt Akutagawa's lips pressing against his own. His eyes grew wide.

Akutagawa's mouth was warm and felt surprisingly good to kiss. He sank into those wet lips, feeling his body quiver under their intimate heat. That handsome face was making him blush so hard.

All of a sudden, he didn't mind Rashomon's constant, creeping presence anymore.

"Maybe I'll show you mercy, just so I can stare into those lovely eyes some more," Akutagawa said as he pulled away. "See you tomorrow, Atsushi."

Just as quickly as he had come, Akutagawa left and closed the door behind him. His shadows, and that creepy aura, disappeared.

Atsushi remained standing in front of the door for a long time. "Did I really just..."

Dazai did have a knack for setting up the most unexpected developments.