"TSUBAKI MIKAN!"

She knew that angry voice all too well. It was one of the voices she told herself to never forget. A voice that meant death is near. She gulped and slowly turned around while thinking of a way to escape. She was deciding if she should use her cane for her ability, but the cane was already weakened and might get destroyed if she uses it one more time. She could use her voice but she was sure that she would overuse it.

She had to think fast. She had to get away. The person in front of her was strong. Really strong. Fighting Akutagawa meant facing death. To her, he literally looked a death: a sickly pale man dressed in black.

She was just posting a wanted poster on the wall when he appeared. She just wanted to do her job and find a girl named Yamazaki Tomie, but this personification of death always appear out of nowhere and attack her.

Sure, Dazai warned her about this guy but she wasn't really expecting Akutagawa to always appear out of nowhere as if he was a vengeful ghost haunting her.

"Umm… Hi," she nervously greeted while still figuring out how she could run away because she was cornered. Really, can't she just post these wanted posters in peace?

Then it hit her, she can use the wanted posters for her ability. She slowly reached for the last poster and said, "You are really strong, but I really want to live longer."

She ripped the poster to stun him for a bit then ran for her life. She had to admit, she did a pretty good job at escaping, but she was still mentally panicking because she was sure that he was on her tail. After all, what she did just gave her a seven-second head start.


"Mikan-chan, someone requested if you could find a certain girl," Dazai told her as he handed her a picture. The black-eyed girl looked at it and memorized every detail.

"Her name is Yamazaki Tomie," the dark-haired man stated," She is a part of the mafia."

There was silence in the office. Apparently, there were only four people in the room: Dazai, Haruno, Ranpo, and her. Haruno was just doing her work on her computer while Ranpo looked at them as if he knew something was up.

"What would be the reason of her being wanted?" she asked as she eyed her friend suspiciously. This was the first time Dazai seriously asked her to look for someone. He usually asks for her help because of his failed attempts of suicide but he never asked her for help when it comes to a case.

The man who, in her opinion, has an unusual obsession of slowly mummifying himself for fashion dramatically sighed and answered, "She stole a special flour from a pastry shop and the shop went bankrupt for not being able to produce high quality melon bread without that flour."

Silence. The ravenette just gave him a look saying she wouldn't buy it. She might have believed it if Dazai told her this 2 years ago. Seriously, she would really believe him 2 years ago with all that acting he was doing right in front of her. She learned the hard way not to fall for his antics.

"You know," she blankly stated as she stood up from her seat and continued, "You could've just told me that it's confidential."


Mikan managed to lose Akutagawa in a crowded area. She couldn't believe that it had been 3 months since this case was handed to her by Dazai. She was actually thankful that Dazai told her that the client was in no rush and she should prioritize the other cases she would be having. It almost seemed like the suicidal friend of hers was the client. What if he really was the client?

She reached an alleyway and immediately leaned on the wall to calm herself down and catch her breath. Running away from Akutagawa was really difficult. Sure, her cousin Neilson trained her and all but that guy was really something. He was sickly but he almost killed her numerous times. What more if he wasn't sick?

To be honest, she was thankful that it was only Akutagawa who was chasing her since Dazai told her to watch out for two people. If she meets the other one, she was really sure she would instantly die because she knew she would randomly blurt out something.


"Dazai, I have a question," she said as she was just looking at the picture of a person named Chuuya Nakahara. She already memorized the face of the first person so she focused on the second one more.

"This girl with the hat, is she always wearing one?" she asked while silently commenting that Chuuya's hair was perfect. She simply adored the perfection she was seeing in the picture. Well, not really as perfect as that man she left back in her home.

As she was simply gawking at Chuuya's picture, she failed to notice Dazai's eyes widening in disbelief.

She snapped back to reality the moment she heard her friend snickering so she looked at him in confusion.

"Eh? What's the matter?" she asked as she puffed her cheeks in irritation the moment the snickering went louder. She knew she didn't say anything funny which was why she began to wonder what was making him laugh.

"Really, is it wrong to find girls pretty?"

With that, Dazai burst out laughter and almost died because of it.


Yep, she was really sure she would really die the moment she sees Chuuya. She was sure she would blurt out "Pretty girl" without even realizing it. That memory taught her that the world is full of mysteries just because she mistook a guy for a girl and she still couldn't believe that Chuuya was a guy.

She heard coughing behind her and she paled. She was really sure she managed to lose him but how in the world did he find her? She closed her eyes to listen. Akutagawa was a few meters away from her and wasn't facing her. She was sure that he followed her but also, hoping that he just coincidentally went to the same alleyway she went to and still didn't notice her. She knew she was having false hope. She really had to use her voice this time and risk it.

She sensed the incoming attack and dodged it. As she was about to open her eyes, she sensed another set of attacks from death's coat and barely dodged them. She then screamed and faced him. She didn't really want to use this ability as it would really give a toll on her body the longer her ability is activated. For the seventh time in her life, she told herself to make the command last for an hour. Once she gets home, she promises herself to do nothing but sleep.

"Don't chase me for an hour," she commanded, but knowing his strength, she was sure that it would be less than an hour because he would be able to fight it. She told herself that as long as the command was active for at least, ten minutes, she would be safe. She hoped that the command would last long enough for her to get back to the agency safely.


Author's note:

The Yamazaki Tomie that was mentioned here was actually this OC of my friend: s/12179301/1/The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Dirty

Mikan once thought of battling Akutagawa once instead of listening to Dazai but she almost got killed the first time they met. It actually ended up with her using her voice and after she got away, she couldn't speak for a week. She knew she wasn't that strong but she wanted to prove herself that was why she learned the hard way. Now, she makes sure to run away whenever she senses him.

Since she got hysteria blindness when she was a kid, she has a hard time using her eyes in observing. She always relies on her hearing because she basically got used to it. There were actually occasions where she was looking for a missing item without knowing that it was actually in front of her unless she uses her hearing.

Hope you like it.