Left. Right. The streets are alight with everyone heading to work, the crowds undisturbed by the striking winter weather. Light frost shimmers on street posts as the sun is now fresh in the high sky. Dammit. She knew she should've taken the long way around. A frustrated twenty two year old woman pushes the unbrushed mauve hair out of her face while she impatiently waits for the crosswalk light to turn.
She uses this wait as an opportunity to finally put her coat on properly and finish wrapping the partly tattered scarf around her neck. The message on her screen flashes as she rapidly locks and unlocks her phone. President Fukuzawa said it's imperative that she be there as early as possible. For what, she has no idea. This is the first time in the over five years she's worked at the agency that she's gotten a message from the president like this. Usually for this kind of thing, Kunikida would be the one to tell her.
She restlessly bounces from one foot to the other, her mind taken for a ride by the text she got just this morning. What could it be? Naturally her thoughts go to the worst places. That something's wrong in the agency, something bad happened to one of her friends, everything just completely went in flames. She switches pace to staring at the timer to calm herself. It's fine. Everything is totally fine. In five and a half years, the agency's only been attacked once, and they easily cleaned up that situation in about a half hour flat. There shouldn't be anything to worry about…
The light turns and she makes a run for it across the street. At this point it doesn't matter if other people think she's mad. Getting there early? She'll be lucky if she can get there on time. Fuck, this morning was such a mess. If things went as planned, she'd have been at the agency for half an hour by now. But since when do things ever go as planned? Breakfast this morning was a complete nightmare. Then she had to round up her laptop, camera, and all her equipment. It's not enough that she didn't finish everything last night, no, of course she had to scramble to get ready for today too.
Rei sprints through the agency door, the effects of the cold having not phased her at all. Not only from the adrenaline of trying to get here on time, but having to run through the city in the early wake of commute hours too. And now she gets to traverse up five flights of stairs to get to the president's office. By the time she gets there, she feels much more like collapsing into bed than doing anything work related.
Out of breath and overheated, the detective sheds her winter jacket and leans on the cool, metal railing. Its iced touch gives some much needed support to her back as she takes a moment to regain composure. A minute passes before she stands up straight again, this time pressing down the ends of her blazer and tucking her coat underneath her arm.
The door to the fifth floor office cracks open. President Fukuzawa steps out of the room. Rei stands tall as he walks over to her. Her breath is still a little shaky as she addresses him. "Good morning – sir. I'm sorry I'm late, I was having troubles with –"
Fukuzawa puts a hand up to stop her. His voice is calm and fully level, a stark contrast to hers. "There is no need. I called you in early because we have a new member." The detective looks up at him, now searching in his crystal steel eyes. New member? What does he mean by new member? And why's he telling her like this? "You will be the one in charge of his training. Introduce him to the rest of the agency and make sure he gets acquainted with things today."
Rei stands back as he says this. Usually it's the agency that finds its members, not the other way around. It's not a job you'd typically apply for. Not only that, but why would she be the one to introduce the guy over himself? This is all really weird. She shakes herself out of it and looks back up at her boss. "Should I prepare the entrance exam?"
Fukuzawa shakes his head. "No need. Kunikida already did that."
Now this only makes her more bewildered. "If Kunikida did his entrance exam, then why am I the one training him?"
The president turns forward as he starts to head down the stairs. The hollow ring of his steps somehow much quieter than they should be. "It was specifically requested that you be the one to do so."
Specifically …What? The detective stands there, not able to process any of this. Why would she be specifically requested… to train him? Is that even allowed? Apparently. They've had two new members since her joining, and she's never seen anything remotely like this.
Fukuzawa gets to halfway down the set before stopping. "Rei."
"Yes sir?" She raises her head to him, now noticing that he's faced toward her again. The quality of his voice echoes with a timber that's much more grave than normal.
"Do keep your eyes on this one," he says, "there's a lot to watch with him." Then returns to walking down the stairs.
Rei turns herself to the fifth floor door, the president's steps fading out behind her. As she gazes at the solid, wooden door, she can't help but feel... well, she doesn't really know what to feel. This whole situation is beyond odd. Overall the agency hasn't seemed any different in recent weeks, definitely nothing that would allude to something like this. It's actually been quite normal. Which is probably why this is happening. If things are too smooth for too long, something always has to stir it up. And her life's going pretty well right now too.
A few weeks ago they had finished up this whole debacle with some domestic terrorists and have, for the most part, just been doing standard detective work since then. That's how things around here tend to go. A big case that takes up all their time and resources, some cooldown time where nothing happens, then right back to everything exploding. It's a fun job, such a mix of people and organizations. All the thing's she's seen throughout her time here. It's hard not to believe that everyone is secretly an ability user.
The door is still ajar, and she can see the lights in the office as well as a few (cat) decorations. Presumably the new recruit is in there too. She wonders who it could be. Obviously someone who knows her, presumably has a lot of trust in her, but at the same time wouldn't tell her that they're at least applying for the job? How does that even make sense? She shifts the weight on her leading foot to lift herself up a step.
Something shuffles inside the room. A chair slides back against the hardwood. She can hear soft steps coming through, abnormally soft. They get incrementally louder. And she doesn't know why, but her heart starts beating faster. This is it, right? The person who's seemingly going to be her partner, at least for the next few months. The door pushes wide open.
And her heart stops altogether.
.
Not just that. It can't.
.
Her whole body. It can't.
.
It's paralyzed.
.
It can't be.
Even in the reflection of her evergreen eyes, she could never be mistaken. Even by the arrogance of the air around him, she could never be mistaken. Even just by the bandages hanging off his hands, she could never be mistaken. A fire blazen across a frozen lake. It can't possibly be.
"You're Rei Hayashi, right?" He takes a step toward her. "I'm Osamu Dazai. It's nice to meet you." He extends a hand out to her, smile attached. "I look forward to working together."
She doesn't say anything. How can she? She stumbles back, slipping on a couple stairs, and falling right on her ass.
"Not one for talking, huh? Communication is a two way street, you know?" He grins, only ever moving closer.
That grin. Even in the most blinding light. Even in the most beautiful meadow. She will always be able to recognize that grin. She gets up and dusts herself off, shaking her head. This isn't real. It can't be real. It's some sort of nightmare, an illusion. A sick, twisted, trick of the mind.
"Who – who are you?" she says, half in a whisper as she doesn't want the answer. She backs herself up onto the flat of the platform. The way he so simply walks toward her down the stairs. It looks like him. It acts like him. There has to be some kind of fake out.
"I already gave you my name."
She shakes her head, and shakes it again. This is not the same Osamu Dazai, because that Osamu Dazai – She backs herself even farther away as she finally stares at him, just completely stares at him. He's got tan pants now and a beige trench coat too. No longer a suit, just a shirt and a vest, and his shoes are lighter too. The turquoise pendant that hangs off his neck, it's a stranger's clothes, but this is no stranger. It's him, that man she met in the alley. She can see it exactly. Breath for breath. It has to be.
"Y – y – you're alive?" she says, a stutter catching in her throat. He's dead. For over three years now she's thought him dead. How? How can he be here now?
Dazai laughs as he finally reaches the landing. "Unfortunately, yes."
She steps back now in the other direction, anything to get away from him. "Why are you here?"
"I want to do work that saves others," he tells her simply. "People can change, can't they?" His dark, honey-brown eyes stare as he backs her into a corner. "You yourself said you don't think I'm completely irredeemable. Remember, back then?"
"I was a different person," she tells him back as she pushes herself past him. "You yourself said I was naïve. Remember, back then?"
"It's nice to see we still have our banter," he chuckles as he turns around to face her. Though her face is anything but amused. "Your president trusts me. Your coworker, blonde angry man, trusts me." He takes a step closer, only one, so that they're still on opposite sides of the stairwell. "Don't you trust them?"
Rei stares at him, for as much as she may not want to, for as much pain as it may cause her, she stares at him. Because she has to. This man. This singular person who has ruined her life more than everyone else in it combined. And now he – She looks away. As much as she wants to say she can, she can't. "That's because –" A lump forms in her throat, and it takes all the composure she has to push it down. Breathe. Calm down, and simply just, breathe. "They don't know you –" She stops, stops herself before she says it.
"Know me like…" he continues on, understanding exactly what she was going to say. He's leaned over with his ear turned right toward her, but she doesn't take the bait. Dazai stands upright and holds his hands out behind his back. "Aren't you supposed to show me around, boss?"
"Don't call me that," she snaps at him instinctively. This whole thing is impossible to wrap her head around. Just this morning she thought Osamu Dazai was dead and she'd never see him again. And now he's standing here, right in front of her, evidently her subordinate. This is something straight out of a movie. No doubt all plotted by him, fucking bastard. He didn't terrorize her enough the first time around, now he's here to finish the job.
Though it doesn't make sense really, why Dazai decided to suddenly show up here three and a half years later. Maybe to allow just enough time for her to recover from the shitstorm he caused before he goes and starts up another one. You know, for added effect. She turns to her head to glance at him. She could easily expose him, couldn't she? Sure she doesn't have access to his records, but at least the agency would believe her. Still, maybe she could get her hands on them… She snaps her fingers, getting him out of his daze. "Follow me."
Rei walks down the second part of the stairs and Dazai follows her. The silence between them is nice, refreshing, so long as she doesn't have to hear him ta – "So, you're still the vest type, huh?"
"Don't talk to me." They reach the bottom of the stairs and stand before the main door of the fourth floor.
"Wow, how cold. Are you usually this rude to the people you work with?" He talks again of course, because if there's one universal rule of law it's that Dazai is physically incapable of keeping his damn mouth shut.
Rei doesn't answer him, why would she. Instead she turns around to look him in the eye. And she stands, not trying, not hoping, not mustering, but making him hear her, and hear her he damn well will. "I'm done with you, and I'm done giving you chances. But I love my team, I trust them, and I know how capable they are. So I'll give you one last thread. One. And we both know you don't deserve that. But if you do anything, and I mean anything, that puts my friends, this city, or anyone but your stupid self in danger, you won't have to worry about suicide anymore."
Dazai raises his head slightly, the keen silence that follows not unheard by him. "A death threat?" he muses. "How exciting! And this coming from the same girl who said she'd never kill?"
Rei doesn't move from her expression. "People can change, can't they?"
He looks down at her, his face just as serious. "Understood." She turns the handle and opens the door.
A wash of light bombards them, then soon everything else as the agency members start to run over. Rei recovers quickly, then takes a count of heads. Good, everyone's here. "Okay guys, we have a new member." She gestures a hand to Dazai, then walks over to the side where Kunikida is. There, that should take care of an introduction.
She crosses her arms and stands with the blonde man, watching with him as the new guy fends for himself. "So, you met him this morning? What do you think, Hayashi?" he asks.
"I hate him," Rei states plainly.
Kunikida stands back and turns his head to her. That's… strong. He'd understand why she'd feel that way, he had to spend the better part of an afternoon with their new coworker, but he'd never imagine her saying something like that, especially of someone she just met. Usually Rei's the most diplomatic of all of them.
"I mean, he just seems a bit… much," she carefully amends, realizing how unbecoming her previous statement was. "He's annoying and a thorn in my side."
Kunikida turns quickly to her, ogling her with a newfound sense of relatability. You too? He shakes himself to regain professionalism, simply electing to nod his head. He agrees, this does seem like a very odd pick for the agency, but for the sake of the ADA, he will refrain from getting too worked up about it.
Rei keeps her arms crossed and her eyes trained on Dazai. He may have some new clothes and a few different lines, but she knows what he is. Underneath that faux personality he puts on, all the graves in his closet. And as she watches her friends, the people closest in her life, go face to face with his lies, she does have to wonder. Am I making the same mistakes again? Is this my fault? To think of all the times he's stabbed her, just right out there in the open. She doesn't have to trust him. She'll never trust him. But her friends, she can trust her friends.
"Hi, I'm Dazai." The man waves at them, his eyes perceptive as he takes in the eight strangers standing before him. Well… almost.
"Hi, I'm Kenji," the closest one of them responds first. He's got a bright smile and a cheerful disposition, seems pretty young, but Dazai knows better than to be fooled. He's in this agency for a reason. The boy, still smiling, raises one of his hands in the air.
"Uh, yes?" Dazai points to him, wondering if Kenji's raising his hand to ask a question.
"He wants a high five," a red haired man standing next to them clarifies.
"Ah," the brunette says, then high fives the boy.
"I just learned that one recently at the market!" Kenji exclaims as he hops, excited that he got to try out his new trick.
The group laughs a bit, then Dazai turns to the next person in line: the red haired man who had just helped him. He's dressed pretty casually and seems laid back, but Dazai can sense his thinly veiled nervousness as he extends his hand. "Tanizaki."
The brunette takes his hand and shakes it, giving him a quick nod in recognition. Then he moves to the woman next to him. She's got long black hair and dark brown eyes, probably a little younger than Tanizaki, and is wearing a classic school girl uniform. "Ah! Mon cheri!" Dazai weeps as he falls to his knees. "A light in the night, you have beckoned me. Now my heart a flutter to the whim of your hand." He takes her hand and holds it in his, placing his other on his heart to symbolize their love.
"Eughhh?!" the woman nearly screams as she reels back. She looks to the rest of the group surrounding her, all of them as utterly confused as she is. What the hell kind of introduction is this? She takes her hand and swipes it away from his, crossing her arms and turning her nose in the other direction. "Hmmph, as if." She opens her eyes and undoes her arms, a smile appearing on her face before she jumps on Tanizaki who's standing next to her. She nuzzles herself into his arm and looks out at Dazai with a "take that" look on her face.
Tanizaki laughs nervously and scratches the back of his head. "Her name's Naomi, by the way."
Dazai nods, then goes to the next person. It's another woman who looks around the same age. She's got shoulder length brown hair that curls at the ends, and he can just see the ends of her red rimmed glasses. Dazai raises a brow as he looks down at the top of her head; for some reason her face is pointed toward the floor. He smiles lightly as he places two fingers under her chin and gently tilts her head to look at him. The pupils in her eyes dilate as the red on her cheeks becomes more pronounced. She diverts her eyes away from him, unwilling to hold his gaze.
"Dazai," he says softly, removing his hand from her chin and using it to grab her hand.
"H – H – Haruno," she manages to barely get out a response. The red on her face only gets worse as she still refuses to look at him.
Dazai keeps her hand for one more second before moving to the next person. He's a small man wearing what looks to be an old fashioned detective's outfit. "I'm Ranpo and I'm the best detective in the world!" the man shouts so that anyone who wants to hear it can.
Dazai purses his lip. Well, there's no arguing with that. He gives Ranpo a respectful bow and turns to the next person. She's a sharp looking woman with short black hair and a golden butterfly pin. The new agency member opens his mouth, but she's already got him. "Don't even try it." He snaps his jaw shut. "I'm Yosano. I'm the doctor here, and I will cut you." She takes a cleaver out and swings it between her fingers.
Dazai laughs, stepping back a little as he bows to her. Then next in line is a young girl with long blue hair tied into ponytails. She's wearing a red kimono and a necklace that has a phone and a rabbit doll. "Kyouka," she says, quiet, but concise.
"Kyouka's the newest member other than you," Tanizaki explains to him. "She just started about a month ago."
He turns back to Kyouka. She bows to him and he bows to her.
Then the next person – the last person – Dazai narrows his eyes. An anxious looking young man with hair like snow white fur and a black stripe akin to a tiger's. The brunette smiles: looks like the agency's put some new clothes on him, good. The young man opens his mouth to introduce himself, but the brunette puts up a hand.
"That's okay Atsushi." He places a hand on the boy's shoulder, patting it once. Everyone, Atsushi especially, stares at him. Dazai laughs. "I read your name in the newspaper. You did very well on that domestic terrorists case."
Atsushi shuts his eyes and shakes his head. "It wasn't me. The whole team did a great job."
Dazai nods, an almost proud smile on his face. He talks to them for a few minutes more, then excuses himself. They all watch as he leaves, a mix of expressions on their faces. Atsushi stares out at the back of his head. He can't get it out of his mind. That introduction. The stare of his eyes. That moment he put his hand on his shoulder replays. Why is this man somehow familiar? He looks around, noticing his coworkers have gone back to work. He pushes it out of his mind and does the same.
Rei makes some final adjustments, mainly audio, and tunes the color up a bit. She messes around until she gets it to exactly what is on her sheet. Perfect. She sighs as she unplugs the cord from her laptop. This was supposed to be finished last night, but of course that didn't happen. Oh well, at least it's done now. She'll just send them a follow up email.
The agent sits up in her chair and presses her blazer down. The computer on her desk boots up and she grabs the paperwork from her bag. It's easy, working now. You see, before there were things to look forward to. But now it's anything to distract her from –
"Hey Rei!"
Oh, for fuck's sake. She looks up, barely, at whom she already knows is there. Why? Out of all the things, why does she have the power to summon the antichrist from his grave? "What do you want Os – Dazai?"
Dazai smiles, knowing he's won this round. "Nothing, Hayashi." She scowls at him, then turns back in her chair. He still smiles, watching her ignore him. "Your hair looks different."
"What did I tell you about talking to me?"
"You're supposed to show me around."
She stops typing for a moment and raises her head to him. "This is the main office room." She gestures around unceremoniously. "You come in, pick a seat, and do your work." Dazai looks around the room, grabs a chair from the table behind him, and sits down across from her. Rei stops once again to stare at him. "What are you doing?"
"You told me to pick a seat."
"Pick a seat, not move one. This is my desk."
"What's this?" He grabs the camera that's sitting next to her laptop and starts playing with it.
"Hey, stop that!" She reaches for the camera and wrestles it from him.
Dazai giggles, causing her to change focus. "Hehe, we're holding hands." She looks down at their hands. They're barely touching.
Rei rolls her eyes and rips the camera from him. This is worse than an actual three year old. She puts it and her laptop in her bag, and tucks the bag away under her desk, returning to her work. Dazai, in turn, returns to his best skill, messing around with things that aren't his.
He picks stuff up from her desk, pictures, pens, whatever, and puts them down in slightly different places. "We should be desk buddies!" he shouts out of nowhere.
Rei jumps clear out of her seat, startled to say the least. She gawks at him, not willing to believe that this is her life now. She looks out at the rest of the office. The remaining agents are staring at them, not surprising, and turns back to divert their attention. "I am not sharing a desk with you." She grabs some of the papers from her stack and hands them to him. "Here, do these."
He glances at the top one, then to her typing on the computer. The – He's already bored. He puts the paper down and looks at her. The way she's so focused on her screen: her eyes so intense, her hair tucked behind her ear, her hands moving on their own accord. She seems so different, so… old. But at the same time, he can still see the person he met in that alley nearly six years ago. She's so well centered when she's doing her work. He smiles. Yeah, he's going to ruin that.
Dazai places a hand on one of her pens to ask some irrelevant question about the pattern on her shirt. Or at least he would have if Kunikida hadn't come in to save the day. "Hayashi," the blonde man gets Rei's attention. "We have followed the case of the missing items in the outer lower district. The culprit has been identified as Noriyuki Doma." He hands her the file and she reads it over; he's an average looking man, though his eyes do seem a bit… sad. There's a feeling of something creeping up over her shoulder. She turns her head only to see Dazai inches from her face. She reels back and swipes the papers from his prying eyes. "Here is where we have narrowed his location to," Kunikida continues, circling an area on the map. "We have reasonable suspicion that he has an ability. What we need is to find and apprehend him."
"Yes, sir." She nods, then follows his eyes to the puppy-faced man sitting behind them. Her eyes narrow, then she turns back to Kunikida. He looks at her apologetically. Rei sighs as he walks out of the room. "Come on," she says to Dazai as she grabs her bag.
Dazai smiles and jumps out of his seat. He excitedly follows her to the door, but abruptly turns around once they get there. "Hey Atsushi!" he calls out to the boy. "You wanna come with us?"
Atsushi glances from Dazai with a sloppy grin on his face and Rei who looks more confused than anything. "Um, I, I –" he switches his focus to Rei to tell him what he's supposed to say.
She shrugs. "Do you want to come along?"
Atsushi's face lights up, a surprised smile showing. "Yeah!"
The three detectives get out of the car and walk a few blocks into an indistinguishable alley. They head down the ill lit pathway and stop when they get to some unassuming garbage thrown around the ground. It looks like there's some containers, screens from a window, and even a trophy. It's hard to distinguish as every piece is almost entirely gone.
Atsushi picks up the remainder of the trophy in his hands, the frozen metal cold against his fingers. "Look at the indentation," he says as he holds it up higher to the light. The cut across its edges is clean, mostly. Upon further inspection though, there are actually small serrates along where the rest of it used to be.
"It was eaten," Rei whispers, the thin trail of her breath ghosting against its surface. She raises a brow and shakes her head. "At least we know what his ability is now." She wishes she could say this phases her, but it's honestly not even close to that threshold.
"He didn't do a good job of it," Dazai comments. Both Rei and Atsushi turn to him. "He was interrupted, which means he was in a hurry to get somewhere."
The three of them check out the area for a bit, then Dazai gets a sudden look of epiphany to him. "Atsushi!" he shouts into the alley, startling everyone. "I left my warm, fuzzy mittens in the car. Could you do me a favor and get them for me?" He holds his hands together and puffs hot air into them. "My fit but slender physique was not meant for this type of hardship." He takes one of his cold hands and dramatically wipes it across his forehead.
Atsushi stands with his mouth agape, then nervously darts his eyes over to Rei. The older detective stares at their newest member, not with shock, but analysis. That sickeningly sweet tone in his voice, she knows what he wants. She can see it too, the way his eyes change when Atsushi looks at him and when he doesn't. The way they drop all pretense when it's just her. She grits her teeth, reluctantly agreeing to his stupid stupidity, and hands Atsushi the keys.
Once Atsushi's safely out of the alley, Dazai walks over to Rei and stands next to her. "You requested from President Fukuzawa that I train you." Her eyes remain on the wall as she speaks to him, holding herself closer underneath her jacket.
"I requested from Chief Taneda that you train me," he says, admittedly having to rub his arms too.
"Why?"
"I told you. I want to do work that saves others. Besides," he brushes back a section of his hair, "I figured since you missed me so much..."
Rei keeps the expression on her face neutral. "What's there to miss?"
Dazai smirks and flips his hair back. "I'm cute and filled with boyish charm and suicidal thoughts."
She mutters under her breath. "Maybe I could ask to transfer jobs."
"What?" he asks, his voice cheeky as all hell.
"Are you really this set on making my life miserable?" She finally looks at him.
"Miserable? You think I'm doing this to make you miserable? I thought it'd be nice for us to catch up, for old times' sake."
"Can't you do something else? Be a street clown or something. Help people that way."
The tiny remnants of light spark in Dazai's eyes. He laughs in a certain joy he thought long dead. "I'm sorry, but you must know you won't be able to get rid of me that easily. I have a special order from Chief Taneda that I must be allowed to work here. So my apologies my dear Rei, but it looks like you're going to be stuck with me for a little while longer." He stares at her, the color in his eyes draining faster than seconds on a clock. "And how unfortunate for you that must be."
Rei finds herself too, not wanting to, but staring right back in his eyes. It's that look, that emptiness, that hurt, that anger, that takes her back to what seems like a lifetime ago. She shuts her eyes. She can't. She can't do it. It's too painful. Over three years, and when he looks at her the wound is so fresh. She doesn't care if she gets frostbite, she'd give him her jacket if he'd just leave her alone.
"Hey Dazai, I'm sorry but I couldn't find –" Atsushi comes back into the alley at exactly the wrong time. "I – I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?"
"No." Rei turns away from the scene, walking farther into the alley instead.
Dazai smiles as if nothing happened. "Ah, thank you for trying Atsushi." He walks by the boy and pats him on the head. "It's nothing to worry about, just adult stuff." He gives him one last look, then heads off down the street.
Atsushi stares off after the man. He has no clue what's going on here. Honestly, from what he can gather, it's hard to tell what's going on with Dazai, but he seems nice. He switches from the man walking down the street to the woman standing in the alley. Atsushi jogs over to Rei and stands by her. She looks deep in thought about something, though that's pretty normal for Rei. She puts a lot into her work, something he greatly admires her for.
When she finally looks up, he takes it as his opportunity to compliment her. "It's nice that you and Dazai became so close so quickly."
"What?" It drops like a ton of bricks. Partly at not expecting him to say something, but mainly at that sentence not computing. What universe is he living in?
"Well, y – you know," the younger detective glances around timidly, "since you guys share a desk…"
"We do not share a desk," she tells him. "He just put his chair there. I had nothing to do with it."
"O – oh, okay, I'm sorry," he cowers back a little, not wanting to incur her wrath.
Rei sighs and drops her arms. "No, I'm sorry. I just, it's been a long day."
Atsushi nods, agreeing with her. She smiles softly and puts an arm around his shoulders, gently teasing him as they walk out of the alley together.
Noriyuki skids along the edge of the sidewalk, barely keeping balance as he makes a sharp turn onto the backstreets. The icy sludge mushes under his shoes as the wind burns in his throat. He can hear it behind him; there's no time to look back. He runs and runs, until… screeeeech. A wall. He's hit a wall.
He turns his head. The tiger, it's right there. Glaring him down, its teeth like glowing precipices. He's trapped. The moonlit beast to one side, brick and mortar to the other. He takes out the weapon hidden in his coat and blasts the wall. Chunks of brick shoot out to the other side. Then strike right back at him.
He barely has time to cover himself, the force of the ones that do hit more than enough to knock him down. He gazes up to the hole he created. Smoke from the debris blocks much of the view, but he can see a woman stepping out. She walks closer to him, her arms held out with her hands crossed in front of her.
The steadied look in her eyes makes him want to crawl back, well, that is, until he remembers there's a literal tiger behind him. "Gluttony." He picks up the bricks from the ground and begins eating them. It only takes a second and he's projectile vomiting all over the area. Rei covers her face, the puke burning like acid against her skin.
Atsushi roars as the phlegm splashes his fur. A moment flashes in his eyes and he flickers between man and tiger. Noriyuki stares at him. It's an ability… He takes no time to ponder though, and makes for his escape. Barred fangs and a maddened growl, the tiger is back in full form. Atsushi lands in front of his path, blocking off his getaway. Noriyuki looks back to the woman who's now stood straight, the bile flung off of her. He watches as it hits the wall beside them, disintegrating the bricks as if they were paper.
"Mr. Doma, we're with the Armed Detective Agency," she says as she slowly steps toward him. "We're going to have to take you in."
"What? What do you want?" He pleads, frantically switching between her and the tiger. "What do you want from me?" He takes out the blaster and points it at her.
"We don't want anything from you," Rei explains calmly. "What we want is the safety of the people in this city."
The man shakes his head in his hand. It's so clear now too, the sadness in his eyes. It's overwhelming. The pain, it's overwhelming. He fires at her. She puts a hand up, absorbing the shot. He falls to his knees. "You don't understand. Day in and day out, this is my life. Do you think I want to eat garbage? Literal garbage?! I didn't choose my ability!"
Rei reaches out, her hand almost too him. Sirens go off. She swerves back to Atsushi. Did he call the cops? He couldn't've. Then that must mean… The police sirens blare. The man on the ground is now gripping his head, suddenly manic. He's losing it. She can tell he's on the verge of a break. Behind her, Atsushi's anxious too. She glances around. Smoke drops into the air. No one can see anything. It's just the smoke getting thicker and thicker. The sounds of sparks and cracked metal are all they can hear.
The smog clears and the agent waves a hand out in front of herself. Standing there, right where the man was, is Dazai. Of course it's Dazai. He's standing behind Noriyuki who's now tied with his hands behind his back. Rei looks beside her to see Atsushi, the person, staring with large amounts of befuzzlement on his face.
She turns back. Yeah, for someone who's not used to Dazai, this would be a shock. She walks closer and looks at the man on the ground. He's terrified, and, of course, he should be. She goes back to Dazai. "We need to –"
"Notify the police? Already did." He holds up his phone, a grin that's more than shit eating consuming his face.
Rei glowers at him. It's taking every ounce of patients she has to not completely lose her shit right now. She takes a deep breath and turns back to Atsushi. "Atsushi, take him and wait out there for the police. I'll be there shortly."
The young man snaps his head from his trance. The fixed scene in front of him. Rei, and now Dazai too. He's so confused. He hangs his head and sighs; they're not going to give him answers. "Yes ma'am."
Once Atsushi's back out on the main roads, Rei wastes no time in laying it in. "You were going to send him in a frenzy," she says of his police siren stint.
"I had to. He had to be broken down if you wanted to take him in."
"You could have killed people."
Dazai tilts his head back and smirks. "You know I wouldn't have." It's annoying. She can hear the smile on his face it's so annoying. "You knew this situation was just as controlled as I did. That's why you were the only one who didn't panic."
"That doesn't change the fact that it was a stupid move."
"But no one got hurt."
She studies him. In a way that kills her to, she studies him. His loosely worn smile, the unabashed shine in his eyes. His whole demeanor is so, open. It makes her uncomfortable, to say the least. She turns away from him. It's starting to come back, now. A replayed montage of all the mistakes of her past. She shuts it down. All of it. That person isn't her anymore. She glimpses at him momentarily, the person she once thought she knew. "You're still back seat," she says, walking out, away from him.
He frowns and crosses his arms. "Why do I have to be back seat?" He kicks some ice with his shoe as he pouts. He glances up to see she's gone now and smiles. A different kind of smile. A smile he's not worn in a long time. Underneath it all, she's still Rei. And he leaves the alley, following her.
They get back to the agency after a car ride that was much longer than it needed to be. Mainly due to *cough* someone deciding it'd be a great idea to sing showtunes the entire time. Dazai was annoying, Rei was annoyed, and Atsushi, well, had the unfortunate position of being in the middle of it all.
The two men go to the other room to see Kunikida, while Rei heads to the main office and sits at her desk. She tends to her arm and wipes on it with a cool cloth. Luckily the vomit burn didn't leave any scars, and even more luckily, it's not bad enough to see Yosano.
"One of those days, huh?" Haruno consoles her. The agent looks up and sighs, there's no point in disguising how exhausted she is.
"So, how's the new guy?" Naomi asks.
"Ugh."
"Same." The clerk nods. "I think he's obnoxious."
"Out of all the possibilities, I can't believe I found myself in this one." The agent slumps in her chair. What is she going to do?
The clerks look at each other, not sure what to make of this. "Maybe it'll get better," Haruno offers. "It'll probably take some time for him to get used to it here, and you guys can get to know each other more."
Rei peeks up from her ruminations to her friends standing across her desk. The dawn of it coming to her now. Dazai is here. And what can she do about it? She examines her friends, the unaware sincerity on their faces. She can't tell them. Not yet at least, she can't tell them. It's too hard. How can she tell someone else when she can't even tell herself? "Yeah, maybe."
The two of them say their goodbyes and head out the door. Rei grabs her bag and her jacket and gets up too. Then, as luck would have it, Dazai enters the room. Because of course he would. Rei sighs, again. Maybe it'd be easier if she just let him ruin her life, again.
"Today was a nice first day together, don't you think? I feel like we made some real progress."
Rei walks past him toward the door.
"You're right," he says. Something that, unfortunately, makes her stop. "What I told you wasn't my only reason for joining the agency."
It's that. That specific thing he does. It's not what he says, or how he says it. It's how he knows, knows she hates it. Hates the way it drums on her ears. Hates the way it turns her around. Why? Why does the sun set? Or the birds sing? This idea of him, just a boy standing in front of a girl. She scoffs. She knows better than that, anymore.
Dazai stands there, open like a children's picture book. He sees it too, how the harsh, judgmental lines on her face are the opposite of his. His eyes bounce with a joyous light that he especially is surprised by. "I want to earn your trust."
Want? Trust? My? Earn? Okay. And that's it. Rei decides it's time for her to go to bed for the day. She knew all that spicy food last night was a mistake. Her phone rings and she looks at it, eternally grateful that something else happened.
"Hey," she answers. "Yeah, I'm almost leaving. No, that's fine, Naomi's gone and ahead and did it." She checks the time on her watch. "She should be back pretty soon now. Oh my god, yeah." She laughs. His eyes narrow. He knows that laugh. He's heard that laugh. He's caused that laugh. "Well, I think he likes your place better anyway." She laughs again, but stops abruptly once she notices Dazai's still in the room. "No, seriously. You would not believe –" She grabs her stuff and walks out to the other room.
The door rocks back and forth, his eyes dancing with it as he too is left in her wade. It's somber, but not cold. He replays that conversation again and again. Not because he has to, no, but because he wants to. There's something about it that makes him want to ingrain it in his brain. The warmth in her voice, the sparkles in her eyes, the way she moved her hair behind her ear. So, this is how it's been now?
"An – and I dwew tis one towday – an – and – I mwade tis one in – in…"
Dazai turns his head from the side door to the one in the front. Naomi's walking in now, with… Is that… some kind of miniature human?
He stares at the creature as it goes on and on in broken words about some string contraption it made. The highly underutilized raw pasta dangles from it like some kind of primitive bone ring. He stares at this… human? as it somehow becomes closer and closer. He thinks it may be walking.
"Dazai, have you seen Rei?" Naomi asks, startling him enough to make him hit himself on the desk.
Dazai yelps and clasps his hand, sucking on it as he bites his tongue to stop himself from cursing in front of the tiny thing. Said tiny thing in turn gawks up at him, immediately stopping its talking as it realizes there's a stranger in the room.
The prior Port Mafia executive leers down at the child. His eyes verge on full-on mafia mode. The boy screams and hides behind Naomi's leg.
"Huh?" Naomi gasps, then hits her hand against her forehead in realization. "Oh, right." She gives an apologetic look to Dazai, whose face has returned to its usual overly goofy disposition, then turns around to comfort the toddler grabbing onto her. "Hey, it's okay. This is Dazai." She points to the strange man who's looking down at them. "He works here now. It's okay. Say hi." The boy turns to Naomi, who's waving, and waves a little, but doesn't say anything and still crouches behind her leg.
"He can be a little shy at times," the clerk chuckles as she gets up.
Dazai doesn't say anything. He's too focused on staring at this kid. He's got dark brown hair that's straight, but becomes a little wavy at the ends. He's got tiny little pants, a tiny little shirt, tiny little shoes, and a tiny little face. Hints of purple shine in his hair. Flecks that can only be seen in certain lightings. This kid is like, what, two years old?
"This is Yuta."
His eyes are big, and dark, and green. Dazai knows he's seen these eyes.
"He's –"
This kid looks a lot like –
"Mommy!"
Yuta springs out from Naomi's legs straight to the front door where Rei has just walked in. He jumps into her arms and she scoops him up. She kisses his cheek as he hugs her tighter, then he takes out something in his pocket and gives it to her. "Mommy, wook I didid it – I did – I dew dis for you."
"Wow," Rei exclaims. "There's… a lot going on here." She laughs and kisses him again.
Naomi walks over and ruffles his hair, causing the toddler to giggle and shake his head. Rei puts him down and extends a hug to her black haired friend. "Thanks man."
"No problem, my nighttime mistress," Naomi winks, then kneels to talk to Yuta. "Pound it." She holds her fist out. He tilts his head inquisitively, then looks back up to his mother. She smiles and nods, and he reaches out and gives her a high five. The clerk laughs and messes with his hair again. "We'll work on it." She waves bye and they do too, then Naomi heads out to go home.
"An – an wooks at dis." He reaches in his pocket again and pulls out a macaroni and string bracelet. "I mwade it fou you. Do you wike it?"
Rei smiles and slides it on her wrist. "I love it." She kisses him and rubs his cheek. She looks over at the other end of the room. At the man who's staring at her in a way she's never been stared at before. A chill runs down her spine. And she hopes never will be again. She turns back to Yuta and helps him put his coat on. "Come on Yuta, let's go."
She grabs his hand and opens the door for them. "Can we have espetti towight?"
Rei laughs as she ushers him out ahead of her. "Well, actually, I have a surprise. But it's a secret, shhhh." She puts a finger up to her lips to show him it's a secret.
"Shhhh." He does the same thing, mimicking her.
"We're going to go over to –"
The door shuts behind them. It's minutes, it's hours. The lights shut off. It's Dazai. It's only Dazai. In that office, he stands there, watching that door as if something's going to happen. He wants to leave, truly he does. But maybe he'll just sit, and wait a few more minutes.