Chapter V

Monster Without A Name pt. 2

Sitting at a table near the window, Alu found herself enraptured by the view of the Ferris wheel, the boats, the harbor, and the people down below. She almost forgot where she was and who she was with completely. This felt nice. She wished she could stare at this view forever. She'd been to a lot of places—but fancy restaurants were rare. The view was honestly worth more to her.

Dazai eyed her, amused. Seeing this girl act so fascinated by the view reminded him that whether skilled or not, she was still young and had a lot of world experience building yet to do.

Alu sipped her soda, and turned her attention back to Dazai after some time of quiet. The waiter was taking his time getting back to them as Dazai requested some more time to look at the menu. Alu picked up her own menu, and then she saw the prices. This really was not a cheap place to eat. "How do they expect people to afford a 20$ fish," she grimaced.

Dazai chuckled. "Beats me, I just know it tastes good," he hummed, putting down the menu and interlacing his fingers, he rested his chin on his hands and smiled at her. Alu felt self conscious again. Even if his gaze wasn't cold anymore, she honestly didn't know what he was thinking when he wasn't in a bad mood. Probably not the best way to gauge someone but well, she was used to people being upset. It was when they weren't that they were hard to read and that made her nervous.

"Um, I'll just have some soup or something," she mumbled.

"Oh? Really? That's all?" Dazai frowned. "I already said, it's my treat. Just get what you want."

Alu looked at the menu again. She really was hungry. She hadn't eaten much even before the incident a week ago. Her eyes settled on something and lit up. Dazai caught the sparkle and he tried to lean over to see what caught her eye. She pointed to it. "Can I have...the swordfish?" She sounded hopeful.

Dazai's eyebrows raised and he snickered, leaning back. "Swordfish for the lady, then," he said cheerfully.

The dishes didn't take long to come after they'd ordered. Alu took a bite gingerly. It was really good. She began to eat more quickly. She ate too fast and began to cough. Dazai was quick to get her some water. "Don't eat so quickly," he said, chipper.

"Sorry…" Alu drank the water, and slowed down her bites after that, embarrassed.

Dazai didn't order a lot, Alu noted. He had a simple pasta but she noted how he was playing with it more than eating it. "So, what are your plans after this?" Dazai asked, conversationally.

Alu nearly choked again, though this was from being put on the spot more than anything. Crap, she hadn't even thought that far ahead. Come to think of it though, she knew she couldn't let herself get too comfortable. It just wasn't in her job description. Being on the roam was just a part of her lifestyle. She slowly chewed, not looking at Dazai. She didn't want to upset him but she honestly didn't have a good answer. She took a deep breath, "I honestly don't have any plans," she admitted finally.

Dazai seemed to light up instantly at that response. "Then at least stick around for a bit!"

His beaming expression honestly was more disturbing than his angry one. Alu sweated. That was a very obvious passive aggressive way of him telling her if she tried to leave without telling him he'd somehow hunt her down. Jeez, this man was not cute at all.

Her heart panged. Her gift made her highly sought out. It would make sense that this man was no different than anyone else. He probably only wanted to keep her around for her ability. She realized she had to clear up a few things about her limitations with him. But she didn't want to do it in such a public space. Even if this was a secret floor, it still held people, and walls have ears too thanks to advancements in technology, which is honestly more terrifying than people eavesdropping sometimes.

"I guess I can stay a few more days," she replied, picking at her vegetables.

"You don't sound happy about it," Dazai frowned at her, a hint of concern in his otherwise chipper tone.

"No, it's not that!" She quickly waved her hand at him, "I'm not opposed!" She reassured him with a tired smile. "It's just, I don't know when I'm going to...be needed again, and I have to be out there in order to be of any use, you know?"

"Oh? You can't use your ability from far away?" Dazai inquired. She nodded. She didn't want to discuss much more past that in this public space and Dazai hummed. "Ah, the desserts here are really good. Want anything?" He cheerfully asked her, perusing the menu. Alu didn't know why he suddenly changed the subject, but she appreciated it.

Looking at her food, she found herself lost in thought. Dazai's conversational tone faded as her own thoughts began to gnaw at her.

"What would you like?" The waiter repeated for a third time, causing Alu to jolt out of her reverie.

"Ah, oh, um," Alu flustered, aware that Dazai was just gazing in her general direction, resting his chin on the back of his hand. "I'm okay, I'm really full…" She didn't want to impose anymore.

"Make that two cheese cakes," Dazai beamed at the waiter.

Alu looked at him with shock. "Hey—!"

"They're both for me, obviously," Dazai said, waving a hand breezily. The waiter nodded and politely took away their dishes. Alu still noted how Dazai had barely touched his food. What a waste of good food.

Alu thought back to the orphans. Even though she made the right decision, she didn't actually know what had been the right decision. Her instinct had told her to wait, but why? She didn't even have an answer for that. Staring at the Ferris wheel, she felt her heart stab with guilt. Those kids would never get to experience a good warm meal again. They'd never feel the wind on their faces. They wouldn't be able to enjoy this view or ride the Ferris wheel. A tear trickled down her cheek. And then another. Alu didn't even realize she was crying, but she felt something press against her cheek, moments later. Glancing away, she saw Dazai, frowning wordlessly, pressing a napkin to her cheek to wipe her tears without a word. She clenched her fists in her lap and she pulled away.

"Sorry...I think I'll head back to the room…" Alu said,wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Her voice was shaky at best though she tried hard to speak past her throat constricting.

"Did you have a vision?" Dazai asked quietly, standing up from his chair. Alu noted how he angled his body to block her from any prying eyes as best he could. He was trying to give her privacy in his own way.

She shook her head. But she didn't want to talk anymore. She couldn't hide the depression on her features either. She looked away from Dazai, unable to articulate what was wrong. She just simply didn't want to talk about it.

Dazai only nodded. She could hear him talking to the waiter again, waving them down, but the rest was a blur. All Alu knew was that she wanted to sleep.

Collapsing onto the familiar bed once more, she just pulled the covers over herself, turning her back to where Dazai stood, eyeing her. She heard the door click shut. He must have left. She curled up tighter. She didn't want to rub salt on Odasaku's wounds by bringing up those orphans—but she understood—perhaps better than anyone— that being powerless to change a shitty outcome was something not even she was immune to.

Some amused laughter rang in her ears as she tried to sleep.

What a dumb little girl you are, a voice cackled in her mind. She grimaced. Not this.

"Quiet," she hissed softly, covering her head with her pillow.

Do you really think you can trick destiny? The amused voice continued, like an acrid pool of menacing chaos in her mind.

Alu grit her teeth. Her hands shook as her fingers dug into the fabric of the pillow. She wasn't in the mood to deal with her taunting thoughts. No, she would figure something out. Even though she had picked the situation—why couldn't she manage both? It's true she was limited but that didn't mean that she couldn't at least try.

Sitting up, her eyes flickered. She knew she should be satisfied that she'd managed to change something at all but she wasn't. Why do children whose lives had yet to even truly begin have to be cut so short because of the selfish short sightedness of others? She honestly wanted to go back in time and slap that bastard, Gide*(this is the correct spelling, my bad)...But that wouldn't change anything because he was definitely the looney bin type. She sighed.

She had to try something. She didn't have a pen on hand. No matter what she hadn't told Dazai that she didn't actually need a pen to perform, rewrite. She had just wanted him to think that so it wouldn't be obvious if at any point he did tell the Port Mafia about her power—or anyone else honestly. Taking a deep breath, she sat cross legged on the bed and closed her eyes.

She had time to think about a plan and she knew what she had to do. She would save them both—screw the rules of her own ability! Besides—she wasn't exactly done learning the limitations as it were. Just take this as a learning experience, or something!

The blue runes swirled around her. Her heart pounded. She didn't know if Dazai or even Oda would come in at that moment, but even if they did, she only needed 10 seconds.

The night was cold and the pale moon shone down on the small western-styled restaurant where the orphans of Oda Sakunosuke currently resided. They had no idea that the following day, they would face a worse fate than death at the hands of Mimic. They were getting ready for bed and the manager had just gone into his own room and retired for the night. It was at that moment, that I appeared at the foot of those stairs leading to their room—

The door swung open and Alu opened her eyes in time to see Dazai and Odasaku's shocked expressions as they realized she was using her power. Dazai dashed towards her as though to grab her. "Wait—!"

But all he grabbed was air, for Alu completely disappeared.

—-

The night was cold and the pale moon shone down on the small western-styled restaurant where the orphans of Oda Sakunosuke currently resided. They had no idea that the following day, they would face a worse fate than death at the hands of Mimic. They were getting ready for bed and the manager had just gone into his own room and retired for the night. It was at that moment, that Alu appeared at the foot of those stairs leading to their room.

Figuring the manager was asleep, she hoped that by taking the kids away, she would avert his death as well. She looked down at her clothes, shivering in the cool breeze. She felt dizzy. She used a lot of energy to Rewrite this. She could feel that light headedness. She shook her head though. She had to focus! She looked around. She had the sudden feeling she was being watched. Actually, it would make sense to stake this place out the night before a supposed kidnapping. Alu sweated. She quickly slipped up the steps, really hoping that she wasn't going to get sniped. As it was, nothing had happened upon her arrival. She kicked herself regardless mentally. She really had a bad habit of being impulsive. She thought she'd analyzed the angles but there always seemed to be one she would forget.

She groaned into her hand, and realized her clothes were like they had been before—bullet proof vest and all. She took a deep breath, pleased to have her familiar black fingerless gloves on. Shaking her head, she knew she didn't have much time. She had to act fast if she was going to save both the orphans and Oda Sakunosuke!

She knew she'd have to convince the kids to trust her and that hadn't exactly crossed her mind. She however, knew their names because she had at least tried to memorize that much. Their memories had deserved that much. She ran through the names in her mind; Kousuke, had sunglasses, short spiky brown hair and wore an orange jacket with a cheerful smile. Katsumi, light dirty blonde hair, blue headband and a toothy grin who liked to play soft ball...Sakura… a little girl who wore pink and loved her teddy bear… Yuu...a boy who always wore a yellow cap backwards and liked video games...and Shinji… a quiet boy with brown hair and warm honey eyes that loved to read…. yes, these were the children that she swore she'd change the fates of. These kids didn't deserve a fate that ended like this.

She closed her eyes, matching each face to the name. She wouldn't let those children die. Her eyes opened, a fiery resolve in them. She reached for the doorknob. Gripping it tightly, she opened it up and squinted at the dark room. There was some rustling from the bunk beds, and the one named Katsumi popped his head over from the top bunk on the right wall.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?" He squinted at her. This alerted the rest of the kids into sitting up in bed.

Alu put a finger to her lips. "Shh!" She waved a hand, realizing she may accidentally wake up the curry owner. "I'm...a friend of Mr. Oda…" She figured they'd perk up at least to that. Plus they were kids so she prayed their sense of stranger danger wouldn't make this too difficult. Not that she could blame Oda Sakunosuke for training these kids to sense danger…

"You're friends with Mister Oda?" Kousuke asked, sliding out of bed and to the ground from the ladder. He crossed his arms. "Prove it!" Alu rubbed her forehead. This kid was so bossy. Her heart sank. She actually realized she had no idea what she was actually going to do now that she had them. She knew there had been a recently formed agency, —The Armed Detective Agency— run by someone called the "silver wolf" and again—that Ranpo kid… but she realized she didn't actually know where it was. Her plan involved them—and yet she'd totally forgotten to find a way to contact them. She couldn't write herself going further back in time because technically, she didn't have enough details to go on to make a vivid enough scene to go back to. She began to sweat.

This was bad.

How was she supposed to get these five kids to safety if she had nothing to actually offer them in the ways of safe haven? The kids continued to stare at her like owls and she took a deep breath. No! She would take them to the DetectiveAgency's coffee shop! She at least knew where that was. She would just explain the situation to the shop owner in the morning—maybe run into an agency member by chance...and … her eyes lit up. That was it! She looked to Kousuke, since he looked like the oldest.

"Hey, I can prove it! Did Mr. Oda give you guys a phone to ever reach him on, by any chance?" She asked, brightly.

The kids glanced at each other. Kousuke tilted his head. "We're too young for phones," he sighed. Alu's heart dropped. "But, we have his number!"

Alu's heart beat hard. Okay, okay, she could do this. She could make a split second plan. No problem….She just hoped Oda wasn't doing anything super important this second. She gulped. She also hoped his scary friend Dazai wouldn't try to shoot her on sight. She nodded at the kids. She needed that number for later so she could ensure Oda didn't run off like a moron to get himself killed if he assumed Mimic had taken the kids to their base.

"I'll give him a call then!" She took out her phone.

"Why don't you have his number?" Katsumi asked, frowning.

Alu paused. "I… accidentally deleted it," she replied lamely.

She shared what felt like a very awkward silence with the kids. She could feel herself sweating profusely. Please go along with it, she begged them, in her own mind.

Her heart was racing as it was, and she tried not to tremble. She knew she had time before the incident the following day, but there were so many other factors to take into account that she hadn't even had to consider before. Her gift was really a double edged sword. The youngest, Sakura, trotted over to her, hugging her teddy bear. Alu blinked, looking at her. She bent down and smiled at her, awkwardly. "You're Sakura, right?"

Sakura blinked, and her eyes widened with surprise. "How do you know?"

"She just said she knows Sakunosuke!" Kousuke retorted.

Sakura flinched and teared up. "Don't yell at her," Yu said ruefully, frowning at Kousuke.

Kousuke winced. "Ah, dang it. I didn't mean nothing by it. Don't cry Sakura!" He quickly trotted over to her, and put an arm around her. Alu thought that was rather sweet. These kids really did care a lot about each other. Goes to show that real families have nothing to do with blood. Blood being thicker than water—whoever came up with that saying clearly didn't know that real bonds aren't about being thick but about real connection.

Alu glanced at the others. "Why don't you all get dressed...we'll be meeting up with Mr. Oda and a friend of his actually!" She knew she was really winging it, but she had to do something for these kids. Even if it meant coming off as a nut job to those two. She rubbed her forehead. Dazai wouldn't hear those important words from Oda but honestly, Alu would rather Dazai learn how to not be a piece of maniacal sociopathic shit without having his best friend having to die for it to get through his dense skull.

Alu thought hard about what she knew about the Armed Detective Agency as of right now. She knew it had four official members—Ranpo and the Silver wolf being the most prominent. The other two she didn't know well—one was a woman with short black hair and a butterfly clip and the other was a man with glasses and blonde hair that she'd run into once or twice in passing as he was on the way to some important appointment or something.

She didn't know where any of them lived and the only location she did know was the direction—generally—of the building where their agency resided. And even that, she didn't have clear directions. She groaned. The Armed Detective Agency would be able to help Oda and these kids, she knew that much. The agency had been formed eight years ago but it didn't take a lot for people to ask for general information which she'd spent the prior week gathering up to this point. She knew she probably could have walked in and asked for help—but she didn't have a plan then, and it wasn't like she knew where these kids were prior to tailing Odasaku the other day. She felt like a stalker all of a sudden.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she felt herself falling. Wait—falling? Her eyes widened as she felt herself thud on her back on the ground with a startled squeak. Kousuke grinned, sitting on her chest. "Gotcha! Hey, whatcha spacing out for, lady?"

Alu blinked as she realized all the kids were crowding around her now. Ah, she'd gotten too self absorbed in her thoughts. She felt herself turn red, embarrassed. "I'm sorry—I was just thinking," she said, sheepishly, sitting up as Kousuke grinned, hopping to his feet.

"So you want us to get dressed to see Oda at this time of night?" Yu asked, mostly for clarification because he looked confused.

Alu nodded. "Yeah, uh, it's...training," she fibbed. The kids looked at each other.

"Training?" They gazed at her with absolute interest. Alu really hoped that she wasn't a bad person for deceiving them. It was such a hard hole to get out of when she was already four feet deep in it. She didn't know what sorts of things they talked about with Oda but she figured she could at least make this a game. "Yeah, you know...uh…" She trailed off.

"You mean, mafia training!" Kousuke exclaimed excitedly, looking at her with his eyes shining. She really hoped he wouldn't follow through with glorifying that kind of lifestyle. She chuckled weakly.

"Uh, how about, hero training?" She brightly got to her feet again, and she pointed to their closet. "Oda told me to tell you that whoever gets dressed and packs the most efficiently will get a big reward from him when we see him!"

The kids all looked fascinated. She wondered if that once again—made her a bad person. Sweating and shaking off the feeling of guilt for literally tricking these children, she cleared her throat and her eyes flashed when she saw Yu go over to the light switch and turn it on. The sudden brightness startled her.

"Ah, wait!" She quickly dashed over, and inspected the light to see if she could dim it. She hoped the light turning on didn't suddenly mean trouble was coming. She could dim it somewhat with a dial on the wall but it wasn't a super big difference. Okay, she'd have to get these kids packed and dressed ahead of schedule.

"What's wrong?" Yu asked, confused.

"Nothing," Alu said quickly. She turned to the kids, figuring she'd roll with it. "Okay, so here's the deal. I'm Big Sis okay?"

"Big Sis?" Sakura repeated, tilting her head at her.

Alu nodded. "Yep! Just call me Big Sis. Let's get ready then! Anyone need help with getting dressed?"

The kids shook their heads, already scrambling to get dressed, excited for some sort of excitement. Especially if it meant they could see Odasaku! "How do you know Oda anyways?" Shinji, the shy one, tugged on her sleeve, looking up at her with a questioning look and frown.

Alu blinked, and she paused. She finally pet his head, gently. "We're friends," she said gently. Well, that wasn't true, but she couldn't tell these kids any of that. The priority was outwitting fate and that she could just tell was going to be a piece of hell.