Chapter 11
"Alright bye Chibi, I'll be back in a few days"
"Okay"
Dazai patted Chuuya's head and left, unaware that he'd get a surprise when he'll come back.
Few hours Earlier
Dazai and Kunikida came back to the agency after completing another job request. Chuuya immediately ran and hugged Dazai, something he had started doing a lot lately.
"Welcome back!" He said, his speech a little clearer than before, thanks to Dazai's efforts.
"I'm back chibi. I'm sorry, I have to write a report so we'll play later" Dazai said, reading Chuuya's mind. He placed Chuuya back on the floor and said "You can play with Atsushi kun for the meantime"
"Okay"
Chuuya went to Atsushi and much to the older boy's displeasure, started swinging on his tail.
"Ow! Chuuya san! No- not the tail-" Atsushi said wincing, it was really uncomfortable. Dazai smirked, as Chuuya continued to swing on Atsushi's tail. "Ah- Get off- please"
Dazai slowly got up from his chair, still smirking. He walked up to the two boys and covered Chuuya's ears with his hands and pulled him away from the tiger boy's tail. He then looked at Atsushi, with an expression of fake disbelief and said
"Atsushi kun, I can't believe you would taint my little child like this!"
"What are you saying?!" Atsushi asked, genuinely confused at the brunet's words
"How could you Atsushi kun? I believed you weren't like this! How could you?"
"I seriously don't get what you're saying!"
"Ah~ No- not the tail" Dazai mimicked, covering Chuuya's little ears a little tighter
"Why are you moani—" A sudden realization dawned on Atsushi and his face turned scarlet "DAZAI SAN!" Atsushi yelled, while Dazai rolled on the floor laughing.
"Tch tch tch Atsushi kun, I'd prefer you keep that stuff between you and Aku—"
Before Dazai could finish, Atsushi threw Kunikida's notebook of ideals straight at Dazai's face. By now everyone in the Agency was laughing, except Kenji and Chuuya- both being too pure to understand the joke.
"Will you let me go now?" Chuuya asked, tilting his head up to look at the laughing brunet
"Oh yeah sure" Dazai said, releasing Chuuya "You surprisingly didn't protest at all chibi"
"Yeeaah"
*Ring Ring Ring Ring*
Dazai's phone rang and he immediately answered it, seeing the name of the caller
"Aa Mori San! Moshimoshi!"
If it were even a few days back, Dazai's coworkers would have questioned his 'casual' behavior with the mafia boss, but they knew he was working two jobs currently, that being in Port mafia. They just watched the exchange between the two men, which plainly consisted of Dazai complaining.
"Huh?...uh huh...HEEIINN? No way- Not coming~~.. why? I'm tired~...But I don't wanna~~... OUkay I'll be there, happy?" Dazai said and got up from the floor, his demeanor changing to a serious one "I'm leaving chibi to you. I should be back fairly quickly. Yosano san, can you check if Chuuya has a fever? His face is a little red"
"Mori san, what is it this time?"
"A set of missions. You've been ignoring your work"
"I've been busy"
"I don't need excuses Dazai kun. I'd advise you don't do that unless you want Chuuya kun to do it in your place" Mori warned
"Understood boss. What's the assignment?"
"Like I said" Mori took out a small bundle of documents "You have to take care of all these by the end of this week"
Dazai skimmed through the documents quickly and mentally cursed.
'Tch- This is gonna take long'
"Oi Chuuya! Stop swinging on poor Atsush kun's arm and come here" Dazai poked his head in the office and called out to Chuuya, who was now swinging on Atsushi's arm instead of his tail. He immediately let go of Atsushi's arm and hurried to Dazai.
"Hm? What hwappened?" Chuuya asked, still having trouble speaking big words
"I need to get going for work so I'll be dropping you off to Ane san's place" Dazai said apologetically
"Okay" Chuuya pouted "But you have to play with me when you come back"
"Sure sure chibiko. Ah- I almost forgot, Atsushi kun, there is a list of schools on my computer. Can you look through them and pick out a few?" Dazai said, looking at Atsushi with pleading eyes, smacking Chuuya on the head lightly, gesturing him to do the same.
Chuuya sighed, rubbing the small bump on his head and then looked Atsushi straight in the eyes with the cutest most convincing look he could muster at the moment.
And it worked wonders.
Even if Atsushi was going to refuse Dazai's request, he didn't. Not after Chuuya gave him the 'puppy dog eye' look.
"Okay, I'll look through them" Atsushi said in defeat
"Hooray! Good job Chibiko! I knew you had the talent" Dazai said beaming and pulled Chuuya in a bear hug. The poor child slapped Dazai on the hand lightly, signaling him to let go because he couldn't breathe.
"Dazai san!" Naomi spoke up "If in case Atsushi kun isn't able to do it, then me and nii san will look through it! Right nii san?" Naomi said and clung to Tanizaki's arm. Dazai quickly covered Chuuya's eyes, muttered a 'Thank you' and dashed out of the office so that the innocent can remain innocent.
"Hai Ane san! Here's your delivery. One Nakahara Chuuya~~" Dazai sang, holding little Chuuya in Kouyou's face
"Dazai kun, are you going out on a mission again?" Kouyou sighed, taking Chuuya from Dazai
"Yup. I've talked to Akutagawa kun to look after Chuuya the day after. If you're busy later, tell someone to just keep an eye on him"
"Alright"
"Well I'll be off now. Byee chibi. Hey don't make that face, I'll be back soon" Dazai said, noticing Chuuya's sad expression. He poked Chuuya's cheek and left, unaware of the surprise he'd get when he'll come back.
Day 1 (with Kouyou)
"Chuuya what are you doing?" Kouyou looked at Chuuya who was busy with something
"I'm dwawing"
"Oh, what are you drawing?"
"Waste of bangwages, mama, me, Ranpo nii san, Gran'pa"
"Grandpa?" Kouyou asked, peeking at Chuuya's drawing
"Hmm.. Shachou. Ne ne mama, you know! Shachou buys me lots of candies and picture books" Chuuya said with a big grin that just melted Kouyou's heart.
'Oh my, what a doting grandpa'
"Chuuya kun" Kouyou spoke up suddenly, as f remembering something "Call me Onee chan, okay? Mama makes me feel a little old"
"Okay! Onee chan"
Kouyou looked at Chuuya's drawing again
"Huh? What's weretiger doing there all alone?" She said pointing at the 'drawing' Atsushi
"He's waiting for Aku nii san"
"Waiting? For Ryunosuke? Why?"
"For their date"
"nO-"
Day 2 (Akutagawa siblings and their underlings)
"N-Nakahara san... please don't dress up Rashoumon... he'll get angry" Akutagawa's subordinate requested nervously, noticing Akutagawa trembling, covering his mouth, as Chuuya dolled up his ability.
Akutagawa was training his underlings, little Chuuya under his care today, when Chuuya had proposed that he wanted to dress up Rashoumon because he looked angry. When everyone tried to tell him that that is how Rashoumon looks, he gave them the cutest puppy dog look and- yeah that's how they just ended up agreeing to his ridiculous request.
"Hah? Why? Rashoumon looks pwetty! Look" Chuuya exclaimed, motioning at Rashoumon, who was blushing because of his glow up by Chuuya, with his small hands
"Y-Yes but- Rashoumon san will get angry" the subordinate reasoned, praying that Chuuya would stop exploiting poor Rashoumon, otherwise they will have to pay in his place during training.
"Okay. Then, play with me. You have to catch me!" Chuuya said and started running around. He was wearing cute white tiger pajamas that Atsushi had gifted him, and him running with them on made him look like a fluffy pom pom ball.
Akutagawa sighed and started chasing Chuuya, Constantly reminding himself that Chuuya is a kid right now and that he can't use his ability to catch him. It was getting annoying that he wasn't able to catch him because his subordinates were chasing the little boy too and they kept getting in the way.
Chuuya, running ended up bumping into someone. The tall person looked down at the little kid on the ground and squatted down to check if he was okay. Chuuya stared at the tall adult, debating if they were trustworthy. Deciding that he could trust them, he hugged the ponytailed adult, who lifted him up in their arms.
"Gin" Akutagawa jogged up to his sister. "You're done with your mission?"
"Yup. I just came back" Gin, replied
"Have you eaten anything? You must be hungry"
"Tachihara has gone to buy us all crepes. He should be coming back now. What are you doing?"
"Looking after Chuuya san. I have to train my subordinates but Chuuya san insisted on giving rashoumon a makeover. Now he's being a troublemaker and making us chase him"
"Wait- A makeover? Rashoumon chan?"
Gin peeked behind Akutagawa and saw Rasoumon all covered up in ribbons and colors. She snorted
"Nakahara san? Did you do that? That looks so cute! good job" Chuuya beamed at her remark of approval
"Gin! Here you go. A strawberry and banana crepe with lots of chocolate, as you requested" Tachihara came running carefully towards the raven haired female an handed her the crepe. The girl gracefully shifted Chuuya on one arm, and took the crepe.
Chuuya watched this small interaction between the two partners and motioned Tachihara to come closer. Tachihara did so, a little confused if Chuuya wanted a crepe too.
Chuuya patted Tachihara on the head and said
"Good choish. I'm ploud of you"
His comment turned the two adults into a blushing mess. Chuuya peacefully snacked on Gin's crepe as they both stuttered to correct him.
Akutagawa had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.
Well, let's just say, Chuuya just became his favourite matchmaker
Day 3 (Mori, Elise and Higuchi cuz Dazai threatened to leave the mafia right on spot if Chuuya was left alone with Mori)
"Nakahara san? Are you okay?" Higuchi asked worried, looking behind her, at the little trembling creature who had latched himself to her.
"Chuuya! It's okay, you can come out. Rintarou won't gobble you, he was joking" Elise tried reassuring him but he kept hiding behind Higuchi.
Elise looked angrily at Mori.
"Rintarou! Apologise to Chuuya! You're scaring him!" She commanded "If you don't, I'm never going to shopping trips again"
"Ah- okay Elise chan~ I'm sorry Chuuya kun" he said, crouching down in front of Chuuya, who tightened his grip on Higuchi. "Elise chan he's still scared"
"Well duh- you scared him. What do you expect" She turned to Chuuya and spread her arms in a welcoming manner "Chuuya, hurry hurry. Come here! Big sis Elise will protect you from Rintarou the monster"
Chuuya ran to Elise and hugged her tightly. Elise stroked his hair and lifted him in the air saying "YAY! CHUUYA IS STRONG! HE'LL BEAT THE MONSTER RINTAROU!"
The two females spent the evening using Chuuya as their model for their 'beauty parlour'. Elise occasionally glared at Mori whenever he even, as much as, walked close by.
Day 4 (Ane san it is again!)
"Chuuya, eat slowly. Chew it properly" Ane san scolded lightly as Chuuya was hurriedly gulpling down his meal. "I know you're excited that Dazai kun is coming back but eat properly"
Chuuya nodded but still ate hurriedly. Kouyou was about to scold him again but the door opened and Dazai entered, beaming as he spotted Chuuya.
"Chuu chuu! I'm back!" Dazai announced, kneeling with his arms spread open. Chuuya ran towards Dazai, leaving his half eaten food on the table and tackled him into a warm hug. Giving him the biggest grin he said
"Welcome back! Welcome back welcome back welcome back Papa!"
Dazai blushed furiously, his face same colour as Chuuya's hair.
"Pa- wHa?" Dazai looked around quickly, hoping to spot whomever Chuuya was referring to. He was quite- a little- not too much sure that Chuuya was not referring to him.
"Papa!"
"Huh? Me?"
"Uh huh! Papa! Welcome back!"
"I heard you were looking for a school for him so I figured it would be better if he called you papa instead of waste of bandages" Kouyou explained
Dazai looked at her smiling at the two warmly, and back at Chuuya who was giving him the biggest, brightest, cutest grin in the world.
His heart flooded with happiness, a kind he had never felt in his life ever before. He felt if he looked at Chuuya a little longer, he'd end up crying, another thing that was foreign to him. So he picked Chuuya up and thanked Kouyou and left, after Chuuya finished his food that is.
'Dazai kun probably doesn't realize but he's changed so much. It's nice to see him like this. Thank you Chuuya' Kouyou mentally thanked him
While walking back they talked about what Chuuya did the past four days and then Dazai told him
"Chuuya, I've enrolled you in a public school. You can now make lots of friends"