Chapter 7: Interlude

Four days after the incident, the Armed Detective Agency was having a quiet morning in the office, the members diligently working at their desks, except for two people. One of whom stood up suddenly and moved towards the door, while the other flicked a lazy eye towards the first and scoffed before turning back to his comic.

"I'm going out!" Atsushi's head shot up at Dazai's announcement, purple-gold eyes widening in alarm as he caught sight of the tan coat swishing out of the office. With a yelp, he shot up from his seat, intending to follow after Dazai to dissuade him from harassing Chuuya-san, but found his path blocked by Kunikida-san who shook his head and frowned at him.

"Nope. You are staying here, boy. I've had it up to here with Dazai, and I'll be damned if I let another person follow in his footsteps." Atsushi opened his mouth to protest, but the words died on his lips as the older man gave him a scathing glare. With a gulp, he retreated to his seat, taking out his phone to send off a quick warning to Chuuya-san. After a moment of hesitation, he texted Akutagawa as well. Hopefully his partner could stop Dazai-san before the Soukoku duo could blow up again.

Bandaged hands gripped the bouquet of purple hyacinths, brown eyes tracing the letters etched into the shadowed surface in front of him. With a sigh, Dazai laid the flowers down.

"Yo, Odasaku. Long-time no see."

He collapsed gracefully next to the gravestone, long legs folding themselves under him as he leaned against the cold granite. He'd been the one to pick out the stone and the spot, using his expansive wealth to ensure that his friend and his foster kids had a proper resting place. It was the last thing he did as a Port Mafia executive, and he'd taken the pains to visit the graves as often as he could throughout the past few years.

Tipping his head back, he reflected on the irony of the situation. The one who wanted to live was dead. The one who wanted to die was alive. If only they could have switched places.

"Ne, Odasaku, do you remember chibi?" Dazai started up a conversation, brown eyes watching the clouds above him. "I might've hurt him a bit too much the other day, when I tried to punish him for activating Corruption without me. He was being stupid, martyring himself just for some subordinates, and turns out he was hiding some things from me too, about Corruption killing him inside out, you know? Honestly," The demon prodigy sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly, "you'd think he didn't care about his own life."

A growl curled his lips then, eyelids sliding open to reveal emotionless brown eyes. "He's mine, Odasaku, mine. I gave him control over Corruption, a way to stop the madness, and this is how he repays me? He owes his life to me, and he throws it away like that?" Bandaged hands fisted into the grass, teeth gritting as he tried to rein in his anger.

Silence rang out through the graveyard, as Dazai sat there, listening for an answer that he imagined he could hear. Anger faded away, leaving behind a sullen and tired mood that gripped him mercilessly. "I know, I know, it's not what others think. Heck, it's not what Chuuya thinks. But," He sighs, a hand coming up to play idly with the striking blue pendant on the bolo tie he wore, "would it really hurt him to care, even a little?" He leaned away from the stone, staring at the name of his best friend and once-crush. "You and him are just the same, aren't you? Both hopelessly blind to others' affections towards you." Dazai chuckled brokenly to himself. "I don't think Chuuya even knows that I know he helped me escape from Port Mafia. I rigged that car bomb so that he wouldn't be framed, after all." He rested his head on the cold granite, closing his eyes, listening to the wind pick up. "Maybe, maybe I'll drop by his place later. Apologize or something. What kind of flowers does he like?" A short silence. "Ah, red camellias, of course. Thanks, Odasaku." He sat there, lost in memories of the past.

Akutagawa stormed towards his superior's apartment, a dark cloud hanging about him. Inwardly, he cursed his former superior's determination to make Chuuya-san's life hell. Why couldn't the man just mind his own business and not dip back into the Port Mafia whenever he liked? The dark-haired mafioso also sent another, smaller curse towards Jinko, for being too soft. Honestly, if the weretiger hadn't let Dazai-san escape from the Agency's headquarters, he wouldn't have had to ward off Dazai-san before Chuuya-san decided to defenestrate him with great prejudice and add half a dozen bricks to finish the idiot off. He suppressed a smile at the thought, amused by the thought as he clambered to the executive's floor and headed to the apartment, noting the lack of screaming. Maybe Dazai-san hadn't appeared yet.

He startled as the door gave under the first knock. The door yawned open, revealing an empty living room, looking very much like the last time he had seen it. Akutagawa felt a sudden chill run up his spine, blood freezing like ice in his veins.

"Chuuya-san?"

The Mad Dog stepped into the apartment, grey eyes taking in the untouched space. He moved forward cautiously, Rashoumon rising at his command to look ahead. With a growl of acknowledgement, tendrils of darkness sped off, knocking gently on each door before opening them, showing Akutagawa rooms devoid of Chuuya-san's presence. With a frown, he turned towards the coffee table, spying his superior's phone. With slight hesitation, he picked it up, fingers fumbling with the lock before he remembered the failsafe, accessing the phone. Three unread messages sat in the inbox. Akutagawa froze.

Chuuya-san wasn't home. He hadn't seen any of the messages, from the recent one that the Jinko had sent to the later ones (and more worrying ones) that were from Kouyou-san. Chuuya-san never ignored his messages. Rashoumon slinked around his ankles in distress as Akutagawa walked from room to room, frantically trying to come up with a valid reason for Chuuya-san to have been in radio silence for 4 days. There wasn't any.

Chuuya-san had disappeared.