A/N: I attempted to use Japanese name honorifics, but I'm not sure if I used them correctly. Apologizes if I messed them up!
"Chikako-chan? You've got everything you need, correct?"
The young girl called back to her father from the other room. "It's only a quick food run, all I need is some cash. I got it."
Fukuzawa walked to face Chikako. "I know, I'm just making sure. Be careful."
Chikako smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Again, just a food run. I'll be back in less than two hours." She slipped her shoes on and ran out the door, squinting in the morning sun. The yen coins in her pocket clinked together when she stuffed her hands deep into her coat. Despite the bright sunlight, that morning was fairly chilly.
About ten minutes passed until Chikako made it to the bus stop. Luckily, her favorite convenience store was only one stop away. The ride mostly consisted of Chikako watching the sun slowly rise, listening to the chatter of the morning work goers.
Stepping off the bus, Chikako was immediately shoved to the ground by a mob of people rushing her way. Yelling echoed all around her, and she quickly moved to form the fetal position, her mind racing at what could be happening. As she brought her arm closer to her body, someone running by stepped on her elbow, causing it to twist out of place. Chikako cried out in pain. The person who had crushed her arm had fallen to the ground in front of her, and she sat up, clutching her elbow.
Chikako wasn't able to even get a good look at the person's face before they pulled her up by the hand, and immediately set to running. Chikako was in no shape to object to anything, her injured arm sending jolts of pain with every rushing footstep. Road after road passed by, with no sign of stopping, until Chikako was tugged into an alleyway, and pushed to the ground, a hand quickly set overtop her mouth, a tell-tale sign to be silent.
Finally, Chikako had a chance to see who she had been following. They were a young boy, no older than Chikako herself, with strikingly orange hair framing his face that was covered by a gray hood. His bright blue eyes scanned the streets, a slight hint of worry painted over them. A small scowl disrupted his calm features and he quickly turned back to Chikako, who slapped his hand away from her face.
"Who are you? What's going on?"
"Would you be quiet? I knew I shouldn't have helped you up," the boy whispered angrily. Chikako sneered and set a solid punch in the middle of the boy's face, making him stumble backwards, pressing a hand to his nose. "What was that for?!"
"For busting my arm back there, you jerk! Now tell me what's happening or I'll do it again!" The boy sighed, wiping a bit of blood away from his nose with the sleeve of his leather jacket.
"We're running from the police, alright? Sorry I tripped on you, but I couldn't just leave you right there on the sidewalk, not with the police after us, so my only option was to take you with me."
"On the run from the police? What, are you like in a gang or something?" Chikako scoffed.
"Well…" The boy's voice drifted off.
"Oh, no way. Seriously?" Chikako's eyes glanced at the boy's wrist, and she noticed the blue band wrapped around his arm. "Oh, my gosh, you're…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but the boy had gotten her memo. He was a member of the Sheep, a juvenile gang that Chikako's father had warned her many times about. They were incredibly ruthless and easy to lose in a crowd due to their young age.
"Yeah, yeah, the police were being a little too investigative for our liking so we just shooed 'em off our territory. It made them mad. Not much about it."
"I- I think I'm gonna go now…" Chikako started to push herself up to leave the alleyway, but shouts started flooding in from the street in front. Red and blue police lights lit up the dark side road. The boy quickly pulled Chikako back, placing his palm once again over her mouth, hiding them both behind a pile of crates. It took Chikako a couple of seconds before realizing she was practically sat in his lap, and his arms were securely wrapped around her, keeping her from running. As soon as the shouts from the police faded out, Chikako threw herself to her feet.
"You creep! What the crap?!"
The boy was thoroughly confused, his eyebrows raising up in surprise. "Would you please be quiet! What is your deal?"
Chikako tried to fold her arms, but she realized her adrenaline had run out from the shock of the morning, and the pain from her elbow was remembered. She knelt to the ground, biting her lip, trying not to cry. Tears eventually sprung to her eyes as she recalled that her father was still waiting for her, and she wasn't even able to make it to the store for him.
"Oh, uh, um… you alright?" Chikako felt a hand on her shoulder. She couldn't take it anymore, and choked out a sob.
"I just wanna go home… I didn't want to get caught up in this. I just wanna go back home…" She felt herself start to lose consciousness, and the last thing she remembered was a pair of arms start to lift her.
Chikako woke up hearing the rumble of a bus. Her head had been tilted to the side, and once she got her bearings, she realized her cheek was pressed up against the shoulder of someone. Shooting straight up, it was the boy from earlier. He seemed quite stiff as he stared out the window.
"Oh, you're awake. I, uh, I looked through your phone to find your address." The boy coughed a bit. "Your name's Fukuzawa-san? Or Chikako-san?"
Chikako rubbed her eyes. "Everyone calls me Kako."
"Oh, ok. Kako-san. You can call me Chūya."
"What- what all happened?"
"You started crying, and then blacked out. I got your address, and we're on the bus to take you home. Oh, and," Chūya plopped a bag from next to him onto Chikako's lap. "I saw that you had a list for shopping. I stopped by a convenience store really quick and got what you needed."
Chikako patted her pocket. The few yen coins were gone. "Thank you, a lot actually. That really helps."
Chūya shrugged and slumped down in his seat. "No problem." He turned to look back out the window, and the rest of the bus ride was silent.
"Well," Chikako mumbled. "This is my stop."
"Uh, ok." Chūya made no motion to move. Chikako stared at him for a bit, and he shook off his daze. "Do you want me to, um, walk you home, or anything?"
Chikako smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine, but aren't you gonna get off the bus too?"
"Nah, I'll ride to the end of the line. See you around, Kako-san." Chūya half-waved her goodbye and sunk back onto the bus seat.
"See you, Chūya-san."
Chikako couldn't face telling her father that she had met up with a Sheep member. She made up a story about how her arm got stuck between some shelves at the store and had accidentally twisted it. Luckily, it wasn't hurt too bad, and healed up in just a few days.
One morning, going to deliver papers for her father's Agency, Chikako heard a faint humming as she walked down the front steps of her house. She looked around the corner to see a hunched figure sitting by the wall, humming along to faint rock music coming from the neighbor's window. Her eyes widened once she recognized the green leather jacket and gray hoodie. "Chūya-san?"
Chūya jumped, startled. His shoulders relaxed upon seeing it was Chikako. "Oh, it's you, Kako-san."
"What… what're you doing here?" Chikako's eyebrows furrowed a bit.
"Oh, uh…" Chūya glanced over at the neighboring house. "I really enjoy rock music, but I don't ever have a way of really listening to it. Whoever lives there always has it on in the mornings and sometimes leaves the window open. On my morning... walks, I check to see if it's open and spend some time listening if it is."
Chikako was about to question why Chūya stuttered about his walks, but quickly realized it must be about his gang, and she didn't want to get involved with that. "Ah." She blinked a couple times, not sure whether to say anything more. "Well, I gotta go deliver some things… See you 'round?"
"Yeah. Unless, are you going downtown?" Chikako nodded. "I'm headed that way too, I'll just walk with you."
Chikako shifted her bag of papers on her shoulder. She wasn't quite sure how comfortable she was with the Sheep member, but was too afraid to voice anything about it. "Yeah, sure."
Chūya strode out onto the sidewalk, and followed closely behind Chikako. She made her first two stops at her father's clients before noticing that Chūya hadn't said or done anything.
"You said you're headed this same way, but are you just following me now? Where are you really going?"
The redhead rubbed his neck. "Well, me and my friends had a bit of an argument."
"You mean your gang?" Chikako interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Usually after my perimeter checks every morning I go back to the base, but they're not very happy with me right now, so I don't really have anywhere to go."
Perimeter checks, not walks.
"So you're just following me, a girl you've barely met and whose arm you almost broke?"
Chūya's hands drifted back down to his pockets, and he kicked a bit at the ground. "Yeah. I feel kinda bad about what happened. And… you're the only person I know outside of the Sheep."
Chikako stared at him, dumbfounded. "The only person? Gosh, you need to get out more. You can't expect to meet people by stepping on their arm every time. C'mon, let's go get lunch or something."
The pair made their way to Chikako's last stops of the day, and they got takoyaki at a food stand for lunch.
"Those stops, they were for your dad's work, right? What does he do?"
Chikako swallowed a bite of takoyaki. "He runs a detective agency. And I have to admit, he's not actually my dad. He's just raised me since I was about 8. Same with the detective he works with, Ranpo-san, he took him under his protection when he was about 14 and we've been raised like siblings ever since."
"Oh." It was quiet for a little bit before Chikako got the courage to ask something.
"Why are you in the Sheep?"
"Same reason you're with your, uh, guardian. They just took me in and I've become loyal to them over time."
It was Chikako's turn to voice an "oh" and start the silence. They finished their meal and subconsciously made their way back to Chikako's house.
Chūya was about to wave goodbye and leave before Chikako quickly turned around to face him again. "Do you have a place to sleep tonight? Because of your fight with your friends?"
The redhead glanced to the sky in thought. "Didn't think about that. I've got a few spots around town I can always crash at. See you-" He was cut off by the girl grabbing his arm and pulling him up the front steps.
"You can stay with us tonight. We've got plenty of leftover curry for dinner and Ranpo-san won't mind you sharing his room."
With no time to object, Chūya was forced into the entryway of the Fukuzawa house, faced with the intimidating master of the house, along with a smartly dressed young man.
"Dad, Ranpo-san, meet Chūya-san."
Chūya gulped. Fukuzawa, Chikako's guardian, was a lot more menacing than he imagined. He was wearing a traditional kimono under a haori, and had a katana strapped at his side. Ranpo was a little less frightening. He had regular work clothes thrown loosely on, with a lollipop stick held in between his teeth.
"Nice to meet you, Chūya-kun! Are you a new friend of Kako-chan's?"
Chūya nodded shakily, glancing between Ranpo and the hand that Fukuzawa kept on the hilt of his katana. Luckily, his wrist was covered by his jacket, and he quickly slipped the blue bracelet off into his pocket.
"He needs a place to sleep tonight, and I thought he could crash in Ranpo-san's room. We have that extra futon, right?"
Ranpo clapped his hands together. "Oh, yes! I'll go get that set up now!" The young detective leapt up, running up the stairs, clearly excited at Chūya's staying. With Ranpo busy, Fukuzawa formally introduced himself to Chūya.
"When did you meet Chikako-chan?" Fukuzawa's eyes were slitted, making Chūya shake in his shoes. His eyes went wide as he tried to wrack his mind for an explanation.
Chikako piped in to save him. "We ran into each other at the store the other day, and met up again today. He helped me when I hurt my arm last week."
Fukuzawa bowed his head. "Ah. Thank you for that." Chūya nodded again. "How long will you be staying with us?"
The question took Chūya by surprise. He stuttered a bit before finally grasping a few words. "Just one night, sir."
"If you need to stay longer, don't hesitate to ask. It's the least I can do to thank you for helping Chikako-chan." With this, Fukuzawa left the front room to walk upstairs.
Chūya let out a sigh, bending over to support himself on the table in front of him. "Your dad's terrifying. I was sure he was going to kill me."
Chikako laughed. "Yeah, he can be like that sometimes. C'mon, let's go see how Ranpo-san's dealing with your futon."
He wasn't dealing with it well.
"Kako-chan! It won't fold out properly!"
"That's because you're holding it the wrong way! Here, just let me do it." Chikako quickly grabbed hold of the futon and set it up in the blink of an eye, while Ranpo had already gone back to reading comics and munching on chips. Chūya stood watching awkwardly in the doorway. "Alright, all set! Futon's here, oh, let me show you the bathroom."
Chikako pushed past Chūya and opened the bathroom, going through cabinets to grab a tote bag of extra hygiene supplies. "Toothbrush and everything you need should be in here. And Ranpo should have a pair of pajamas for you, just ask him when you need them. I'll be down in the kitchen making dinner if you want to set anything else up." She made her way downstairs, leaving Chūya in the middle of the hallway, contemplating going into Ranpo's room for a bit.
Eventually after rotating in the hallway for a few moments, Chūya went back downstairs into the kitchen, where Chikako was heating up some curry and rice. He sat himself down at the table, not sure what to do, so just watched Chikako hurry around, cutting up vegetables and maintaining the stovetop. Once she noticed Chūya sitting there, her face brightened up, as if she had got an idea.
"Hey, Chūya-san, there's a radio over there, if you want to turn on some music." Chikako turned back around to check on the curry, so Chūya shuffled over to the radio. He wasn't quite sure how it worked, but after making sure Chikako wasn't looking, he pressed a few buttons and turned it on without embarrassing himself. Luckily it went to the channel he wanted; rock. It was a song he recognized as well, and without realizing it, he let his eyes close, and started quietly singing along.
An electric guitar riff echoed throughout the kitchen, and Chūya accidentally belted out the lyrics as he spun around, smacking straight into Chikako. His mouth immediately snapped closed and his cheeks burst red with embarrassment. Chikako started giggling. "You know, you're pretty good at singing. I didn't mean to interrupt you! You can keep going!" Chūya pulled his hood up over his head, not knowing how to deal with the situation.
Chikako smiled. "It's ok. You really are good at singing though! You should look into doing it more. Now, would you go get Ranpo-san and Dad for me? Dinner's almost ready." Chikako clicked the radio off, and went to grab plates to set the table.
Chūya cautiously walked upstairs. Ranpo's bedroom door was open, so he just quickly stuck his head in. "Kako-san said dinner's almost ready."
Ranpo jumped up from his futon and sprinted out the door. "Kako-chan's curry is the best!" His voice bounced off the walls as he leapt down the stairs.
Chūya then gently tapped on Fukuzawa's bedroom door. It was at the end of the hallway, with the door closed. Just as he was about to knock harder, it opened, and Fukuzawa stood in the doorway, looking down on Chūya. "Uh… Kako-san told me to tell you that dinner's almost ready…"
"Alright. Thank you, Chūya-kun." Fukuawa followed Chūya back down the stairs. Chūya was greeted with a sight he had never seen himself before; a generic family dinner.
The table was laid out with four plates and a set of chopsticks with each, paired with a spoon. A large pot of rice sat in the middle of the table, alongside a pot of curry and a tray of stir-fried vegetables. Very simplistic, but Chūya couldn't help but tear up a bit as he saw Chikako, Ranpo, and Fukuzawa all smile around the table. Chikako noticed. "Oh, Chūya-san! Are you alright?"
Chūya quickly wiped away his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He sat down at the table, trying not to bring any more attention to him. 'Thank you for the meal's chimed around, and soon enough, dinner was finished. Chūya stayed quiet, not very familiar with how he should act at a family meal, but Chikako and Ranpo laughed over their day's events and such things.
"Ranpo-san! Your turn for dishes!" Chikako smiled at Ranpo as he pouted, and ran up the stairs before he could object. Chūya quickly followed. He found her in her room, and stood in the doorway timidly before she invited him in. She patted the ground, and he sat down next to her. "I hope dinner was ok, since it was just leftovers."
"Oh, no, it was delicious. Thanks." Chūya left the silence in the air for a bit, until he remembered something. "Could I ask a weird question?" Chikako simply shrugged, so he continued. "Your dad, why was he so… open about letting me stay here? He didn't even ask about me or anything."
"Oh! Yeah, I get what you mean. He has this philosophy of sorts where he tries to judge people's character by their present actions. He firmly believes that people can change and so as long as someone's willing to change their future, he's forgiving of their past. And he trusts my judgment too, that I won't bring just some random person home." Chikako laughed a bit. "Although I did bring a Sheep member, so I'm not sure how happy he'll be about that when he finds out."
Chūya was shocked to learn how trusting Chikako had become of him. Maybe she had just taken pity on him for not having a place to stay the night. "Oh, I guess that kind of makes sense."
Ranpo waved his hand in from the hallway. "Chūya-kun! I'm off to bed, so come get ready!" Chūya nodded and went to get up as Ranpo went into his own room.
"Goodnight, Chūya-san! See you in the morning!"
"Goodnight, Kako-san."
It was the first time that Chūya could remember sleeping in an actual futon. Sure, it was a cheap extra one, but it was real, and under a working roof. Instead of sleeping in his hoodie, he had a fresh pair of warm pajamas, courtesy of Ranpo. He was able to take a full shower for the first time in ages.
Ranpo left a bright night light on during the night, dangling from the ceiling. It comforted Chūya, since he was often used to sleeping with street lights or the moon visible. Chūya woke the next morning, having had the best night's sleep he could remember. Ranpo was already awake, but he was still lying on top of his futon, crushing some sort of packaged candy between his teeth.
"Good morning, Chūya-kun! Have a nice sleep?" Ranpo asked, rolling over to his side once he heard Chūya shuffling around.
"Uh, yeah, actually. Thanks for letting me crash in your room."
"No problem! I'll even let you use the bathroom first, if Kako-chan isn't in there already." Ranpo waved his hand and got back to eating his candy.
Chūya carefully got out of bed, grabbed his gray sweatshirt, and made his way to the bathroom. After a quick shower and clean up, Chūya looked at himself in the mirror. There was a look in his eyes that he hadn't ever seen before, and it was hard to place. Maybe it was the relief of knowing that he had a meal waiting for him downstairs, or the calmness that came from sleeping in a safe house for the first time.
He was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Breakfast time, Chūya-kun!" Ranpo shouted out. Slowly, Chūya unlocked the door and walked downstairs. Greeting him was the warm smell of miso soup, paired with a hint of grilled salmon. Chikako was busy dishing out rice, dressed in a bright white apron, her hair pulled up in a bun. Ranpo was happily slurping the remains of his soup, and Fukuzawa was respectfully eating with chopsticks. Chūya slid onto the seat next to Ranpo, where Chikako had placed an extra plate of salmon.
"Help yourself, Chūya-san! I made some onigiri with the leftover salmon for lunch. I've got school to go to for a few hours, and Dad and Ranpo-san will be working. I can meet up with you after school if you'd like?" Mid-sentence, Chikako waved goodbye to Ranpo and her father, who walked out the door for their workday. "I'll be out at about noon, I take part-days since I do a lot of work at the Agency. We could meet at the place we got takoyaki the other day?"
Chūya shrugged. "Sure."
"Great!" Chikako smiled again, and handed him a bag with a couple onigiri. "I gotta head out now, but there's some lunch, and there's a house key in the drawer of my nightstand you can use. See you later!"
Suddenly, Chikako was gone, and Chūya was left alone in the Fukuzawa house. He quickly ate his breakfast, and grabbed the house key. He contemplated staying a little longer, wanting to listen to the radio for a bit, but his awkwardness dawned on him. Being alone in Chikako's house was a little uncomfortable.
Chūya wandered around the small suburban section of Yokohama, finding himself starting to whistle a song. Without meaning to, he had walked all the way back to the Sheep's headquarters. His eyes got wide when he caught a glance of Shirase, one of his close friends. Shirase would question him about where he'd been the past night and day. Unfortunately, Shirase noticed Chūya before he could hide, and ran over to him.
"Chūya-san! Where have you been?! Yuan and I have been looking for you everywhere! Because you ran off after that fight, we didn't know what to do about the police encroaching on our territory, and Akira-kun and Shougo-kun got arrested!"
The redhead's mouth turned up in a snarl. "You idiots, why do you rely solely on me for decisions? Don't you know I'm not King of the Sheep, like everyone keeps calling me? If you actually used your head, you could have easily scared the police away and no one would have got hurt! Without me it seems like the Sheep are just a group of scaredy schoolkids! Why don't you grow up and learn to take care of yourselves?"
Shirase's arms went up defensively. "If you weren't so selfish, maybe you wouldn't have run like the coward you are in the first place!"
Chūya snapped. Without warning he grabbed the one thing in his pocket, the Fukuzawa's house key, and activated his ability. The key went flying through the air at unbelievable speeds, nicking Shirase in the cheek. While the silver-haired teen was caught off guard, Chūya swept his leg by his ankles, throwing him to the ground. Chūya, using his ability, leapt over the incapaticed Shirase, to grab the key and jumped upwards, floating in the air just a bit out of reach.
"I'm leaving the Sheep in your hands, Shirase-kun. I care about you and the rest of the kids, but if you try to peg me above the rest of you just to blame me for your faults, I'm leaving. If the Sheep can't survive without my ability, then there's no point in it anyway. Goodbye, Shirase-kun." Without another word, Chūya flew to the closest alley, dropped down to the street, and walked off.
Noon came around, and Chūya met up with Chikako. She had already ordered a pair of takoyaki plates, and they enjoyed their meal together, along with the onigiri.
"What's up, Chūya? You seem a little off. What'd you do while I was at school?" Chikako asked as they walked back home.
Chūya took a moment to gather his thoughts. "I'm not in the Sheep anymore. I'm not in a gang. I left."
Chikako hummed, surprised.
"I walked back down to our base and had another argument with my friend, and I ended up leaving." Chūya stared at the road below him. "And… I should probably tell you, I have an ability."
Taken aback, Chikako stopped walking. "So… wait, you're not in a gang anymore? That's great! And an ability? That's awesome! My dad has an ability too!"
Chūya furrowed his eyebrows at her response. She seemed a little too giddy. "Yeah, it's called For The Tainted Sorrow. It lets me control the gravity of objects I touch."
"Woah, that's so cool! My dad's is something boring, like equalizing the abilities of his employees or something. You should show me!" Chikako was nearly bouncing with excitement.
Chūya shrugged. "Alright." He kicked up a stray rock from the ground, sending it above their heads and bringing it back down to land in his hand. Chūya got a bit smug seeing Chikako smile and clap, so he decided to take it a bit further. "I can fly, too." Seeing Chikako's eyes widen, he smirked, and hopped up a foot off the ground, his body glowing red. He reached out his hand, and Chikako took it carefully, and slowly but surely, she lifted off the ground, hovering beside Chūya.
"Holy crap. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap. This is amazing! You're amazing, Chūya-san!" Chikako shook a bit, and grabbed onto Chūya's jacket for stability.
"Have you ever seen the city from up the top of the Yokohama Landmark Tower?" Chūya chuckled when Chikako's mouth dropped. "Here, hold my hand, I'll take you." The girl squeaked a bit as they got higher. Soon enough, they landed atop the highest tower in town, and Chūya helped her sit at the edge. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall."
Chikako sat in stunned silence for a bit, and didn't realize she was still holding onto Chūya's hand. Chūya took notice too, but didn't let go. He smiled. "It's insurance, in case you do happen to fall."
The two looked down on the bright town of Yokohama. "It's beautiful. I bet you do this all the time." Chikako said in awe.
"Not as much as I'd like. The Sheep took up most of my time. Although, now, maybe I can do it more often."
"Oh, yeah. About that, are you going to keep staying with us? Now that you're not with the Sheep."
Chūya scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "I don't wanna intrude on you guys anymore than I already have. I have a couple stashes around town that should hold me over for a while-"
"Oh, no, no, you have to stay with us then! We wouldn't just let you live on the streets! And besides, Ranpo loves having you stay. He's been texting me all day about how excited he is that you're with us. And Dad said before he'll let you stay as long as you need."
"Alright. I guess I can stay for a bit, then."
Two months went by, and Chūya continued living at the Fukuzawa household. Ranpo's room was renovated a little bit to accommodate Chūya for a longer period of time. He had started getting into a routine, every weekday at noon, he'd pick Chikako up from school, and assist her on her delivery job for the Agency.
Chikako got used to seeing Chūya wait for her against the wall of the school every day. Her school friends had taken notice of him. "Hey, Kako-san, there's Chūya again. He's pretty cute, don't you think?" The two young girls giggled as Chikako stuttered.
"I mean, I guess, but he's like a brother to me now!"
"Are you sure?" The teenagers drew out their words, making Chikako start to blush. "He's so mysterious, always waiting for you, standing there alone and distant. There's no way you don't like him."
Chikako tried to suppress her flushed cheeks and waved off her friends, who laughed to each other, watching her walk off to meet with the redhead. Chūya noticed her red face. "You alright, Kako-san? You look a little nervous."
"No! Uh, I'm fine." Chikako lowered her eyes, but couldn't help but notice the new shirt Chūya was wearing. It was a deep red button up that the two had bought during a shopping trip a few weeks prior. On top of it, Chūya had his original leather jacket, and Chikako was trying hard to convince herself that he didn't look so attractive.
"Do you wanna go sightseeing today?" Sightseeing had become a common thing between the two; it meant hanging out on top of a skyscraper and viewing the city from the skies.
"Yeah, sure!" It always put Chikako in a good mood to go flying with Chūya.
In just a few minutes, the two were laid on the backs, looking up at the clouds from the roof of the closest tall building. "I talked with Fukuzawa-sensei today." Chūya had started calling Fukuzawa Sensei a couple weeks into staying with them, as he was taking martial arts lessons from him. Fukuzawa had learned of Chūya's gang background and ability, and decided that he could benefit from proper defense training.
"Oh? What about?" Chikako turned on her side to face Chūya, who kept staring upwards.
"About my future, what I'm gonna do and all that. He suggested that I could work at the Agency."
"Really? And what do you think?"
"I'm gonna do it. He's starting to expand the Agency, and he's thinking of hiring some more people. For now, I'm just going to be working more with just office job type stuff. Ranpo's going to be training me for actual field work, but he says it shouldn't be too hard since I've been dealing with clients face to face when I help you. As soon as he hires another detective, he's going to buy a section of apartments nearby for the detectives, and he says I can have a room there." Chūya turned to Chikako. "And I have you to thank for all of this. Because you decided to take care of a stupid gang memeber like me, I now have a real life, a real job, a real future. If I stayed with the Sheep, I'd have none of that. Thank you, Chikako-san."
Chikako wasn't quite sure what to say, so she just sat up and gave Chūya a hug. "I've loved having you stay with us, so promise me when you move out, we'll still be friends, ok?" Chūya smiled and nodded. "Now let's go back and have some lunch."
When Chūya was 16, only a few months after he was recruited, Ranpo and Fukuzawa hired another detective, Akiko Yosano, a doctor with a rare healing ability. At 18, the Tanizaki siblings started working part-time, and at 19, Doppo Kunikida joined, dragging his friend Katai Tayama with him, if only for a few months. Right after his 20th birthday, Chūya was put in charge of training the 12 year old Kenji Miyazawa who had moved in from the countryside. And about half a year later, the infamous Osamu Dazai was brought into the Armed Detective Agency.
"And you are?"
"Chūya Nakahara."
"Ah, Chūya Nakahara-kun! I'm excited to start working with you!"
Chūya sighed, already annoyed with the bandaged brunette. "Chūya-san, if you wouldn't mind. I'm your superior, Dazai-kun."
"Oh, don't be like that, Chūya-kun. Could you tell me about that beautiful young lady over there?" Dazai pointed to Chikako, who was busy helping Kunikida file paperwork.
"That's Kako-san, the President's daughter." It clicked in Chūya's mind what Dazai was trying to get out of him. "If you so as touch her, I'll-"
Dazai patted Chūya on the head, ruffling his hair. "Of course, of course. Boyfriends are always so protective, it's quite obnoxious, really."
Steam practically poured out of Chūya's ears. "That's not what I meant! Wait-" Chūya ran after Dazai, who had started trotting out the Agency's doors.
Needless to say, Dazai had gotten Chūya thinking, and he finally decided to ask Chikako out. The two started dating a few weeks later. Chūya would never admit that it was because of Dazai's constant knowing winks and smirks that gave him the courage to tell Chikako his feelings.
Unfortunately, Fukuzawa assigned Chūya and Dazai to be field partners at work, which gave Dazai all the more time to badger him about his relationship.
"So? Are you gonna marry her? Or break up so I can ask her to join me-"
"Dazai-kun, if you say double suicide one more time, I'll chuck you in the river. We've been dating for three weeks, I'm not marrying her yet."
"Yet?! So you will? I bet you already have the ring. Oh, it'll be so romantic-"
"Would you shut up, you bandage shelf!"
A/N: I'm not entirely sure if the time-line matches for when everyone joined at the Agency there at the end, so sorry if that's wrong!