'I haven't smelled tatami mats for a long time,' Atsushi thinks. He is lying down with his head on a pillow, sleeping but slowly waking up.
Once his eyes are opened he mutters, "Where am I? What happened last night? Was it… a dream?"
Harry understood that way too much. He had the same thoughts when he slept in the Gryffindor Tower for the first time. He had believed he would wake up to his aunt screaming at him to make breakfast before attempting to hit him with her favourite frying pan. It was so important to her that he wasn't even allowed to touch it, so if she did land a hit on him, he'd get in trouble with Uncle Vernon for daring to touch what wasn't his.
Atsushi is then hit with the memories of the night before. "Do you remember anything from when you were transformed?" He remembers Dazai asking him.
"What are you talking about?"
Dazai's eyes widen, "Oh, look at that. Your right hand didn't change back." He points toward the boy's hand.
"My right hand?" Atsushi pulls his hand in front of his face, flexing the paw.
"Awe," a first-year coos. "That was so adorable, though!"
Atsushi abruptly jumped up from the mat, startled at what he remembered and hoping it wasn't real. He looked at his right hand to ensure it was back to normal and no longer the tiger claw that had terrorized him for so long. He flexes his fingers to prove to himself its reality then lets out a sigh of relief when he gets his answer.
Neville nods, "I'd be worried if I woke up and remembered that. I'd want to be certain my hand was back to normal."
"This is why no one younger than seventeen can learn to be an animagus," McGonagall states. "Allowing anyone younger could result in situations such as what Mr. Longbottom said, partial transformations are not fun to fix."
Then, Atsushi realized he was in a bed, in an apartment that wasn't his. Looking around proved this aspect to him. It was a small kitchen, but enough room to make whatever he might need. "Sleeping under a roof feels… so good," Atsushi concluded.
While Ron can't completely understand how Atsushi feels, he knows how his older brothers felt when they moved out of the Burrow. Percy might not speak to them anymore, but Bill and Charlie do. They both said it felt like a breath of fresh air and freedom. That Ron could understand. He sometimes felt trapped there due to his Mother's overbearing nature. He appreciates her but it isn't always easy to escape her ideals for her children.
Just then, a phone's beeping rings through the air. "What?" Atsushi is startled and frantically searches for it. He finds it on top of a pair of clothes—white, black, and gray from what can be seen so far.
"What's that ringing?"
"That was a cell phone," Colin exclaimed in excitement. "It's a muggle device that acts similarly to a Floo but you could call someone on the other side of the country!"
The Unspeakable speaks, "They are also attempting to ensure clear connections worldwide." No one could see it but they were smirking at the Purebloods and magical-raised Half-Bloods expressions.
"Oh! Okay! I'll get it, I'm coming!" He almost lunges for the phone when it rings again. Trying to open the phone proves to be a task in itself for the boy. "Coming! Coming!" Uhm- I'm doing it! Right this second! Which button am I supposed to push? This one! No, no, no! Uh- this one! Oh, come on!" Putting the phone up to his ear after finally figuring the device out he speaks, "Yes, hello?"
"And good morning, to you," Dazai is heard on the other end. Even though Atsushi cannot see him, he knows the man is grinning.
Eyes widened at hearing Dazai while he wasn't in the room.
"So cool."
"Oh," Atsushi had calmed down now that he opened the call. "Hi, Dazai."
"It's another beautiful day!" He sighs happily. "What do you think of your new accommodations?"
"Well," Justin grins at Hannah. "We won't know that since we have yet to see outside." Hannah's only response was to put her head in her hand letting out an exasperated sigh. Why did her friend have to be such a nuisance? She loved him, but still, why?
Atsushi looks around again, "They're great, thanks. I mean, compared to sleeping outside this place is like Heaven to me."
Harry held back the instinct to respond. His friends might know about his home life, but that didn't mean he wanted everyone to know.
"I'm happy to hear that. The change of clothes at your pillow was a gift from everyone at the Agency." He glances back at the set of clothes.
"That's sweet!" Cedric smiles. "At least he now has something else to wear besides the orphanage uniform." He didn't realize the flinches his statement earned.
He's relieved that they even thought of providing him with clothes. "Oh, wow," he starts when he gets a better look at them. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me."
"By the way, Atsushi. I apologize for asking, but…" Dazai trails off confusing Atsushi.
"I need help with a teensy-weensy emergency," Dazai is outside of a building, looking up while on the phone.
"Emergency?" Atsushi is heard on the other end of the line.
"Emergency?" That concerned many. Please, don't let it be something as nerve-wracking as the last 'emergency' they saw.
A quick flash back to Atsushi, Dazai can be heard through the phone, "Yes, and it's quite urgent. I'll give you the specific location and I need you to meet me there immediately. This is a crisis," Atsushi doesn't look impressed with the usage of the word crisis. "And you're the only one who can help, understand?"
"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence, Dazai."
"Alright, I understand," Atsushi still doesn't look thrilled by Dazai's wording, but answers in the positive anyway.
Atsushi is now dressed and putting on his shoes as Dazai gives him the instructions. "Listen carefully, are you ready, Atsushi?"
In the time it took him to get dressed, he had gotten some courage, he was still nervous but he no longer showed it plainly on his face. "Yes."
Outside the apartment, Atsushi exits his door. "First, when you leave the room, make sure you close and lock the door." Atsushi does as told.
"Then, look behind you."
"Behind me?" Atsushi does so and is startled by what he sees.
"Oh, gods. What did Dazai get Atsushi into?"
What Atsushi sees is Dazai's legs in the air while the rest of his body is trapped in an oil drum. In a panic, the boy rushes down the stairs and to the detective.
That was not what any of them had been expecting. Why was he in an oil drum?
Dazai is smiling even in his predicament. "Uh… What are you doing?" Atsushi asks, having calmed down from his panic.
"What do you think?"
"I think I'm hallucinating this whole thing," is all Atsushi can respond with.
"I feel you, Atsushi. If I were you, I'd wish this was all a hallucination," Theo mutters. Only his friends heard him.
"Wrong!" Dazai sounds too excited for his predicament. "Guess again!"
"How can he be so calm in this situation?" Hermione questioned. She didn't understand, it made no logical sense.
"An attack from a dangerous suspect? Or did you get caught in a trap?" The boy is now worried, though with Dazai's next words he knew he should have been.
"I got in myself."
Draco sighs, "Of course, why am I even surprised?" Blaise snickered at his friends' reaction. Sure, he agreed with the blonde but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the rare chance to mess with Draco.
Atsushi remembers how they met, but didn't realize he'd see this situation again so soon.
"Well, you see," Dazai is a little flustered, which gives Atsushi some form of hope for this event. "I read about this fascinating way," Dazai sinks lower into the drum, "to commit suicide by getting stuck in an oil drum," he sinks lower again.
Luna hums, "I don't believe you could classify this as a form of suicide."
"What do you mean?" Harry asks her. Some from the Ravenclaw table turn to him with a look of astonishment. Why would the Boy Who Lived want to interact with Looney Lovegood?
"Sure, it would kill you," she responds in her dreamy tone. "But most don't want to suffer before they die. This would more so make sense to be classified as a form of torture."
Harry thinks about it, as do many others, and nods realizing she was correct.
A diagram is shown of what Dazai is attempting to perform, a red circle appearing around the feet. "So, I decided to give it a shot. Securing the feet is key. But now that I've managed to do that… I'm really just suffering." Dazai sinks once again.
Fred winces, "That's quite an uncomfortable-"
George continues, "Position he has gotten himself into."
They loved doing their twin-speak. It always gets confused looks from people who haven't heard them before, but also causes headaches among them. It was amusing to them to see.
"I've wedged myself in pretty deep," lower and lower. "And I can't get out on my own." Lower. "I might die," he states with a smile on his face.
"Why is he still smiling?"
Atsushi is disturbed by the information given to him. "I see… So this is a way to commit suicide. You chose to do it and you think that it's working I don't see what the problem is."
Dazai is now so deep in the oil drum that his voice has an echo, "I like the idea of suicide, but I'm not at all interested in pain and suffering. Who wants that?"
The Ravenclaws who bullied Luna freeze. No, there is no way she was correct. Looney Lovegood could not be right about this.
Atsushi puts his hands on the lip of the drum to be able to hear Dazai as he sinks lower. "Alright," Atsushi mutters as Dazai continues his statements.
"Also, I only learned after the fact that this isn't actually a form of suicide." Atsushi sighs. "It's more a form of torture!" the boy shoves the drum to the side as the man is speaking, causing him to startle.
Harry grins at Luna who smiles softly. The subject might have been morbid, but he was happy she proved her point.
The Ravenclaws were in pure shock. How could someone like her get this correct? It had to have been a fluke! Yeah, that's it! There's no way it wasn't. But they couldn't be certain, and that's what worries them.
"There." Atsushi puts his hands on his hips as Dazai exits the drum.
"Well," Draco chuckles."That's one way to do it."
'My name is Atsushi Nakajima,' a flashback to his transformation into a tiger before reminding him of his attack on Dazai. 'And just last night, I turned into a wild tiger and went on a destructive rampage.' Dazai uses his ability to nullify Atsushi's. 'This man, Osamu Dazai, brought me back to normal.'
"And we get to rehash what happened earlier," Minerva states to her friend beside her.
Dumbledore nods, smiling at her, "It would appear so, Minerva."
Dazai does some stretches to loosen the kinks he created in his body. 'Dazai has a special power, and he's not alone. He works with a team of people endowed with supernatural gifts in the Armed Detective Agency.'
"Atsushi Nakajima!" He remembers some of the members surrounding him that night. "From this day forward, you're going to be one of us. You're the new member of the Armed Detective Agency."
They jump, still not used to random shouts happening without the person shouting being shown.
Atsushi looks at the man beside him. "Ah! That was painful," he sighs in relief, cracking his hips. "I owe you a favour, Atsushi. Without your ingenious help, I would have eventually snapped in two at the waist. Such agany."
Hagrid winces, "That would be a very painful way to die."
Atsushi realizes something, "Why didn't you call your other coworkers, couldn't they have helped you get out of the barrel?"
Dazai sits up having finished his stretches, "Oh, I called them alright. I told them I was at death's door."
"Then why didn't they show up?" Neville questioned confused. He didn't think the answer was what it was.
He turns to face the boy, "They didn't understand my predicament. They were all like, 'Wow! Congratulations! You're finally doing it.'"
"Supportive friends," Atsushi mutters. He's smiling but his eyebrow is twitching as he nervously laughs.
No one spoke. What could they say? They could see both sides. It seemed like this was a normal occurrence for the Agency, so it made sense that his coworkers hadn't taken him seriously. On the other hand, you'd think they'd at least get someone to go check to be certain he'd be fine.
"Jeez, anyone gifted with supernatural powers, isn't totally right in the head."
Atsushi seems to ponder on that statement for a moment. 'Gifted,' he thinks. 'Hmm.'
"Dazai," once Atsushi has the man's attention he continues. "Everyone at the Armed Detective Agency– I mean the private investigators. They're all gifted with powers, right?"
"Right. We're an armed force taking on enemies the police don't stand a chance against." That causes Atsushi to curl in on himself slightly.
"Then I don't stand a chance at joining the Agency," he concludes.
"What are you talking about?" Dazai asks incredulously. "You're plenty gifted."
"It's true that I have a supernatural ability to turn into a tiger, but what good is it if I have absolutely no control over my power?" Atsushi is getting upset and self-deprecating now. "I'm not even aware of it once I start to transform." He lowers his head, "And I can't will myself to just change into a wild tiger, so I don't understand how I'd be of any use even if I could join."
"That does make sense, unfortunately," was muttered.
No one wanted Atsushi to be so self-deprecating, but they also could understand where he was coming from. They hope he can raise his self-confidence soon.
Atsushi stands up, "I really appreciate the offer, though." Atsushi bows respectfully. "I really am sorry."
"Very well," Dazai speaks. "What's your plan, then?"
"At least he wants to know if Atsushi is going to be alright," Sprout smiles. "I'm glad. I was worried about how little he values his own life that he might not."
Atsushi straightens up with a small smile gracing his face. "I've decided I'll look for a low-skilled, low-wage job I can handle," he's embarrassed by needing to explain this. "I'm just a little afraid it won't be very easy to find."
"I think I may know the perfect job for you." When Dazai says this Atsushi perks up in surprise. "I might even be able to help you get it." The man smiles up at Atsushi while the boy grins in excitement.
"Seriously? Thank you so much!"
"That's great!" Dennis grins. "That means even if Atsushi doesn't join the Agency he'll still have a job and a way to survive thanks to them."
Colin nods to his brother. He hopes this works out for the boy. He's not the only one to think that, either.