Chapter Text
The sun had just set, its last orange light spilling over Yokohama. The usually chaotic city had grown strangely calm, a rare stillness settling over its streets. It felt almost unreal to the citizens, who hardly ever saw it so quiet, especially with the mafia around. The air was warm and still.
A thin boy in worn clothes pulled a small white flower from his pocket, holding it out with trembling fingers. The girl in front of him blinked, her expression puzzled. He stared at the ground, struggling to force the words out, but with every sentence, she only looked more confused.
A married couple at a nearby table watched with quiet amusement. The children reminded them of themselves. The husband couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the boy, confessing at that age was never easy. Competing with butterflies and toys was nearly impossible. Still, love had a way of finding people, sooner or later.
And sometimes, it led all the way to a small office in the middle of Yokohama, The Armed Detective Agency.
Kunikida was just wrapping up the last of his paperwork when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Kunikida-kun! I was just looking through the most recent Agency files on your desk when-”. Kunikida cut him off with a loud sigh and a strong facial expression. Dazai had recently noticed how expressive his partner’s face was. A single look was enough to understand what Kunikida felt, or maybe Dazai was the only one who could read him that well.
“What on earth are you still doing here?”. It wasn´t the reaction Dazai had anticipated, he figured Kunikida would have scolded him for going through his stuff, perhaps he didn’t know him as well as he believed.
“Well, I don't know. I suppose I just... forgot to go home.” “Yeah, right.” Kunikida didn´t try to hide his disbelief, as if Dazai ever stayed longer than he had to, he hated work. Or that´s at least what you´d think, considering how little of it he does. Any person would´ve given up on Dazai long ago, but Kunikida knew more about him than the average person. If only people knew how much Dazai did behind the scenes, it´d put them in a coma. He acts stupid and lazy on the front, but deep down he´s almost at the same intelligence level as Ranpo.
Over the past two years of working with Osamu Dazai, Kunikida had noticed one thing above all else: Dazai preferred to do everything alone, preferably without anyone knowing. It wasn’t necessarily a bad trait, but it also meant he never asked for help. And if anyone needed it, it was Dazai.
Fukuzawa had told him when he first joined the Agency that trust between its members was essential, and that accepting help, no matter how difficult, was always the right choice.
Kunikida respected the president, and over time he had learned to work within the Agency’s policies. Now, he only had to teach Dazai what Fukuzawa had once taught him.
“Wanna come along?” Kunikida was suddenly awaken from his thought, he hadn´t heard what Dazai had offered but it didn´t really matter anyway. “No.”
“Aw come on Kunikida-kun! Oh, right I almost forgot, your notebook.”
“What about it?”
“You know, the thing I said earlier? I went through it.”
“WHAT.” Kunikida lunged forward and smashed Dazai’s head hard enough for him to go crashing down to the ground.
” Just listen pleae-ease…” Kunikida retook his former stance and took a deep breath, while Dazai used his left limb to steady himself.” One of the pages-” Dazai spoke calmer now and his eyes were focused, Kunikida knew what that tone and face meant, he was serious. ”-It was torn off.”
Of course he had found it. Kunikida knew Dazai was observant, but he’d never imagined he would go through his notebook so thoroughly, let alone notice the missing page. He couldn’t keep anything from that bandaged, broken man.
“I just wondered… why would you tear a part of it out? Isn’t your book directly connected to your ability? Doesn’t it affect you when you remove pages?”
Only Dazai would jump to a conclusion like that. No one else would have given it a second thought.
“It’s nothing.”
Kunikida looked away, and Dazai knew exactly what that meant. He was hiding something. Dazai hadn’t suspected it before, but the reaction confirmed his doubts. Kunikida had always been terrible at hiding his expressions, especially from him.
” I see.” Hopefully Dazai would drop it now, but of course, he didn’t.
“I hope you know by now that I won’t drop it just like that. You intrigue me, Kunikida.”
Dazai’s tone shifted again, his usual goofiness sliding back into place. It was enough to fool most people, but Kunikida knew better. Dazai couldn’t deceive him that easily, though he also knew better than to underestimate the man. With every interaction, Dazai only became more of a mystery.
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
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