Corrupted Love - #Soukoku

Chapter 13 - Rhythms of Trust

"Shut your mouth," Chuuya glared at me in the darkness that enclosed itself on us.

"There might be ghosts here," I informed him, trying to navigate myself through the bushes and tall trees.

"You'll be the one fighting them then. Where did you park the car?" His annoyance became clearer the more he spoke. 

"Next to a huge tree."

"Dazai we're in the middle of a forest. THERE ARE TREES EVERYWHERE,"  He finally snapped. We've been wandering in the dark forest for hours. 

"We recovered the money," I said happily, which only made Chuuya sigh as he tried to navigate his way back to the car. Mori-san had sent us out on a mission involving illegal drugs. We had successfully delivered the drugs and got the sum we wanted out of it, but here we are now, lost in the middle of a forest because neither of us thought about the fact that darkness would fall upon us. That only made it harder for us to find the black car parked somewhere near. We continued walking in silence as I accidentally stepped on a twig, breaking it, making Chuuya jump.

"What was that?!" He hissed.

"A ghost."

"D-D-D-Dazai."

I chuckled. "I stepped on a twig."

He shot an angry glance over his shoulders. "I will hit you with the car." He uttered harshly. "No you know, nevermind, you'll just be happy and I don't want to bring you happiness." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he kept walking. 

"Are you cold?" I asked him once I caught up to him, walking next to him this time. 

"Yeah. We should hurry, a storm is coming." He looked up at the sky.

"Right, Mori-san mentioned something like that earlier."

"Being in a forest when a storm is erupting, what were you thinking when you decided not to memorize the location of our CAR. I should've taken that into consideration, knowing that the funny brain of yours only works when suicide is involved."

"Choke me and I might remember where we left the car." Chuuya only rolled his eyes at my comment, not stopping his car hunt.  A sharp and bright light crossed the sky, lighting up the forest for a second, enough for us to spot the car.

"There!" Chuuya and I exclaimed in choir as we hurried in the now pouring rain. We sat in the car and closed the doors as fast as we could, completely drenched.

"Ugh... turn the heat on," Chuuya ordered while taking his black leather jacket off, throwing it in the boot. "Hand over your coat." I struggled to get out of my soaked coat while we waited for the car to let us thaw.

"Here." I handed my coat over, letting him throw it next to his jacket.

RING. RING.

"Yes? We retrieved the full amount of money. Yes, Dazai is with me. He's driving back right now."

I glanced over at him. "Is it Mori-san?" I whispered. He looked at me and nodded.

"What? No, I'm listening. Shouldn't we be back as soon as possible?"

I raised an eyebrow at their conversation. Is he going to order us to not get back? "What's happening?" I whispered. Chuuya waved his hand at me, gesturing for me to shut up.

"Yes, I will let him know. Bye."

"What??"

He sighed. "He wants us to stay at a hotel tonight. The money can wait, or so he said."

"Wait why?"

"Because it's too dangerous to drive back to Yokohama in this weather and he can't afford losing both the money and Soukoku."

"That's suspicious. Oh well, the nearest hotel is still an hour away so we might as well enjoy our vacation." I turned on the radio, the rhythms of Double Suicide filling the car.

"You think those rascals are after us?"

"Probably."

He sighed again, leaning his head back against the headrest. "Your taste in music is as bad as everything else about you," he said. 

I ignored him as I sang along to the song. "Whoa-whoa, yeah. You can't do a double suicide alone but you can do it with two people. Double suicide, double suicide, double suicide" Chuuya shook his head as he opened the glove compartment, searching for something. "Ru-ru-ru-ru you can't do a double suicide alone. Whoa, whoa but, but you can do it with two people"

Chuuya turned off my song and inserted a CD, forcing me to listen to his classical symphonies. Their soothing instrumental sounds filled the car as I drove along the dark road.

"Turn off that Op.69 no. 6 melody."

"It's Alexander Borodin's no.2 fucker."

"They all sound the same."

"No, they don't. They are different, unlike your suicide song."

"Chuuya~" I pouted.

"I don't care Dazai." He leaned his cheek against his hand, looking out the window as the symphony played. In reality, I didn't hate his taste in music, it was calming after such an eventful day. I can understand his craving to soothe his soul after what Arahabaki does to him. I feel at ease knowing that he is calm even after putting his life in my hands every time he lets Arahabaki take over.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" He glanced over at me.

"For trusting me."

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"No, not really"

"Exactly." He was looking at the dark road through the window again.

"Is it scary?"

He didn't respond and I didn't pester him about it, fully knowing that he wouldn't want to talk about it with someone like me. 

"It's... terrifying," He answered at last. "I don't feel anything once he takes over but..."

"But?" I asked carefully

"I'm never sure if I'll ever make it back, I have to depend on you to bring me back and I wouldn't do it if I didn't trust you." Something in his voice made me want to protect him. "I should be the one thanking you for taking the risk of getting close to me in that state."

"You know that I can save you."

"You know what else scares me? The thought of me hurting you in the process. Corruption could easily demolish you."

"Don't worry about that, you won't hurt me and I'll always be there to stop you in time."

Lies. Why did I promise him something I couldn't keep? 

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Hellooooo~

After last week's sad chapter, I'll happily provide you a slightly less sad chapter.