"Are you..." he began as she resumed her attempts on the chains. "Are you an angel?" he panted, his chest heaving up and down with every labored breath.
"Not quite," she answered with a slight chuckle, eventually giving up at the moment and falling back onto her butt from her kneeling position. "You'd have to be dead to see an angel."
"You... You saved me?" he questioned, attempting to sit up despite his hands still being tied behind his back, restricting his movements. "But pant how? There wasn't pant anyone on the pant ports when I was brought here?"
"That's kind of a complicated answer," she responded, crawling behind him and sitting him up.
She attempted to untie the knot restraining him, finding it difficult to do as they were still damp. She let out an irritated sigh, looking around the area and spotting a piece of glass within some seaweed.
She grabbed it, using it to cut the ropes as she thought, As lucky as this is for the moment, it's still terrible that someone threw glass into the water. What is wrong with people?
"Who are you?" he asked as he rubbed his red and raw wrists.
"(Y/n) (L/n). And you are...?"
"Nico Soma..." His voice trailed off as he looked around, his eyes widening at the space around them, but soon squinting them as he observed the strange space. "Are... Are we still underwater?"
"Yep." She popped the word as she spoke, scooching back down to his ankles as she continued working on the lock. "I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I'm an ability-user."
"'Ability-user'?" Nico repeated, tilting his head slightly as he looked back towards her. "Like those people in the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency? The ones with basically superpowers?"
"You know a lot for a kid."
"I'm nineteen," he retorted, squinting a bit as he looked at her. "I can know things."
"Well, based on the fact that you were nearly killed in a rather horrific way, I think it's safe to assume that you know those things because you're avoiding them." She let go of the lock, resting an arm on her knee as she met his eyes. "Maybe you should tell me why the hell some guys just tried to drown you before you get snarky."
Nico swallowed the lump in his throat, (Y/n)'s simple smile despite the chilling words sending a chill up his spine.
"Before I get into anything," he pointed towards a patch of seaweed just out of his reach, "could you hand me my glasses? I'm having some trouble seeing."
"Sure." She stood up, walking over to the patch and picking up the glasses. She brushed off the bits of seaweed, handing it to him as she sat down.
He muttered a small "thank you" and rubbed off some slimy bits on the lenses with his sleeve before putting them on. He pushed back his jet-black hair as the damp, messy pieces fell into his face.
"Can you start explaining what's going on now?"
Nico nodded, pushing up the frames as he took in a deep breath. "I was a part of a small group of teens that lived on the streets of Yokohama, taking up jobs of all degrees from all types of people. It didn't matter if it was hauling a couple boxes or gathering information about an opposing business. Legal or not, we'd do it.
"A couple of us got a proposition from some person who went by the name 'Usotsuki'. We don't know what they look like, we just got the job through one of the guys getting an email through the phone he stole."
"What was the job?" (Y/n) questioned.
"We were supposed to gather information on a woman at the Armed Detective Agency. We were told that she was able to summon a water dragon with her ability and was most likely with a man covered in bandages."
She froze at the description, hesitantly asking, "Do you know who that woman is?"
"We never really figured it out. We've been working on this for a week now and haven't gotten any closer. The two other guys I was working with found out that I was planning on telling the agency about what we were doing and Usotsuki and decided that I needed to be silenced." He narrowed his dark blue eyes. "Permanently."
"Why'd you decide to tell the agency? What was worth nearly getting killed over?"
"I read an email meant for one of the other guys, Izumi, and found out why we were gathering information on this woman – Usotsuki planned to kill her."
(Y/n)'s breathing stopped, completely frozen in place. Nico immediately noticed her reaction, asking her, "What's wrong, (L/n)? I thought you ability-users were tough." He smirked slightly at that last comment.
"Nico," she began in a chilling tone, sending chills up his spine a second time, "ability-users aren't immortal. They get scared as well when they hear that there's a target on their back."
He thought for a moment, piecing together what she said in about a minute. He widened his eyes, leaning back as he said, "You're the water dragon ability-user Usotsuki is after. But wait—"
"I used to work in the Armed Detective Agency about two years ago and before my ability evolved from just summoning a water dragon entity named Ryuji. I left after a man I worked with as a police officer, Zack Fujinuma, kidnapped me and nearly beat me to death," she explained, her tone flat and low. "But he's missing now after an incident with the Port Mafia after Chuuya Nakahara took care of him. So that means—"
"That someone else put that target on your back," Nico finished. "That's scary, (L/n)... I'm glad I'm not you."
"Keep talking like that and you will be in two seconds."
"I wouldn't have to worry about that if you would just get these chains off of me," he snapped back, shaking his ankles around and jingling the chains as if they were aggressive sleigh bells.
(Y/n) opened her mouth to respond, getting cut off by the static of her earpiece. She stuck up a finger towards him, keeping him quiet as she listened to the device.
"The Moby Dick is about to crash into the water, (Y/n). Prepare to pull away any civilians and clear any boats within the area," Dazai commanded in a rather rushed and serious tone. "We're almost done."
"What was that about?" Nico questioned after she put her hand back down.
"I have to go and you need to get out of the water," she stated as she stood up. "We'll keep in touch, Nico."
She kneeled towards him and grabbed his shirt, getting mere inches from his face as she said, "Try to stay out of trouble."
A clear red tint went over his cheeks and nose as she pulled him to his feet. The glowing blue marks returned over his uncovered skin, the water around beginning to swirl in a different pattern then before.
She turned towards her original location, snapping her fingers as a water whip snapped out – breaking the chains around Nico's feet. It then moved to his waist, wrapping around him and lifting him off the ground.
"Goodbye, Nico."
He was flung towards the ports, letting out a short scream before getting cut off by the water. As soon as he was gone, (Y/n) sprinted towards the location she left her mouthpiece, letting out a breath as the marks on her arms seemed to glow a bit brighter.
Lucky shot...
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