Common Enemy

chapter 8

Dazai and Chuuya made their way into their new workspace and living space all in one. In the center there were 2 large desks opposite one another. To the left there was a red, velvet couch opposite a large TV. There were two doors at the end of the room which the pair assumed were their bedrooms. The kitchen was grey and black and contained all the necessary things the two of them would need to live.

Dazai raced to the doors at the end of the room. He opened one of the doors, stood there for a second then closed it and opened the other.

"Ugh i was hoping there would be a bigger one for me and a smaller one for you," he huffed, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

He threw his head back and placed each of his bandaged arms on the back of the couch. "They're both the exact same size, what a shame."

"Even if they were different, what makes you think you'd get the bigger one, you waste-of-air!" Chuuya said, crossing his arms and looking over at Dazai, who was clearly disinterested.

"I AM bigger you moron its just logical," said Dazai, not even bothering to lift his head, "you are so stupid, honestly."

"Im more important that you, stupid mackerel, so i'd get the bigger room!" yelled Chuuya, angrily. He walked over to the two desks and did the same thing Dazai did with the rooms.

"Tch, these are the same too." he said, looking over at Dazai, who was still not really paying any attention to him.

Chuuya sat down at one of the desks and started looking through the draws. "What do we do now?" He asked.

"We wait." Dazai replied, lifting his head up off the couch and sighing.

"Wait for what exactly?" Chuuya asked, laying back on his seat and putting his feet up on the desk.

"Ranpo, obviously." Dazai muttered, rolling his eyes.

"How long does it normally take this Sherlock Holmes wannabe to get a lead?" Chuuya asked, clearly bored.

"He should have one right about-" Dazai was interrupted by a knock at their door. "Now." he finished, smirking at Chuuya.

The pair got up and rushed to the door, pushing each other and cursing as they did so to see who could open the door first.

Dazai won this mini battle for dominance and opened the door. As expected, Ranpo and the rest of the investigatory unit; tanizaki and yosano, were waiting there.

"Took you long enough.." muttered Chuuya, although it had only been about 10 minutes since Ranpo had gotten started.

"I'd like to see you try and get a lead with only a blown up building!" replied Ranpo, annoyed at this criticism of his 'ability'.

Dazai let out a small laugh and received a hard dig in the side from Chuuya.

"I've set up a meeting with everyone in the mafia meeting room, come with us." Ranpo said, gesturing for them to follow along.

"So, Sherlock, what exactly is this lead you have?" Chuuya asked, walking next to ranpo.

Ranpo actually didn't particularly mind this new nickname he had garnered and smiled smugly at Chuuya, "i know who the bomber is." He stated, confidently.

Dazai, yosano and tanizaki smiled, proud of the prized detective, as they stared at Chuuyas shocked face. "Already?" he asked, bewildered, "pretty good for the armed detective agency."

This earned him a sharp kick in the leg from Dazai behind him, which nearly caused him to fall over. "Oi, Idiot!" He yelled, "stop being you for 5 seconds."

As the group reached the PM meeting room they bumped into Atsushi and Akutagawa, who were already inside. "Are those two...talking?" Tanizaki asked, confused. The group stared at the pair of opposites from the doorway.

"Quit staring and sit down, idiots!" yelled Akutagawa, which startled Atsushi.

The group was surprised to see them, seemingly, getting along but nevertheless sat down. The other groups of people began piling in too and ranpo stood u[p and stood at the front of the group.

"Now that everyone is here," he began, "my brilliant self has a lead." he paused, looking around. Was he expecting some kind of applause? Chuuya thought to himself. Ranpo cleared his throat and carried on,

"rude.. Anyway, I know who the bomber is!" he said, proudly.

"Get on with it then.. Tell us who it is." said Akutagawa, annoyed. Atsushi kicked him from under the table and he shot him with a death-glare.

"The bomber is an ability user that goes by the name, Kami bakudan, which means bomber of Gods." Ranpo continued, "His ability allows him to materialise bomb-like devices out of everyday objects with ease. He doesn't even have to be in the same room or touch the object to make it into a bomb."

The people in the room seemed uneasy, this guy seemed super powerful and he probably isn't even the boss of the organization that wants Dazais ability.

"I've narrowed down his location to a barn down east. We'll send Atsushi and Akutagawa to go and deal with him and get some more information that will help me- i mean us- find the name of the organization and hopefully their leader." Stated ranpo, nonchalantly.

Atsushi looked at Akutagawa and then back to ranpo and nodded. "We'll start preparing to leave now." he announced and stood up, Akutagawa following close behind. They stood up and left the room together.

"The rest of you, continue with your duties, and dazai," Ranpo began, looking over at Dazai, "hang in tight."

"I do like the sound of hanging!" he replied, clapping his hands, excitedly. With that a chorus of 'ugh' and 'shut up' echoed around the room and people began returning to their rooms and their tasks.

Atsushi and Akutagawa sat at their separate desks in their room, planning what they would do in the upcoming mission.

"What do you think this guy we're up against then?" asked Atsushi, scribbling a few notes down as he spoke.

Akutagawa looked up from his own notes and shrugged, "weak, like you- easy to beat, probably has no technique." He replied, looking blankly at Atsushi.

"Right, yeah, you're probably right." Atsushi replied, scribbling more notes down. Akutagawa continued to stare at him as he did so.

"I didn't mean you were weak." he added, after a minute.

"What?" said Atsushi, confused as hell, "you literally said weak, like you." he almost laughed.

"No but-" argued Akutagawa, "I just meant your technique is weak, you don't use yourself to the maximum you could." Atsushi stared at the man in front of him, who was now aggressively writing again.

"Uh, thanks I guess?" muttered Atsushi, unsure of what to say. Aktugawa nodded.

After a few more minutes of painful silence, Atsushi decided to break the ice. He was terrified of the reaction he'd get from the older man if he tried to ask something too personal so he just went simple.

"Do you like chocolate?" he stuttered, completely out of the blue. Akutagawa looked up from his plan and gave him a confused look,

"what?" he asked, unsure if he'd heard Atsushi correctly.

"D-do you like chocolate?" he asked again, looking at the confused man across from him. He couldn't help it any longer and burst out laughing, throwing his head back, his white hair following. He had just asked THE Akutagawa, Port Mafia legend, if he likes chocolate. Akutagawa couldn't help it either, he too, started to laugh.

Atsushi turned to look at him, this was the first time he'd seen him smile nevermind laugh. He looked so much better when he was laughing, his dark hair moved to the rhythm of his laughter and his dark eyes seemed to glisten.

Akutagawa noticed Atsushi looking at him and immediately stopped laughing, his eyes going back to their normal state. "Y-yes." he muttered, after a moment.

"Yes, I do like chocolate."