That Fucker! (Shin Soukoku) [Rewritten]

Chapter 3: Plan A.

A/N. I'm sorry. I have returned. Take this boring ahh chapter before the fun stuff starts happening. It's short because I couldn't take another moment trying to overcome the impossibly strong writer's block (and anxiety) that it was causing me.

Akutagawa

A call. One singular call set millions of little pinpricks down Akutagawa's entire body. If he was still dazed or sleepy five minutes ago, he was now wide awake and staring at his phone. The caller id very clearly read 'Dazai' and though he was wide awake, Akutagawa thought he was still dreaming. Had Dazai finally come to his senses? Had he finally seen how unworthy Atsushi was of his attention and mentoring? Did he finally want to come back to work for the Port Mafia? To finally come back to where Akutagawa could reach him?

No. How foolish these thoughts were. He had let himself hope, something he didn't see worth in. What a joke. Dazai didn't want to offer his acceptance or his praise. He wasn't calling for any reason that satisfied Akutagawa. In

"Hello, hello, Akutagawa!" Dazai's voice chimed through the phone.

Akutagawa said nothing, staring at the door across from his bed. He couldn't quite understand what was happening but wanted to know. He needed to know.

"Listen. I know about the bond between you and Atsushi. It's quite dangerous, due to your line of work. And Atsushi's for that matter. So, I have a proposition." Dazai said and for a while there was silence.

Akutagawa wasn't sure what to feel. Should he hang up? Tell Dazai off? Find Atsushi and kill that bastard because he has somehow managed to put him on the spot? That's right, if he and Atsushi had never run into each other that day, this wouldn't be happening. He wouldn't have to listen to Dazai speaking to him like some rookie who'll hurt himself at the first hit he receives. He wouldn't have a weird jitter in his chest, clenching his heart as he tries to find the right words or feelings to display.

The conversation and his thoughts felt too much for Akutagawa as if everything was too fast. Even so, a loud voice in his head, that was telling him to get himself together, drowned out all the other thoughts, and he took a breath. Then, he answered.

In his usual cold tone, which hung like an unfinished note in the air, Akutagawa simply said: "I'm listening."

***

He didn't understand it. The puzzle pieces in Akutagawa's head didn't connect, making him frustrated. Why had he said yes? Why had he agreed to this absolute nightmare of a plan? He and Atsushi in one apartment? Living together? He'd rather throw himself off the tallest building in Yokohama than go through that but now it was too late. He'd said yes. Akutagawa considered himself an honest man. Not good, just honest. Ruthless, honest, strong.

So why had he agreed? He didn't want to admit it, but if the caller had been anyone else, but Dazai, he wouldn't have bothered to pick up the phone. How stupid and pathetic and useless. He couldn't make rational decisions when faced with his old mentor. It's like something inside him stopped working whenever someone as much as mentioned Dazai around him.

Akutagawa wasn't sure how he'd share an apartment with someone he must kill in a few weeks for an unknown time. He should be out there hunting those cursed twins down; he could end this right now, but his task had proved itself to be more difficult than he imagined. There was no trace of them.

He'd tried to hunt the twins down, but every attempt led him to a dead end. It was like they had been an illusion, a figment of his imagination, and that it had all been a dream. But no, the random jabs and pinches he received throughout the past 5 days reminded him of the unfortunate reality - he was stuck with the one person he couldn't stand to be around for more than a few minutes. (On a good day.)