A Future Without You

Ch 9: Found You

  "This isn't going anywhere," Dazai sighed, "you're hopeless, Atsushi." He glanced at his watch, "I'm going to head back, now."

  "Back to your husband?" Kyouka asked.

  Dazai's hands twitched as he smiled aggressively, "hahaha no. I've already heard that one today."

  "Who else said you're married?" Sigma asked curiously.

  "Elise," Dazai shook his head, "she's still a menace even without Mori's influence."

  Kyouka smiled, "that's cute. I bet you two act even more like a couple when nobody is around."

  "Would you let it go?" Dazai shook his head, "there's nothing like that between us."

  "Mhm," both Sigma and Kyouka shared a knowing look.

  "Stop plotting against me," Dazai huffed, "I'm leaving." He stomped out of the house.

  Atsushi laid down on the floor pitifully, "I don't know what to talk about now..."

  "How about you ask him iceberg questions?" Sigma suggested.

  ———

  "I was starting to wonder if you were going to leave all the work for me," Ango glanced in Dazai's direction as he came in.

  "Thank god you're back," Chuuya set down the papers in his hands, "my eyes are bleeding just from looking at that."

  Dazai sat down at the desk with a sigh, "as much as I'd love to be doing anything else, I know you need me."

  Ango rolled his eyes, "the sooner we get this done, the better. So far, I'm thinking this code is his will. Though, it would be nice if it gave us the name of the killer..."

  "I doubt it," Dazai sifted through a few papers, "he couldn't predict the future..."

  Chuuya went still at that.

  Dazai looked over at him, "what?"

  "Nothing," he shook his head as he stood up. "I'm going to go check on Elise..." He exited into the hidden room.

  Elise wasn't sleeping. She was sitting up on the bed, flipping through a notebook.

  "What'd you find?" Chuuya asked with a smile as he sat beside her.

  "One of my old notebooks..." she flipped another page. This particular notebook was filled with crayon drawings.

  Chuuya paused, "do you remember when-"

  Elise sighed, "these walls are only soundproof one way, I could hear you guys talking..."

  The mafia boss gently put a hand on her arm, "you predicted Akutagawa's death... What else did you know about?"

  Elise held her tongue.

  "Please, I know it's hard, but if you were able to predict that, there had to have been something else. Anything helps."

  Elise absently flipped a few pages, refusing to look anywhere else.

  Chuuya sighed quietly, "alright..." He stood up, "just let me know if you remember anything..."

  "Strange how human she is now, isn't it?" Dazai smiled to himself as Chuuya came back in.

  Ango nodded, "she was believably human before, but now she's a lot more material."

  Chuuya put his hands in his pockets, "she can hear us, you know. It's only soundproof one way."

  "I know," Dazai leaned back in his chair.