The Younger Kunikida(Rewrite)

3

"I'm sure you said it earlier, but what's your name? I didn't catch it."

After leaving the teashop, Dazai, Emi, and the boy were sitting in a dark warehouse, each of them sitting on a crate. While Dazai was reading, Emi sat beside him, sketching in a pocket-sized sketchbook she always kept in her bomber jacket's left pocket with a simple black pen. Then, a little ways from them sat the boy who just fiddled with his fingers while they waited for- well, he didn't know what for exactly. They both said that they were hunting the tiger and that since it was stalking him, there was a good chance it would show up, but he was still unsure about the entire situation.

A bead of sweat ran down his cheek at Emi's question. "It's Atsushi Nakajima..." She was sitting right next to me when I introduced myself...

She nodded. "Nice to meet'cha Sushi. I look forward to working with ya," she said before resuming the work on her drawing. "What color do you think it'll be, Samu?" she asked as she looked up and over at the taller male.

Diverting his gaze from the book he was reading, he looked at what she was working on. "I'd say white," he replied with a small nod to himself.

"That's what I was thinking." As she began sketching once more, Dazai went back to reading his book.

Atsushi didn't know if it was the sparse lighting, but it almost looked like Emi's eyes were glowing to him. It was as if the minuscule amount of light that was filtering in through the warehouse's giant windows and shutter doors was all being drawn into her otherwise dull-colored eyes, almost like what would happen with an animal. In a way, it was mesmerizing.

For a few minutes, no one spoke, the only sound filling the space being a combination of the faint sound of the wind, the occasional turn of a page, and the scratching of Emi's pen gliding along the paper. If you listened close enough, you could probably even hear the sound of each of them breathing.

"So... do you think it will really come?" Atsushi asked once he finally decided to break the silence that he was slowly beginning to find unnerving.

"It will," Dazai plainly replied before looking up from his book to Atsushi. "But, don't worry. Even when it comes to something like a tiger, it'll be no match for me. Much less both of us. I may not look like much, but I'm a member of the Armed Detective Agency for good reasons."

Emi hummed in agreement without so much as glancing up from her drawing. "And if Mr. Noodle-Arms can't handle it, I've got his back."

Bringing his knees up to his chest, Atsushi lightly chuckled to himself. "You guys sure are amazing, having so much confidence..." His brows knitted upward as he opted to stare down at the floor. Compared to them, he didn't even have a drop of confidence. "As for me... I was always called a "good-for-nothing" in the orphanage... Even now, I don't even know where I'll sleep tonight or when my next meal will be." With a silent sigh, he rested his forehead on his knees. "Trash like me would be better off just dying in the middle of nowhere... or maybe it'd be better to just get eaten alive by that tiger..."

Emi looked up from her drawing and to Atsushi for a moment before looking out the giant windows along with Dazai. The clouds were finally beginning to clear, revealing the bright full moon. 

"Well, then... " Dazai quietly said. "Any moment now."

With the moon being completely uncovered now, the warehouse was illuminated by its light silver glow. Then, as if the light itself caused it, something far back in the warehouse toppled over, making a crashing sound and startling Atsushi in the process. 

"Wh-what was that?!" he asked, looking in the direction of the noise in a panic. "It must be the tiger!!"

"It was just the wind," Dazai plainly answered as he continued reading.