Our Existence

Ch.7 The Guessing Game

The two freeze, instantly stopping from what they were doing a second ago. They turn and face Atsushi and I.

"Oh...I wasn't trying to pry...."

"Guess." Dazai smiles.

"Huh?"

"It's a game we play with the new employees. They have to guess what our former lines of work. Think of it as a part of your training."

"I see..."

Atsushi faces the...siblings...across the table as he thinks. They stopped from what they were doing earlier, and now are waiting for him to guess. After a second, he speaks.

"Tanizaki-san and Naomi-san are...students?"

They smile at us.

"Wow, you got it on the first try." Tanizaki said, impressed.

"How could you tell?" Naomi asks.

"They said Naomi-san is working part-time, and she's wearing a school uniform. So I thought she might be a student. Tanizaki-san seems to be about the same age as my sister and I. So I just followed my gut." Atsushi explains.

"Nice and honest. Okay, how about Kunikida?" Dazai asks.

Kunikida spits his coffee out upon suddenly becoming the topic of conversation.

"My former profession isn't important!"

"Hmm...A civil servant? Some kind of work for the government?" Atsushi guessed.

"A nagging old hag." I guessed.

Kunikida sent me a death glare.

"Close. He used to be a teacher. A math teacher, in fact." Dazai replies.

"Oh~" my twin and I say in unison.

"That explains everything." I add.

"What's that suppose to mean?!"

I just smile as Kunikida sighs.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It's in the past now. I'd rather not think about it."

"Okay, how about me?"

"You...Dazai-san?" Atsushi thinks.

"That's right. Oh, and Ori-chan can't guess."

"Why?"

"You know why... I asked Atsushi-kun."

It's true that I know his past job. But it's not like I can guess it anyway. If I did, I would have a lot of explaining to do. And I'm not ready to tell Atsushi everything yet. I think Dazai is trying to save me the trouble of spilling my guts right now.

Atsushi stares at Dazai's smile, thinking. He's actually thinking pretty hard. If I didn't know already, I would have a hard time guessing too. Seeing him struggle, Kunikida speaks up.

"Give up, kid. His previous line of work is one of the seven mysteries of the Armed Detective Agency."

So his colleagues don't know huh?

"Isn't there a reward for the first person to guess it right?" Tanizaki asked.

My twin gets hyped at the word "reward". But I know Dazai. I bet the reward isn't real. Just a joke he came up with.

"A reward?!"

"That's right. No one ever get it right, so the reward is growing enormous."

"An enormous reward?!"

Don't' get your hopes up, big brother.

"J-Just out of curiosity, how much would this reward be now?"

"700,000 yen in total."

Atsushi suddenly jumps from his seat, startling the siblings across from us.

"Seven! Hundred! Thousand! Y-You'll really give it to me if I get it right? Really?"

Dazai just smirks.

"A suicide enthusiast has no reason to lie."

"Atsushi-kun, your eyes are changing color." Tanizaki observes.

"So much intensity..." Naomi adds.

"That 700,000 is mine!"

Oh boy. And with that, Atsushi begins guessing.

"Stock broker!"

"Wrong."

"Author!"

"Nope."

"Office worker!"

"Wrong again."

"Researcher!"

"Keep guessing."

"Lawyer!"

"No."

"Journalist!"

"Nope."

"Carpenter!"

"No way."

He's just randomly guessing. He's never going to get it right.

"Actor!"

"No, but...I'm flattered."

"I bet you were just wondering around." Kunikida guessed.

"Not true. This is something I'd never lie about. I take it you admit defeat, Atsushi-kun?"

"Argh..."

"Great, you can pay the bill then!" Dazai happily holds up the bill to him.

"Whaat?"

"If you don't have any money on you, just add it to the tab. The agency and this diner, Uzumaki, have a thing going."

Wait. Didn't Kunikida say there was someone complaining about Dazai not paying his tab. Is this the place?

Suddenly, a cell phone begins to ring. It was Tanizaki's.

"Hello, this is Tanizaki... Yes... Okay, of course."

He hangs up the phone.

"A contract?" Kunikida questioned.

"That's right, the client is already at the agency."

Dazai calmly stands and softly smiles.

"Time to get to work. You can try guessing my former occupation again some other time."

So the six of us leave and head to the fourth floor.