Dazai stepped towards the small house first. (Y/n) stopped just behind him as she kept the hood to her jacket up, covering her (h/c) hair as she rested her hands at her sides.
He simply said as they stood in front of the brick cottage, "So this is where Q is being kept."
I suppose if you're partnered with Dazai, tasks like finding locations aren't too difficult, she thought as she opened her mouth to add on.
She was unable to get anything out before a couple spotlights lit up, bright lights pouring onto the two as a large group of men appeared. They pointed their guns at them, (Y/n) reaching down for her pistol with her right and the water bottle in her pocket with her left.
"Good evening," a calm and almost cute voice greeted the duo, a pair of footsteps approaching them from behind. "Our strategist is adept at reading the enemy's actions."
The detective duo turned around, (Y/n) pulling her hands away from her weapons as she rested them on her hips. There, in front of the group of gunmen, were two members of the Guild: John Steinbeck and Lovecraft.
"Of course, it's a trap," Dazai said as he quirked an eyebrow.
(Y/n) looked between him and the two Guild members, trying to figure out what she should do in the standoff. If she were to pull out her gun, there was almost no doubt that she would've been shot.
But if she pulled out her water bottle and attempted to use her ability, she would've been shot the second she spat out Ryuji's name—she was sure that they knew that she was an ability user. Otherwise, why would she have gone there with someone who appeared to be injured let alone unarmed?
She was ripped away from her thoughts as she felt a slight buzz in the back of her head, a familiar sensation she hadn't felt for years. She looked down at her hand, noticing a dimly glowing blue wavy curve appear for a brief moment—but it disappeared as soon as she laid her eyes on it.
The buzz grew stronger, causing her to reach under her hood and rub the back of her head—the reason for the sensation appearing in a rock with a red outline taking out a huge portion of the Guild gunmen and throwing them through the forest ahead—including Lovecraft.
Of course he was right, (Y/n) thought as the buzzing stopped, spotting the familiar redhead mafioso as he took out the gunners left and right. He tossed them around and shoved them into the ground, using his extremely intimidating ability through the entire process. I hate when he's right. Well, I suppose that this'll be awkward—mainly for me rather than Chuuya.
She looked up to Dazai, who scratched his head, ruffling up his already somewhat messy waves, and glared at Chuuya as he continued to take out members. Chuuya stepped forward, putting his hands on his hips as he glared at Dazai, Steinbeck standing in between them, "Let me set one thing straight." He pointed to the remaining gunmen behind him. "Once I'm done taking out the trash, you're next."
"I knew it." Dazai turned his head away from him. "This is why I wasn't feeling up for it today."
Yeah... (Y/n) raised her eyebrows as she looked to Dazai, flicking her eyes between him and Chuuya. That's definitely the reason why.
"I never heard anything about this surprise attack in the strategic forecasts!" Steinbeck exclaimed in an irritated manner. He held his hand out, a branch from his ability shooting into the ground.
Dazai stepped over, patting his shoulder as he said, "Sorry, you don't get to do that."
This promptly caused the branch to disappear, Steinbeck stating in response, "The gift-disabling ability."
Dazai groaned. "This sucks."
"That's my line!" Chuuya barked back, appearing in front of Steinbeck and kicking him away.
(Y/n) watched as the blonde flew into the trees beside them, widening her eyes at the sheer power. Woah... I've never really seen Chuuya's ability in action. My ability pales in comparison to his...
That was when she noticed a gunman about to shoot one of the two men, going unnoticed by both of them in that brief moment. She whipped out her pistol, aiming it and managing to shoot the enemy in the shoulder. She took a second shot to his chest as he dropped his firearm and fell to the ground.
"See! I knew you had good aim!" Dazai said as she lowered her weapon, turning back to him as the hood threatened to fall back down. "Now, how about you summon that little friend of yours."
"Don't make me hit you," she snapped back, stepping back as Chuuya threw his coat aside and Dazai pulled his cast-covered arm out of the sling. "Cause I will do it."
"Eh—I suppose having you around makes hanging out with him a bit better," Dazai commented with a slight shrug as he turned back towards the gunmen.
Chuuya rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? I thought you were dedicated to (Y/n). Now you have some other woman with a pistol as a coworker?"
"You act as if a pistol is bad." (Y/n) reached up, pulling down her hood as she shook her head, freeing some of her hair from the covered position. "Not all of us can use our abilities on a whim."
She laughed slightly as his clearly surprised expression. "Don't look so shocked. Save that for after we no longer have a large amount of guns pointing at us."
Taking out the gunmen wasn't as difficult as (Y/n) thought it would be. While she knew that it would take a bit with just her and Dazai, working with Chuuya cut the time to nearly a third of what she estimated.
She shot one last time at one of the Guild gunner's shoulders, taking him out for the count as she checked the magazine. She muttered as she closed it and shoved it into her holster, "That was my last magazine cartridge. Damn it, I thought I brought enough."
Dazai walked over, grabbing her arm as he said, "Don't worry about it. Just use that water bottle you brought. It should be enough to summon you-know-who."
She furrowed her brows. "It's not dangerous to say Ryuji's name. Wait... Did you just forget his name?"
Dazai didn't answer, turning on his heel as he began to walk towards the brick cottage. She growled slightly in the back of her throat. "Are you kidding me?!"
(Y/n) rolled her eyes, shoving her hands into her pockets as she scurried towards the door. Dazai began walking inside with Chuuya, (Y/n) slightly behind them as he asked, "Yo, Dazai, ever heard of Pétrus?"
"The flabbergastingly expensive wine."
"The night you vanished from the organization, I opened an '89 bottle in celebration. That's how sick of you I was."
"I remember setting a bomb under your car that night."
"That was your doing?!"
Jesus, what the hell were these guys doing when Dazai left the Port Mafia? One opens an expensive wine and the other tries to blow them up, she shook her head as the thought ran through her mind, the duo stating that they hated each other as they walked down the stairs. I don't have a clue what goes through their heads.
"The only think I like about you, maybe, is your taste in shoes."
Chuuya stopped on the stairs, (Y/n) pausing as Dazai kept walking. "You think?"
"Just kidding, of course."
"You...!" Chuuya attempted to kick Dazai, only for him to gracefully jump down the stairs in response.
"Give it up. I'm familiar with your attacks. Your timing, your thrusts..."
"I was going easy on you. If I were serious, I would have pulverized your skull."
(Y/n) shook her head at their banter, Dazai taking the lead on the rest of the way down as she kept at a slight distance between her and Chuuya. But this didn't last for long as he turned back to her while continuing to walk.
"I suppose this means that you've decided to rejoin the detective agency that idiot, Dazai, is a part of," he said as he kept his hands on his hips. "Neither of us got to say a proper goodbye to the other after that day."
"Well, it was either watch you and Dazai beat the crap out of each other or knock you out and drag him off," she responded with a slight shrug, attempting to hide the nerves peeking through her words. "But I suppose I could've left a note or something..."
Chuuya shook his head at her recollection on the situation. "I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do. But if you ever want to become an assistant of mine—"
"Careful, Chuuya!" Dazai interrupted, pausing on the steps and turning back slightly towards them. "If you don't watch where you're going, that big head of yours might get caught on something!"
"You—"
(Y/n) rolled her eyes again at their banter, slowing down as her brief conversation with Chuuya ended abruptly. I can sort of see how these two were partners in the Port Mafia. Personality-wise—no. But ability and combat-wise—absolutely.
"Wait, so if you're back," Chuuya turned back to (Y/n) after he was done bickering with Dazai, "then does that mean that you decided to go out with that dumbass in poor taste?"
She froze at the question.
Sure, she and Dazai had exchanged kisses and affection, but they hadn't gone on a proper date let alone discuss the idea of actually becoming a couple. Despite two years of sharing a couple letters and many scenarios of the two of them moving on from just—whatever they were—to something more.
She opened her mouth to answer, but Dazai piped up before she could get a word out, "That's something we've been meaning to discuss after we're done rescuing Q and dealing with the Guild."
(Y/n) widened her eyes slightly as Dazai turned towards her, his dark ones meeting her (e/c) ones. A small smirk came across his lips as hers parted ever so slightly.
Chuuya looked between the two, letting out a groan as he continued walking down the stairs. "You guys can do whatever once we're out of here. Just try not to make goo-goo eyes right in front of me."
She felt her cheeks heat up as Dazai winked, turning away and walking in front of Chuuya. She gripped the end of her jacket, letting out a breath through her nose before following the two.
Yeah. We can talk about it after we're done.