Of course, the moment Akutagawa and Atsushi had walked into the hotel room they were met with bickering, it was very expected considering it was Dazai and Chuuya, though they never expected them to be bickering over something as unimportant as where to place two wine cups, both unaware of the significance behind them.
The two younger males stood utterly dumbfounded at the doorway watching as the two adults (who are supposed to be their superiors) argued much like an old married couple would, it made them wonder why exactly they looked up to them.
"HAHHH?!?!? what do you mean in the CABINET!? That's the worst place you could put them, they're so beautiful and you're saying to put them in that ratchet cabinet??!"
"Obviously, they're not display items, hat-wrack, you're supposed to keep them in cabinets with the other cups."
"And let them rot in there!!?"
"Cups don't rot Chuuya, I knew you were stupid but not this stupid." Dazai deadpanned while foraging through another bag
"MY patience with YOU is slowly rotting you piece of garbage" Chuuya snarled. More and more insults continued to be thrown back and forth until Atsushi hesitantly decided to cut it
"Ummm, c-couldn't you just place them in the glass cabinets over there? That way you could see them and keep them safe..." Dazai and Chuuya turned their heads towards their subordinates then towards the cabinets, then back at each other looking astounded at their own stupidity -personally, Dazai felt like an identity crisis was currently on the horizon. How could he have sunk as low as to be as stupid as Chuuya?
However he (and Chuuya) did notice something else, Akutagawa and Atsushi were holding hands, they seemed to have forgotten to let go upon entering the room.
"Well~ cup business aside how come we haven't been informed of your little, ahem, union?" Dazai questioned with a wiggle of his eyebrows as he placed his chin between his thumb and pointer finger. Making sure to use his words correctly, he knew if he ever overstepped any boundaries, the significant progress they had would have quickly diminished -that, and he knew Chuuya would give him an earful if his subordinate died from a heart attack ensued from the embarrassment that he had brought about.
The tiger and the dragon obviously didn't understand what the other was hinting at until they shifted their bodies around and felt the warmth encompassing one another's hand, the two didn't make eye contact but their gazes landed on their intertwined hands, before lifting to each other's, Ebony eyes meeting Dual-coloured Pink and Yellow ones, they stared stupidly at one another, then quickly pried their hands away. Akutagawa turned his face away masking his embarrassment with a sheepish and self-conscious cough. Atsushi on the other hand scratched the back of his neck, waving his other feebly around mumbling a train of excuses and explanations. Dazai and Chuuya could hardly keep themselves from rupturing into a fit of laughter.
The four then began to start unpacking, Atsushi and Akutagawa still had this delicate atmosphere surrounding them, therefore making them want to keep their distance from one another, if they got close their hearts would start pulsating rapidly.
However, it was quickly becoming apparent that not only were they incapable of staying away from one another, but also having Dazai and Chuuya unpack together was completely and entirely out of the question. Honestly, it was a mystery to both Akutagawa and Atsushi how the two had managed last time, especially considering they were alone at the time.
Only about ten minutes in Atsushi couldn't stand it any longer; the way Akutagawa would glare whenever either Dazai or Chuuya opened their mouth to speak he could tell that he too was reaching his limit of patience and daily dose of human interaction today, considering the fact he was already the most anti-social person Atsushi had ever met, he was astonished Akutagawa had made it this far in the first place.
"Dazai-san, how about you and Chuuya-san go do something outside and let me and Akutagawa handle everything?" The boy suddenly piped up, Dazai averted his gaze towards his co-worker, only just now realising how irritating it must be for Atsushi and Akutagawa to hear him and Chuuya bickering on and on.
The brunet then turned his attention to Chuuya who had already paused what he was doing, looking at Dazai for some sort of answer. He wore his infamous yet characteristic frown, almost as if he was telling Dazai that this was his call to make (much like it always was). The taller detective let out a deep and heavy sigh, feeling extremely grateful towards Atsushi yet again, he really did have to treat him to a good meal soon.
"That's a good idea Atsushi-kun! Come on pipsqeak let's go!" Dazai spoke as if he was calling his dog to which Chuuya grumbled something under his breath about how insufferable the younger was, but nonetheless, he obediently trailed behind him.
"Oh and make sure to use protection if anything happens~" Dazai sing-sang as he walked down the corridor next to Chuuya. His sentence was quickly followed with a few screeches of pain, undoubtedly coming from the smaller mafioso hitting him
'Ow! Ow! I meant in case they get attacked!!"
"Like hell you did! You dickhead!"
Akutagawa sighed as he closed the door, leaning against it, looking at the weretiger exhaustedly, red-faced and embarrassed, causing the latter to let out a relieved laugh, they looked at each other with a small smile, finally some peace and quiet.
"Petite mafioso?" Dazai questioned as they walked down that hotel stairs, (because Chuuya didn't want to get the elevator). The other grunted in response, he really couldn't tell if he loved that nickname or hated it. He was calling him small but the fact Dazai was actually speaking just a tad bit of French, made Chuuya like it. If only he could just have normal feelings for Dazai.
"How about we go-" And then as if he was cursed, his phone rang, the brunet took his phone out his pocket, only to see it was Kunikida, he answered it, preparing to be lectured
"Yea-"
"Dazai we've pinpointed a location of our targets, I'll send you the location" Kunikida spoke, not giving the brunet time to process anything, he seemed just a tad bit excited considering he wasn't even the one doing anything.
"Make sure to take Chuuya and see if he can find any information on the stock from the black market he's looking for."
"Alright, thank you." The phone call ended causing Chuuya and Dazai to glance at each other,
"Well never mind..." Dazai muttered bitterly, his shoulders slumping. Chuuya tried his best to suppress a laugh.
"Don't laugh at me! I was trying to be nice!"
"I'm- I'm not laughing...see? My expression is completely straight."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Oh shut it."
They walked casually towards the car, not in any particular rush to move into some action, considering it was them. Dazai yawned as they stationed themselves in, and then typed the areas into the sat nav. They then drove to where Kunikida had told them to go.
Once they reached the destination , they parked a little wag away from the building, then got out of the car and walked side by side, being careful to remain hidden at the same time.
When they came face to face with the building they were pleasantly surprised to not find it in as much disarray as they had thought it would be. It was mostly intact, the roof fence was also mostly there apart from one small area at the front of the building where it had completely broken off and fallen onto the grass a few meters from where they were standing. There were very few holes in the walls too and they were all boarded up or covered with blankets or some form of insulation, all the doors were working and none of them were smashed or broken, Dazai had to admit this building looked a lot better than the giant mansion that was left to rot on the outskirts of Yokohama.
"Chuuya-san!"
"Dazai-san!"
Chuuya and Dazai's co-workers called out, both split into their respective groups, with Tachihara and Gin sitting nearby a clump of bushes, their bodyguards scattered around the trees while Yosano and Kenji had situated themselves not too far behind some thick trees. Chuuya and Dazai looked at each other, knowing they'd have to split up, neither said anything, so, Chuuya feeling awkward decided to walk away, he took only a few steps, until he felt a tug on his wrists
"Chuuya..." The ginger turned, eyes meeting Dazai's face, he blinked in confusion
"Stay safe and just- just- once your done just stay outside and wait for me." Chuuya felt his heart thump loudly, he neared to Dazai then stared at him, frowning and then flicked him on the forehead
"I'm not a child you bandage-wasting-device." There was a pause as chuuya slipped his wrist from Dazai's grip,
"Stay safe as well, idiot." he spoke then walked ushered off in the other direction, using his hat to cover his red face, Dazai smiled brightly, then turned around to walk over to the agency.
"That was real slick Dazai" Yosano spoke, with a raised eyebrow
"What was?"
"If you expect to romance him with that...well actually by the looks of it, it's working, I'll never understand you people." She huffed with a shake of her head.
The three then huddled together to discuss the plans, apparently, the two groups had already discussed the best course of action.
Dazai nodded as he listened to their plan enthusiastically,
"Wow, You guys are getting good even without Ranpo-san!" He exclaimed getting a wide grin from Kenji
"I came up with most of it!"
"Well done Kenji-kun!" Dazai praised, ruffling his hair fondly.
━━━━✦❘༻🍷༺❘✦━━━━
Chuuya was the first to walk towards the building, he had taken the jacket that sat gracefully on his shoulders off, now holding it with one hand, smirking hotly. Dazai swallowed thickly, trying his best to subdue the slight lust he felt.
A few minutes later Dazai strutted inside, peering victoriously at the various guards sprawled on the floor, Dazai couldn't tell whether they were dead or alive but he definitely knew they weren't getting up anytime soon. He laughed cheekily to himself as he kept walking, though his happiness was short-lived as he ran into a teenage girl.
She had green hair and golden eyes, with round black glasses, she seemed intimidated by him but stood her ground, quite admirable to say the least.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go any further, Dazai Osamu." She announced sternly, Dazai raised an eyebrow in mock amusement as well as a surprise considering she knew who he was, could she be the one who was targeting him and Chuuya?
"How so?" He asked with a shrug, her eyebrows knitted in annoyance
"Listen, I don't want to fight you, quite frankly I'm not capable of beating you with just my ability." She reasoned, looking at him with regretful eyes.
"What's your name?" Dazai questioned completely ignoring anything she had said as he stretched his arms upwards, causing the younger girl to flinch at his ambiguous actions.
"W-why would you need to know that?" She mumbled as her hands swerved the edges of her skirt
"You won't need to hurt or kill me and vice versa if you tell me you're name, in case you didn't know, I'm a detective and that entails me investigating you and your friends and saving you if you are who I know you are."
A look of gratefulness flashed on her expression as she contemplated her ideas in her head, her face contorting in different expressions as she thought it through.
"Fine. M-my name is Six"
"As in the number?"
"Obviously... there aren't any other Six's are there?" she mumbled clearly ashamed by it, Dazai quirked an eyebrow questionably, I was hard to believe someone would push a child out of them and call them after a number.
"It's your actual name?" He asked causing the green-haired girl to redden in embarrassment
"No it's not, I don't know my real name anymore."
Alarms began to blare, filling the room in red, from the small bulbs above them, Six looked around her in a panic she gave Dazai an agitated glance, thinking that they were searching for Dazai and not the other man who had already gotten successfully out of the building. Six's golden eyes frantically searched for a place to hide the detective.
Dazai could tell what she was thinking, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt or threaten. So instead he decided if she was seen unconscious (because if fainting) she had never really seen him, it put her on a clean slate and allowed him to continue with what he needed to do.
"Lay on the floor and pretend you fainted. I don't want to tase you. " Dazai spoke hurriedly, the young girl snapped out of her panic, starting at him owlishly and then she started panicking again.
"Wha- but- but I'm bad at acting! Just...JUST TASE ME- Tase me!" She suggested with a desperate plea, Dazai stared at her stupidly, getting tased was an extremely painful experience, every inch of your body goes through excruciating pain, it causes you to feel weak and disoriented, some people can't even walk afterwards.
Dazai took the taser he had out of pocket (he was a detective, these things were useful if you weren't used to taking your gun out your pocket instead. Like Dazai was)
Dazai nodded hesitantly, if she was determined to do this, then he'd have to be as well, it shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, considering the things he had done up to this point in his life, but it did, a lot.
Dazai walked up to her and patted her on the head, she was young and clearly had a good heart, why she was being forced to work in a brutal world such as this one was beyond him.
Six glanced at him, giving him a small reassuring smile and a nod
"I trust you, believe it or not. Even though you don't exactly know who I am" Dazai cocked his head to the side in confusion, registering the words carefully, he then took a deep breath trying to ignore the beginning of Six's frantic breathing and shaking. Dazai closed off his emotions for a moment, then pressed his thumb to the button that activated zap, he watched as she stumbled back and let out a meek yelp, she stood rooted on her spot starting, dazed at him, until her knees gave out from underneath her, Dazai swooped in and caught her, placing her gently on the ground. Normally tasers weren't enough to knock you out, but maybe it was cause she was young.
Dazai then glanced around him warily, deciding it was best to get away from here knowing that if he decided to stay any longer he'll get caught.
As he ran, he thought about the layout of the building in a logical way, they wouldn't have put important information on the bottom floor close to where unaware people may wander in. The door leading to the room would probably try to seem as inconspicuous as possible (maybe to the point that it's obvious), Dazai kept walking, keeping his attention mostly drawn to the bottom of doors, hoping to see just a faint glimmer of light leak from the crack of space between the door and the floor.
When he reached the third floor, he continued walking over bodies (dead or alive, he had no clue). He kept walking until about midway in the corridor, the other corridors were mostly straight lines with rooms attached to them but this one had a small dip in it, he looked in that direction and found another door there, computer light bled from the other side. The room was disguised as a janitors closet (Dazai couldn't help but think how unoriginal that was and truthfully had expected more) however he pushed that thought aside and smiled triumphantly to himself, his prediction was correct yet again, he hadn't lost his flair to Chuuya just yet.
By the looks of it, the door wasn't locked either, Chuuya maybe have gone in and gotten rid of whoever was inside or he had been so caught up in the adrenaline of showing off his ability he went past it liked the cocky idiot he was. Dazai crept to the door, he then pushed it open as quietly as he could, when the door opened all the way, Dazai saw a man in probably his mid-thirties sitting there facing around eight computer screens, he was chuckling, more than content with watching the chaos outside ensue, while he sat on his ass and did absolutely nothing, not even calling for help. The man was surrounded by grey long file cabinets, no doubt holding the information Dazai was trying to get his hands on.
The detective watched as the man chuckled at a bodyguard who was struggling to get up after being beaten by Chuuya, he was laughing at people who were essentially protecting his sorry self, people who -though they may or may not be bad people- were putting their life on the line for him and the others. Dazai felt immensely irritated at this man's mirth even though people who were on his side were getting killed.
Dazai had come to appreciate people who fought for him, who tried their best to protect him and all the people he cared for, even if alliances were temporary or because they had other motives.
Without thinking very much of what he was doing Dazai pulled out his gun from his coat as if was second nature, pressing the gun to the man's head, the man flinched, turning around slowly as he gulped loudly, meeting Dazai's cold, menacing red eyes.
"Do something I don't like and I'll kill you."
Dazai spoke his voice going dangerously low, everything about him was intimidating, if anyone who knew him from the Mafia saw him, they'd have thought he was eighteen again. The man began to tremble, then nodded frantically whimpering pathetically when the brunet grabbed him harshly by the arm, he snatched him out of his chair, his grip on his arm so hard that the man was sure it would cause a bruise. Now that the pig-of-a-man was out of his seat, Dazai opened the door to a smaller cupboard (which actually had the cleaning items in), and there the man into the cupboard, he hit his head on one of the metal shelves causing him to bleed. Dazai glowered at him one last time
"Mouth shut." He ordered before slamming the door shut, he then placed a chair up to the door handle, preventing him from escaping.
The moment the door closed Dazai sighed heavily, leaning against the desk full of computers, each monitoring what was going on inside the building, with another heavy sigh he ran a hand through his chocolate hair, thinking through his options, he was very much capable of hacking the computers to obtain the information he needed, the only problem with that is that it would take too long and he ran the risk of getting caught. Searching through file cabinets wouldn't take very long if carefully considered where to look and the possibility of him getting caught while searching for files rather than hacking in a -mostly likely- very guarded database was lower, so he opted for the manual way to get information, searching through files, even if it was gruelling and annoying.
The brunet rubbed his hands together, taking a deep breath in, he had to think about this rationally, Six had an ability she said so herself and it was painfully obvious, most ability users don't have normal appearances: Atsushi for example, had silver hair and eyes that were two colours, Akutagawa's hair was black but would whiten at the ends, Kyouka had dark blue hair and even people who seemed normal in appearances had certain quirks about them, take for example Yosano and Tanizaki. Yosano always seemed to take pleasure in scaring the life out of people when she would nearly kill them and then heal them. Tanizaki's personality immediately switched, willing to kill if anyone lay a hand on his sister. Even his and Dostoevsky abilities had affected their physical appearance: Dostoevsky's eyes were purple and would glow menacingly when he had sly ideas, Dazai himself had this, back in his mafia days (and sometimes even now) his eyes would radiate almost a blood-red colour when he felt particularly sadistic (more like empty), or angry. He only knew this because he had happened to catch his reflection in a puddle one time after he had wiped out an entire army platoon to steal their rifles.
With this in mind, the logical reasoning would be to go to the first cabinet and look in the 'A', drawer but the people here clearly weren't idiots they wouldn't be that daft to place it in such obvious places, especially if they were aware that he and Chuuya were after them.
Nonetheless, he searched through the letters A for ability, N for number and finally S which hadn't been marked with anything and he found it particularly suspicious, again he was right and he found what he was looking for.
[Special Abilities (1-7)]
Dazai's heart leapt in his chest when his eyes fell on the seven pages, he was certain they were the leads of the victims the Agency was working to find, he licked the tip of his pointer finger using his saliva to separate the pages. His eyes glimmered in triumph when he found a picture of Six stapled lazily onto a page with all her information. He skimmed through the rest of the pages, every one of the teenagers were named by numbers and each of them had an extremely powerful ability. Dazai took in as much of the information as he could about each of them, then decided it was best to get out of here, he stuffed the file in between his stomach and the hem of his trousers before taking his leave.
He closed the door with a breath of relief but unfortunately, that sweet, sweet moment of dissipating anxiety was short-lived.
"HAH!!!! LOOK ITS DAZAI!!" Dazai turned his head around in a panic, There were two teenagers, both of whom he recognised from the files -the twins One and Two- they had gingery red hair and purple eyes that brimmed with mischief; they were identical in almost every way shape and form even going as far as their height and weight, there were only two differences in between them. Dazai could only tell who was who by the pitch of their voices; Two's voice was slightly higher in pitch than One's.
From the shadows behind the two girls emerged as well as another boy, the brunet flashed a small smile toward Six who was being supported by another girl named Three, she had long black hair with the under-layer of her hair being coloured the same green as her eerily vibrant eyes. The boy, named Four had white hair and a dark complexion his eyes the most dazzling gold colour Dazai had ever seen.
"Well hello! I'd love to stay and chat but I have somewhere to be! So too-da-loo!" He waved, before dashing in the opposite direction, he ran up the countless amount of stairs, so many in fact he vowed to use elevators for the rest of his life.
His attempted escape was futile however and he ended up cornered. He made it to the roof, cheeks flushed from running and lack of oxygen, he tripped over a rock about the size of his fist causing him to tumble near the edge of the building, right where the fence had collapsed. Dazai stumbled stupidly before gaining his balance in an awkward T-pose.
"Hah! We've got him cornered, come on Two hurry up ya bastard!" Two huffed and rolled his eyes with a frown, placing both his hands on his knees so he could catch his breath, he then lifted his hand, not making any effort to move it, instead of his brother enthusiastically slapped their hands together,
"Call me bastard and I'll throw you off the roof" Two huffed as he straightened himself out and hit his brother on the back.
"You'd commit suicide after that, you can't live without me" One retorted matter of factly, placing his hands on hips knowingly,
"You're making it sound like we're in love" Two responded, his eyebrows raised
"Isn't that incest? I don't think I'd be down for that mate." There was silence as they stared at one another like a pair of morons, before cackling.
"Will you two stop being so immature! Our target is right in front of us!" Three glared at them as she emerged from the stairs huffing and puffing, Four was close behind her, carrying Six gently in his arms.
"Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh," the twins said in unison, turning their heads at the same time, towards Dazai who just stood there and watched their interactions, they were all very close, that much was apparent.
"I mean it doesn't matter anyway. We've cornered him, he's practically in handcuffs." One spoke up whilst glancing at Dazai
"You were such a pain to catch Dazai, we had to go to the ends of the world just to get you-"
"Literally." Two interrupted
"Wish we could do something to ease the annoyance we felt." One muttered to himself as he looked up in thought.
As they plotted a weak and silly form of revenge, Four placed Six down gingerly, placing his hand to her forehead to check on her temperature.
"Oh-oh! Throw this at him!" One smiled as he held up the rock that Dazai had tripped on with a knowing smile
"You bloody brilliant git!" Two laughed as he took the stone in his hand, aiming it at Dazai.
They expected some sort of panic from the other to but oddly enough he was the one who seemed to be enjoying this the most.
"Try and aim for my head then." The two twins stared at each other in confusion, before they grinned broadly.
Two juggled the rock between his left and right hand before he finally settled with it in his left hand, he clutched the rock positioning it comfortably in the palm of his left hand, that was the second difference between the two of them, Two was left-handed.
Dazai huffed standing slightly to the right, causing Two to raise his eyebrow at him
"Just making your job easier for you." Dazai justified, sliding his hands in his pockets, Two stuck his tongue out as he closed one eye, trying to concentrate before he swung his arm back and threw. Dazai didn't even flinch as the rock flew by him creating a gash in his cheek, blood slipped down the side of his cheek the rock landing near a clump of bushes on the earth.
Dazai wiped the blood away with the back of his hand before yawning. Most people would have probably started feeling humiliated at Dazai's lack of reaction, but the twins seemed awed by the brunet's unperturbed reaction.
"Woahhh~ You're cool mate!" One called out eagerly as he swung his arm over his brother's shoulders as if to remind him to say something
"Yeah! Teach us all you know!" One responded with a thick grin plastered on his face, Dazai tilted his head but chuckled anyway.
"Absolutely not. We're supposed to take him to boss not sit and learn how his nerves are made of steel." Three finally spoke, walking up to Dazai and she took handcuffs out of her pockets and walked up to the detective, eyeing him stubbornly, however, Dazai didn't miss the apologetic glance she gave him when the handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
"Three, we need to wait for Five and Seven." Four spoke taking his black hoodie off his head, his white hair blowing prettily in the wind. Three sighed
"I'm aware, but we should still put him in the car."
"It's fine~ he can't run away anyway." The twins spoke, Three glared at them as Four looked away with a sneaky amused huff.
"You're just saying that so you can talk to him more." She replied to the twins, trying to tug him by the chain that hung from his handcuffs.
"Well, would you look at that! You actually managed to catch Dazai." A female voice came from the stairs, everyone turned around, relaxing slightly, but still, it felt like they were holding their breaths.
It was Seven and Five.
The first thing Dazai noticed was what they were wearing. Seven's face wasn't visible as a big black hat covered it, it matched her black suit, her dress shirt was white with a black tie that hung lazily and messily around her neck, her blazer came up to her mid-thigh and was tied around her waist with a black leather belt, her hands sat in her trouser pockets. She radiated nothing but sublime confidence.
Dazai wasn't surprised when she raised her gaze so her hat no longer obscured his vision of her face only to find that she had blindingly electric blue eyes and mid-length navy blue hair, her face bore a cocky smirk, though there seemed to be a fraction of surprise too.
Five next to her also stood out, he worse completely different things to her and yet somehow they complemented each other scarily well.
He had a white cardigan on him that made its way to his mid-thigh -like the blazer Seven wore- he had a black dress shirt but no tie, his shirt wasn't tucked into his black jeans either, but he still looked smart, somewhat innocent too if you ignored the two katanas that sat crossed on his back. His hair was blonde and short save for the two bits at the front which managed to reach just above his shoulders, his eyes were red but unlike Dazai's, when they turned red, they held no menace or cockiness.
"I told you we could do it"
Three said proudly, lifting the chain to drag Dazai with her as if he was her dog, but he didn't budge and instead lifted his arms, defensively
"Woah, Woah, I'm sorry but I can't be going with you." Dazai smiled finally speaking properly
"Wha-" Three replied but was interrupted
"You see, there's people I have to go back to, a child-Tiger I have to take care of, people to annoy and a crush to confess to." Dazai admitted, Three could only stare.
"What are you saying? You can't run away from here! It's either cone with us or jump off the roof!" Three retorted desperation laced through her voice, Seven whistled with a chuckle, making Three turn to glare at her, Seven seemed amused.
"Committing suicide is much, much, much better than being handed over to someone so can be killed, it's so unromantic." The brunet replied, Three tugged at the chain of his handcuffs only to have the handcuffs fall off his wrist and clang onto the floor, she stared in disbelief at them, a sense of dread coursing through her body, her eyes never leaving the handcuffs.
Everyone else seemed impossibly impressed, the twins turned to each other almost blushing as they whispered to each other enthusiastically. Six still sat on the floor watching everything unfold from the sidelines, Four just watched with raised eyebrows, though Dazai didn't miss the glance he stole towards Seven and Five.
"You- you can't-" Three finally spoke locking her eyes with Dazai's
"- you-you have nowhere to run, no one in their right mind would just jump off a building and commit suicide so easily!" She exclaimed throwing her arms in the air in frustration, Dazai simply smiled stepping backwards, lifting his hand to his forehead, he winked as he saluted them
"Good thing that I'm not in my right mind."
And then he fell backwards, leaving almost everyone astonished.