The next morning had to be one of the most difficult (Y/n) ever had to face – not just because she wanted to just stay in her apartment with Dazai for the rest of the day.
She stood outside the agency's office door, the letter crumpled up in her hands. She wore her usual attire, including her (f/c) rain jacket and matching boots, but it still felt like she was wearing a space suit and was about to trek into alien territory.
Dazai stood behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her own thoughts. She shook off her nerves and looked back to him. "Is this really the best idea? What if someone else gets seriously hurt in the process of finding Nico and eventually Usotsuki?"
"Remember the last time you tried hiding something from the other agents? It got you kicked off of a case and led to a whole chain of events," he rebutted.
It may have been harsh, but he was right. She did need to tell them. There was no better group to handle such a difficult and dangerous case.
(Y/n) opened the door, Dazai followed close behind her into the office area. It was bright inside, a mixture of fluorescents and natural light poured into the large room. Members of the agency were at their desks, excluding Yosano as she was most likely in her own office.
Ranpo sat at his facing opposite of the front door, a stack of sweets and chips acting as a wall that most likely needed the Colossal Titan to take down. Kenji and Tanizaki were at their respective desks, working on whatever was handed to them in the immediate aftermath of the Guild's terror. Naomi was in and out of the main office, wandering especially close to Tanizaki's desk when she had the chance. Atsushi was standing beside Kunikida's desk, receiving instructions on a file as he listened attentively. Kyoka was at her own desk, organizing the small amount of supplies she had been provided.
(Y/n) was almost sad to share the creepy situation that would inevitably ruin the productive and somewhat peaceful atmosphere. She thought as she approached Fukuzawa's office, But it has to be done. I can't keep any secrets – I need help.
She walked to the office, knocking on the door and entering without a word to anyone on the way. As soon as the door closed behind her, Dazai sat at his desk and slumped against it.
Atsushi walked back to his own desk, sitting between him and Kyoka. He placed the file on his desk, turning towards Dazai as he heard the older agent let out a heavy sigh. He looked between him and the President's door, realizing his eyes were basically burning holes into the wood with his intense stare.
"Dazai," Atsushi gained his attention, "why are you staring at the President's door so intensely? Is something going to happen?"
"Most likely, Atsushi." Dazai sat up, leaning back as he rested his hands on the back of his head, intertwining his fingers. "(Y/n)'s in there right now presenting a case that is quite important and time-sensitive."
"A case?" Atsushi repeated in a questioning tone, gaining the attention of the rest of the agents in the room. "What's wrong? Did something happen recently?"
"Yes and no. You'll learn what's happening pretty soon."
Atsushi, and anyone within earshot, grew increasingly confused. He exchanged a glance with Kyoka, only to earn basically no emotion from her as she simply sat at her desk, messing with some notepads she had been given.
"What are you talking about, Dazai?" Kunikida questioned, pulling his attention away from the multiple files lying on his desk. "What case is so important that you can't even talk about it?"
"It's not that I can't talk about it," the door to Fukuzawa's office opened and revealed (Y/n) and him walking out, "I just wouldn't be able to fully explain it."
Fukuzawa stepped forward, grabbing the attention of the agents as they turned to him. Yosano had managed to hear some of the commotion and came out of her office and into the main room.
"Everyone come to the meeting room in five minutes," he announced, (Y/n) stood beside him as she held the letter close to her chest. "I know we've had our work cut out for us these past few weeks, but we have another case that is of the upmost importance."
Everyone sat around the table, except for (Y/n), who stood at the front with the whiteboard behind her filled with notes and photographs. While she was visibly nervous walking into the agency earlier that morning, she now had a stern demeanor that seemed to command a room without uttering a single word.
"What is this all about?" Kunikida asked, his eyes switching between the board and her. "Why are there pictures of Zack Fujinuma there? Did something relating to him occur? I thought he was still missing."
"In a sense, something did happen that relates to Fujinuma," (Y/n) began, walking to the other side of the board as she gestured to his picture. "But this case isn't completely surrounding him. It wouldn't be possible."
"That's because Fujinuma's dead!" Ranpo stated after he finished eating a large lollipop. "Unless we now believe in the existence of ghosts, it wouldn't be possible for him to be the culprit in this case."
"Oh no! Kunikida should sit out on this one if there are ghosts!" Dazai mocked, his mouth growing into a toothy grin.
Kunikida shot him a nasty look, turning his attention back to (Y/n). "Is this true? Is Fujinuma really dead?"
"Yes, he is," she confirmed. "And that's part of the problem."
She pulled the letter out from under one of the magnets. "Yesterday, my previous place of work and living received this letter that poses as a threat. It is signed with Fujinuma's initials, but we are aware it wasn't him sending the letter because he died two years ago."
Kunikida silently gestured for her to hand it to him as Atsushi asked, "Wait, so if this Fujinuma is dead, who's sending you letters? Is it some kind of sick joke?"
"That's what I thought at first," she continued. "But a couple days ago, not too long before the Moby Dick crashed, I rescued a young man named Nico Soma. His colleagues attempted to murder him under orders from an outside source after they found out he planned to tell a target they were stalking/monitoring about their plans to kill them."
"Who's the target?"
"Me." The atmosphere in the room darkened instantly. "The outside source, a person that goes by the name Usotsuki, had paid these young adults and teens to watch me and eventually kill me. It is with reasonable cause that we assume that the letter I received was sent and written by Usotsuki."
"So what do you plan to do, (Y/n)?" Yosano questioned. "Our only lead seems to be this Nico Soma and the letter. That's not much."
"It's enough for a running start." She took the letter back from Kunikida, eyeing it for about a minute before letting out a heavy sigh. "Before we do anything, I should warn you, Fujinuma was a vicious and violent man. With this in mind, whoever is threatening me may now be threatening you with that same level of carnage in mind – especially if they have any sort of relation to Fujinuma. Please be careful."
Kunikida stood up from his seat, causing her to hold her breath from the sudden action. He turned to her, pushing up his glasses as he asked, "What is your move, (Y/n)?
"What do you need us to do?"
(Y/n) walked down the street, Kunikida not too far behind her. It was a little after ten, and she knew for sure that Hinami would not be in the Ripped Page per her instructions.
"You know, I could've gone alone, Kunikida," she said, her hands stuffed deeply into her pockets. "You didn't have to come with me."
"You would not say the same thing if I were that idiot Dazai," he retorted, looking up from his notebook.
She remained silent, confirming that he was correct. He let out a sigh, closing his notebook and tucking it within his vest. "I know you originally planned for him to go with you to the Ripped Page to pick up your belongings, but it's better for him and Atsushi to return to the area where you had found Soma to look for some clues or connections."
"I understand that, I really do." She looked back to him. "This is going to be hard to do – emotionally. And, no offense, Kunikida, but you don't really know as much about my situation with Hinami as Dazai did. Plus, your tactics in consoling aren't exactly top-tier."
"What are you talking about?" He furrowed his brows. "I'm excellent at consoling others – I have a couple pages filled with techniques and methods to help others in emotional situations."
She stopped on the sidewalk and fully turned towards him. "You just proved my point. You can't just expect someone to feel better if you use some weird technique you looked up, learned, or were told by another person using it. It all pertains to the situation and who you're consoling." A soft smile crossed her lips. "One technique can't work on everyone, Kunikida."
He had no response to her statement, he didn't need one. There was nothing else to say as they arrived at the Ripped Page.
(Y/n) pulled out her key, unlocking the door and entering despite the CLOSED sign hung in the window that was still intact. Kunikida followed her in, watching as she left her personal key on the counter they passed as they went towards the back and towards the penthouse.
As (Y/n) entered the large room, she could feel the emotions she had been attempting to push away come back within her. Her chest tightened as she stepped further within it, slowly making her way towards her room.
"Asagiri seems to be quite the slob." Kunikida was not wrong.
The entire place was a mess. Items appeared to have been broken and thrown around, the pillows on the couch stomped on and all over the floor, plates piled up in the sink and some broken on the ground. There was even a hole in one of the walls, a little bit of dried blood that may have been left over after an attempt to clean it up.
"An intrusion? Could Asagiri been the target—"
"No." She cut him off, continuing to her room as she attempted to ignore the mess. "Hinami wouldn't have been kidnapped – she's way too strong and stubborn for that to happen. She made this mess, but I'm not going to clean it up for her." She stepped into her room, pushing the cracked door fully open. "Not anymore."
Kunikida followed her into the room, attempting to ignore the mess but was less successful. He walked into (Y/n)'s room, finding her beside the twin bed she had slept on for so long packing whatever was left into one of the two boxes that were in her room.
She hadn't ever fully unpacked into the room, leaving the two boxes she had brought nearly fully packed along with the small suitcase she had laying by the open closet door. There wasn't much in the closet either, most of the clothes still neatly packed into her suitcase.
"You never planned on staying here, did you?"
(Y/n) froze. She didn't look away from the box she was packing as she said, "No, I didn't. Hinami knew that I wasn't going to work at a bookstore until the day that I die, whether that be sooner or later." She closed the box and stood up. "This day was coming, it just hurt a lot more than I thought it would."
She walked past him and out the door. "I'm going to get some packing tape. Could you just put the boxes on the bed so we can seal them? Then I just need to finish packing my suitcase and we can leave."
"Alright..." Kunikida's eyes followed her as she left.
Five minutes passed and she had not returned. Maybe Hinami moved it somewhere else since (Y/n) returned to the agency, Kunikida tried to rationalize.
He grew concerned when ten minutes had passed and she had not returned. He stepped out of the room, peeking out from the doorway as he asked, "Did you find the tape, (Y/n)? Do you need any help?"
He stepped towards the kitchen, a quiet noise drawing him towards it. It sounded like the sound of paper crumpling up mixed with plastic, but he couldn't be too sure. He rounded the counter, finding her sitting against the drawers with the tape resting in her lap.
He kneeled down to her left, softly placing his hand on hers. "What's wrong, (Y/n)? Do you feel sick?"
She reached behind her, the paper sound growing louder as she pulled out a plastic bag – one that you would receive from a convenience store. Her hand slumped down as the bag fell to the ground. Kunikida reached for it, pulling it open as he looked inside.
Inside were hundreds of tiny paper pieces. Some of the edges rough as if they had been torn while others were cleanly cut. Writing was on them, but none of the legible words made any sense as to why she had suddenly grown so distraught over them.
That was until he saw one of the pieces that had legible writing:
Yours truly,
Osamu Dazai
"These pieces... Were these letters that you and Dazai exchanged over the past two years? Were—Are you two together?"
She silently nodded.
He paused. "Are these all of the letters?"
She nodded again.
He placed the bag down and pulled out his notebook. He flipped to the pages filled with techniques for consoling others, searching between them and checking on her. Her words echoed in his mind and he let out a sigh, closing the notebook before placing it back into his vest.
"Come here," he quietly said as he reached for her, wrapping his arms around her as her face dug into his shoulder.
He kept her close, rubbing her back as she finally let out the cry that she had been holding in. Whether she had been holding it in since their arrival or from her discovery didn't matter, it hurt nonetheless.
When would it end?