Chuuya gazed out proudly at the scene before him; they had just completed another successful mission and now the clean up crew was tidying up the mess, while everyone cleaned themselves up, getting ready to leave. Everything was going perfectly. Akutagawa was currently filling in well for his sister, who was currently halfway across the country on a stealth mission, helping the black lizard group gather up the hostages and the targets and Chuuya was just watching like a proud father. He'd gladly continue watching over them but a soft vibration from his pocket promptly alerted the redhead that his attention was requested by someone else. Without checking who was calling, Chuuya sighed out as he pulled out his phone and instantly answered the call.
"What do you want Mackerel, you do know i'm working, right?" Chuuya asked, slightly irked at the spontaneous call but not too much because he could never be seriously mad at his husband for just calling,
"Ah a ah, calm down my dear chibi, i finally get the phone answered and i'm immediately interrogated. Where's the love in that? And before you say anything, I know for a fact you just successfully completed a mission so you have all the time in the world to chat!" Dazai playfully counted, the sound of him spinning on his chair could easily be heard down the phone,
"Ok, you're right; i'm free. i'll admit my reaction was a bit brash but it's expected to ask what someone wants when they call so, what do you want?" Chuuya repeated the question again but with a softer voice, being genuinely intrigued about what his husband was calling about this time.
"Ok good, So i've been doing some research and there's one agency i've found that doesn't ask to much about the parents belongs they can make sure they can provide a happy home so you wouldn't have to worry about your Mafia background getting in the way..." Dazai explained and Chuuya let out another sigh as he caught on to where Dazai was going with this.
About a month ago, when Chuuya had gotten really drunk, the redhead had accidentally revealed how he had always wanted to have kids but knew he couldn't with his life and situation, and Dazai instantly latched onto that. Ever since that night, the waste of bandages had been looking into different ways for them to have kids, and different adoption agencies they could try, hoping to prove to the redhead that his dream could still come true. However, despite all his worries being resolved, Chuuya kept shooting the offers down, coming up with different excuses each and every time. The honest reason why he never agreed, though he really wanted to raise a child, was that he wasn't sure they could be good parents, especially Dazai, and he knew it wasn't fair to judge his partner that way but he couldn't help it. Both of them were already fucked up enough, he didn't want to risk fucking up another child's life with their bad parenting, so he just dropped that dream and hoped Dazai would too. Sadly, his husband would not drop the matter; although Chuuya had tried his hardest to hide it, Dazai had managed to figure out the true reason his husband was running from the chance to have kids and absolutely hated that he was holding Chuuya back, so he would try to prove to his partner that they could be good parents, that way Chuuya could make a confident decision and have his dream come true. Slowly but surely, it was becoming harder for the redhead to ignore the offers and truth be told Chuuya was definitely being worn down.
"Dazai, i'm just not ready... How about we just wait a month..... fine a week? A week of no talk of this and then we can discuss it in detail?" Chuuya offered,
"Deal." Dazai quickly agreed, quite happy with the success of his past negotiations cumulating to this,
"Anyway, aren't you supposed to be working too? Were you doing this research, slacking off, instead of work?" Chuuya questioned, inquisitively. A bold smirk growing on his face, as the nervous silence on the other end spoke for all.
"Haha! You were, oh you stupid mackerel. You should really get back to work or else Kunikida will-" Chuuya instantly stopped laughing, his smirk vanishing with the appearance of a new found concern at the noise of a sudden explosion. Without hesitation, the redhead turned on his heels in the direction of the noise and became quite startled by the sight he saw. Shockingly, there was no sign of any explosion, no rubble,no shrapnel nor fire, only a big wall of smoke which , as it dissipated, revealed a small teenager, but this wasn't any old child but in fact the one and only Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, currently as his fourteen year old self.
"Dazai i'm going to have to call you back later. A more pressing matter has arisen." Chuuya apologised as he quickly ended the call, not giving his husband a chance to ask any questions, because what was he meant to say, he was just as confused as everyone else.
What in hell's name had just happened? One moment Akutagawa was just fine, helping the black lizard's with the hostages and targets perfectly, then suddenly a huge explosion occurs and now Akutagawa is standing there, visibly six years younger. How the fuck did that happen? The only answer of course was an ability, but they had everyone under close inspection, so when did the assailant get a chance to attack? Plus, last time Chuuya checked, no one here had an age related ability so this whole situation shouldn't even be possible. The whole occurrence was confusing Chuuya out the more he thought about it, it was utterly incomprehensible, and as he looked around at everyone else, it all seemed like they felt the same. They were all in this boat of confusion together. The one person who was most confused out of them all was of course Akutagawa himself. He was staring out at his surroundings utterly lost, last he recalled he was with his sister and now he was here and he had no idea where here was. Speaking of his sister, where was she? Akutagawa looked round frantically at all the faces and as more and more didn't show his sister, his heartbeat started to race faster and he soon became much more nervous and frantic then before.
"Where's my sister? Where is Gin?" Akutagawa screamed out, his voice full of panic. He was in an unknown situation where his lack of knowledge easily put him at a disadvantage and he hated every bit of it. He never liked being weak and vulnerable, but in this situation he could be described as nothing but that. Everything about it all filled him with uncontrollable fear and it just felt completely anxiety inducing, like the worst experience in his life. He was a lone kid in an open area, anything could happen. His movements were very jittery and berserk and he was unable to remain still. He was flinching at every noise and all these strange faces surrounding him were making him feel really uneasy. His stomach churned and the world started to spin as everything seemed to close in on him and all while this happened, he was still struggling to find his sister which certainly wasn't helping to calm him down.
"Akutagawa-"
"How do you know my name? Who are you?" Akutagawa screamed out, even more frantically than before. He had instantly spun round to face the speaker when he had heard his name, hoping to see a familiar face or any sign of comfort, but he was quite startled to see a random redhead staring back at him. A random stranger knew his name. A random stranger knew his name. A random stranger knew his name! That had an awful lot of horrible implications and he really didn't want to stick around to find out what would become of them. His heart rate picked up pace as he retreated slowly but quickly stopped in his tracks. If they knew his name, then they likely also knew Gin's. They certainly didn't look surprised when he had screamed her name earlier. No, at this point, Akutagawa was almost completely confident they knew Gin, so he couldn't leave until he was assured of his sister's safety or that she at least wasn't here.
"Where is Gin?" Akutagawa repeated, panic still deep in his voice as he willed himself to stand still in the name of his sister's safety.
"Akutagawa calm down, everything is going to be ok..." Chuuya soothed out trying to alleviate the fear in his friend's eyes but sadly, to Akutagawa, his words only sounded like deceiving lies from a stranger.
Nevertheless, despite his efforts so far turning up fruitless, Chuuya was still going to try his best to help. Things certainly must seem terrifying so if there was a way he could ease that fear he had to try, but sometimes too much help can cause harm if the wrong steps were made, and that's what Chuuya accidentally did. The situation at the moment was manageable but that immediately changed when Chuuya made the stupid decision to move towards Akutagawa, if only he knew how disastrous a decision that was, then Chuuya would've never moved and would have stayed exactly where he was. Watching the random stranger walk towards him caused Akutagawa's nerves to spike, but this wasn't any random stranger, this was a stranger who knew his name so him coming towards him couldn't be a good sign. That very fact sent Akutagawa's mind into overdrive and he was quickly going haywire. Soon Akutagawa was moving erratically as his breathing suddenly sped up, and his heart started to race out of his chest. The world was spinning faster and his mind was going blank. Akutagawa was flailing his arms around frantically in defensive motions, not paying attention to his actions, and was making big steps backwards in retreat to a hopeful safety. Everything was getting too overwhelming and he couldn't stop the words from slipping out in a panic induced mess.
"Stay away from me! Stay away from me! Stay away from me!" Akutagawa screamed out frantically, like the fear filled child he currently was, but it was already too late. A tendril of Rashoumon had pierced into Chuuya's upper left arm, making the executive draw to a halt; luckily it didn't go through completely since Chuuya managed to stop it before it went too deep, but still, Rashomon had pierced Chuuya. Upon realising this. Akutagawa stopped flailing about and froze still, staring at the wounded stranger. What had he done? He was safe until he had attacked, surely they won't take this lightly. He couldn't stay here anymore, even if it was for Gin. He couldn't save her if he got killed so he'll just have to come back here later. Therefore, in the name of survival, Akutagawa quickly turned on his feet and ran off, using rashomon to move faster and soon was gone off too far in the distance for the others to see him.
"Akutagawa!" Chuuya called out in vain, as he clutched onto his wounded arm, but Akutagawa was too far gone to hear.
⚪⚪⚪
Atsushi was just walking back to the ADA from his lunch break when he heard a quiet sob. His weretiger hearing picked up on the soft sobs of a child and the noise forced him to stop there and then. The sobs were so soft and filled with sorrow that Atsushi couldn't ignore them. His heart swelled with empathy as he related to tearful cries, that mirrored his memories. He couldn't just leave a child crying, especially not when it reminded him so much of his past, he'd never forgive himself if he did. Therefore, Atsushi let his ears lead the way as he followed the sound of quiet sobs through the streets of Yokohama until he ended up in a back alley near the agency. Before Atsushi, curled up in a ball, was the source of the noise, a child crying quietly, but as Atsushi got closer the child morphed into a familiar sight of one particular black haired mafioso, that he knew all too well. However this boy was clearly a young child, roughly around fourteen was what Atsushi would estimate, and the last time the weretiger checked, his boyfriend was a big, old, grumpy twenty year old, not this young child. Yet the resemblance was uncanny and it seemed to make Atsushi want to help the child even more.
"Are you ok?" Atsushi softly asked, sitting down near the kid, close enough that he could be seen but far enough that he wasn't encroaching in the other's space. Atsushi's voice was quite soft and he was worried the boy didn't hear him because of it, but after a minute or so, the child looked up to acknowledge his presence. He stared up at Atsushi with a familiar grumpy expression and he could easily tell the boy was trying to pretend he wasn't just crying.
"What do you want?" the child spat out, hiding behind an obvious facade,
"You seemed sad. I wanted to see if i could help?" Atsushi explained with a gentle smile,
"So, why do you even care?" the boy laughed out,
"Because it's nice to help others and i like being nice." Atsushi simply stated, that gentle smile of his remaining on his face,
"Is that meant to mean something to me, words mean nothing, anyone can say anything and not mean it." the boy continued to laugh, mocking the weretiger's pretend kindness. Atsushi remained quiet as he watched the teen bitterly laugh because he understood it all too well. It was a way to vent out one's frustration with the world and he didn't mind being the scapegoat for this kid's release. Therefore he just waited for the kid to laugh his anger out of his system and then they just sat in silence for a bit. Atsushi remained where he was, continuing to smile kindly at the boy, proving with his actions that he was here to help and after a bit of time had passed and the grumpy expression on the boys face changed to a curious glare, he decided to restart the conversation.
"So why were you crying?" Atsushi kindly asked, leaving plenty of time for the boy to answer on his own terms,
"I can't find my sister." the child whispered out, hiding his head behind his knees,
"I can help you look for her? Or even better we could go to my work and enlist help from my colleagues- i work in a detective agency so they're all pretty skilled in this department." Atsushi offered, standing up offering a hand to help the teen up. The boy stared at the hand for bit before ultimately deciding to take it.
For the first half of the journey, they walked in silence just moving hand in hand. It was quite peaceful and the child was getting the sense he could trust Atsushi, much to the weretiger's relief, but he wouldn't fully give in to that trust yet. The young boy knew he could just attack this person if they ended being a bad guy, so he thought it didn't matter if he couldn't trust him or not. However, half way through the journey Atsushi wanted to try and improve the trust the kid had in him.
"My name's Atsushi, What's yours?" Atsushi asked trying to start a conversation,
"Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, if it helps my sister's name is Gin Akutagawa," Akutagawa revealed to Atsushi and the poor weretiger felt his heart stop then and there. His sweet grumpy, boyfriend was currently next to him as a fourteen year old child and he had no idea how this happened. No wonder he thought the child looked like Akutagawa because he literally was Akutagawa, only some years younger! How on earth had his boyfriend ended up in this situation was anyone's guess, and what was he meant to do about it? Fortunately they were heading to the agency so hopefully Ranpo will be able to deduce some answers, if not they'd at least be able to help with what to do next, but that was when they got to the agency, for now he just had to look after the kid. Luckily, Atsushi managed to expertly hide his shock when he heard the child's name so Akutagawa was none the wiser, meaning getting him to the Agency was a simple breeze. All that was left was for the weretiger to watch over the child for now. As they walked, Atsushi noticed how Akutagawa stared around at his surroundings in awe and it made an interesting thought pop into his head.
"Akutagawa, is this your first time in Yokohama?" Atsushi wondered,
"No but i've never ventured this far before, i mainly stayed in the slums with my sister and the other kids," Akutagawa explained as he continued to look around in awe,
"Other kids?" Atsushi questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Yeah there were other kids, my friends, but that doesn't matter now, they're all dead anyway." Akutagawa bluntly answered, trying not linger on the recent memory any longer, trying to just avoid the pain.
Hearing Akutagawa's response, Atsushi silently cursed himself at his insensitivity. Great going Atsushi, you just had to go and bring up a likely traumatic memory. That's just super! Atsushi really couldn't believe his insolence, it was quite atrocious and not like him at all. But he didn't mean anything by it one bit; it was just an innocent question, that's all he meant by it, but sadly it was a question that had painful connotations and memories, Atsushi didn't mean to bring up. And knowing Atsushi's reckless mouth, if he continued the conversation any longer, he'll likely accidentally say something insensitive again and he definitely didn't want that. This meant that, for the time being, Atsushi resigned himself to the role of the silent guide for the remainder of the journey, just guiding Akutagawa by the hand to their destination... and even that Atsushi viewed as wanting too much. Even though the two were dating, they had only started holding hands recently so Atsushi felt like it was such a privilege to currently be holding Akutagawa's hand. Speaking of privilege, Atsushi felt extremely privileged to be here for this whole situation. It was like he was granted a magic key to open a door that allowed him to glimpse into his boyfriend's past. He got to see Akutagawa as a young kid and he had to be honest, when he first saw the boy his first thought was how cute Akutagawa was, even at the estimated age of fourteen, but as well as the cuteness, Atsushi saw a deep vulnerability in Akutagawa's eyes, something that over the years he had learnt to hide. The weretiger could only imagine the pain his boyfriend experienced for him to build up such thick walls, but he could understand the defence mechanism.
Akutagawa had truly gone through so much that it took travelling back in time, in a sense, to see that vulnerability once again. A young boy who had yet to see the cruelties of the world was currently holding Atsushi's hand, and even that wasn't true. Akutagawa had already experienced many struggles in the slums from such a young age; he was just oblivious to the fact that there was much more pain to come in the following years, and what made it worse was that he thought he deserved it all. Just looking at the young kid, Atsushi wanted to scoop him up into his arms and run off somewhere, making sure no harm could happen to him, but he couldn't do that. Atsushi couldn't change the past, only the future so he'd make sure to be the best damn boyfriend there is, because he knows Akutagawa is doing the same. Additionally, he knows his boyfriend would very likely wish to get back to his actual age and Atsushi would also love his boyfriend back, regardless of how cute he currently was. Therefore, they just had to promptly get to the agency. As they walked, Atsushi looked down fondly at Akutagawa and just hoped his time with him would be at least a breath of fresh air compared to everything.
Before they knew it, the pair was already at the agency's door. It was only a ten minute walk and it was only dragged on slightly by Atsushi's pace slowing from his insensitive curiosity, so it really didn't take long to get here. The agency was noisy, as it always was in the early afternoon, but everything completely turned to silence the second Atsushi walked through the door with Akutagawa. All eyes in the room turned on the pair as everyone froze in what they were doing. The Tanizaki siblings were frozen on the couch from whatever they were previously doing; Kenji and kyouka were just calmly leaning against the desks, as the innocent kids they were, frozen in mid conversation; Yosano was sitting on the other couch, frozen looking up from her coffee, clearly only having just started her break; Ranpo was just absentmindedly snacking on sweets as he chatted with Fukuzawa, a rare occurance to see the president outside the office at this time but it was with Ranpo so it made sense, the detective was literally frozen staring at them as he let the sweet fall from his hand, and lastly Kunikida was frozen in his current position of attempting to through a book at Dazai, who was currently hiding behind his desk. Everyone was frozen upon the two's appearance and their burning gazes were certainly overwhelming, especially for a certain individual. Atsushi never liked being the centre of attention, only until recently did it mean something good, and he could tell it was the same for Akutagawa, by the way the boy hid behind Atsushi whilst still holding tightly onto the weretiger's hand. However this shyness quickly faded when he noticed a familiar face.
Without warning and without hesitation, upon noticing this person, Akutagawa instantly let go of Atsushi's hand and pushed him to the side, making way for him to run. He ran the short distance with incredible speed and when he finally reached his destination, he immediately fell to his knees and stared up at his mentor. Everyone was even more taken back by this action, that somehow they were frozen even stiller, no one daring to make a move besides staring at the boy and observing what will happen next. Out of everyone, Dazai was the most shocked and unsure of what to do. There was a fourteen year old Akutagawa kneeling down at his feet, and Dazai was lost for the appropriate reaction. What are you meant to do in this type of situation? Dazai tried looking around at his colleagues for help but they all gave him blank looks, clearly expecting him to have an answer. Why did he always have to do all the work? It was really annoying, but looking down at Akutagawa, he could tell it made sense for him to take this case. He was clearly the only person Akutagawa knew therefore it made sense for him to deal with this and help but how was the question. Fortunately, Akutagawa was there to get the ball rolling.
"Dazai?" Akutagawa cried out, his voice filled with hope, staring up at Dazai. Dazai in turn stared down with a confused smile, still unsure of what to do.
"Osamu Dazai? That is you, right?" Akutagawa asked, hope slipping away from his voice as he got more worried he was wrong. Just seeing his silence do this to the child pained Dazai and furthered his resolve to help his former subordinate. Without leaving time for Akutagawa's worry to grow, Dazai put on one of his flamboyant smiles and got into the role he knew he was needed to fill.
"Of course it is, dear Akutagawa what makes you think it is not?" Dazai sighed out in his usual bubbly tone. Seeing Dazai act like his usual self once again snapped the rest of the Agency back to reality, allowing them all to relax and just observe how Dazai would diffuse or solve the situation they had somehow gotten into.
"Well... you look different to before, like you had a bandage over your eye and i swear you were shorter." Akutagawa sputtered out, desperately trying to defend his insolunt accusations. Dazai on the other hand was internally screaming as he realised where exactly Akutagawa was in age. This is Akutagawa just after they first met, only after they first met because if it was any later then Akutagawa wouldn't have had the confidence to question anything about Dazai, and just before he fucked the kid up (even more than he was already). If only Akutagawa had taken his offer for money instead of the Mafia, then perhaps he could've had a better life but no, he had to go and join the Port Mafia like he wanted. If only he could turn back time and do things better, he would. Dazai was such a selfish kid back then; he was only looking for a strong subordinate to mold, like Mori had done with him, but that wasn't who he was now and he'd do anything to change how he treated the poor child in front of him.
"Akutagawa, it was dark when we first met. Of course, i look a bit different now that you can see me clearly." Dazai explained, brushing off the change as the simple difference in light,
"Oh, that makes sense, but that still leaves one question, that boy, Atsushi, said this was a detective agency but you're from the Port Mafia?" Akutagawa pointed out, not revealing any trust until all his confusion could be answered,
"That's easy to explain. That's because it's both. The detective agency is a public branch of the mafia, that's all. Everyone here is in the Port Mafia with me." Dazai simply answered, ignoring the angered gaze from Kunikida for the very idea of him being associated with the Mafia, his ideals would never allow it. However the waste of bandages was much more focused on Akutagawa than Kunikida's grievances, and watching Akutagawa relax with trust at his answer, unleashed a great wave of relief over him.
"Oh Dazai i've had such an awful day. I was with Gin collecting the little stuff we had, like you told us to, when i somehow ended up somewhere else without my sister. I've no idea where she is and i was surrounded by people i didn't know and i just ran... It was awful." Akutagawa stammered out in a rush, letting all his intense emotions flow through his words. His pain and fear could be felt by everyone present and it overwhelmed them and definitely softened some of their hearts. Dazai in turn just knelt down next to Akutagawa and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, calming the younger.
"Akutagawa, i'm going to need you to stay here for a minute with Kenji and Kyouka, while i go discuss some matters with my colleagues. Everything's going to be ok, we'll sort this out." Dazai consoled as he got up and gently led Akutagawa over to Kenji and Kyouka, who gladly welcomed him over. Once Dazai knew Akutagawa was comfortably settled in with the two, making a slow but calm conversation, he exited into the conference room promptly followed by everyone else.
Everyone quickly hustled into the conference room, leaving Kenji and Kyouka to deal with Akutagawa, and the minute the door closed all hell broke loose.
"What the hell was that?" Yosano spoke up first curious why her lunch break was interrupted by this,
"I don't know, I just found him!" Atsushi exclaimed in defense,
"But why did you bring him here," Tanizaki pointed out,
"Because i thought you'd know what to do." Atsushi refuted back
"Can everyone just calm down, there's an obvious answer to all of this." Ranpo chimed in, as he snacked on another sugary treat,
"Please elaborate further, Ranpo." Fukuzawa, who had been sitting back watching the chaos play out, requested,
"The kid was simply hit by an ability, nothing more nothing less," Ranpo simply stated as he leaned further back into his chair.
"Then can't Dazai just nullify it.-" Yosano suggested,
"I already tried that." Dazai interrupted, quick to shoot down the idea,
"Ok so what?" Kunikida questioned, "And why did you have to tell him we were in the Mafia?"
"Akutagawa has already been through enough today, it was the easiest way to explain things without confusing him further, but i thought you'd know that, being so good with people." Dazai jabbed, annoyingly angering his partner further,
"Can't we just shove him off to the Mafia, this is their problem." Tanizaki asked not wanting to deal with the whole situation. However, before anyone got a chance to answer a loud yell of Dazai's name alerted everyone that their attention was now needed somewhere else. As quick as they all hustled into the room, they all hustled out to be greeted by the sight of a wounded redhead walking through the door. Chuuya was extremely tired from searching for Akutagawa but when he saw Dazai he immediately relaxed, knowing his husband will be able to help.
"Dazai, i need your help, i know what i say may seem strange but-" Chuuya rushed out trying to get to the point quick, worried sick about where Akutagawa could be, but before he continued Dazai ran up to him and caught the redhead in his arms, allowing him to lean on the other.
"Hey, chibi calm down... You're injured, What happened?" Dazai asked more frantically as he noticed the make-shift bandage around his husband's arm. Chuuya was about to explain but then he saw someone hiding in the corner and relief washed over him along with a joyful smile. At this great sight he leant back into his husband's arms, knowing he could relax now.
"You found him." Chuuya happily sighed, letting out a breath of relief. Dazai followed his husband's eyeline to see Akutagawa and quickly understood the whole situation, especially why Akutagawa was nervously looking back and forth at the injury, that Dazai deduced the boy must've caused.
"Is this what happened earlier, when you abruptly ended my call?" Dazai asked even though he already knew the answer and the slight nod he got was enough to satisfy him. Like the beloved husband he was, Dazai lifted Chuuya up bridal style and carried him into the infirmary so he could tend to that wound.
Watching Dazai leave, though the matter of Akutagawa had not been resolved, startled everyone for a second before everyone promptly moved to follow Dazai once again. This resulted in eight or nine people who were currently trying to stuff themselves into the infirmary much to everyone's displeasure, luckily the three fourteen year olds stayed back. Akutagawa because he was scared of getting yelled at, for causing the injury that the redhead was currently being tended to for, and Kyouka and Kenji because they knew they weren't needed and they'd rather just sit back here relaxing then get involved in whatever argument that was going to happen. Back in the infirmary, Yosano had wasted no time in taking Dazai's place in tending to Chuuya's wound, meaning there was now a sulking mackerel standing at the end of the bed for all of Chuuya's entertainment. As Yosano tended to the arm, cleaning and bandaging it nicely, Chuuya recounted this morning's events, in order to fill in everyone. Kunikida really loved how the redhead never missed out any important details and was still shocked to this day that Dazai had managed to swoon this good of a husband, it was so good it almost made Kunikida believe in miracles at times.
"Ok that's all well and good knowing this but what are we going to do about Akutagawa's situation." Tanizaki pointed out again,
"We'll have to figure out who attacked Akutagawa so Dazai can nullify their ability." Ranpo bluntly stated, more concerned with his sweets than the topic at hand,
"Ok, and?" Tanizaki pushed for more info,
"Fine." Ranpo moaned, at last focusing on the conversation, "As i believe the president was going to tell Mr fancy Hat, we'll take on this case as an act of the truce and our friendship. I'll figure out who the attacker was and why they targeted him, but this doesn't appear to be an easy case so someone will have to take care of Akutagawa in the meantime, because i assume you do not want him returning to missions in his current condition."
"Thank you, and you're right i certainly do not." Chuuya thanked as Yosano finished with the bandages,
"Mori mustn't find out.' Chuuya sternly stated, sharing a look with both Yosano and Dazai. The two people who knew all too well how that monster would take advantage of the situation and by their solemn looks, it was clear they agreed with the redhead's statement.
"I can take care of him. I did an ok job getting him here." Atsushi chimed in with a hopeful smile but the mournful glares made him think differently,
"Certainly not Atsushi." Dazai commented, turning down the idea with immense certainty in his words,
"Kid, i know he's your boyfriend but he'd eat you alive." Chuuya joked but a glint of warning shone in his eyes,
"Atsushi, you'd wake up in the middle of the night as a human kebab, i don't think you want that. Also, to him, his friends were killed only a few days ago, he's in a very vengeful mindset." Dazai warned when he saw the look of disbelief in his subordinate's eyes but upon hearing Dazai's words, Atsushi quickly resigned to the rejection. Unintentionally, Dazai had poured salt on Atsushi's guilt filled wound by bringing up the kids, and although Dazai didn't mean to do that, it brought about the desired outcome at least.
"Ok, I thought Atsushi would be the ideal candidate so if not him who?" Yosano questioned, packing up her medical supplies. Everyone sat in silence as they thought about it all, and unexpectedly it was the president who came up with an answer.
"Dazai, why don't you look after him? You've already proven that he trusts you and if, as you say, he's likely to turn everyone here into human kebabs, then your ability would be able to stop that." The president suggested, arguing some very valid points but still everyone wasn't so sure about leaving a child with Dazai, even Tanizaki who wanted to get this discussion over with wanted to rethink that suggestion. Dazai certainly didn't like it because he already fucked that kid up once, he could easily do it again. Seeing as no one was taking a liking to his suggestion, Fukuzawa tried offering an alternative interpretation.
"Chuuya, you and Dazai are considering having kids but are putting it off due to, how should I say, lack of trust in your partner." Fukuzawa pointed out, gaining a shocked gasp from Dazai,
"Dazai you were fooling no one with your constant slacking off." Kunikida reprimanded,
"I'm ashamed to admit it but yes," Chuuya honestly declared,
"Then how about taking this opportunity as a trial run, we'll all be here to help out and in the meantime Dazai can prove he can raise a kid." Fukuzawa offered. Hearing this interpretation, Dazai quickly changed his mind on caring for Akutagawa, because if doing that could convince Chuuya then sign him up. Chuuya on the other hand, took the idea with heavy consideration and pondered over the idea while Dazai waited like an eager puppy (and he called Chuuya a dog),
"Alright then, i agree, you got that Dazai, i'll be here to help but this task is mainly on you." Chuuya agreed much to everyone's relief, Dazai even almost jumped from joy.
"Wait a minute if this is meant to be a trial one for what i'm certain is going to be a toddler they adopt, how is a fourteen year old going to be hard to take care of in comparison." Ranpo exclaimed, complaining about the absurdity of the comparison,
"Well you certainly were." Fukuzawa announced with a love filled laugh,
"I was definitely not as bad as a fourteen year old Akutagawa." Ranpo grumpily counted,
"You're right, you were definitely worse." Fukuzawa continued to laugh thinking over fond memories, as he gave Ranpo a gentle ruffle of the hair,
"I remember-" Fukuzawa fondly started, but before he could recount any embarrassing memories, Ranpo jumped up quick to interrupt,
"Ok i think that matter is settled and it's getting late so Dazai should start on his task and take Akutagawa home, before though i must give him something, come on Dazai." Ranpo hurriedly recited as he pulled Dazai by the arm out of the room all the way to the locker room.
Dazai was completely confused at what was going on. He understood Ranpo interrupting Fukuzawa, no one wants a parent recalling an embarrassing memory, but that didn't explain what it had to do with him nor why Ranpo was currently searching through the pile of snacks in his locker. Whatever could be in there that Dazai needed? He knew it wasn't snacks because Ranpo only gave those out on rare occasions and this certainly wasn't one so what else would there be? Even when Ranpo finally pulled out a medium sized drawstring bag with little duckies on, his questions were still not answered.
"Here, it's not much but i'm certain it'll help later tonight." Ranpo declared as he handed over the bag with a beaming smile. Dazai skeptically took the bag and when he looked inside his confusion only grew.
"Bath toys?" Dazai questioned,
"Well i assume you'll want to give him a bath later, especially now he's back to his dirty slum state, they'll come in handy, trust me." Ranpo briefly explained, not offering more of an answer before turning on his heel and returning back to his desk to laze around more. Being left alone, Dazai stared back at the bath toys once more and just guessed they'll probably keep Akutagawa entertained and that's all. He spared no further thought to it and made his way back to Akutagawa. Once he got back to the main office he was pleased to see Akutagawa happily chatting with Kyouka. It was such a sweet sight that you'd never guess the two had such a dark past together but at least the two had made up and kyouka had found it within herself to forgive Akutagawa. To see her honestly looking after Akutagawa really showed how things had seriously changed. Dazai really didn't want to interrupt the moment but Ranpo was right it was getting late.
"Akutagawa, let's get going." Dazai chimed up alerting all three people in the corner. Akutagawa, not wanting to upset Dazai, quickly walked over,
"Where are we going Dazai?" Akutagawa earnestly asked,
"To my residence, you're going to stay with me for the meantime until we set you up with some permanent residence." Dazai explained. It was a lie but Dazai was going to continue the lie he had created because it was the only lie Akutagawa believed to be truth and he wasn't ready for the real truth yet,
"What about my sister?" Akutagawa fearfully inquired, scared that Dazai had forgotten about the missing Gin,
"Don't worry, i've got that sorted, they're going to find her." Dazai reassured looking towards Ranpo who gave a subtle nod in agreement convincing Akutagawa, but to Dazai he understood that also meant i'll solve the case for Akutagawa, it was nice to know. With everything answered and sorted out, all that was left was to head home.