A/N it's very exciting that we are officially in new territory in regards to their past. The time skip is coming within the next few chapters just as a heads up. Also! I have officially outlined every chapter for this fic and it should end up being about thirty nine chapters and an epilogue but as we all know, I am notorious in making things longer than they are supposed to be so we shall see. Lastly, apologies it took so long to update. My computer was broken accidentally by a family member over the holidays and I hate writing on my phone and my new classes in school are killing me. Also in rereading what I had written in previous chapters to prep to write more, I realized there are a number of continuity errors in the first few chapters due to me melding stuff I wrote years ago with stuff I'm writing now. Don't worry guys, I'm gonna go back in and fix it.
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It was a simple mission the pair were sent on. Some case or another involving "undesirables" lurking around in some factory a company owned. Y/n and Dazai had practically begged to be assigned to it together. They got to go on missions as a pair so infrequently, and the boss couldn't really refuse when it was just a simple scouting mission, to find out who was hiding out in the factory and what they were doing.
The mission before the real mission, that's all it was supposed to be.
The factory was large and for the most part, in very good condition. Not the ambiance either detective was expecting from their clients descriptions, it was packed full of large pine crates. Dazai popped one open out of curiosity.
"It's... t-shirts?" he announced in a questioning tone to Y/n who was on the other side of the room, examining a window for signs of a break in.
"Osamu!" She gasped, turning to face him, "You can't just do that! This isn't our property, close it back up now!"
"You never know, the people we're looking for could be hiding in one of these." he shrugged, sliding the lid back on the crate, "Or they could be emptying out the company's merchandise and using it to hide smuggled arms or something."
Y/n shook her head, walking over to her boyfriend with her hands on her hips.
"Where do you get these ideas?" she asked with a slight laugh, looking up at him.
"You forget, I have some experience in being the bad guy." he teased back and she laughed again.
"Come on, theres no sign of forced entry in this room and you've cleared the... crates... or whatever. Lets check the next room?"
Dazai surveyed the space with a final look before nodding.
"Yeah, alright." he nodded, following Y/n into the next room of the warehouse.
It was divide into four separate spaces. The room they had just been in was the entry way. According to the owner of the space, their client, there were two more storage rooms off of the main one with a small office in the back.
"I've never been in a store room set up like this." Y/n mused as she flipped on the lights in the next room.
This one, like the previous one, was filled nearly to the ceiling with neatly stacked pine crates.
"No windows." she hummed, looking around, "And the one in the first room showed no signs of forced entry... there's probably either some back door or window they've been using to get in and out or..."
"Or they have a key." Dazai finished curiously, "Now, wouldn't that be interesting?"
Y/n scoffed, running a finger along the top of a nearby crate. It came away covered in a thin layer of dust.
"That would mean the client was working against us, trying to trap us." she sighed, "I've been working here a while and nothing like that has ever happened. Not once. I've never even heard older members talk about something like that."
"Theres a first time for everything." Dazai shrugged.
"'Samu!" Y/n whined, turning to him, "If you're trying to freak me out, stop it!"
"Why?" he asked with a smirk, taking a step closer to her, "Is it working?"
Y/n's cheeks flushed a bright pink.
"Shut up."
She headed off to another crate in the corner of the room, her back to Dazai. This one seemed to have been opened recently by someone, there were handprints in the dust.
"Awww!" Dazai teased, following her to the crate that had caught her interest, "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the evil squatters."
"You're actually the worst."
"You love it though."
Y/n gave no reply. Leaning down, she carefully examined the lid of the crate, noticing the way some of the wood the nails had been driven into to keep the top on was buckling oddly.
"There's something weird about this one.... can I have the crowbar?"
She held her hand out expectantly to her partner. Dazai gasped in mock horror, holding a hand to his chest.
"The perfect little angel is going to break the rules? Oh my! What will I do!"
"Not breaking the rules, this one is suspicious." she defended herself, her wings bristling slightly at the notion, "And what you're going to do is hand me the crow bar."
He dropped the metal bar into her hand, her arm lowering slightly with the newly acquired weight.
"What do we say?" he grinned as she began to pry the crate open.
"Thank you Osamu." she sarcastically replied.
"And?"
"You're the best ever."
"And?"
"I love you?" she turned to him, her brow furrowed and a slight smile on her face, "I don't know what else you could be fishing for like this."
"No, that was it." he quipped, rocking back slightly on his heels.
"You're such a menace." she laughed, popping the last of the nails from the crate lid and pushing it back.
Rather than the t-shirts and other apparel that seemed to be what this factory was used for, this crate was full of what seemed to be army rations. There were a few packs missing from the top layer.
"Huh." Y/n hummed, dropping the crow bar to the floor.
"Clever." Dazai said, stepping up beside her and peering into the crate.
"Why don't you check the next room and I'll get the office." Y/n sighed, looking up at him.
"Why, are you sick of me?" he teased.
"No, sick of this job. Sooner we finish, the sooner we can go get lunch."
"Are you, the great L/n Y/n, asking me on a date?"
"No I actually secretly hate you." she shrugged, brushing the dust off her hands and onto the light grey sundress she was wearing, "I'm planning on poisoning you and want to get it over with as soon as possible."
"So cruel!" Dazai mocked, feigning pain as he put a hand to his chest.
Y/n smiled at the display.
"Yes its a date stupid." she chuckled, "We've been together for a while now in case you forgot."
"Ah, a threat. If you wanted me dead, you would have killed me already."
They walked over to the door leading to the next room and Dazai opened it, allowing Y/n to pass through before entering the room himself. He flicked the light switch on for their eyes to be met with more crates.
"What? You're so weird."
Dazai turned to the nearest stack while Y/n made her way to the door at the rooms other end. It opened with a creak and Dazai looked over his shoulder at her.
"Be careful." he said softly and she looked back over her shoulder at him thoughtfully.
"I will be." she confirmed after a moment, "I promise. Besides, if anything happens I have the great Dazai Osamu here to protect me, don't I?"
With a rustle of her wings, she disappeared through the door.
"Yeah I just worry." Dazai called out as he turned back to the crate that had caught his interest. There was a large footprint right in the center of the dust on top of it.
"Awwww, does Osamu care about me?" Y/n called back, her voice slightly muffled through the open door.
Dazai leaned in, looking at the footprint more carefully for a second before turning to the ceiling.
"Something like that." he hummed, "I think I found out how they got in. Theres a skylight here that appears to have a broken lock."
"Good work detective." Y/n called back from the other room.
There was a thud.
"Angel?" Dazai called, "You alright in there?"
He waited for her response but none came. There was a creaking noise, as if a door was being opened.
"Angle?" Dazai repeated, straightening up and turning to face the door into the other room.
Still, no reply came. Panic rising in his chest, Dazai crossed the room in a few large strides.
"If this is some sort of joke, you're gonna have to pay for lunch." he threatened as he entered the office.
It was empty save for a desk and some metal filing cabinets. One of the drawers in the desk was open, clearly she had been going through it, looking for clues. There was only one other thing in the room. Y/n had been right, there was a back door in the office. It was wide open.
Dazai felt his heart drop.
"Y/n?" he called, rushing over to the door.
He exited the building, stepping into the cool air of early autumn. The ground in the yard out behind the warehouse was muddy from the rain the night before. Dazai could see footprints leading to the wooden fence at the back. There was no one else in sight.
"Y/n!" he yelled, jogging over to the fence and throwing himself over it onto the sidewalk.
Frantically, he looked around. There was no one, not even any cars parked on the back road. Noticing something laying on the street, he checked for oncoming traffic before running out to get it. Next to a set of tire tracks, the rubber burned into the asphalt from speed, was a pair of headphones. He didn't need to pick them up to tell they were Y/n's, she was always decorating things after all, making them her own. The stickers from her favorite magical girl show on the case was all the conformation he needed.
Forcing himself to take slow, steady breaths, Dazai touched the tire burns lightly with his finger. They were still warm.
"Fuck."