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patchwork-panda · 4 years

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If A Moment Is All We Are (12/?)

AO3 link: HERE

Note: play the 1st BSD ending when you get to the asterisk (*). Link HERE

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I finally had control of “The Story of Your Life.”

Well, sort of.

More like I used it on purpose for the first time since... middle school? At least I could say it didn’t activate the very instant I touched someone, unlike before, and the side effects were a lot more manageable than they used to be. For one, I hadn’t blacked out, despite the fact that I’d used my powers on two people within two minutes and additionally, it had taken more than one vision to actually make me sick. Maybe with time, I’d be able to learn how to shut off my Ability when I didn’t want to use it. In any case, I still had a long way to go before I could use my Ability as easily as Kunikida or the others could use theirs, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from doing everything I could to help solve the case.

While I had gone home right after the interview and spent the rest of the evening resting and recuperating, Kunikida had gone right back to the office, where he spent the rest of the night putting together a list of people we might be able to bring in. It wasn’t a very long list, but it was pretty good considering the information we had. And so, I came in the next morning to find my schedule completely packed with interviews.

I might not have gotten much out of my meeting with the Tanedas, but now that we had a better idea of how my Ability worked, perhaps we could use it to try to find the killer. The plan was simple: we’d serve tea during the interviews and while I handed someone a cup, I would make sure to do so in a way that meant I’d have to touch them. Even a brush of a fingertip would be enough. Once my Ability was active, I would use it to see several minutes of the person’s future while Kunikida waited beside me with a timer set on his phone. If the noise didn’t wake me, then he would, by tapping me on the shoulder, at which point, I would excuse myself and leave to draw or write down everything I had seen and felt as best as I could. Kunikida would then take over the rest of the interview for me and once the interviewees had left, we’d go over what we had and see if we could make any new connections between victims.

At first, it seemed to be working pretty well. For once, I was actually using my Ability—on purpose—and I was able to remember enough to write down some very detailed descriptions of the visions. However, after multiple interviews and some hours of analysis, we still weren’t able to piece together many similarities between visions. Furthermore, even though I was actively trying to look for faces, to see if there were any suspicious people that kept showing up, no potential suspects appeared. In the end, I got a pretty good idea of what the victims’ day-to-day lives might’ve been like before their disappearances but not much else.

I honestly wanted to keep going until we got something but as the day wore on, the side effects from using my Ability slowly began to worsen. At first it was just a mild headache, nowhere near as bad as it had been last night, and I thought if I just took breaks between interviews, I would “reset” and be ready to go by the time the next person came in. Unfortunately that was not the case. Repeated usage of my Ability seemed to compound the side effects, making them worse with each vision I saw. Eventually I ended up experiencing enough dizziness and disorientation that Dr. Yosano was called over to check if I really was anemic. Turns out, I was physically healthy(-ish), but I was looking so green after the sixth or seventh (I’d seriously lost track) set of interviews that I came back from the bathroom to find somebody waiting for me at my desk with a cup of hot ginger tea.

It was the clerk I’d seen before, the lady with the pink glasses. She was composed and intelligent-looking, with olive green eyes and short brown hair that curled just past her shoulders and she seemed to be only a few years older than me. From what I recalled from orientation, her name was Haruno Kirako and she was the lead clerk as well as President Fukuzawa’s acting personal assistant. Kirako held out the tea to me with a warm, friendly smile, which I took from her with a small, grateful bob of my head.

“Haruno-san...? Does the President need something from me?”

She shook her head.

“There’s been a small change to your afternoon schedule,” she said, looking slightly apologetic as she spoke. “Using your Ability seems to take more of a toll on you than expected, so Yosano-sensei and Kunikida-san asked me to take you to the clerk room to work with us for the rest of the day.”

“Huh?”

I looked back to Kunikida’s desk, which was now empty.

“But, what about the other interviews...?”

“Your last two interviews have been rescheduled for tomorrow,” Haruno said gently. “And if you’re looking for Kunikida-san, he went back to the police station to exchange some information with them. He’ll be back by the end of the day.”

“I see...”

I stared down into the cup of ginger tea, at my own glum expression.

I was really hoping to last the day too, especially after I’d embarrassed myself by throwing up in front of Kunikida last night. Now how was I going to redeem myself?

“Kusunoki-san?”

Haruno placed a hand on my shoulder and shot me a look.

“Before he left, I heard Kunikida-san say he was planning to (and I quote) work you to the bone tomorrow, especially if neither of you figures something out by the end of today,” she said, making a face. “I think you really should take the break, or you might just collapse from overwork later.”

Wait... Does that mean Kunikida still believes in me...?

“Really?” I exclaimed excitedly, “he said that?”

Looking disturbed by my apparent enthusiasm, Haruno nodded.

I still had a shot...! I could still turn this case around!

“Thank you so much, Haruno-san!”

I finished the rest of my tea in one gulp and turned to her with an enormous smile. Haruno shrank back a little.

“Lead the way!”

The ginger tea did the trick. In just a few minutes, my nausea was basically gone and I was doing so well that I was able to file papers and run small office errands with the other clerk girls while we chatted away. Then, with about an hour left on the clock, Tanizaki’s younger sister, Naomi, dropped by with bubble tea and productivity dropped to near zero as we clustered around Haruno’s workstation to take our share. Even Haruno stopped being able to focus and as she pulled out her phone to show us her cat, Mii-chan, Naomi plopped down next to me.

“Kyou-chan?”

Naomi scooted forward a little and I was once again struck by how pretty she was and how little of a resemblance she bore to her redheaded brother.

“Which do you like better? Cats or dogs?”

I had to think for a minute.

“Dogs,” I decided to a chorus of disappointed moans and a few excitable cheers. “They’re always so happy to see you and it’s easy to tell when they like you.”

“Hmm, is that so?” a familiar male voice mused behind me. “I don’t really like dogs that much but if that’s what you like about them...”

I turned around to see Dazai standing behind me, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he studied me.

“I can make it easier for you to tell how much I like you. After all, I’m always happy to see you—”

“Do you need something from me, Dazai-san?”

He looked disappointed.

“You have someone waiting to talk to you at the client booth,” he said, to my surprise.

“I thought my afternoon meetings were canceled?”

Dazai shrugged.

“She said she needed to talk to you no matter what. Mind coming with me for a moment?”

I bid the girls goodbye and followed Dazai back into the main office. As we crossed the room, Dazai shot me a furtive look over his shoulder.

“Hey, if I bring you bubble tea, will you let me call you Kyou-chan too?”

“No.”

“Aw, why not?”

“Because Naomi-chan and Kirako-san aren’t going to use it to entice me into a double suicide.”

Dazai chuckled.

“You got me there...”

We arrived at the interview booth and to my shock, the old manager from the convenience store was waiting for me inside.

“Obaa-san! What brings you here? Isn’t it work hours?”

At once, I gestured for her to sit down while I ran out to get her some tea. When I came back to the client booth, I noticed Dazai was still lingering in the corner of the room, watching us with his bandaged arms crossed and a thoughtful look in his clear brown eyes. Unfortunately, when I tried to shoo him away, he didn’t budge.

“I don’t mean to trouble you at work, dear,” the old woman said, “But I just wanted to come by and thank you for working so hard on Mei-chan’s behalf.”

“Of course...”

At the mention of her name, Mei’s image appeared in my mind’s eye. I could still see her walking around with a big smile on her face as she stacked a new shipment of snacks onto the highest shelf that no one else could reach...

The manager reached down into the plastic bag she’d brought with her.

“I know you liked the Kit-Kats so I thought I’d bring the office a small box, as thanks...”

As she brought the small box forward with her softly speckled hands, I knew what I had to do. I didn’t have time to prepare an alarm or anything else to wake myself up but I couldn’t pass this up. I reached out to take the box and in a flash, I was pulled in.

I squint up at the mid-day sun. It’s hot. I’m fanning myself with the paper fan and I’m walking along the river on the way to my convenience store.

That Mei girl better show up on time today. Summer meant more people trying to duck into the cool shade of the convenience store and with Mei heading the counter, we were sure to make a good amount in sales. She recovered rather quickly from her ordeal, although I suspect she’s been throwing herself into work and staying late to avoid walking home again, poor thing.

If only she had a boyfriend... I could introduce her to my neighbor. He seems to be doing well at work and it’s getting to be around that time he settles down anyway...

I walk towards the rec center just as Mei jogs down the street towards me from that building. Her hair is dyed with blond streaks and she’s still wearing that strange-looking scrunchy in her hair like on the night she disappeared—

The vision fades. I’m being pulled backwards out of a dark tunnel—no, the tunnel is collapsing around me. I see light...!!

I was yanked out of the darkness with a sharp gasp.

Someone’s hands were placed firmly over mine, long fingers gripping the edge of the box while the palms were still in contact with my skin. Warm breath floated over my cheek and I turned to see Dazai’s face right next to mine. He must have come up from behind and leaned over to grab the box before I could drop it—and by doing so, he’d disrupted the vision. As the cardboard began slipping out of my hands, Dazai’s hands passed smoothly over mine and he took the box from me.

“Careful,” he said gently, settling the box down on the table. “You almost dropped it.”

I smiled back at him, hoping my gratitude showed in my smile.

If he hadn’t pulled me out of that vision, who knows what would’ve happened?

“Thank you, Dazai-san. My apologies, Obaa-san. I have... narcolepsy.”

“Oh? Is that so?” the old woman asked as Dazai abruptly stifled a snicker from behind me. I shot him a glare but he just winked at me.

“Y-yeah. Thank you for the snacks. I’m sorry to leave you so abruptly but—”

I got to my feet.

“I have a lead I need to follow up on. Right now.”

And with that, I sprinted out of the client booth, leaving the shocked manager behind in my wake. I could hear Dazai calling after me as I ran for the door.

“Wait, Kusunoki—!”

“I gotta go!” I shouted as I ran, nearly colliding with Atsushi as I disappeared through the front door.

“I think I know where the kidnapper is!”

Thank God I’d worn sneakers today, I thought as I pelted down the hall. In hindsight, maybe it was actually a good thing that I’d gotten sick in front of Kunikida last night; he hadn’t complained when I came in to work this morning wearing track pants and a loose shirt. I dashed outside just as the bus arrived across the street and the pedestrian light turned green.

“Hold the door!”

I skidded to a halt inside the bus just before the doors closed, my head buzzing for the entirety of the short ride and as soon as I’d gotten to the right stop, I ran for the exit and rushed down the street.

I’d been focusing on the wrong thing this whole time—while I was looking at the faces in the visions, trying to see if there were any people that showed up over and over again, I’d completely ignored any similar locations—until now!

I sprinted past the convenience store and made a sharp left up the street towards the rec center I’d seen in the manager’s vision.

That rec center...! I’d seen it twice now in the future memories of those closest to the victims. Mr. Taneda would later walk past it as he threw that flower into the man-made river and that river had flowed past the rec center and into the canal where we’d found Mayu.

Why hadn’t I or any of the police put any of this together sooner? All of the missing were athletic. They may have come from different districts and this rec center may have been very out of the way but it was big—so big it had to have courts available for every kind of sport. Furthermore, it was close to the train station by the convenience store and would’ve been ideal for meeting up with friends from across Yokohama. Mei, who lived nearby, only had to get on this bus and then take a quick jog along the river to get to that rec center.

And I had just seen this part of Mei’s jogging route through the eyes of the convenience store manager.

I raced along the river, towards the rec center. I’d never been there in my life but I had seen it through the eyes of others who had. I knew the way and if this worked, it should lead to a future where Mei, and perhaps the others, would still be alive in the summer.

Unfortunately, I’d overestimated the distance I could run; the rec center was a large building and so was much further than it actually looked. I could feel my legs starting to burn...

Gasping for air, I headed for a bench nearby and immediately collapsed on it.

In hindsight, I really hadn’t thought this through. I’d gone running the instant I’d made the connection between the rec center and the victims and I’d completely forgotten to tell anybody where I was going. Maybe Dazai had figured it out but should I be leaving it to him to brief Kunikida, who was probably back from the police station by now and furious at how I’d run off to look for a serial killer by myself?

Groaning a little, I pulled out my phone, which had miraculously not fallen out of my pocket, and swore when I saw the words “low battery” appearing on the screen.

Great.

I could probably send out a text but would my phone die if Kunikida called me? Guess there was only one thing to do. I pulled up the text app and started typing up a message that looked like it had been translated from Morse Code.

“Meet at rec center. Low battery. Do not call. I’ll explain later.”

“I really need to work out more...” I groaned as I shoved my phone back into my pocket.

I was so busy texting l that I didn’t see the man sitting on the other end of the bench with me.

“Not much of a runner, are you?” he asked and I practically fell off the bench in shock. He laughed quietly as I climbed back on the bench, my face still pink and my lungs still short of breath.

“Sorry to scare you,” he mumbled.

“N-no, it’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention,” I admitted.

His face was rather hard to see because of the long bangs that ended somewhere around his nose but he looked like he was probably in his thirties and that he hadn’t shaved in a few days. Like me, he was wearing track pants and sneakers but unlike me, he wasn’t all sweaty and gross; in fact, he didn’t look like he’d gotten up from this bench in some time. Maybe he was taking a rest.

“Were you jogging too?” I asked curiously.

“A little,” he said, looking out across the river. “I like to come here sometimes. It’s peaceful.”

I nodded as I sat up a little and examined my surroundings, trying to spot the rec center in the distance. I was pretty far away from the bus stop, so I had to be getting close enough to actually see the building soon, right...?

Noticing that I was looking around, the man spoke up again.

“Are you lost? Looking for something?”

“Not really?” I said slowly, choosing my words carefully. “I mean, I kind of know where I’m going...”

When he looked at me questioningly, I wiped my forehead and grinned awkwardly.

“Okay, I’m actually trying to get to the rec center. A friend of mine likes to play volleyball there and she said I should check it out if I ever wanted to join her.”

The man in the track pants nodded.

“I know the place. I actually go there a lot too. It should just be half a kilometer down that way, around the bend.”

As he lifted his arm up and pointed down the street to his left, I saw a flash of bright orange. There was a scrunchy on the man’s wrist, a bright orange one that was covered in colorful bows and pom-poms. Catching me staring, the man instantly stuffed his hand back into his pocket.

“Oh, this?” he chuckled feebly. “It actually belongs to my girlfriend but I carry it around when I’m missing her. I know, it’s silly isn’t it?”

“No, not at all!” I exclaimed, waving my hands.

I could feel a chill creeping into my blood as I looked at the man a little more closely. There was definitely something weird about this guy. Why was he sitting on this bench in track clothes when he clearly wasn’t out here for a run? Why not rest directly inside the rec center where there were sure to be lockers and showers and seating areas? And why was he sitting here, so close to the rec center, wearing a scrunchy that looked identical to Mei’s? Was he waiting for someone? Or worse... scanning the streets for a new victim?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized something was off about the way he was acting. He didn’t seem so strange at first but the moment I’d spotted the scrunchy, he’d gotten all shifty and wouldn’t look at me. Something told me he wasn’t dating one of Mei’s teammates and I had the horrible sinking feeling in my gut that the scrunchy on his wrist really was Mei’s.

I should talk to him so I could find out more...

“I...” I started. “I think it’s sweet that you’re so dedicated to your girlfriend.”

He twitched—noticeably—and I realized I might’ve been acting too friendly for a complete stranger. However, he hadn’t moved away from me, so I decided to push my luck and scoot down the bench, moving a little closer so I could try to get a better look at his face. Hopefully, Kunikida had gotten my short text from earlier and was already on his way...

“You do, huh?” the disheveled man mumbled, one dark eye peeking through the curtains of black, lanky hair to closely examine me.

“Yes, I really do,” said, hoping I sounded sincere. “My boyfriend works too much and he never has time for me any more..."

Hoping my facial expression didn’t give away the lie, I smiled a little and moved a tiny bit closer. He had cuts on his face, but not from a razor; there were a couple small scratches on his left cheek, looking like they were just a few days old. I glanced at his hands—too big to have made such scratches. That meant he’d gotten into a fight with someone who had smaller hands than he did...

Fighting off a shudder, I kept talking.

“Maybe I should give him one of my hair ties so he’ll think of me more...” I tried to laugh.

But the laugh died in my throat the instant I saw the look in the man’s eyes. Not even Akutagawa had looked at me with that level of hostility. There was no doubt about it—he was the one who killed Taneda Mayu. I swallowed and out of instinct, began shrinking away. I couldn’t tell if it was my phone buzzing in my pocket or if I had just started shaking.

“Your boyfriend doesn’t pay attention to you?” the man asked, his voice dropping low, the disgust evident in his tone. “If he doesn’t care about you, you should just break up with him. Find someone better.”

I felt a subtle vibration in my pocket—my phone was definitely buzzing but who was calling? Dazai? Kunikida? Was one of my mentors coming to help me? If they were, I needed to let them know what my current situation was—somehow.

I kept my face as neutral as I could and slowly reached for my device. If I answered it, someone’s voice might startle this man into running, and given the difference in our stride length, I was not going to be able to catch up if he escaped. Maybe I could press the right button at the right time, so that whoever was on the other end of the line would be able to hear us and figure out what was happening. Was there some way to get this man to shout...?

The phone buzzed more insistently in my pocket and I pushed “answer,” moving my cell so the receiver was sticking out of my pocket a little.

“B-break up?” I asked, making sure my voice sounded clear even as my pulse raced. I pulled my phone up even further out of my pocket.

Please don’t let my battery die...

“But I’ve never had a boyfriend before and it’s so hard to meet people these days...”

But as I trailed off at last, the man suddenly looked infuriated.

“Hard to meet people?!” he snapped, “With a face like yours?”

To my alarm, he got off the bench. He turned to me and started shouting.

“Pretty girls like you make me sick! You only see the good-looking guys, the ones everyone is already chasing! If girls like you only took a proper look around, you might see that there’s been someone who’s always been waiting for you, worshiping your every move—someone you’ve ignored for years.”

He started walking away and the moment he turned his back, I sprang to my feet. There wasn’t enough time for Dazai or Kunikida to get here.

I couldn’t let him get away!

I rushed forward and chased after him, reaching forward with my hand.

“—Why don’t you take a good look around you before you start complaining,” he snapped, flinging his hand out in an irritated gesture as I stretched out my fingers, “You entitled little—!”

My hand clamped around the man’s wrist, just beneath the scrunchy and at once, I felt the pull. The street started compressing around me into that now-familiar darkness that signaled the start of a vision and I felt the mouth of that darkened tunnel stretch open to swallow me up. I gritted my teeth and tried to force the tunnel away.

But while I was struggling to prevent my Ability from activating, the man noticed I was holding on to his arm.

“What the...?”

He tried to shake me off but I wouldn’t let go. In the struggle, my phone flew out of my pocket and hit the sidewalk with a clatter. A man’s voice came out of the speaker.

“Kusunoki?” it crackled from the other end. “Is that you? Hold—”

The phone abruptly died just as I put my other hand on the man’s wrist. My vision was fading to black and the man was trying to grab his wrist back again but I held on tight.

“Let go of me...!” he shouted.

I had to fight it—I had to suppress my Ability.

President Fukuzawa said I should have control of it by now. If I truly had control, then shouldn’t I be able to turn it off...?

I held on tighter, my fingers squeezing around the man’s wrist as I continued to fight my Ability. Backup was coming. All I had to do was keep him here until someone arrived and trust they would be here soon. Lives—maybe even my life—depended on it.

I gritted my teeth and continued to concentrate with all my might to stay in the moment and keep my Ability at bay, even as my dizziness threatened to overwhelm me and I saw the man ready a fist. He raised it above my head...

“I said let go, you little—”

CRACK.

The man’s wrist was wrenched out of my grasp and I opened my eyes to see a body in track pants go flying, propelled through the air by the force of a very solid roundhouse kick. As the dust settled and the man landed on the sidewalk a good distance away, I turned around to see who had saved me.

Standing right behind me, with one long leg still half-raised in the air, was Kunikida Doppo. He was panting with exertion and with his long blonde hair all mussed up and the red ribbon around his neck coming untied, he looked angrier than ever—but in that moment, I was so happy to see him that I wouldn’t have minded being kicked myself if it meant I could throw my arms around his neck.

“Kusunoki!!”

His sharp green eyes blazing with undisguised rage, Kunikida shoved his glasses back up his nose and stalked towards me. Behind him, a bright yellow taxi (the one he’d just taken) peeled away down the street.

“Why the hell didn’t you wait for me?! I ran into Dazai two minutes after you left—two!!—and he said you figured out where the killer would be and that you’d gone out to go and look for him—by yourself!”

He threw his arms into the air in disbelief.

“When I asked him why he didn’t go after you, that asshole said you wouldn’t answer any of his calls! What the hell were you thinking?!”

“Kunikida-san!”

I pointed down the street at the man in the tracksuit, who was slowly getting to his knees.

“It was him! He kidnapped Mei-chan! Her scrunchy is still tied around his wrist!”

And then I spotted a glint of silver on the ground. I rushed over to retrieve it as Kunikida called my name and yelled at me to come back.

“And this!! This belonged to Taneda Mayu-san!” I exclaimed as I scooped it up in my hands. “It was in the photo her parents showed us!!”

“That’s senpai’s...” the man on the ground rasped, clutching his broken, bloody nose as he rose to his feet. “Get your filthy hands off it...”

At once, Kunikida’s face darkened.

“Excuse me?” he growled, stepping forward.

I watched as Kunikida strode past me and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt.

“You have some nerve calling a member of the Armed Detective Agency filthy.”

As he lifted the man into the air, Kunikida gave him a good, hard look.

“Senpai, huh?” he said in an undertone. “Aren’t you a little old to be calling a twenty-eight year old ‘senpai?’”

***

The streets were bathed in red and blue from the flashing lights of the police cars. Under the light of the setting sun, the man in the track pants was yelling loud enough for all passersby to hear as the cops shoved him into the back of one of the police vehicles, yelling about the problems girls these days had (“those entitled bitches who don’t know what’s good for them—!”). I let out a sigh of relief as the cops slammed the door shut on his face and took him away for good and I went back to the bench, promptly collapsing on it in a heap.

As the sound of sirens slowly faded away, Kunikida approached me and sat down at my side on the bench, taking care to avoid the spot where I’d mentioned the kidnapper had been sitting.

“He made a full confession,” Kunikida said, tucking his hands into his pockets and crossing his legs. “In fact, with the way he was yelling, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of Yokohama heard what he’d done already.”

He sighed.

“You were right—he did kidnap Saeki and the others and in fact, he’s been hunting women at this rec center for months, specifically targeting those who reminded him of a girl he once loved. From the sound of it, she was a pretty upperclassman who rejected his advances all the way back in high school...”

I drew my knees up to my chest and stared out into the river.

“What a long time to hold a grudge,” I mumbled. “And taking it out on complete strangers too. How twisted...”

Kunikida nodded solemnly.

“The good news is, it seems Saeki and the others are still alive. It won’t be long before the Military Police arrive at his hideout and rescue them. Thanks to you, everyone should be able to go home to their families tonight.”

“Everyone except Taneda Mayu,” I whispered, letting my forehead rest against my knees. Mayu’s bracelet had been taken by the police as evidence and I knew that sooner or later, it would find its way to the shrine her parents had set up for her. If only she too, would return alive as the other victims would.

“How are the Tanedas doing?”

Kunikida grew quiet.

“As well as can be expected,” he said softly, looking out across the river with me. “At the very least, they’ll have closure now.”

I nodded.

For a moment, we just sat there next to each other on the bench, staring quietly at the water, each lost in our own thoughts. It had been at least a full thirty minutes since my confrontation with the murderer but the adrenaline had not yet faded from my system and I was still feeling weirdly dizzy and shaky—probably a side effect from suppressing my powers. I hugged my knees tighter to my chest as Kunikida slowly pulled out his notebook and started writing.

“The work day may be over,” he said, “but the office is still open. When you’re ready, we should head back. You’ll need to type up a report describing the arrest and how you came to identify this man and then give it to Haruno-san. She’ll make the redacted copy that we’ll be turning over to the Military Police tomorrow morning, striking out anything relevant to your visions so we can maintain the secret. And, speaking of your Ability...”

He closed the notebook and looked at me, his brows furrowing in concern.

“I know using it takes a toll on you. Are you alright?”

Turning to look at him, I offered him a shaky smile. The dizziness was fading rapidly but, not wanting to puke in front of him for the second day in a row, I didn’t lift my head from my knees.

“I’m fine. And it’s all thanks to you, Kunikida-san.”

My smile faltered.

“I... I’m sorry,” I mumbled, my voice cracking a little. “I’ve only just joined the Agency but I’ve put you through so much trouble already. I feel like you keep having to save me.”

I hid my face behind my knees again.

“I didn’t mean to run off without talking to you earlier. I just... I knew what I had to do and where I needed to go and I didn’t want to waste any more time. Not when there were lives that could be saved... Not when there was still a chance I could bring Mei-chan back to her friends and family...”

I sighed heavily as I heard the scratching of Kunikida’s pen against his notebook once again.

“You’re writing me up for this, aren’t you?”

There was a long pause. The pen stopped scratching. And then I heard Kunikida sigh as well.

“I’m not writing you up, Kusunoki-kun.”

Surprised, I lifted my head up off my knees and turned to look at Kunikida, who was sliding his notebook back into his vest with a pensive, almost guilty looking expression on his face.

“And despite what you might think, I’m not mad at you either,” he mumbled, rubbing his temples with one large hand. “But I can see why you think I am. I know what my coworkers think of me. What you must think of me after we’ve worked together so closely for the past several days.”

He ticked off a short, succinct list on his long fingers.

“I’m quick to anger, a stickler for the rules, a man far too rigid and unyielding for his own good who cares for nothing but doing right by his own ideals.”

He grimaced as he stared down at his own hand.

“I hate to admit it but you’re not completely wrong. However, I’m like this for a reason.”

He turned to me.

“Kusunoki-kun, do you know why I’ve been so harsh on you?”

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked away.

“Because if you didn’t whip me into shape, I’d let people die—”

“That’s not it.”

I froze.

He sounded... frustrated? And not in the usual way.

Unsure of what I was hearing, I slowly turned to look at him. There was something different about Kunikida in this moment—something I’d never seen before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear I was seeing something like affection in the depths of his eyes. But that couldn’t be right... could it?

“It’s because I know what you’re capable of,” Kunikida said quietly. “I saw what happened earlier. You suppressed your Ability, didn’t you?”

I was taken aback.

“You noticed?” I asked, as Kunikida nodded.

“Do you know why I vouched for you in the first place and asked the President to give you the test?”

I shook my head.

“It was your ideal,” Kunikida stated plainly. “When you told me that you not only wanted to save people, but follow through and see their salvation to the very end, I was moved. ‘To completely save a person...’ What did that mean? I thought about it for a long time after you left. I thought about a lot of things after you left.”

He lowered his eyes and stared into the river.

“I thought about how you’d rushed back into the gallery to save me when you were the one who was supposed to be saved. And then, during your Exam, when we were putting your convictions to the test, I watched from the sidelines as you finally stopped running and turned around to face your challenges head-on. I knew then that you were a capable person who could make the Agency proud—who could go on to do great things someday, so long as you believe in yourself. And today...”

Kunikida slowly turned towards me. His expression seemed to soften in the pleasant, orange light of the setting sun and his sage-colored eyes glowed with a subtle, tender warmth as he firmly held my gaze.

Kunikida smiled.

“Today, you proved me right,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you... Kusunoki-kun.”

Upon hearing his words, I felt my heart stutter in my chest. I suddenly wanted to reach up and place my hand over his.

Had I ever seen him smile like this before...?

“Kunikida-san...”

Checking his watch, Kunikida took his hand off my shoulder and stood to go, leaving my shoulder warm and tingling in the wake of his touch.

“You did well today,” he said, looking back down at me from his considerable height, “but make sure to keep working to improve yourself and your Ability. The cases will only get more difficult from here on out and I expect to see you rise to the challenge.”

He adjusted his glasses and began walking away.

“Now, come on. We’re heading back.”

* As I got up and began following him back up the street, I suddenly found myself unable to walk too closely beside him, all too conscious of his broad shoulders and tall stature. My shoulder still burned where he’d touched me and when Kunikida looked back at me, to make sure I was still following along, I couldn’t help but flush the moment his eyes met mine. There was a strange, budding warmth in my chest and the more I looked at my mentor, the more I couldn’t help wondering why I’d never noticed how handsome he was...

It couldn’t be...

Was I falling for him?

#Bungo stray dogs x reader #dazai x reader #kunikida x reader #kunikida doppo #dazai osamu

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