Chapter Text
After the death of Fukuchi, or more commonly known as Kamui, the leader of the Decay of Angel, it was safe to say the Agency had much work to deal with. The damages, the ‘clearing of their name’ and so on and so forth. At least for now they were able to walk around freely, even if it did attract wandering gazes from people.
In the Agency, however, other things had to be solved.
The office, brightened by the shining sun outside, was busy and noisy, much to some people’s dismay.
“WHAT KIND OF ENTRANCE EXAM IS THIS?” Sigma yelled, shaking the unfazed Dazai by the collar.
Just as he had been promised a proper life with a proper ‘home’, suddenly he had to deal with bombers in the agency? Not to mention almost thinking he was really going to die? Yet once again, Sigma was let down by others.
“Sigma-kun~” said Dazai, a relaxed smile on his face, “you passed, didn’t you? Why the stress?”
Instead of being reassured however, flames rose in Sigma’s agitated eyes as he shook Dazai even more.
“Hey! If it makes you feel better, I totally knew you could do it! My trust in you was 100%!” He said, a cheeky grin on his face.
It did not help.
In the end, Sigma was forcefully separated from Dazai.
“Congratulations on passing, Sigma-san!” Atsushi said, popping a small confetti popper in his hand, causing colourful little confetti to sprinkle around, “and don’t think of it as anything personal, it seems to me that they do this with everyone who’s joining new!”
“Ah… I see…” Sigma said, mustering a smile at Atsushi’s words yet still glaring at Dazai with venomous eyes… if Dazai were still there.
It seemed as if he had slipped away… again.
“Where’d he go-“ Sigma began, only to be interrupted by the opened of the doors as someone entered the office.
The tall man who entered the office looked around with a neutral expression, his eyes simply scanning over the confetti and the cake in the corner. Without too much time to pass, the workers in office quickly got up and gave a slight bow.
“Good morning, president!” They said.
“Good morning,” Fukuzawa replied with a slight nod, turning his attention towards Sigma, “congratulations on your entrance,” he said.
Not expecting him, Sigma awkwardly bowed his head, “t-thank you.”
Soon however, the atmosphere turned relaxed again as everyone began talking and eating some of the cake, plus the snacks if they were lucky to have gotten there before Ranpo.
“I want the available members to come to the meeting room in a few minutes, we do have some things to discuss,” Fukuzawa said, finishing off some cake he’d been given by Kyouka.
Not sure whether that included him, Sigma carefully observed his surroundings, only to be met with Atsushi’s thumbs up.
“Sigma-kun, you may be new, but your presence is also required.”
“Oh! Alright!”
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Although the day was bright, sunny, and cheerful by default, no one inside the meeting room could stop themselves from looking grim. The room was basically being darkened by everyone’s expression alone. And one simple reason was behind it all…
“This is where they were seen last,” Kunikida said, pointing to a map on the board as he pushed up his glasses, “there are some security footage but not much, only some little bits, and then nothing.”
Sigma frowned, fidgeting with his fingers.
‘Of course,’ he thought, ‘they wouldn’t be easy to capture or get rid of.’
While Kamui had been defeated, and two of the Decay of Angel’s members defected, Sigma joining the agency and Bram leaving with Aya to learn more about ‘technology’, two members were still at large, two of the most dangerous ones at that.
The clown.
And the demon.
Sigma shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he thought of the two, chills going in his spine. He still hadn’t wrapped around his head how he and Dazai had managed to escape from the prison, yet they had, and he would eternally be grateful for that.
The heavy silence within the room was broken first by Yosano, “Sigma-kun, do you have any information that you could give us about them?” She asked, leaning back into her chair.
As all eyes shifted towards him, he began fidgeting with his fingers more, basically feeling his heart beating faster.
“Gogol’s ability, I think you already know about it, the overcoat, being able to transport things using the cloak he wears,” he began, seeing the other nod their head in agreement, “Dostoevsky on the other hand… I… I don’t think anyone really knew… his ability, I mean. I think not even Fukuchi did.”
“Hmm… so we can assume that they managed to escape using the ability of Gogol, right?” Fukuzawa said.
Everyone nodded in agreement, yet the uneasiness remained.
“By the way, where is the report Dazai-san was supposed to write about the events at meursault?” Someone chimed in the quiet office.
After a few seconds of furiously flipping through the paperwork at hand, it was concluded that no report was there.
Sighing, Fukuzawa shook his head, “we’ll have a meeting again when we get more information, until then, everyone should keep an eye out and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. Report if you find anything that might remotely be related to this case,” he said.
“Yes, president!” Everyone said, and soon, the meeting room was emptied.
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“And here’s the cafe that we usually visit!” Said Atsushi, a smile on his face as he briefly waved at the owners of Cafe Uzumaki.
“I see,” Sigma said, looking around.
Naturally, being the newbie, Sigma required a tour, and since he was most comfortable with Atsushi, someone he knew, he was being toured around by him, their tour now coming to an end.
“Any questions?” Atsushi asked.
Throughout the whole thing he did his best to be upbeat and energetic, a smile plastered on his face as if trying to make sure Sigma was comfortable.
For this, Sigma was grateful.
“No, thank you,” he said, a small smile on his face.
“Alright then! Do you want to sit and get something to eat then?”
Thinking for a bit, Sigma soon nodded his head, and the two found a spot to sit at. Unfortunately, their little coffee break hadn’t gone as they had wished.
Coming down the stairs, the blond man furiously writing in a notebook was seen. Even without looking up he somehow turned and found his way to their table, eventually closing the notebook.
“Did you see that waste of banges anywhere?” Kunikida said, a deep frown on his face as he clicked his tongue, “he still hasn’t handed in his report…”
“Ah! I think Dazai-san disappeared right before the cake was brought in for Sigma-san’s entrance to the agency! I don’t think I’ve seen him after that though…” Atsushi said.
“Tsk. My schedule is being ruined because of that bastard…” shaking his head, Kunikida looked back at them, “come with me for this one job, it can be Sigma-san gaining some experience and we can also find that useless bandage hoarder.”
And thus, the three of them sent out on their mission in the streets of Yokohama, none of them ever thinking of what they might encounter, and what they might learn.
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The bright sunny weather was the perfect time to be walking around, enjoying the light breeze that passed by, contrasting to the warm weather.
Surprisingly or not surprisingly, the three had already finished up the job before they even got a hold of Dazai, the bandaged mystery man still missing, no where to be seen.
“Let’s go to the shopping district for a bit, I’ll have to pick up a few things.” Kunikida said.
Following along, Atsushi participated in a nice conversation with Sigma, and Sigma had found himself becoming more relaxed around the two detectives, though his guard still up.
Seeing how crowded the shopping distract was, Sigma gulped, and eventually followed along with the other two as they weaved past the crowd, somehow managing to not lose each other. Eventually, he found himself in frying of a bakery, cutely decorated, with pinks and blues here and there.
Seeing Kunikida and Atsushi enteric he followed suit.
Contrary to the warm weather outside, the inside of the bakery was cool with the air conditioning, which worked in favour of Sigma, whose hair was unfortunately not tied up. Approaching the counter, he could see Kunikida making some order, and Atsushi looking around the bakery just like he had been doing.
Well, his little sight-seeing of the bakery didn’t last much longer, however, as he spotted a familiar mop of brown hair and the usual brown trench coat.
Moving to the side, Sigma could see Dazai’s face, looking carefree yet concentrated over something all at the same time. How that happened, Sigma didn’t know, and maybe he didn’t want to know either.
“Atsushi-kun…” he said, “I found Dazai.”
“Eh?”
Turning his head in the direction which Sigma pointed in, Atsushi’s eyes widened, giving Sigma a thumbs up.
“What’s he doing?” He asked, as if he wasn’t already looking to see what was going on, “is that…”
“Chess?”
Sure enough, Dazai was sitting at one of the tables, playing chess with whoever was in feting of him. Although the two couldn’t really put their finger on it, something seemed fundamentally different in the way Dazai was acting.
He wasn’t smiling as much, but looked really relaxed.
His exaggerations also didn’t feel to forced, as if he was really enjoying it.
Simultaneously, the two quickly had a thought, ‘who is he playing chess with?’
Before the two could sneakily find a way to find out, however, Kunikida also spotted Dazai. Fuming, he wasted no time in stomping over to him.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” He asked, his glasses shining menacingly as they were hit by the sunlight.
“Oh? Hi to you too, Kunikida-kun~” said Dazai, a carefree smile on his face as he waved.
“You little-“ stopping himself from saying unsavoury words, Kunikida cleared his throat, “you were supposed to be finished with your report, a week ago. And you were also supposed to be at the meeting today. Tell me why both you and your report were missing?”
Blinking, Dazai stared at Kunikida for a bit, before shrugging, “the report was missing because I didn’t write it~” he said, “and I decided that I needed a little break! Don’t you think I’ve been working too much for a man who only recently got out of prison? Hm?”
Although it felt like he was making a reasonable argument, the childish grin on Dazai’s face did nothing to help him.
“Working? WORKING?” Kunikida yelled, attracting the eyes of many onlookers, who eventually just passed by, “ALL YOU DID WAS COME AND SIT IN THE OFFICE DOING NOTHING!”
“Ah ah!” Dazai said, shaking his finger, “ thats where you’re wrong!”
“Hah? And how am I wrong?”
Brows furrowing and arms crossed, Kunikida stared at Dazai, waiting for whatever explanation he would come up with. A carefree grin spreading across his face, Dazai shrugged.
“I didn’t sit doing nothing,” he said, “I sat and listened to music!”
Silence befell the men.
“Dazai-san…” Atsushi said, a look of disappointment on his face, similar to Sigma’s who only shook his head.
In that moment, however, it was as if they could hear a string snap within Kunikida’s mind.
“YOU LITTLE BANDAGE WASTING!” He yelled, shaking Dazai by the collar, who only smiled, “YOU USELESS SUICIDAL MANIA-“ before he could finish his ranting, and his shaking of Dazai for that matter, a small clacking sound distracted them all.
Slowly, their attentions turned to the game of chess on the table in front of Dazai, then to the person sitting across from him, the one who had moved the chess piece.
“Ah!” Dazai said, a smile on his face as he peeked at the game of chess as he got out of Kunikida’s hold, “you finally made your move!”
Suddenly, a chill went through the three men as they watched Dazai nonchalantly turn his attention towards the chess game. It wasn’t that they were unnerved by the way he focused on the game, no, rather, tension arose within them as they looked at the person he was playing chess with.
“This is why I told you we should have gone to somewhere more private,” the man said in a thick Russian accent, his eyes not leaving the board as he waited for Dazai to make his move.
Dazai hummed cheerfully, “somewhere like the sewers where you feed your pet rats?” He said, a teasing tone to his voice, “that would’ve been too boring now, wouldn’t it~?”
The man said nothing, his violet eyes slowly turning to the three frozen men.
“What?” He said, raising an eyebrow. Although no smile was on his face, it was obvious to them that he looked amused, somewhat, “cat got your tongue?”
Dazai chuckled, “more like rat.”
“Dostoevsky…” Sigma mumbled, withdrawing from the table a little, his eyes wide.
“Ah, I heard you passed your entrance exam, Sigma-kun, congratulations,” Fyodor said with a slight nod, his eyes as frosty as ever as he looked over them, “truly a shame to lose a coworker as capable as you, but I suppose it was all due time to part ways..”
Composing himself the best he could, Kunikida cleared his throat, “You… care to tell us why you are… playing chess, with a runaway terrorist?” He asked Dazai, his eyes not leaving their gaze on Fyodor.
“It’s fun!” Dazai chuckled, still looking over the board, not having made a move at all during that time.
Perhaps Kunikida might have began strangling Dazai right at that moment, had it not been for Fyodor sitting there calmly, his gaze shifting between the chases game and the three shocked men.
“Ehm… Dazai-san…” Atsushi said somehow nervously, looking back and forth between Dazai and Fyodor.
“Yes, Atsushi-kun?”
“I… I don’t think it’s wise to be playing… chess… with the enemy…” he said.
“Hm?” Dazai said, finally moving one of the chess pieces with a smile as he lifted up his head, looking up at the three confused men, “enemy? What do you mean?”
Silence befell the men once more.
“Are you joking? Is this some kind of other plot?” Sigma said nervously, barely stopping his hands from shaking.
It wasn’t too long ago that he and Dazai had barely escaped from the weird plots Fyodor had made, not too long ago since he had finally thought he was bidding farewell to one of the people who terrified him the most. Yet here he was, sitting calmly as he observed the chess board.
“Tsk tsk,” Fyodor said, “if the other glasses one was here he would’ve probably figured it out by now.”
As if it had been timed, the door to the bakery suddenly chimed, and two other people entered. A young woman with a long black skirt and a slightly shorter young man, hands in pockets as he walked.
“Ah! Ranpo-san, Yosano-sensei, you guys are here too?” Dazai said, waving at them.
“Hm? What’s going on, why’s everyone gathered here?” Yosano said, tilting her head as she placed her hands on her hips, “and why do you guys looked so shocked? It’s as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
Next to her, Ranpo snickered, “so the rat finally shows himself.”
“Rat..?” Yosano said momentarily, before her eyes widened as she got closer to see.
Sure enough, the rat, Fyodor, was sitting down playing chess, with Dazai out of all people. It was quite ironic how he was right there just after they had a meeting of his disappearance.
Kunikida shot Ranpo a certain look, as if asking for help.
Sure, they had to detain the dangerous criminal known as Fyodor Dostoevsky, but how? It’d certainly be suicide to simply cuff him, anyone who touched him simply died.
“You all are acting as if it’s illegal for me to play chess with him,” Fyodor said in his thick Russian accent, placing one of the chess pieces on the board, “check.”
His hands somehow already full of good treats from the bakery, Ranpo chimed in, “Dazai, cue the explanation already, I’m tired and I doubt Yosano will leave without an explanation!”
Looking up, Dazai gave one of the most innocent smiles the group had seen yet, though they had good reason to believe it was yet another act he put up.
“What’s so wrong~?” He said cheerfully, “I’m simply playing some chess with my brother~”
Silence.
“Finally,” Ranpo muttered with a grin, already tapping Yosano, as if signalling her that he wanted to leave, yet she, or the others as a matter of fact, moved an inch.
Maybe they had also stopped breathing too.
The silence continued.
Until eventually…
“BROTHER?!” All of them shouted.