Chapter Text
Kyouka stared at the door for a few moments before knocking. The hushed voices that could be heard from the inside until then immediately fell silent. Instead, she could hear hurried steps approaching the door. When it opened, Tanizaki’s figure appeared in the frame.
“Ah, Kyouka-chan.” His surprise changed to a smile. “Can I do something for you?”
She nodded.
“It is about the sweets you made for Christmas last year. Do you still have the recipe?”
“Do you want to make sweets?”
She nodded again.
“Sure. You can wait inside while I’m looking for it. It’s cold outside.”
Tanizaki stepped aside and let her in before closing the door behind her and disappearing in the living room. Kyouka took off her shoes and followed him, the cold tatami mats slowly sucking away the warmth of her feet. She stopped at the threshold and glanced around the room.
Although it had the same structure as theirs, it gave off a completely different feeling from the room she shared with Atsushi. Photos decorated the walls, while the floor was covered in magazines. On the windowsill stood a flower that looked as if it was about to go on to the next world. Perhaps it could still be saved…?
“Good evening, Kyouka-chan!”
Kyouka followed the female voice, until she found Naomi sprawled out on the floor, wearing one of her brother’s shirts and smiling at her. The smaller girl nodded as a greeting.
“What were you two doing?”
“We were playing games. Isn’t that right, Onii-sama~?”
Tanizaki rummaged around in a drawer.
“Hm? Ah, yes.”
“Hooo.”
Kyouka watched the orange-haired man in his search. He ruffled through his hair absentmindedly, making it stand in all directions. It reminded the girl of a hedgehog.
“Naomi, do you know where I put the sweets magazine?” he asked when he couldn’t find it in the drawer.
Naomi got up and crawled towards him. She leaned against his back and wrapped her arms around him, looking over his shoulder.
“If it’s not in there, then maybe it’s somewhere on the ground. Or you left it in the kitchen?”
She combed through his hair with her fingers, spiking it up even more.
“It’s definitely not in the kitchen. If it was, then Kunikida-san would have already gotten mad at me two months ago.”
Pushing his human backpack aside gently, he crawled over to the mess of magazines on the floor and continued his search.
“Sorry that it’s so chaotic,” he said with an apologetic smile at Kyouka. “I didn’t have time to clean.”
The girl shook her head. She didn’t care about the mess of other people. On the contrary, she liked how lively it looked. Maybe she could ask Atsushi if he’d like to decorate their room with her.
“Ah, here it is.” Tanizaki picked up a magazine and gave it to her. “Have you ever made sweets before?”
Her bangs brushed her cheeks when she shook her head.
“I’ve never made sweets before. I’ll do my best.”
Tanizaki nodded, smiling.
“Alright. If you need help, feel free to ask me.”
“Thank you.”
Kyouka bowed to both Tanizaki and his sister and went back to her shared room with Atsushi.
The boy was smiling at his phone, when she entered but looked up as soon as she stepped inside the living room.
“Welcome back. Did you find what you were looking for?”
She nodded and placed the magazine on the table, scanning the tasty-looking sweets on the cover with sparkling eyes.
“Ah, do you want to make sweets?”
“I heard you give sweets to the people you like on Valentine’s Day.”
Atsushi dropped his phone, seemingly getting nervous.
“Do… Do you have someone specific in mind…? Someone you like…?”
Kyouka nodded again and traced her fingers over the shining surface of the magazine, a dreamy smile on her face when she imagined the recipients’ reactions to her gift.
“I want to give it to the Agency’s members. Everybody here has been so kind to me.”
“Oh, I see.” He looked… disappointed? “But that’s a great idea! I’d like to show my gratitude as well!”
Atsushi crossed his arms and placed a finger under his chin in thought.
“Maybe White Day will do?” he pondered.
On the evening of the 13th, Kyouka was standing in the kitchen, preparing for her task. She had decided on two recipes she wanted to try; heart-shaped cookies covered with a chocolate glaze, and chocolate muffins. The ingredients were bought together with Yosano earlier that day, and she had gotten permission from Kunikida to use the kitchen—on the condition that she’d clean after herself.
Apparently, Dazai had once left the kitchen in utter chaos and since then, everybody had to ask for Kunikida’s permission to use it. Not that the culprit actually gave a damn about his ban. He had simply changed to picking the lock instead of using the key whenever he wanted access.
The girl put on the apron with the cute rabbit print she couldn’t walk past this afternoon and happily stared at her new piece for a while, before starting with her work. She had memorized the recipes and decided to do the cookies first, since the glaze had to cool down a while. Weighing and mixing the ingredients were mundane tasks but thinking of how her coworkers would react turned it into an exciting experience for the girl.
She wanted it to turn out perfectly and performed each step with the precision that got drummed into her during her time with the mafia. The best part was cutting out the cookies; doing something with her hands that didn’t hurt or kill people, but instead created something. It was a completely new experience for her, and she enjoyed every second of it.
While they were baking, Kyouka cleaned her utensils so that she could reuse them for the muffins. She prepared the chocolate after taking the cookies out to cool and put everything in the fridge after having applied the glaze and other decorations.
A yawn escaped her, and she felt her eyes slowly growing tired, as she prepared the muffin dough. She must have fallen asleep in front of the oven because a light tap on her shoulder almost startled her to death. Brown eyes and a smiling face came into her view when she looked up.
“I think your muffins are ready, Kyouka-chan.”
“Thank you.”
The girl opened the door and pulled out the tray a bit, checking the consistency of the muffins with a toothpick. They were just right.
She turned off the oven and placed the tray on the stovetop, before stretching her tired limbs. In the background, Dazai hummed a cheerful tone, while he pulled out materials that looked suspiciously like ingredients for making chocolate.
“Are you making something for Valentine’s Day as well?” Kyouka asked and watched the man, while she cleaned the rest of her used tools.
“I am!”
Dazai opened a jar and poured some—a lot—of sugar into the melted chocolate.
“Dazai-san…?”
“What is it?” he turned to her, smiling, the sugar still pouring into the mass.
“I think that is a bit too much sugar…”
None of the recipes she had studied required that much.
“Oh, don’t worry. That’s salt!”
The girl blinked at him, before turning back to her dishes wordlessly, hoping the chocolate was not intended for anyone from the Agency.
After having decorated her muffins and tidying up her workspace, Kyouka picked up her sweets. She turned to Dazai once more, upon reaching the door.
“Kunikida-san said not to let you in.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll clean up after myself. You won’t have to fear mommy’s wrath~~”
She nodded relieved.
“Good night.”
“Good night, Kyouka-chan~!”
The quiet snoring coming out of the cupboard told Kyouka that her roommate was already sleeping when she entered her apartment. Carefully, she placed her sweets on the table and wrapped them, before putting them somewhere safe. Then, she sat down to make some cards for everyone to hand over together with the sweets.
Atsushi woke up in the middle of the night. He could see light fall into the cabinet and opened the door curiously.
“Kyouka-chan?”
When he crawled out into the room, he found Kyouka slumped down on the table, sleeping soundly. Smiling, he went over to her and looked at the bunch of cards she made herself before lifting her carefully and placing her on the bed. His tiger strength could be quite useful in this kind of situations. He put the blanket over her and turned off the light, then went back to sleep as well.
The next day, Kyouka couldn’t wait to give her presents to the other Agency members. Although it was almost unnoticeable, Atsushi could see her step being more cheerful than usual. Smiling, he pushed open the door to the office, only to be greeted by… what even was this situation?
Ranpo was dozing on his desk as usual, while Yosano sorted her documents to start with work, just like Tanizaki and Naomi. Kenji was still in his room, probably sleeping. The unusual occurrence was Kunikida, who was not only not working yet, but instead he was—apparently deeply in shock—staring at something that looked a lot like a nicely wrapped Valentine’s gift lying on his desk.
“Um, Dazai-san…?” The two kids went over to the man sitting next to the Agency’s second-in-command. “What exactly is going on here…?”
The brunet greeted them with his usual smile.
“Ah, Atsushi-kun, Kyouka-chan, good morning!” he exclaimed cheerfully. “Well, as it seems our dear Kunikida-kun here has a secret admirer~”
Before the tiger-boy could ask more questions, Kunikida spun around and pulled Dazai up by his collar.
“Dazai, what should I do??” he shook him violently. “I have no idea who this gift is from! How am I supposed to respond to these feelings and express my gratitude??!”
Dazai got a hold of Kunikida’s arms, causing the taller one to stop shaking him.
“The answer is very easy, Kunikida-kun~”
“Really??”
“Indeed.” He nodded confirming, before making an instructive gesture. “You simply have to… investigate!”
“Of course!” Kunikida let go of the ex-mafioso and picked up his notebook, scribbling inside eagerly while pacing around and mumbling unintelligibly.
And thus, Dazai successfully managed to get a work-free day for himself. He leaned back in his chair with a blissful face, making it all too obvious who that secret admirer was. Kyouka cast a suspicious gaze at the wrapped chocolate.
When all the Agency’s members had gathered, the girl started distributing her presents.
“Did you make these yourself?”
She nodded.
“I followed the recipe. Should be no problem. I hope you like it.”
“This is super tasty! Thanks a lot, Kyouka-chan!”
The girl beamed at the smiles and thanks she received from the others, a pleasant warmth spreading on her cheeks. These people made her feel at home and she was grateful for and loved every second she could spend with them.
Bonus:
Her attempt of warning Kunikida from the chocolate got interrupted, when Fukuzawa stepped into the office. With another card and package of sweets in hands, she hurried over to the president before he could disappear again.
“Uhm…”
She looked up at him and gulped when she met his stern gaze. His silver eyes always made her scalp tingle.
“I made this…”
Her voice was almost nonexistent but the present she handed to him didn’t need an explanation. Fukuzawa took the sweets and examined them before placing a hand on her hair.
“Thank you.”
His face was expressionless as usual, but his hand felt very warm and caring. Kyouka looked up at the man and wondered, if it wasn’t that he didn’t have emotions, but more that he couldn’t really express them. Somehow, she felt incredibly close to him all of a sudden. A smile spread on her face and the man retrieved his hand, giving her a short bow before disappearing into his office.
With her chest overflowing with happiness, she went back to her place, noticing too late that Kunikida had already started eating the chocolate. His face grew hard and the girl could see him trembling lightly. She was about to ask him if he needed a glass of water, when he slammed his fist on the table.
“I HAVE to find whoever made this chocolate! It has just the right mixture of cacao and sweetness!”
His praise turned into a rambling over the perfect composition of chocolate. Kyouka cast a glance at Dazai who winked at her, when he noticed her gaze. Perhaps, she thought, the salty chocolate was for somebody else entirely…?