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Atsushi rolled over in his bed, his silver hair splaying over his sheets messily. He didn’t know what, but something had upset his dads at Parent Night the previous day. Could it have something to do with his teacher or his school? Were they going to pull him out? He wilted dejectedly at the thought. He’d been that close to having a normal life after his terrible childhood in the orphanage. Being a usual, run-of-the-mill high school kid was all he really wanted. His fingers could nearly grasp a new branch, but the tree might be stripped bare.
He unbuttoned his pajama shirt and began to put on the white button-down uniform shirt with a heavy heart. His actions faltered for a moment. It’d be far worse to be given the possible bad news in the clothes for the place he could no longer go. Then again, the slim chance there wouldn’t be any existed. The half-worn shirt dangled over his drooping shoulders loosely, but not for too long.
He decided to take the optimistic route and finished dressing himself. Gingerly he made his way to the kitchen and prepared himself some chazuke from the leftovers from the night before. The tantalizing scent of his favorite food danced in the air, and he instantly started to feel a little better. That was the healing power of chazuke, wasn’t it? Not that it actually healed, but it made him happy, so in a way it did.
Soon enough, his parents came into the dining room. Dazai still looked as stone-cold as he had the night before, and Kunikida had dark circles. Atsushi swallowed his nerves. Maybe if he asked them first, the blow wouldn’t hit as hard.
“Are you pulling me out of school?” He winced. He hadn’t meant to sound so direct and out of the blue.
His blonde father stared at him weakly with half-closed eyes. “No, why would you think that?” he slurred. “Just avoid a pale boy in black. He’s dangerous.”
Dazai’s expression regarding this warning remained indifferent. He was more that well aware of the threat.
Atsushi sighed with relief. He wasn’t leaving school. The infamous ebony killer wasn’t known to target schools. Also, Kunikida told him this warning every morning, so it wasn’t anything he actually had to be scared of. Besides, if he really was something to worry about, his dads would stop him the second they got an inkling of a thought that Atsushi might be targeted.
He took his bowl of chazuke to the coffee table so he could chat better. As he shoveled spoonfuls of rice into his hungry mouth, he asked, “Okay, got it. How was last night?”
“Boring,” Dazai answered quickly. “We came across a guy that I was never particularly fond of when we knew each other, which was a pain. Him and I had a chat about how our lives had changed since we last saw each other, and he decided to insult our family because of some of the bad choices I made back when I worked with him. He also thought it’d be funny to hurt our precious Doppo.” Warmth returned to his eyes when he said the last sentence, but all the ones before it dripped with hatred. He rested his head on Kunikida’s shoulder as he added, “As long as I’m with you two, his words don’t affect me, really. They’re just mean, is all. He knows just how to get under my skin.”
So that’s why they’d been acting so oddly. When someone threatened anyone that Dazai loved, he turned emotionless and hateful. And when that happened, Kunikida became very worried about him and tried to fix the problem. If it occurred at night, he’d sacrifice sleep to help. The cycle was painful, but it usually only lasted half a day at most. Their love for each other was far stronger than any insult.
“I’m sorry about that,” Atsushi said with a mouth full of food. He swallowed and added, “But whatever that guy said doesn’t matter. He’s just trying to make you mad.”
Dazai nodded. “Yeah. But don’t make yourself late because you’re wondering about me being okay. This guy right here has enough worries for two people.”
“What?” Kunikida mumbled when he heard the reference to himself, his disheveled hair spilling over his shoulders and hanging around his eyes.
With grand, gentle movements Dazai wrapped his arms around Kunikida’s neck reassuringly. “Nothing, darling.” He kissed his cheek. “Just promise me you’ll get some more sleep,” he chastised, cupping the taller man’s face with his hands. “You’re so mush-brained when you get like this. You need more sleep.”
“I’m fine,” the tired man grumbled, pushing the brunette’s hands away.
“You sure are,” Dazai agreed with a naughty expression. “Cause when you’re like this, I can do this!” He tickled Kunikida’s stomach.
Atsushi chuckled as he watched the chaos go down. When it came to tickling, Kunikida was one of the most vengeful people you could ever come across. Despite running on half as much sleep as he needed, he was surprisingly still able to take the revenge he thirsted for. The laughter and outcries for each other to stop pulsed throughout the room with a grand rambunctious and joyful energy that crushed all the negativity of the moment before.
Atsushi quietly packed his bag as the chaos continued. He watched for a few more moments and then attempted to catch the attention of at least one of them through the maddened tangle of limbs and happy tears.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I kind of need someone to drive me to school?”
They paused. It was a bit of an awkward stop considering at this point Kunikida had Dazai pinned to the couch and he had to climb off him. He excused himself and let Dazai answer.
“Yosano’ll be taking you and the Tanizakis today,” he explained. His mischievous face returned. “With that out of the way… You haven’t defeated me yet, my darling Doppo!” He used the forced end to initiate a sneak attack on Kunikida’s back. “I’ll see you after school, Atsushi!”
The silverette took the command and made his way to the door. As much as he loved his dads, he could only watch them be on top of each other, literally, for so long.
————————————————-
The bell rung to symbolize that class had ended for the day. Atsushi sat up from the chestnut brown wood desk and began to put his belongings in his bag. He heard footsteps behind him thanks to his enhanced tiger senses, and he raised his head, his long bang on the right side of his face swinging with his movements. Lo and behold came a blonde girl with shoulder-length hair and sharp and refined yet stunningly intense red eyes.
“Kunikidazai Atsushi, right? I’ve heard that you’re a gifted that can turn into a tiger. Is that true?” she asked innocently. She smiled kindly, the afternoon sun sparkling on her straight white teeth.
He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t see anything hostile about her, and if she was curious he may as well answer. No harm came from answering questions, right? And if she’d already heard rumors about his ability, his secret wasn’t really a secret anymore. Not that it was a secret, he just preferred to not talk about the abnormal things in his life.
“That would be me,” he replied in a friendly tone.
She sighed happily. “Great.” She twisted her back leg nervously, like she had information she didn’t want to share but felt obliged to, just like him. “Lately, there’s been some creepy guy that keeps on trying to follow me home. I think that maybe with your tiger ability and everything, you could try to scare him off.” Her cheeks reddened as she explained this.
That man had no right doing that. If he was trying to treat this girl wrong, he had to help her. But he’d be late for pickup…
“Would you mind if I brought my friends Jun’ichiro and Naomi? I usually get picked up with them, so it’s a little bit more convenient to have them come with me while I help you get home safely,” he asked with an explanation to make sure he didn’t sound cowardly because of the task or anything.
Granted, he was a little scared. After all, he’d never really tried to use his tiger ability since the day he ravaged his parents’ old house because of his inability to control himself. Once they informed him of what he’d done, he’d been very sorry and thus hadn’t used his ability much more after that. As a result, he barely knew how to activate his power, much less use it. If he had the Tanizakis with him, he’d feel more confident.
“No problem,” she beamed gratefully. “Oh, I must have forgotten. My name’s Higuchi Ichiyō, but call me Higuchi, if you’d mind.”
He returned the expression. “Just let me get them and text my dad that I’ll be a little late for pickup. I should be like two minutes.”
“Great!” She clapped happily. “It’ll be great to finally scare off that weirdo.”
He gave her a thumbs up and exited the room. His locker happened to be rather close to his class, so he got to it relatively quickly. With precision from a week’s practice, he unlocked it and flipped open his phone. Long fingers clicked the buttons as he texted Dazai and his friends from the Agency about his plan for helping out Higuchi. Both seemed fine with it as long as the Tanizakis went with him.
- Meet up at the back lot?
Sure -
Once Higuchi and he got to the back lot, they saw the Tanizakis waiting for them. And when they did, they witnessed Naomi doing, may he say, questionable things to the redhead. He didn’t look particularly happy with her actions, but he let her do what she wanted for the time being. Even if he didn’t like her like that, he did love her in a familial manner.
As she held herself against his chest, Jun’ichiro scratched the back of his head. “So how far is it?” he asked the blonde.
She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, not that long. Let’s get going so your driver doesn’t have to wait too much.”
Jun’ichiro could only nod lightly as Naomi traced her index and middle fingers over his lips. “Naomi, could we please wait until we get home?” he pleaded once she stopped to caress his cheeks.
She removed her hands from face with a pout. “Fine.”
They followed Higuchi’s lead as she talked about herself and her sister back at home. But most of her talking revolved around her crush.
“He’s so tall and handsome,” she gushed, her red eyes shining pink in the dim lighting of the shade of the brick buildings beside them. “But he’s distant and dark. Which makes him that much more attractive.”
They reached the next turn when Higuchi suddenly screamed. She tumbled to the ground, shaking with fright. The other three students rushed over to figure out what had spooked her. All she could do was point a quivering finger into a dark back alley.
“Th-there’s someth-thing In there,” she stammered. “I see it now! It’s the biggest spider I’ve ever seen! Help, it’s going to bite me!” Her breath grew ragged.
A will to save her bloomed in Atsushi’s chest. He couldn’t let her get harmed by what likely scared her most. That was one of the great kindnesses he’d never been able to experience as a child. Helping her would at least let him grant that kind of feeling to himself, in a twisted selfish kind of way. Besides, it was just a bug. He could smash it under his feet with ease. And if not that, he could shoo it away until she didn’t have to worry about it anymore.
With newfound courage he entered, motioning for Jun’ichiro to follow. The ginger toyed with his left earring and then fulfilled the silent command.
“Alright, spider. Where are you?” he called for no one in particular.
Then a click of metal rung behind him.
He didn’t want to turn around and se what he knew he would. His experiences with two ADA members parents told him the chilling sound could only come from a gun, but he didn’t want to believe it.
What if this “creepy guy” Higuchi had told him about was the one behind him and was going to kill them all? He couldn’t die, not yet. He had to say his last words to his dads. He’d just left them this morning without even giving them his usual “Good bye, I love you!” So many regrets weighed heavily on his heart. But if he was going to die today, he‘d prefer knowing who had killed him and whether his schoolmates had a chance to live.
Death had blonde hair and red eyes.
She’d tied up her hair and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her uniform, but there was no mistaking her identity.
“Akutagawa, sir,” she spoke into a communication device on he cheek that her hair had previously hidden. “I’ve got them where you wanted.”
She aimed her dual guns at the three of them with a dutiful air. “I shouldn’t be rude, this is business, after all.” The metal clinked as she loaded the weapons. “I am Ichiyō Higuchi, a member of the Port Mafia and bodyguard to Mr. Akutagawa.“
The Port Mafia? As in the vicious criminal organization that ruled the darkest corners of Yokohama?
Jun’ichirō reached for Naomi’s hand worriedly.
Higuchi’s fingers closed down on the triggers…
Atsushi couldn’t be seeing what he was. He just couldn’t.
Jun’ichiro’s eyes widened like a deer in headlights.
He’s going to die. What do I do? He’s going to die. What do I do?
She sent her first barrage of bullets right towards him.
He’s going to die he’s going to die he’s going to die—
Black hair spilled everywhere as the tearing of fabric scratched at the atmosphere.
“Hey, Jun’ichirō. It looks like in the end, I got to save you. Isn’t that ironic?” Naomi smiled melancholically as she collapsed into his arms.
She couldn’t be dead. But the way the back of her shirt had been torn open and the blood on her back foretold that she was, or was going to be very soon.
The life sucked out of Jun’ichirō’s eyes. He trembled with an emotion, though Atsushi didn’t quite know what it was. Anger? Mourning?
He laid his sister to rest behind him with a return of her smile. “You’re so funny. Earlier you just said how romantic a lover’s sacrifice is, and now…” Tears silently trickled down his face. “You can’t die on me. Please, not yet.” His voice hardened. “And now I’m here to avenge you. You’ll pay for hurting Naomi!” he screamed.
Green numbers and codes whirled around him, and a nonexistent wind sifted through his hair. Orange eyes narrowed with wrath. Glowing flecks of the same shade rained from the sky like snow, cloaking the gritty concrete and asphalt ground.
The emerald numbers closed in on him as though they were sinking into his body. Higuchi bared her teeth and readied more firings. When her bullets connected with where his body should have been, they burned straight through a mass of pixels in the shape of him.
“What the hell…?”
Atsushi could have said the same. He knew how Jun’ichirō’s ability worked, but he’d never actually seen it in use until now. But actually, “thank heavens” would apply to this better. With his illusionist power, they‘d escape, and then they’d get back to Yosano quick enough to let her heal Naomi. Right? That’s what Jun’ichirō wanted to do, right?
Higuchi flicked on a pair of black sunglasses and reloaded. “Even if I can’t see you, my bullets will!”
She became a carousel of metal and heat that had been forged only to obliterate everything in its path. The sound of gunfire sprinted through Atsushi’s ears, and he dropped to the floor, digging his fingernails into the cracks in the concrete.
The sounds quelled. He peeked upward just the slightest only to see Jun’ichirō’s hands closing down on Higuchi’s neck. Her strained coughs littered on the leftovers of the last horrific scene.
How could somebody his age be so ready to commit murder? And how could Jun’ichiro return that treatment after all the people he’d helped through his volunteer work at the ADA? He didn’t have much time to think about it.
The redhead froze. A sharp glowing-red black tendril pointed through his chest. It shouldn’t have been real, but the blood blooming around the wound proved it to be. The strange weapon redacted from him, and, like a stringless marionette, his body tumbled to the ground.
A boy with pale skin that couldn’t have been much older than Atsushi coughed. The dark piercer pulled itself back into his ebony trench coat as he moved his hands back to his side.
“I’ve got the weretiger secured, Mr. Akutagawa, sir,” reported Higuchi, visibly internally begging for praise.
The boy’s heels clacked against the gum-spot-stained floor as he strode towards his subordinate, based on what Higuchi had said about being a bodyguard to this boy.
This was the ebony killer. He was a few years short of being a child. And… wait a second… He was in Atsushi’s class! He was the guy that had hated him for some reason. Was he after Atsushi?
“You stupid girl can’t do what you’re told! Leave this area at once and told the boss how you failed.”
“I’m sorry, Akutagawa, sir.” She dropped her sub-machine guns and bowed her head dejectedly as she moved to the back of the alley.
His gaze moved to Atsushi. “I said I wanted the weretiger alive,” he added aggressively as she went.
Atsushi scrambled backward. “What…?”
The supposed Akutagawa coughed into his hand. When he finished, he added, “You’re selling for a high price on the black market. And if you come with me with no resistance, I won’t treat you like we did your unfortunate friends who caught in the crossfire of our exchange.”
Atsushi trembled again, but this time with hate. He sold for a high price according to this boy, but no currency in the entire world could ever replace the lives of human beings. And to kill just to get that money? What kind of greedy demons resided in the Port Mafia?
He could still escape. Those machine guns were just waiting for somebody to take them. If he could grab one, he could subdue Akutagawa and get away. Then Yosano would heal everyone and it’d be okay again, like this moment never happened.
He stood up, preparing for an escape, when he was interrupted with, “If you even dare to move away, your leg won’t be following.”
If he was fast enough, he could get out. He knew he could. With a deep breath, he took a running start, he sprinted towards Akutagawa’s blind spot and slid beneath his attacks. His hands twisted around the previous ignored, and with a battle cry he shot at Akutagawa. A black dragon appeared with a gaping red mouth on his back, and the bullets stopped in their tracks when they were inches away from connecting.
It happened too fast. Pain struck his body like a truck, and he fell onto the ground, the intensity of the fall rattling his body. A sticky fluid flowed around him, and although he had an idea of what it was, his pain was too intense to allow him to check.
As his agonized cries pierced the air, he heard one thing besides himself before he lost consciousness.
“You’re a useless weight that only exists to drag your family down.”
————————————————-
The sudden quelling in the steady beating of the tracker he’d hidden underneath his bandages snapped Dazai awake. His heart raced as he threw off his headphones and rushed to the door.
“Dazai, what’s going on?” Kunikida asked, following him. His grey-green eyes filled with concern.
Dazai took in a deep breath as he burst through the exit. “The tracker stopped beating! I’ve got to get to him before something terrible happens, if it hasn’t already!”
That previous concern in Kunikida’s beautiful eyes overflowed and changed his entire body language. “Where was he last when it shut off?”
Judging from the movements before, there was only one possibility of where he could be and the thought of it worried him to death.
“It’s on the side street right by here,” answered a now panting Dazai.
Kunikida flashed his gaze back to where they’d come from: the ADA building. “Then if he’s been badly harmed, we’ll be able to get him to Yosano in roughly five minutes if you add carrying him into account.”
They skidded past the patisserie at the edge of the bend and began scavenging each little space on the street. Dazai strained his ears for any signs of combat, praying that he couldn’t hear anything his precious son had already died. He never wanted another person he loved to die before him again.
Finally, at about the halfway point, sounds of battle reached his ears. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. If he heard something, that meant Atsushi was alive, but that also meant he was struggling to be. A lightning-fast glance at the last alley gave him more than enough of what he needed to see.
Kunikida pushed his glasses up his nose. Had this been any less dire situation, he’d think of a plan, but he couldn’t waste time doing that when his son could be dying.
They ran in together, Dazai taking the lead. Here they saw two heavily injured Tanizakis, a magnificent white tiger glowing with blue energy, and a teenager in black that Dazai didn’t want to recognize.
“Rashoumon: Agito!”
The tiger leaped at the boy, ready to strike.
“Atsushi, no!” Kunikida cried.
Dazai got between the two fighting boys just in the nick of time. The tiger flickered away as he fell from the iron-tasting sky. He caught his special, irreplaceable unconscious son before he could be hurt anymore, though when he held him close, he saw no injuries, although his left pant leg was coated in blood.
Ryūnosuke looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his tongue in check.
“I’ve had enough of the Port Mafia threatening my family,” growled Dazai. “I knew I made the right choice those years back,” he added. He was well aware of how cruel he was to say that, but at this point in time, he had to take out his anger on Ryunosuke somehow. How dare he even attempt to hurt his son, his greatest treasure?
“You’re not going to let some angry dad stop you, are you? He looks like I could shoot him down with one blow,” estimated Higuchi.
The teen mafioso’s expression hardened. “Not him.”
“But—“
“Not him,” he repeated. He motioned for her to follow with a simple arm movement, of which she reluctantly but loyally obeyed.
Kunikida watched them go while asking, “How do you know that boy?”
“He’s another regretful remnant of my previous life,” answered Dazai, picking up Naomi with his unoccupied arm.
Kunikida took Jun’ichirō for himself and made his way to the exit. “I’d prefer if you told me the whole truth, but I’ll accept if you’d rather not to tell. It’s hard to acknowledge past mistakes, and even more difficult to tell the ones you love. What if they’ll hate you for what you did?” His voice seemed to falter on the last sentence, and Dazai thought he had an idea why. Rokuzō and Sasaki never stopped to weigh on his heart, though his new life with Dazai had healed the worst of his past injuries.
Dazai might have been nervous to tell him the truth a few years ago when they’d first fallen for each other, but the truth was, even though nothing could tear them apart now, that he wanted to protect his darling’s mental health. That man worried so much already, so what would happen to him if he knew about how he constantly had to run from his past mistakes should they ever catch up and swallow him whole. However, Dazai knew dishonesty caused turmoil in Kunikida too, and the only reason he didn’t try to pry further was because he understood how the brunette worked. That was a side effect of his undying love. But everyone kept on saying honesty was the best policy.
“I’ll explain once we get our son and these kids to safety,” he decided, unsure if it was the right choice.
Kunikida nodded, looking relieved and yet more worried at the same time.
Atsushi’s eyes slowly fluttered open. “Did I get away?” he asked weakly.
His parents gazed upon him with thankful eyes.
“You’re safe now. Let’s get you three to the Agency, and then we can go home and sort this all out.”
If Dazai’s mistakes were coming for him, he’d defeat them head on in order to save the people he loved. He’d prove to himself and his best friend that he was worthy of this second chance at living.