Chapter Text
Dearest Ran
I miss y
I’m sor
hi
Hello,
I’m not exactly sure to what level of formality I need to write this letter, considering that it will not reach you anyways. It’s been just under two months that I’ve been trying to write this to no avail. I didn’t want to at first but Kunikida, ever-so-helpful, presented a full list of pros and cons to doing this. And so here we are, you’ve been the only thing stuck in my head for two months now. You won’t even let me write stories of my own, I can’t seem to dream up any world of fantasy without it somehow turning back to you. With me writing has not been a purpose, but a passion. It seems only fitting that you’d be the one to indirectly extinguish it.
I was told to imagine you were on a long trip when writing this, to not use any vocabulary with finality. I felt like a small child being told to play pretend, but that’s not different from what we’ve done during our time together. Pretending that happiness cannot be altered, pretending that love is eternal, pretending that our jobs aren’t
life-threatening
dangerous. Pretending is a horrible thing, because sooner or later, reality makes itself known, and it’s often only after we’ve suffered the losses.
But enough of that, there is no use discussing things you already know. A letter is supposed to relate new information, after all. Things have gotten surprisingly busy without you here to take most of the jobs. Dare I say, the agency is in complete havoc. In your absence, Dazai has taken over the majority of the intellectually driven cases. Of course, this should come as no surprise to you, it is increasingly difficult to actually get him to work, but he does take great enjoyment in cracking a mystery. Due to this, I’ve been working a little at the agency, apparently enough that President Fukuzawa now has me officially considered as a part-time worker. It isn’t entirely unpleasant, though I still haven’t gotten used to the noise.
I'd much prefer it if we were working together
I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken your desk, not that you ever really used it anyways. I’m sure everyone misses it, the way you sauntered from desk to desk snacking and making the agency a little brighter for everyone. I can’t vouch for the rest of them, but I know that
I
Karl misses you for sure. Every now and again, he’ll chitter up to me like he does to you whenever he asks for some of your snacks. It pained me so much that I had to start carrying more excessive amounts of food with me.
Karl and I are making do while we abide our time, though things have become more mundane in the past week. Everything has finally settled down, the hole that you've left at the agency is slowly being filled.
I don’t want that though, I don’t
However, you are far from forgotten. Just because the snacks in the panty are depleting slower doesn’t mean I’ll stop buying them in double. Just because some of the clothes in the closet haven’t been worn in two months does not mean I will get rid of them. Everything will be waiting for you when you get back, no matter how long that takes.
I await your resp
I lo
Yours truly,
E. A. Poe