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His father asks him something, once. "Are you happy?"
Kunikida pauses. Is he happy? It's not something he thinks about often. His father is waiting, eyes sharp as always and a smile hovering over his lips.
"Are you?" Kunikida asks.
His father looks at him. "I found one of your mom's old poetry books last week."
—
"Kunikida-san!" Atsushi runs up to him. "I was hoping to catch up to you - um -"
Kunikida blinks at him, a little confused. They don't have any missions planned out together in the recent future.
Atsushi inhales deeply. "Well, I was wondering if you would - if you have some time - teach me first aid...?" He trails off into an uncertain question.
"First aid?" Mystified, Kunikida blinks down at him. "Wouldn't Yosano-san be the better option for that?"
Atsushi flushes. "Well, Yosano-san… scares me a little bit? And -" he looks away, seemingly embarrassed. "I think you're really cool, Kunikida-san. I want to - save people the way you do."
Something inside Kunikida stutters.
After a beat, Atsushi's eyes widen. "I - I mean, if it's okay with you, of course! I can just go to Tanizaki-san, don't worry, I-"
"Atsushi." Kunikida interrupts. Atsushi stops rambling, ramrod straight. "I have some time, so I can teach you first aid. You'll have to be quick though." With that, he spins on his heel and starts walking back into the agency.
Atsushi audibly grins. "Yes, sir!"
—
Kunikida's favorite form of poetry, out of all the ones his mother used to read to him, is free verse. There is something alluring about how they don't have a strict rhyme or reason, but they still make sense.
It's something like his book of ideals and it's something like his mother, who could never remember where she put her keys. But it's also something like Fukuzawa with a knowing smile, and his father learning to let go.
—
"Ku-ni-ki-da~!" Dazai lilts.
Kunikida's grip tightens on his pen. "What."
"You know how I'm an amazing partner and a-"
"No."
Dazai gasps, offended. "No to what? I haven't even said anything yet!"
Kunikida narrows his eyes. "I am not doing another mission of yours."
"But-!" Dazai protests. "We're partners! And you know, going out in this weather is supposed to be really good for your liver!"
Kunikida pauses. "Really?"
Dazai nods excitedly. "Oh yeah, absolutely! Apparently, the hydrogen in the air - write this down, write this down - is supposed to increase liver functionality!"
"How does it do that?" Kunikida asks curiously, scribbling down the information.
"No idea." Dazai shrugs. "I just made that up!"
Kunikida's pen snaps.
—
When Kunikida joins the agency, Fukuzawa tells him, "Poetry is everywhere. You just have to be able to find it."
It doesn't make sense to Kunikida, at first. After all, poetry is in the books his mother used to read, and in the classroom with his teacher discussing the importance of stanzas.
Then Kunikida teaches Atsushi first aid. A week later, Atsushi comes back to the agency near tears - he'd managed to save a civilian from bleeding out.
Then Kunikida ends up doing the paperwork for Dazai's mission anyway. There are new pens on his table the next morning.
Then Kunikida fights against the end of the world because he's going to protect Yokohama and his ideals and himself, but also - he's going to protect everyone at the agency. They are poetry, and they are annoying and rash and ridiculous.
But contemporary poems are written in free verse, after all.