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Sigma never expected to find a job that easy. After all the Mersault events, Dazai getting out alive and flying back to Japan, he thought it’d take him a couple months to get set up, find some sort of income and rent whatever he could with that money, but the Armed Detective Agency ended up offering him a job and a dorm to stay at.
His chores at the office were pretty simple; doing paperwork, organizing archives and helping Haruno with everything she could need. He was still supposed to go on simple missions and use his ability when necessary, but that didn’t happen too often for him to consider himself a detective like the rest of the members.
One of those day, though, everyone decided to went out to eat at some new restaurant which Kyouka wouldn’t stop talking about because they have all kinds of desserts, and they look so pretty! And we gotta go, please!
No one could say no to Kyouka.
So, they set a time and a date, and decided to meet near the ADA so they could walk there together. Sigma was delighted, to lay the less, he hadn’t been to eat out in… never, actually. Being three years old gave him a lot of experiences, almost dying at least thrice was one of them. Sure, he’d been trafficked and had own a casino, but he never went out to eat with friends.
Did he ever had friends to begin with?
Pushing the thought aside, Sigma finished putting on his coat, then gave himself a last look on the mirror before grabbing his keys and leaving his dorm. It was a little cold outside, winter was around the corner, and he’d completely forgotten to buy new clothes for the season, which he regretted the moment he stepped outside when the breeze hit him sending shivers down his back.
“Feeling cold, Manager?”
Turning around, Sigma saw Dazai walking on his direction, Atsushi and Kyouka were behind him, bowing once they were in front of him.
“Yeah, a little” he admitted, returning the greeting to the three of them. He noticed Kyouka wearing a different kimono from the usual red one, this one looked more elegant and formal, she really was excited for going to the restaurant then, “by the way, you look pretty, Kyouka.”
“Thank you” the little girl bowed once more, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment, Atsushi chuckled next to her.
“Let’s get going, kids, we don’t want to keep the others waiting” Dazai lead the small group down the street, but once they went farther than the ADA building, Sigma couldn’t help but feel confused, they were supposed to wait there.
“Are we going anywhere?” he asked Dazai.
“Oh, right.” Dazai snapped his fingers, as if he’d just remembered something. “They decided to go to the restaurant because it was too cold to wait for us outside, I forgot to tell you.”
Sigma nodded, turning his attention to the other side of the street, the river was running in a more aggressive way than usual due to the wind blowing. He saw some kids playing with a ball at the edge of it, kicking it back and forth, they didn’t look older than five or something.
Suddenly, the ball went into the river and one of the kids, without realizing how risky it was, jumped into the river to get it back.
Sigma reacted faster than ever.
Leaving three confused people behind, he ran down the stairs that surrounded the river and pulled out his coat before thinking rationally about what he was about to do. Without taking a second to doubt, he jumped after the kid.
The child was in fact drowning, Sigma could see him down the water trying to swim but with how cold the temperature was, the weight of his own clothes and the wind making the river flow even more violent than usual, he could not get above the water.
Sigma took the kid by the hand, pulling him up and guiding him to the riverside. He was mostly limp and was coughing violently while Sigma carried him.
“Just hold on” he told him gritting his teeth, putting all his strength in taking he child with him, who’d started to wake up and could only grasp onto one of his friends to get out of the water just before another gust of wind threw Sigma to the side, making him go down the water and loose the oxygen he’d been holding before.
He had hit his head with the motion, which made him open his mouth to scream in pain, until he noticed he couldn’t. The moment he tried to ask for help, water entered his mouth not letting him breathe, he tried to get to the riverside, but the dizziness and lack of air was pulling him back, slowly losing his consciousness, the faint light of the sunset shining above the water was everything he could see before the last of the oxygen left his body.
Ironic, he was going to die drowned, again.
Flares of light shone behind Sigma’s eyelids along with voices he couldn’t quite recognize at the moment, his mind was too foggy, and he didn’t remember why he was sleeping on the first place. Where was he? And why was his futon so uncomfortable?
“Sigma, can you hear me?”
He groaned in response, bringing one hand to his eyes in an attempt to block the light hitting them. Slowly blinking awake, he realized he wasn’t on his room, neither alone. Atsushi’s face was just a few inches away from his, looking worried and with unshed tears on his eyes.
Everything that had just happened came back to Sigma, who leaned to the side when he tried to answer Atsushi’s question, coughing water and feeling his throat burning with the effort of breathing after inhaling all that liquid.
“Fuck” was all he managed to say before coughing again. Kyouka rubbed his back with care while Atsushi helped him sit up. Dazai was standing next to them, his coat was gone, and his hair was dripping, his bandages looked gray due to being wet, and Sigma felt a little guilty. That must be uncomfortable.
“How are you feeling? Does anything hurt” Atsushi couldn’t stop staring at him, Sigma gave him a smile and shook his head.
“Nothing hurts, I’m okay, Atsushi” then he turned to Dazai, “and thanks for helping me, I think it’s the second time you save me from dying.”
“Oh, that’s kinda my thing” Dazai joked, “but if you ever wanna try a double suicide by drowning, I’m in.”
“I don’t think that’s on my plans” Sigma was finally able to stand up, only then getting to notice how cold his whole body was and the light headache that would probably become a cold later.
“We should get back to the dorms” Dazai seemed to have read his thoughts, then he went to talk with the other two, “you guys have fun, don’t worry about us.”
“You sure?” Kyouka, even after being the most excited one, looked troubled by the fact of going without them, “we could simply not go, the restaurant won’t go anywhere.”
“It’s okay” it was Sigma who talked this time, trying to get the water off his hair, “I need to get a bath unless I wanna get sick, but I’d hate to ruin your date with this. Please, go.”
Kyouka still seemed hesitant, but once Atsushi put his hand on her shoulder and guided them in the restaurant’s direction, everything she could do was nod and went along with him.
Sigma sighed, going to pick up his coat from where he’d thrown it before and covered himself with it. Dazai brought his own too, putting it over his shoulders. Both of them walked side by side back to the dorms, not saying much but finding the familiarity of the situation somehow funny.
Once there, they said their goodbyes and went inside their respective rooms. Sigma went to take a bath and changed his clothes to his pajamas, then he laid on his futon staring at the ceiling and laughing quietly when he realized something.
He had officially beaten death four times. New record.