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Atsushi’s lunch break had just concluded when he had first heard about it. He walked in on Dazai alone in the office. This isn’t the odd part; Dazai is known for his pranks, and will often stay behind to set up a chance for a good laugh later that day. The weird part was that Dazai seemed to have been talking to himself. The moment Atsushi stepped into the room, he had stopped talking, and began looking anxious.
“Dazai?” Atsushi scanned over the room. “Who were you talking to?”
“Oh..um..no one?” Dazai was definitely hiding something; It was plain on his face. Atsushi knew his mentor couldn’t have been scared by just anything. Even so, he found himself a little excited to know if he could aid him as a repayment for his help in the past. A quiet mumble from the other party gave Atsushi the final push, “You probably wouldn’t believe me anyway..”
“If there’s anything that worries you, you can always come to me about it,” Atsushi offered; His own anxiety bubbling up as he wonders if he could even help. He’s been able to deal with so many issues..How could I be able to help someone that’s as capable as him? A look that Atsushi couldn’t quite understand passes over Dazai’s face, and he sighs.
“Well..have you ever heard the legend of the Agency?” Dazai asked; His voice growing quieter as he utters the last words. “Everyone knows about it, but you’re new..”
“The Agency has a legend?” Atsushi tilts his head to the side. Dazai nods his head, and he searches on either side of the room for something unknown. His eyes land on something, and widen. He quickly turns to Atsushi, and gestures for him to come closer.
Atsushi follows his command, and Dazai’s voice fell to a whisper, “The ghost of the Agency..Legend has it that a woman was held hostage in this very building, and died of starvation. Now, she haunts the building; Still searching for someone to help her.” Dazai gasped suddenly, and turned away. He shouted at the mirror, “No, I’ll appease you; Don’t do that!”
There are numerous emotions one feels when they realize they’ve been deceived. For Atsushi, it resembles the five stages of grief. He thought to himself: There’s no way Dazai would make this up and take advantage of the fact that I want to help him. He processed that thought for second, and entered the second stage. How could he do that? I believed him for a moment, and wanted to help him!
His anger had dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared. He had a moment of blaming himself for believing that Dazai wasn’t trying to pull his leg. The next second it was evident on his face that he had reached the depression phase, and Dazai held a complicated expression as he witnessed the look. Well, it can’t be changed now.. Atsushi had already let go of the humiliation and upset from moments ago, and was ready to move on.
While Dazai kept a blank expression on his face throughout the final stage, Dazai was certainly surprised on the inside: He got over that depressed look rather quick, didn’t he?
Atsushi had many instances of letdown in the past; Unfortunately, it had happened so many times that his mind had created a rapid coping mechanism against it. Before he knew it Atsushi had gone through five emotions in the span of three minutes. He didn’t even tell anyone about how Dazai tricked him when everyone came back from lunch. Dazai only felt a little bit more guilty because he and Atsushi were the only ones who knew of this.
A week later, Atsushi had forgotten about the exchange all together. He left his desk for less than five minutes; It was only a bathroom break. Red writing greeted him after arriving back at his desk: You’re Next, Atsushi. The pen that was used at the scene of the crime was sitting on his desk neatly. His heart pounded in his chest, and he looked around the room; Searching for who could have written it. Is it Akutagawa again?
Atsushi’s eyes landed Ranpo; The only one—other than Dazai—that was in the room before and after his bathroom trip. His feet swept over to the detective; Anxiety wreaking havoc on his poor stomach. “Umm..Mr. Ranpo..do you know who wrote that message on my desk?”
Ranpo looked up at him; His gaze fixating on something behind him. Atsushi spun around to find nothing but Dazai scribbling something on one of Kunikida’s notebooks. “Well..” Ranpo paused. Atsushi’s attention shifted back to his coworker. “Have you ever heard of the Armed Detective Agency’s ghost?”
Atsushi felt his stomach drop at the words. Unlike Dazai, Ranpo wouldn’t lie about this; He has no reason to. A gasp from behind Atsushi took him out of his thoughts. Ranpo and Atsushi peered over at the stiffened Dazai.
“Tell me you two saw her!” Dazai pointed at the doorway of the office. Ranpo jumped up from his seat, and took Atsushi by the shoulders.
“She’s after you, Atsushi!” Ranpo shouted. “You have to appease her!”
“H-how..” Atsushi scrambled for the words to express his distress, but no amount of thoughts could save him from his panic. “How do I appease her?!”
“You must make an offering of food weekly on Fridays for the foreseeable future!” Ranpo shook Atsushi by the shoulders. The words processed in Atsushi’s mind, and he found himself going through the five stages of grief once again.
Ranpo watched as Atsushi appeared to be conflicted on the inside. He was amazed that Dazai was not in fact exaggerating about the reaction Atsushi had. He knew that to get what he wanted, he had to make Atsushi believe them.
“Ask Yosano if you don’t believe me!” Ranpo yelled; Promptly, Yosano came in the door.
“Ask me what?” Her attention immediately landed on her colleagues after hearing her name.
“Ms. Yosano, do you know who wrote on my desk?” Atsushi gestured towards the table with red writing, and Yosano shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know,” Her voice was dead as she looked at each of the members in the room. “Probably Dazai; He’s done that shit to me plenty of times”
“Yosano,” Ranpo made eye contact with her, and they seemed to exchange a message within that look. “Read the message before deciding”
Yosano’s eyes widened upon reading the message, “She’s come to claim her next victim..” She moved her hand over the characters etched into the desk. A sad sigh slipped from her mouth, “I still miss Susie; If only we could have saved her..”
“Who’s Susie?” Atsushi asked. He had never heard of the name.
“Susie was a foreigner. She started working here a couple years ago..” A regretful look swept onto Yosano’s face.
“How come I’ve never heard of her before?” Atsushi asked.
“She passed away one night because the ghost of agency had gotten to her..” Yosano explained.
“So the ghost really exists?” Atsushi searched for the reactions of his colleagues, and found they had their heads in their hands. Both of their shoulders were shaking, and Atsushi couldn’t tell if they were laughing or crying. Considering their friend died, they’re probably crying.. Atsushi looked to Yosano and found a remorseful expression on her face.
“Yes,” Yosano nods her head. “And she accepts wine just as much as food..”
Atsushi’s coping mechanism kicked in for the second time in the last ten minutes. Yosano watched as Atsushi went through his stages of grief: Well, that’s certainly not healthy..I’m definitely taking him to therapy after work today.
“Ask Kunikida about Susie,” Yosano blurted out before she could even think up something better. She honestly wanted to just stop the scene in front of her from happening; Even if that meant digging their lie deeper. “He’ll tell you if you ask him about her..”
Kunikida would not lie about it. He is serious, and wouldn’t waste his time on a silly plot that he would get nothing out of. He’ll tell me the truth! Unfortunately for Atsushi, Susie was a real foreigner that had worked at the Agency. Atsushi had failed to verify that Susie had died, and took Kunikida’s knowledge of Susie as confirmation of ‘The Ghost of The Armed Detective Agency’ existing. In reality, Susie was alive and healthy in a different country. From that day onwards, Atsushi had left food and sometimes wine on his desk weekly.
Chūya and Dazai rarely spent their Friday nights in each other’s company. Chūya was always relaxing in their tub with a glass of wine. Dazai was always out doing who knows what, and came back at ungodly hours. Chūya had asked about it a few times—half expecting Dazai to outright say he cheated on Chūya. Chūya wasn’t expecting Dazai to invite him to come along the next time.
Chūya found himself puzzled as his husband led him into the office of his agency. “You go to work every Friday night?” Chūya did not believe Dazai would come here; He knew Dazai didn’t like work before joining Agency, and he certainly wasn’t going to spend his Friday night doing more of it. Dazai snorted.
“Of course not,” He lead Chūya into a closet; He found Yosano, Ranpo, food, wine, and a candle. “We get drunk and gossip about my coworkers.”
Chūya sat in the circle, and listened as they each spilled some secret they found out for the week. “Kunikida wrote about it more in his notebook again,” Dazai shared.
“Again?” Yosano knitted her eyebrows together. “That must have been one hell of a dream if he’s still thinking about it months later.”
“Care to let me in on the conversation?” Chūya asked; Almost regretting the question the moment he saw each of their devious looks. “Maybe I don’t want to know…”
“No no, you should hear about it,” Dazai smirked. He whispered the details into Chūya’s ear, and his eyes widened.
“The serious one?” Chūya confirmed the identity once more, “He’s got glasses, and writes his notebook. Basically, he gets shit done when you’re being difficult?”
“I don’t make things difficult!” Dazai gave a look of fake hurt. That’s a lie, Chūya thought.
“Yep, that’s Kunikida,” Ranpo confirms.
“Definitely didn’t expect that from him..” Chūya took another sip of the wine he was offered, and gazed up to find Yosano’s expression to be a complicated one.
“What’s up with you?” Chūya gestured towards Yosano, and she shakes her head.
“Uhh..it’s nothing..” She had been feeling pretty guilty about tricking Atsushi.
“She’s upset about how we got the food and drinks,” Ranpo chimed in.
“How’d you get them?” Dazai shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Chūya inquired about the food.
“We tricked Atsushi. After I saw how he reacted when he didn’t believe me at first, I was afraid to tell him the truth so I didn’t..” Yosano explained. “I seriously need to get him to a therapist, but he ran off before I could even stop him”
Ever since that night Chūya has funded their gossip sessions on the condition that they tell Atsushi the truth and apologize. Dazai also had to sleep on the couch for the next week.
Atsushi started going to therapy that was funded by Chūya, and he got a formal apology on behalf of his husband from Chūya. Atsushi decided he was going to trust Chūya more than anyone else; Mainly because he was the only one that didn’t break his trust thus far. He’s much happier after receiving therapy, and his therapist tells him regularly to quit his job because it is “a source of constant trauma”. But what would a therapist know? Atsushi never followed the advice.