Chapter Text
Kunikida walks into the office, barely on time. Everyone looks up when he comes in.
“Kunikida, you’re late!” Dazai exclaims.
“I’m not. There’s two minutes until nine.”
“But for you if you’re not here before eight, you’re late.”
“I am not late, Dazai. Just shut up.”
“I can’t. What held you up?”
Kunikida walks past him, heading straight for the President’s office.
“Where are you going?”
“To see the President. He wanted to talk to me as soon as I came in. At least that’s what he texted me.”
Kunikida ignores Dazai’s protests, and keeps walking. He walks into the President’s office after knocking. Fukuzawa looks up from his paperwork.
“Ah, Kunikida. I’ve been waiting on you.”
“Sorry, sir.”
“It’s no issue. You’re on time, just later than I normally expect from you. Anyway, I wanted to give this case to you specifically. Take Atsushi with you, and take great care since it is out of town.”
“Yes, sir. Why Atsushi specifically?”
“He’s getting antsy. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I think it’ll be good for him to get out of here for a while.”
Kunikida nods.
“Alright, I’ll get him, and look over the file.”
Fukuzawa opens his desk, then holds the file out for Kunikida to take.
“Thanks.”
He heads back to the office, sitting down at his desk to read over the file. It looks fairly simple. There’s a rogue ability user living outside of town occasionally robbing places nearby, then disappearing again. The police haven’t been able to find anything, but more often than not, that’s pretty normal. It’s unfortunate, but currently the world they’re living in.
“Atsushi, come on. We’ve got a case.”
Atsushi looks up.
“Ok.”
He stands up, almost knocking over his chair.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“It’s alright, just come on.”
Atsushi follows him out of the building, and to the company car outside. The drive is quiet for the first fifteen minutes.
Then Kunikida says, “So, what’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. I don’t know what you mean.”
“Hm, are you sure? We can talk about it if you want to, but I’m not going to make you.”
Atsushi looks out of the window, scrunching into himself.
“Am I a burden?”
Kunikida glances at him, slightly surprised.
“No, why would you think that?”
“I have so much wrong with me. In fact, I think there’s nothing right about me. I think I just keep getting worse.”
“Worse at what?”
“I don’t know, existing? My brain doesn’t work, and I… nevermind.”
“Atsushi, this sounds like a deeper issue. Maybe something stemming from all of the things that have happened to you. If you don’t want to talk about it now, we can talk about it later. If you don’t want to talk to me, then we can arrange for you to talk to someone else. It can be whoever you want. I don’t think you should leave this to fester.”
“Yeah, ok,” Atsushi says, not looking away from the window.
The rest of the drive is quiet too. They spend a while circling around the outskirts of town looking for anywhere that someone could be hiding that the police wouldn’t be able to find them. Eventually they find a shack between town and the farms nearby. However, as soon as they stop the car, Kunikida grabs Atsushi’s arm.
“I don’t feel good about this.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe we should… nevermind. We should be careful though.”
Atsushi nods, climbing out of the car. Kunikida follows him, his gun clutched tightly in his hand. The shack is only a few yards from the car, but Kunikida barely makes it a foot before he’s looking around. Something feels really off, but he can’t tell what it is. Atsushi keeps walking until he notices that Kunikida stopped.
“Is everything ok, Mister Kunikida?”
“I don’t know.”
Kunikida takes another step forward before he sees something poking out of the dirt a foot away. It’s blinking red. Before he can say anything, or do anything other than take a step back, it explodes. They’re both thrown off of their feet, and Kunikida immediately passes out.
Atsushi wakes up quickly, only feeling a little bit of pain in his right arm. The car is actively on fire, and Kunikida is a few feet away. He’s still unconscious, but there’s a growing pool of blood around him. Atsushi tries to get to his feet, but immediately falls. He looks down to see something sticking out of his leg. It doesn’t look like normal debris, and when he tries to pull it out, it won’t budge even a little bit. It looks like part of it is fused to his leg.
Atsushi crawls over to Kunikida, then flips him over. Kunikida’s left arm is covered in burns, blisters, and it’s bleeding. He has a few smaller spots that are bleeding, probably bits of shrapnel.
“Mister Kunikida?”
Atsushi looks around.
“The closest hospital is probably hours away from here by foot. I also can’t,” he says, glancing down at his leg.
He reaches for his phone, only to realize that he left it in the car. He searches Kunikida’s pockets only to find that his phone is broken.
“Shit.”
He manages to get to his feet, and limps over to the car. He opens the trunk, which is not on fire yet. He pulls out the first aid kit, then goes back over to Kunikida.
“Ok, we have to move, because that car could blow up at any second. However, I think I need to stop the bleeding first because I don’t want you to die.”
It takes him a few minutes to wrap up all of his injuries, then he pulls him to the shack, barely able to stay on his feet. There’s no one in there, and it’s completely still. There’s a bed in one corner, and a desk in the other. There’s a mini fridge along the wall with a box full of plates and silverware. Atsushi sets Kunikida down on the bed before collapsing onto the floor. He drops the first aid kit next to him, searching through it to see what all it’s stocked with. Eventually he turns back to his leg.
I can’t tell if it was hot enough that it fused to my skin, or if it’s something else.
He probes around it, wincing. It takes him another half hour of trying to take it out to decide that he can’t get it out.
It shouldn’t take long for someone to wonder where we are, but we’re still stuck here until they do. I can’t get anywhere, and I certainly can’t bring Mister Kunikida with me. I can’t leave him here either. Who am I kidding? I can’t get back into town anyway, even if I tried going by myself.
However, Atsushi was wrong about one thing, more and more time passed, and no one showed up. Eventually they end up being there long enough that Atsushi starts to run a fever, and can’t seem to keep up with time.
Kunikida still hasn’t woken up properly, but he’s already running a fever, and some of the spots on his arm keep reopening. His arm is swollen, and a few of the burns have started to ooze pus. Atsushi kneels next to the bed, rewrapping Kunikida’s arm.
“Shit, I think we both have infections, and I still can’t get this stupid thing out of my leg. My body is trying to heal over it, but it’s sticking too far out, thank God.”
Kunikida doesn’t respond other than a small moan.
“I know, I know. I’m so sorry, Mister Kunikida,” Atsushi says, putting his head against the edge of the bed. “Damn. I wonder where the search party is.”
He drops back, barely able to catch his head enough that he doesn’t crack it open.
“I think I’m just going to stay down here. Let me know if someone shows up,” he says, then giggles.