Chapter Text
The sun was setting in the city of Yokohama. Nakajima Atsushi ran a hand through his silver hair. He was determined to finish up the last of his job quickly before going back home to Kyouka's cooking and then resting.
As the evening slowly continued, he reached further and further away from the crowds of people distributed around the city.
The weretiger sighed as he made his way towards where a dark silhouette of a man stood underneath the bridge with a suitcase beside him on the ground, barely seen underneath the shade. He knew instantly who this was.
His eyebrows furrowed a little, it seemed that Akutagawa happened to be the informant for the upcoming investigation. Well, he’d better get the job done with.
The dark haired man acknowledged his presence by slightly tilting his head, eyelids drooping slightly whilst the dark eyes stared at him.
Atsushi called with a neutral tone, “Akutagawa.”
“Jinko.” Akutagawa called back, with a face that lacked the hostility it used to contain six months ago. A lot had changed in that time, but the two were now on much better terms.
The man in black took out the documents he held in his hand and passed it to Atsushi. He then turned his head away to cover his mouth with his hand and cough.
The weretiger nodded silently before turning away with no more words. He began making his way back to the agency.
Akutagawa, however, didn’t walk straight towards the Port Mafia Headquarters.
Instead, once he was sure that he was no longer in the other's line of sight, whilst still hidden by the shadow of the bridge, he put on sunglasses and took off his coat, under which he wore a white dress.
He folded the coat and put it in the suitcase resting by his feet, from which he also took out a long black wig before starting to leave.
The sun had already set when he reached his destination. His fists clenched into a ball underneath his long sleeves as he walked into a fairly busy bar opened recently in the streets of Yokohama.
Akutagawa took a seat, turning down a man’s offer to buy him a drink without speaking. He waited patiently for a certain someone to arrive, combing through the long strands of the wig's hair between his fingers like he used to do with Gin's own hair.
Suddenly, a woman walked up to him, with crimson hair styled into two thick braids. Her emerald green eyes curved as she grinned and her teeth revealed braces that looked strikingly adorable on her. She twirled a loose strand of hair as she greeted him cheekily, "Hello, miss! You seemed a bit alone here, so I hope you won't mind if I join."
But he wouldn't be deceived by her cuteness.
In a low voice, he questioned, "You... You're that woman from the American organisation--- the Guild, aren't you?"
Lucy froze, then averted her gaze before truthfully telling, "I-uh.. I don't associate with them anymore. I work at the cafe underneath the agency."
Akutagawa acknowledged this, sighing. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that the weretiger had told him sometime that one of the guild members had helped him. This woman must be her.
The man cleared his throat, "I apologise if I brought up anything personal. You were the one who helped Jinko that day, right? If so, thank you for your help."
The other paused, "Jinko? Jinko... Oh! The weretiger, Atsushi! Wait, him?"
She scrunched up her nose dramatically, "Ugh, it's meant to be my day off! I don't need to be reminded of that painfully irritating guy."
Akutagawa chuckled, "Right? He's so hard to work with sometimes."
Lucy asked, "You know me, you work with the furry, and you're not a girl. Who are you?"
The black-clad man silently bit the inside of his cheek for speaking to much when the door of the bar dramatically opened, causing half the customers to turn to look at him, before diverting their attention elsewhere.
The redheaded man he had been waiting for entered and took the empty seat on the right side of him.
It was Tachihara, dressed in his usual mafia attire.
Recognising him, Lucy questioned the dark haired mafia further, "You're... from the port mafia?"
Akutagawa sighed, and Tachihara interfered before the other said a word, "Woah, Aku, didn't know you had a girlfriend!"
Akutagawa’s eye twitched. He ignored the two, changing the subject as he spoke in an irritated tone at a calm pace, “What the fuck is the meaning of this Tachihara? You’re putting me through all this shit and making me stand out whilst you don’t even bother with disguises?”
The redheaded man crossed his arms and rested his chin on his hand with his elbow up on the table, rolling his eyes, “What can I say? You have more of a reputation than me!”
The older laughed humourlessly, “Out of all disguises, I had to be a woman?”
Tachihara shrugged, “I didn’t choose it! That was Gin.” He then tilted his head, “Speaking of Gin. Where are they?”
Right as he asked that question, Gin entered the bar, followed by Higuchi, each sitting down next to the duo that was already there.
Gin wore a simple dress similar to Akutagawa’s, except it was all black, making them look like they were attending a funeral. They cleared their throat and asked, amusement leaking into their voice, “Brother? Who is this?"
Akutagawa cleared his throat, "Look, she knows Jinko. She could be useful."
Lucy: ???
Gin nodded in reply, then turned to the other man within the group, "So, Tachihara?”
Higuchi’s eyes darted across the four's faces, attempting to study them as she had zero clue what was going on. All she wanted was to hang out with Gin for a day and she couldn’t even do just that.
Lucy looked equally confused, what would Atsushi have to do with the Port Mafia? She suddenly recieved a dark thought.
'No way... They aren't planning to murder him are they?'
Tachihara had remained silent, and before Lucy could escape the group, Higuchi stuttered, “U-Uh. Can someone fill me in on what’s going on!”
Akutagawa responded to her with a clear and simple response, “Tachihara has a crush on the weretiger.”
Higuchi nearly choked on her own words, “Oh that’s ni- THE WERETIGER!?”
The dark haired man raised an eyebrow (he has eyebrows okay i know its minuscule), “Did I stutter?”
For Lucy, it was the exact opposite of what she thought. She didn't know whether to be relieved or confused, "That furry???"
Tachihara rolled his eyes and flushed slightly, “You didn’t need to be so blunt about it..”
Gin hummed, siding with their brother, “Well, it was quite obvious. Don’t you talk about him like all the time?”
Higuchi was shocked, “WHEN WAS THIS!? I didn’t even know that them two knew each other.”
Tachihara rolled his eyes, “Well yeah, maybe because you’re too busy being deeply infatuated with the Akutagawa siblings here.”
Higuchi pressed her lips into a thin line and kept quiet.
Tachihara continued, “Well we started talking during the time the agency and the port mafia had a temporary alliance.”
Gin filled in some parts, “You were crushing on him since that time he saved Yokohama and gave you an entire fucking baby.”
Tachihara groaned, “Yeah, yeah, whatever..”
"Have you begun the discussion already?"
Hirotsu adjusted his monocle as he sat on the sixth and only seat left.
Tachihara brightened, "Gramps! You're here!"
Lucy awkwardly smiled, unsure why she was still present here with the only connection she had to them being her knowing Atsushi.
The redheaded man whined, "Gramps, they were all bullying me!"
Hirotsu chuckled and shook his head, "How about we continue the discussion."
Akutagawa crossed his legs, “Right, you called us to discuss your plan. What exactly is it?”
Tachihara held his chin with his hand and thought deeply, before speaking again, “If you did as I asked you to, then Atsu should’ve gotten-“
…
A letter.