Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          “Welcome to Yokohama, the home of a ferocious entity known as Arahabaki”, Ena said to her camera. “Today, we’ll discover untold facts about the environment in which this vicious predator lives, as well as the members of his family.”

          She found an old camera in the storage room and decided to make use of it to create something she’s always wished for – a nature documentary.

          For all the other home dwellers, it was a peculiar sight – a 19-year-old sneaking around the apartment with a fake leaf in her hand, some weird markings on her cheeks and in a safari hat she got from God knows where, looking like she’s having the best time of her life.

          “The entrance has nothing of value, so let’s skip it and go right to the kitchen instead”, she continued in her best sir David Attenborough impression. “The kitchen in the common lair of another member of the family, Paul Verlaine. Today, however, he’s not to be found here. There are only three more places he can be – the living room couch, his room or the Port Mafia basement system.”

          Chuuya opened the kitchen door and almost tripped over the fearless adventurer.

          “Oi, what the hell are you doing?”, he shouted, startled.

          “Ah, here he is – Arahabaki himself, or, as his familiars call him, Chuuya Nakahara”, she continued unmoved. “He seems to be headed towards the fridge, which means he’s getting another snack before dinner. Verlaine will scold him for it once he comes back into the kitchen.”

          “Not true!”, Chuuya shouted back from the fridge. “And turn off that damn camera! Or at least let me go back and put something better on!”

          “That’s right”, she commented. “Chuuya is extremely fixated on his looks. Everywhere he goes, his style goes. The only unfortunate thing for him is he has to include his hat in any outfit he’s planning to get. He can’t wear anything that clashes with it, simply because he can’t go anywhere without it. That’s why he mostly wears black, and why they call him goth behind his back. Or worse yet, leprechaun or little gentleman. Chuuya hates being reminded of how short he is. He firmly believes he’s still going to grow, even though he’s pushing twenty-three.“

          “Shut up!”, he yelled, rushing out of the kitchen. “Just so you know, this thing’s gonna end up in the trash tomorrow!”

          “This kitchen is also a dining room”, Ena moved on as if nothing happened. “It’s accomplishable since only four people, six in gusts, live here. Next up, we have the living room.”

          She opened the door and crawled to the other room. The camera footage is going to be really wobbly after all that moving around, for sure. Just like a proper wildlife documentary.

          “There is Verlaine”, she pointed to the figure sleeping in the couch with a book over his face. “Of course, he is sleeping. He can sleep up to a whopping fourteen hours a day, and once he is asleep, nothing can wake him up, not even a leaf blower. Believe me, I’ve tried. Chuuya wasn’t happy. Anyways, if no one is sleeping here, like now, this is the liveliest room of the house.”

          Paul moved his hand in his sleep and almost knocked the book over. Ena swiftly sneaked into another room.

          “This is the storage room”, she informed the imaginary audience. “It’s filled to the roof with all the useless junk that might be necessary later, although no one knows when this ‘later’ might be. In the back is Adam’s closet.”

          She approached the closed and opened the door.

          “Since Adam is an android, he doesn’t need much space and may as well sleep standing up”, she explained. “This is also where he keeps all his stuff”, she picked up some Hatsune Miku merch and then put it back down. “Sometimes, he spends the night at the office to not waste time, so he might not come back here today.”

          She moved through the living room to another room.

          “This room here is mine”, she informed. “There’s not really much to see, so I won’t waste a lot of time here”, she moved the camera around to capture every corner of the room. “That should be enough. Let’s move forward.”

          She went back to the living room, then to the kitchen, then opened the side door and sneaked inside.

          “This room belongs to Chuuya”, she said. “As you can see, it’s pretty messy and-”

          “Get out of my room!!”, Chuuya yelled.

          Ena squeaked, turned off the recording and ran away. Chuuya, of course, ran after her.

          The sounds of running around the house and screaming woke up Paul, who looked around, barely conscious, then suddenly sprang up.

          “It’s so late already?”, he exclaimed, looking at the clock above the TV, then sighed and headed to the kitchen.

          “I’m baaack~”, someone said from the door.

          The wild chase in the living room froze in place.

          “Finally!”, Ena headed to the entrance to greet Adam. “How’d it go?”

          Adam spent almost half an hour reporting on the mission he just got back from. Since he didn’t get tired easily like regular agents, he often worked overtime and he had no problems with that. It allowed him to obtain more experience and, as a result, understand humans better. At least, that’s what he thought.

          “And what were you up to while I was gone?”, he asked over the dinner table.

          “I made a video tour of our apartment”, Ena informed with her mouth full and started looking around for the camera she used to film. “Where’d I put…”

          “You mean, this?”, Chuuya pulled out the camera. “Let me just delete a few files…”

          “Give it back!”, she demanded, reaching across the table and knocking it out of Chuuya’s hand.

          As they started fighting again, they barely noticed that Paul fell asleep again. His head slammed into the rice he was previously eating.

          Adam considered waking him up but, honestly, it was way funnier to just take a picture.

Chapter Text

          The door opened and everyone working in the office raised their heads. It was still pretty early and people were still coming in for work. Some of the employees liked coming in early, some were always a few minutes late. Specifically, those who also had to work a night shift elsewhere.

          “Morning”, Chuuya yawned, while Ena just bowed gently.

          “Nakahara, Kurage”, Ango nodded, acknowledging their arrival. “Your schedules for today are on the board.”

          “A field mission? Finally!”, Chuuya exclaimed upon taking a closer look at the board. “Been a while since I got some exercise.”

          “We have a lot of work in the field for the next few days due to the Agency being unable to handle them”, Ango explained. “Most their field agents are currently abroad. The only ones staying behind are the detective and the director. They solve the cases, then hand the dirty work over to us.”

          “Ah, it’s the conference invitation thingy, right?”, Chuuya recalled. “I had no idea they’d all go on ‘round the world trips and not just the few of them.”

          “Correct”, Ango agreed. “We decided splitting into groups would be the most efficient and least time-consuming way.”

          “Is Mushi-kun not in yet?”, Ena asked Mizuki.

          “I’m surprised too”, she just shrugged. “He usually arrives before me. Something must’ve stopped him. I’m sure he’ll get here soon.”

          Ena grinned like a psychopath.

          “Sounds to me like prank material”, she giggled. “Especially since I have half an hour free.”

          For some reason, she’s been teasing Mushitarou almost since her first day and nobody could get her to stop. Her calm, timid façade would slip to reveal the more playful side of her nature.

          “Whatever you do, just don’t destroy the office”, Ango sighed. He learned weeks ago there was no use in trying to reason against it.

          “Anyone seen any buckets around here?”, she asked with that same psychotic grin. “Nevermind, a garbage bin will work too.”

          She then proceeded to start preparing her “welcome surprise”, often going to Adam for help with tasks that required more strength than she had.

          “Poor guy”, Chuuya said, leaning on Mizuki’s desk while she was punching in some formal e-mail. “What does she have on him, anyways?”

          “If only I knew”, Mizuki smiled. “Maybe his face just looks punchable or something. But you have to admit, it is entertaining.”

          “Did I say it’s not?”, Chuuya tapped his foot. “You better finish all your business, we’re departing soon. And we’ve got a sparring session with the director later, right?”

          “I should’ve asked Ango to shift the schedule”, Mizuki sighed. “I’ll be too tired after the mission.”

          “Oh, you’ll be fine”, Chuuya put his arm around her shoulder. “I’ll do all the heavy lifting if you want. And I promise I’ll go easy on you.”

          “Thanks for the thought, but I can take care of myself”, she caught his hand and gently squished it.

          They’ve been training under the eye of director Taneda so that they could utilize the relation between their abilities on difficult future missions. The goal was to make Chuuya able to willingly control his Corrupted form. It will most certainly be a long road, though they’ve made some progress already.

          “Good mor-”, a voice sounded from the front door. “Oww! What the hell? Who did this?!?”

          “Morning, Mushi-kun”, Ena smirked ironically.

          “Not you again…”, Mushitarou sighed.

          “I’m happy to see you too”, Ena giggled. “Don’t worry, I won’t go overboard… much.”

          Mushitarou sighed and went to check his schedule, then sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. He still had twenty minutes until his first outdoor job for the day, so he can deal with some paperwork for the time being.

          At least, he could if no one disturbed him.

          “Ahh, Mushi-kun, ahh~”, he heard from behind his chair five minutes later.

          “Knock it off!”, he tried to hit the person behind him, but he kept on missing. “Don’t you have work to do?”

          “Oo, I’m your dead boyfriend~”, the prankster from the back pretended not to hear him.

          “Stop it!”, he yelled.

          “That was kind of mean”, Mizuki noticed.

          “Eh, who cares”, Chuuya took out a bag of snacks. “Want one?”

          “You into choking? Oh, right, you are”, Ena laughed from the back, then started parodying Mushitarou’s voice. “Oh, Yokomizo, why did you make me kill you~?”

          “What’d you just-”, Mushitarou froze, then his face turned red. “Alright, who told her?!?”

          The office fell silent. Ango coughed and turned his head away.

          “You!”, Mushitarou yelled, completely forgetting about respecting his senpai.

          “…It doesn’t matter”, Ango mumbled.

          “That was foul”, Mizuki noticed.

          “I taught her well”, Chuuya pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “Anyways, we should head off soon.”

          The next fifteen minutes Mushitarou spent trying to ignore Ena yapping right over his ear. As expected, he didn’t get much work done. After the time’s passed, he stood up and packed his things.

          Wait… Why’s it been so quiet the past two minutes? Where is she?

          He found Ena ready near the door.

          “Finally got your butt up?”, she asked. “Come on, we’ll be late!”

          “Excuse me, we? But don’t you have-”

          “Have you even checked the schedule, pretty boy?”, she smirked. “We’re going on this one together.”

          Mushitarou felt like the ceiling just collapsed on his head.

          “Anything but thaaat!”, he yelled.

Chapter Text

          One evening after work the Division’s ensemble got together and decided to go drinking. Turned out two guys from the science department knew a great place not too far from the office, so soon they were all on the road.

          “I wonder how you act when you’re drunk”, Ena asked Chuuya.

          “How should I know?”, Chuuya shook his head. “I usually don’t remember shit. Maybe that’s for the better.”

          “He gets upset for no reason and starts fights with everyone”, someone else informed. Why’d the voice sound so strangely familiar…?

          “The hell’re ya doing here?”, Chuuya yelled at Paul. “How’d ya even know we’re here?”

          “I have my ways”, he replied mysteriously.

          “Yeah, as if. Adam!”, Chuuya called.

          “Yes, it was me”, Adam’s apologizing voice sounded from the front, where he was talking to Nakamura, one of the researchers.

          Chuuya sighed heavily and made a few incomprehensible sounds in frustration.

          “…Am I really a violent drunk?”, he just asked.

          “’Violent’ is a strong word”, Paul smirked. “More like, ‘angy’.”

          “Not as bad as me”, Ena commented. “I either get teary and start monologuing and apologizing for everything I’ve ever done or just… shut off immediately.”

          “Wait, aren’t you too young to drink?”, Chuuya noticed.

          “What do you mean? I’m well over eighteen”, she responded, confused.

          “Right…”, Chuuya sighed. “The legal drinking age here’s twenty, so…”

          “Seriously?!? Ughhh…”, Ena groaned. “No way I’ll be the only one sober.”

          “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that”, Chuuya pointed his head at Adam. “There’s someone who can’t even get drunk as far as I’m concerned.”

          The door to the old bar opened with a creaking sound. The ensemble sat down at a table and placed their orders. Ena grabbed her bottle of some kind of soda and started sipping it through a comically long straw with a displeased expression.

          “Not fair”, she mumbled.

          “But you’ve gotta admit, they made it look nice”, Chuuya scoffed, swirling his drink around.

          “You’re adding salt to the wound”, Ena sent him a cold glare.

          “Why so bitter?”, Chuuya smirked ironically, which earned him a smack to the face with a comically large straw.

          Fifteen minutes later, it started to slowly clear out who had a low alcohol tolerance. Aoki and Mushitarou have already passed out, the latter mumbling something rather incomprehensible. Ango, Chuuya and the two researchers, Unno and his assistant Nakamura, were all talking and laughing like old friends, despite barely knowing each other. Strangely, Mizuki didn’t even seem a little tipsy.

          “Have you touched your drink at all?”, Ena asked.

          “I’m solidarizing with you, Ena-chan”, she announced. “I’m not drinking a drop today. Besides…”, she added quietly. “I really want to see Ango-senpai drunk.”

          “Well, if it isn’t Tsujimura!”, someone exclaimed cheerfully behind them. “I had no idea you liked places like this. What a pleasant surprise.”

          She turned around, horrified, only to see an awfully familiar face.

          “A-Ayatsuji-sensei?”, she mumbled in shock. “B-but didn’t you go off radars, like, a few months ago?”

          The blond man smiled back at her.

          “This is one of my usual places”, he said, although that wasn’t an answer to the question one bit. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Who’s that beside you? A new coworker? It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss”, he winked at the absolutely flabbergasted Ena.

          Mizuki took a few huge breaths.

          “Ah, screw it”, she sighed. “I’m not getting through this sober.”

          She then proceeded to down her entire drink in one go and immediately pass out.

          “Why did she just…?”, Ena asked, unsure if she wasn’t hallucinating the whole thing somehow.

          Why’s she so terrified of this guy? Is he, like, her ex or something?

          “She’s just a lightweight, I guess”, Ayatsuji shrugged.

          Another few minutes passed, nobody really kept track of how many exactly. Chuuya was already completely drunk. Ena wasn’t even paying attention to him much, until she heard the sound of something being slammed on the table and him yelling at the top of his lungs.

          “Well, if you think you’re so smart, then fight me!”

          The object of Chuuya’s rage turned out to be Ango, who looked barely conscious. Maybe he wasn’t even drunk – that barely conscious face seemed to just be the usual state of it. He took a while to process what Chuuya yelled at him, then slowly stood up and faced him.

          Once Chuuya realized the height difference between them, his enthusiasm faded. Ena stared at the two, confused but amused.

          “This is the best part about him getting so wasted”, Paul chimed in on her right. Judging from his face, he was a bit tipsy himself, but not enough to lose critical thinking ability. “He forgets he has an ability. Teehee, this is gonna be interesting!”

          Ena stared at him in disbelief.

          Did that sound really just leave his mouth…? Or am I hallucinating this whole thing?

          Chuuya took a rather long while to come up with a solution to the sudden problem. His honor wouldn’t let him admit defeat and stand down, and he wasn’t going to let himself get beat up either. It really looked hopeless. Unless…

          He started aggressively punching the air right before Ango’s stomach, sometimes adding in war cries like “Hah!”, or “Take that!”. The act lasted for about a minute or two, then he sat back down, leaving his confused superior standing his ground.

         Ena really had to try hard to stop herself from laughing. She made the sound of a dying horse and hid her face in her hands.

          “Hah… what was that s’posed to be?”, Nakamura chuckled.

          “You got a problem, punk?!”, Chuuya’s wrath changed direction. He picked up a glass bottle and hit the man on the head. Glass shattered and flew in every direction. “Imma kill ya!”

          “Hey, what are you doing?”, Ena decided to step in. She caught his arm and pulled him away. “You can’t just hit him like that!”

          The least expected then happened. Chuuya turned his head away, then started frantically sobbing.

          “But I’m saaaaad!”, he cried.

          That was Ena’s breaking point.

          Somebody kill me. I don’t have the strength to do this.

          Easily to predict, not long after the whole thing was over and it was all up to Ena and Adam to deliver the passed out to their respective houses. Paul refused assistance, arguing he’s “not that drunk yet”, and returned home by himself. Unfortunately, he got “home” wrong and ended up spending the night in the basement. Once they finally got everyone home safe, they returned to the bar where they left Chuuya just to see he’s not there.

          It took them an entire hour to finally find him in the port, trying to break into one of the shipping crates.

          “Come out, ya damned mackerel!”, he yelled, kicking the crate. “Frickin’ moron! Hey, moroooon!”

          “Hey, no, let’s not do that”, Ena sighed, pulling him away. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. “Come on, let’s go back.”

          He didn’t oppose any further. But he did fall asleep on the way.

Chapter Text

          The weekend was the only two days in the week Ena and Chuuya both had only one shift. It’s easy to guess which it was. That meant they had all the time before four in the afternoon to themselves.

          “How about we all watch a movie together?”, Ena proposed one Saturday.

          Chuuya stared at her like she was insane.

          “If that means I can nap while pretending to pay attention, then I’m on board”, he reluctantly agreed, then yawned.

          They’ve had an extremely exhausting week and he wanted nothing more than just to lay down, stare at the ceiling and relax.

          “I guess it could pass”, Ena rolled her eyes.

          “I’m down!”, Adam had a little more enthusiasm. Understandably so.

          “I’m guessing I have no choice, then”, Paul smiled. “What do you want to watch?”

          “Couldn’t care less”, Chuuya said, already making himself comfortable on the couch. “Y’all can pick.”

          Adam grinned dangerously.

          “As much as my neurodivergence would love it, we’re not watching one of the same three movies from those two shutout weeks again”, Ena calmed his enthusiasm. “I’m in a mood for something a little different.”

          “How about you check what’s on TV?”

          She decided it was an excellent idea, then went to do just that. Meanwhile, Paul thought to himself it would be a good idea to make some popcorn. He remembered there should be some left in one of the cupboards.

          After a few minutes of digging, combined with the necessary cleaning, he finally found the packet. It was a bit past its expiration date, but it’s processed – it won’t hurt, right? He unwrapped the foil and put the paper bag into the microwave and set it for a minute.

          He wandered off to another shelf to take out a plastic bowl to put the popcorn in it when it’s ready, when suddenly, his ears caught a well-known noise. A veteran like him always let his instincts first in potential danger, so he reacted almost immediately.

          “Get down!”, he shouted, dropping on the floor and crawling to under the table.

          The other three seemed absolutely unfazed.

          “Relax, no one’s shooting”, Chuuya chuckled. “It’s just the corn.”

          Indeed, after careful analysis, Paul came to the conclusion what he heard weren’t, in fact, gunshots, but rather the sounds of popcorn popping in the microwave. Well, making mistakes is a… human thing, right? Besides, better be safe than sorry.

          There were no similar incidents afterwards, and just five minutes later, he joined the others on the couch in the living room.

          “Found anything yet?”, he asked.

          “Nope”, Ena replied, clicking a button repeatedly on the remote. “It’s either news or some lame soap operas. There’s just nothing good on this time of day.”

          “Yes, that can be an issue”, Paul nodded in agreement. “But there are a few channels where there should be some nice movies even at this hour.”

          He grabbed the remote and pressed a few buttons. A short list of channels appeared, and there were some good options there indeed.

          “Wow, impressive”, Ena exclaimed. “I had no idea you were so good with TVs. You always struck me as the unc type.”

          “A-am I really that old?”, her words hit Paul in a very sensitive spot.

          “I’m just joking around with you”, she nudged him, then pointed at the screen. “Hey, isn’t that the spy movie Mizuki-chan talks about so much? I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe we could watch that?”

          “Great idea”, Chuuya agreed. He didn’t want to admit he wanted to impress the girl he liked with the knowledge of her favorite movie. Not like she was his girlfriend already (she was, but that’s beside the point).

          “Akh, it’s started ten minutes ago”, Ena noticed. “We missed the beginning!”

          “That’s not a problem”, Paul assured. “I’m sure it wasn’t anything too important.”

          Fifteen minutes in the popcorn bowl was already half empty. Chuuya was starting to doze off, so was Paul, but the other two were incredibly engaged, almost immersed in the action. It wasn’t, like, some cinematic masterpiece, it was just funny, fast-paced and had a lot of great one liners, which made it enjoyable.

          Thirty minutes in, the first ad break started and the popcorn had been reduced to a few sad kernels at the bottom of the bowl a few minutes prior. Ena stretched and stood up to take a walk around the apartment, but Adam was just as enchanted by the ads playing as the movie itself.

          The movie finally resumed after a ten-minute ad break that felt like an infinity. However, not even two minutes later, loud snoring broke the movie magic. Chuuya was really sleeping.

          “Hey!”, Ena slapped him on the arm. “We can’t hear shit over here!”

          “Huh?”, Chuuya mumbled, half-awake. “Oh, uhh… m’sorry…”

          He paid attention to the screen for a few minutes, then dozed off again. This time, his snoring was a little quieter.

          Nobody dared wake him up again.

          He proceeded to take naps during the movie, waking up every twenty-something minutes to check on the plot, then go back to sleep. Adam eagerly explained everything he missed each time.

          During the second ad break, Ena went to make more popcorn, which woke up both Paul and Chuuya this time. Worse yet, they were both convinced it were gunshots and instinctively prepared the counterattack – thankfully, they didn’t cause more damage than a small dent in the wall.

          After the movie ended, Chuuya jolted awake and looked around unconsciously.

          “Huh? T’sss alr’dy over?”, he mumbled, then went right back to sleep.

          That unfortunately caught up to him on Monday, once he stepped foot in the office.

          “Ena-chan told me you guys watched that movie over the weekend”, Tsujimura said to him. “Well? How’d you like it?”

          “We did?”, Chuuya asked cluelessly.

Chapter Text

          The preparations for the conference were finally finished (from the technical side, at least), and the Division agents earned themselves a well deserved vacation. Director Taneda sent them for two whole days to a hot spring resort, although he declared he won’t be going himself due to health issues, which some of the less tired agents found sort of self-contradicting (isn’t the whole point of hot springs health??), but nobody argued. The emptied space was used to invite a certain family member, who Chuuya felt guilty leaving behind again. Plus, it’s good to have another person carrying the baggage.

          “I’m getting déjà vu”, Chuuya grunted, tracking up the hill.

         “At least you were invited”, Paul chuckled. “Both times.”

          “Not my fault you have no friends”, Chuuya scoffed. “Just fair for killing all of mine.”

          “Take that back, shortie.”

          “Over my dead body.”

          “Hey, can you two knock it off already?”, Ena yelled to them from a few steps in the front. “Everyone’s staring at you.”

          Chuuya just groaned something intelligible.

          “This is your first time at the hot springs, right, Ena-chan?”, Mizuki noticed. “Aren’t you excited?”

          “I’d say ‘nervous’ is a more fitting word”, Ena turned her eyes away. “Because I looked it up and I learned that… you know…”

          “Oh, it’s nothing to be ashamed of!”, Mizuki smiled warmly. “This is nothing out of ordinary here. No one will stare at you, you’ll see.”

          “We’re all staying in the same room, us girls, right?”, she asked to change the topic. “The two of us and Yachiyo-san.”

          “That’s right! And the men have two rooms in the other half of the resort, so we won’t really see each other if we’re inside the building the whole time.”

          “Finally, some actual rest”, Ena pumped her fist in celebration.

          “Is it really that bad?”

          “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

          They eventually reached the front desk and picked up their keys. Then, the group split in two – the girls went to the left and the guys went to the right.

          “So, how do we split?”, Aoki asked.

          “Don’t care, except for one thing”, Chuuya pointed at Mushitarou and Paul. “These two can’t be in the same room. I can see how you’re eyeing him, bud, and lemme tell ya, you’re not getting it.”

          “W-what do you mean?”, Mushitarou got weirdly flustered.

          “I’m not stupid”, Chuuya rolled his eyes. “Anything flies as long as they’re separated.”

          “According to my calculations, the optimal solution would be for Ango, Chuuya and Paul to be together, while I’ll stay with Mushitarou and Aoki. How about it?”

          “Sounds good to me”, Paul agreed, while Ango just nodded.

          After a short struggle and a brief episode of leaving Aoki in the lift, they found their rooms and left most of their stuff there, then went to get themselves washed before they entered the baths.

          “Hey… You know they don’t allow tattoos here, right?”, Ango told Adam.

          “Huh? Ah, you mean my serial number?”, he put his hand over the barcode and it promptly disappeared.

          “Huh. Convenient”, the other nodded.

          Meanwhile, on the other side, the three girls were already entering the hot spring waters.

          “Ah, this feels so good~”, Mizuki sighed with joy. “I haven’t been to an onsen in ages!”

          “Are you sure no one is staring?”, Ena asked, red as a tomato, and definitely not because of the heat.

          “Come on, what did I tell you?”, Mizuki calmed her down. “You’re fine, really.”

          “Huh… The water’s really nice”, Ena smiled.

          “You’ve been really quiet, Yachiyo-chan”, Mizuki noticed. “Is something-”

          She looked to see Murakoso almost passed out from the heat.

          The guys on the other side of the wall were also making themselves comfortable already. As it is widely known, the figuratively and literally warm atmosphere of the hot springs with the added alcohol is the perfect environment for conversations that couldn’t occur under any other circumstances.

          “Oh look, that’s the place Kajii blew up with his lemons last time I was here”, Chuuya pointed at a hole in one of the pools. “They’re almost done repairing it, huh?”

          “His… his what?”, Mushitarou asked, shaking from holding in laughter.

          “Yeah, the man’s wild”, Chuuya laughed. “You’ve all gotta meet ‘im sometime.”

          He sighed and leaned back, resting his arms on the cold stones surrounding the hot spring. Paul saw it as a great opportunity to ask a question that’s been bugging him for some time now.

          “When we were going up the hill, you said I killed all your friends. But isn’t Dazai your friend?”, he asked. “Or, I guess, at least was at some point?”

          “No, we were never friends”, Chuuya denied. “A weird Mori-crafted situationship, sure. And I’m 100% certain he had a crush on me at some point. But he wouldn’t let me really get close to him. Or anyone else, for that matter. I’m guessing we were all just toys for him to play with. Who knows, maybe I’d give him a chance at being my friend if he treated me as a person from the start.”

          “Honestly? I’d well prefer this over that idiot pretending to understand me”, Paul sighed.

          “Tell me about it”, Chuuya scoffed. “I think I told you already – you could’ve been in my place and I could’ve been in yours. To be fair, if everything that happened in my life had to have happened to lead me here, I wouldn’t change it one bit, even if I could. I’m pretty satisfied with where I am.”

          “Yeah…”, Paul sighed and stared off into the distance, at the slowly setting sun above the stone wall.

          “But I can’t deny Randou was nice”, Chuuya said. “You were lucky to have ‘em.”

          “Randou?”, Paul tilted his head.

          “Ah, you don’t know. That’s what we called your man.”

          “My…”, Paul suddenly turned red. “He wasn’t my man!”

          “Yeah, right, ya think I’m stupid?”, Chuuya laughed.

          His brother’s well-calculated response was to splash him with water.

          “Stop that.”

          He did it once again instead, just to piss him off.

          “I said stop!”

          And again.

          “Alright, ya’ve had it comin’!”

          Chuuya splashed him back with a giant wave created with his ability, with Ango and Adam as unfortunate side victims. The chain reaction escalated into a fierce water war.

          They returned to their rooms after the sun’s already set. Ango immediately collapsed on one of the beds and started snoring, and since the brothers didn’t have the heart to wake him up, they had no choice but to operate with the lights out. In the other room, Adam used all his well-calculated charm to successfully beg the two others for typical sleepover activities, such as pillow fights, board games and ghost stories, which resulted in none of them getting sleep, which didn’t affect Adam much, but caused both Mushitarou and Aoki to fall asleep in the hot springs the next day and almost drown.

          “Well, how was it, Mushi-kun?”, Ena asked when they were leaving the resort. “Do you feel rested?”

          “Yeah, right…”, Mushitarou groaned, barely awake.

Chapter Text

        “I’m going out!”, Ena announced.

          It was the coldest December in a couple years. The temperature barely went over zero Celsius, and there was a fluffy coat of snow covering the sidewalks and building rooftops. Even during her time in England, Ena hasn’t seen such a pretty winter; and apparently, it was unusual for it to snow here.

          She put on her jacket and went out into the chilly afternoon. She got to the meeting place, sat down on a bench and waited for her friends to arrive.

          “Ena-chan!”, she heard from the left.

          She looked in the direction of the voice. Atsushi, Kyouka, Sigma and Lucy were walking her way.

          “Hey, guys!”, she greeted them. “Took your sweet time, huh? I was dying of boredom over here.”

          “Oh, come on, you can’t say that when you’re 15 minutes early to everything”, Sigma chuckled nervously. Was she early or were THEY late?

          “Right, and you’re still not the last ones to arrive”, Ena checked her phone, but there were no new notifications. “What’s taking him so long?”

          “Sorry to have kept you waiting”, they heard the exact same second, as if Ena’s question summoned him. “Do you mind if… three extra people tag along?”

          It was Akutagawa, and along with him, his sister Gin as well as…

          “You’re that girl Kunikida told me about!”, Sigma recognized the other person. “Aya, was it?”

          “That’s right!”, she announced cheerfully. “I’m the upholder of justice! You’re detectives like Kunikida, right? It’s my pleasure!”

          “What’s she doing with you?”, Ena asked.

          “It’s a long story”, Akutagawa said. “Essentially, I made a promise to take care of her to… someone who’s no longer here.”

          “Knightey picked me up from karate today”, Aya chimed in. “He said he was in a hurry because he was going to hang out with you guys. I asked if I could come too, and he couldn’t say no, and now we’re here!”

          Ena chuckled.

          “K-knightey?”, she mumbled, barely holding back laughter.

          “Not. A word. More”, Akutagawa turned his head away. Ena was sure he was blushing under that high collar.

          “Whatever you say… Knightey”, she giggled.

          “You’re lucky you’re cute”, Akutagawa scoffed. “Otherwise you’d be mincemeat by now.”

          “Wait, what’d you say?”

          “Akutagawa, you said you had three people with you, right?”, Atsushi asked, saving him from having to repeat himself. “Where’s the third?”

          “Right here!”, he heard behind him. “Boo!”

          Atsushi jumped back, frightened.

          “Haha, did I scare you?”, Q grinned.

          “Boss asked me to take care of them”, Akutagawa explained. “If I knew being an executive came along with babysitting, I would’ve declined.”

          “Maybe she just noticed how good you are with kids?”, Ena smiled.

          “I am?”, Akutagawa seemed surprised.

          “So, where are we going?”, Aya asked.

          “I was really hoping we could go ice skating”, Atsushi said. “I’ve never been and it looks like so much fun!”

          “Could we grab something hot to drink on our way there?”, Lucy proposed.

          “Good idea!”, Ena nodded.

          “I’d kill for a latte”, Gin added.

          Considering her profession, Ena wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a figure of speech or not.

          They did end up stopping by a café on their way. Q, Kyouka and Aya were desperate to be included, but since Sigma and Akutagawa agreed caffeine wouldn’t do them well at the late hour, they ended up getting hot cocoa instead of coffee like the rest.

          “I should’ve brought gloves…”, Lucy sighed. “First my fingers were chilly, and now my hand burns.”

          “I could borrow you a pair if you want”, Ena started digging through her pocket.

          “W-why do you have more than one pair of gloves on you?”, Atsushi asked, since she was already wearing gloves as well.

          “I stole them from Chuuya”, she smirked. “He’s got a whole collection, so he’s not gonna notice.”

          “Wait, where did Q go?”, Akutagawa noticed.

          Turns out they lost Q, or rather – Q lost them. Maybe they weren’t caffeinated at least, but they sure were on sugar rush…

          It took longer than it should have to find them, calm them down and bring them to the skating rink.

          As it turned out once they arrived, not many of them actually knew how to not trip and fall on ice, let alone actually move around. A certain someone even required assistance tying shoelaces (and Akutagawa was obliged to help, of course).

          Of the people who’ve never skated before, each had a different strategy to survive on ice. Atsushi found it the best solution to scoot around pushing himself with his hands, which turned out to be possibly dangerous if not for his ability (the tiger claws made the skaters who would slice his fingers off trip and fall instead). The less ideal side of this approach were the cracks he left behind in the ice, but that’s not an issue, right…?

          Akutagawa also made use of his ability, utilizing Rashomon to keep himself steady with a few extra limbs sticking to the ground. From a certain angle, he looked kind of like a spider. Ena’s solution was to desperately clutch either to the sides of the rink or Akutagawa’s Rashomon legs. Sigma and Q both went for the “reckless dive” approach, copying what more experienced skaters were doing. The results varied – it ended up working way better for Q than for Sigma. Eventually, after enough practice, they all got the hang of it, more or less.

          “This is actually not that hard”, Ena noticed after a while and accidentally headbutted the person approaching from the other side. “Owh! So sorry… Wait a-”

          “What the hell?!!”, the person yelled. “Can’t I get even a minute to myself without any of you three?!!”

          It was Chuuya, of course, and right alongside him was Mizuki.

          “What are you doing here?”

          “I could ask you the same damn question! Is it so much fun stalking me everywhere?!”

          “Hold up, I told you I was hanging out with the-”

          “But you didn’t say where!”

          “How should I have known where we were going? We decided on it on a whim! And is it my fault it just so happened you’re on a date in the same place? Do you really-”

          Ena was so caught up in gesticulating she forgot she had Chuuya’s gloves on. And he noticed.

          “Hold up. Are these my fucking gloves?”

          She paused mid-sentence and hit her hands in her pockets, then skated away the fastest she could.

          “Get back here, you little shit!”, Chuuya yelled, already in pursuit.

          Carried away by emotions, he forgot he needed his ability’s stabilization, so he slipped and slammed his face into the ice.

          Eventually, they made up and returned home together. Chuuya was so exhausted he collapsed on the spot, but Ena…

          “It’s your fault for drinking coffee so late”, Adam sighed after she waddled to him again, complaining she wasn’t able to sleep. “Your brain can’t handle it and you know it.”

          “I’ve been peer-pressured”, Ena cried.

          “I’m almost sure there was no pressure on-”

          “Pressured.”

          “Ena-”

          “I would’ve looked stupid, you know?”

          “You brought this onto yourself. Back to bed. Count sheep or something.”

          She did fall asleep eventually. Around 2 AM, but hey, she did get some sleep.

Chapter Text

          February was drawing to a close and the weather was getting worse day by day, almost as if it was so hesitant to turn warm again it started crying. It wasn’t the best weather to go out, honestly. Plus, the endlessly falling raindrops set a kind of… nostalgic atmosphere.

          “Hey, isn’t Mizuki-chan’s birthday coming around soon?”, Ena noticed all of a sudden one afternoon.

          That sentence was enough to get Chuuya right out of his seat.

          “You’re right!”, he started frantically digging through the stack of random papers on his desk. He had the exact date written down on a sticky note somewhere in there… He was so invested in it he forgot to question what Ena was doing in his room without knocking or permission again.

          “February 29th”, he finally found the note. “Today’s the 26th, so it’s like… on Thursday, right? Great, that means I still have some time. Uhh… What could I do to-”

          “Chuuya”, Ena looked at him, mildly amused seeing him so chaotically scrambled. “There’s no 29th this year.”

          He had to pause everything he was doing to process what he just heard.

          “Oh. Right. It’s only on leap years”, he stared dumbfounded at the phone in his hand, almost as if he’s forgotten what its purpose was. “So… what now?”

          “How should I know?”, Ena sighed and turned to leave the room. “She’s your girlfriend, not mine. Figure it out.”

          Chuuya took a few seconds to clear up his mind.

          “Wait a second, didn’t I say you have to knock before-”

          But it was no use. She was already gone.

         He finally remembered what the phone in hand was for. He quickly called Mizuki.

          “Hey, how’re you doing?”, he asked and continued, not waiting for a reply. “Listen, are you free on Wednesday? I was wondering if we could hang out. I know this is really sudden, but-”

          “No, it’s okay”, Mizuki cut his spontaneous monologue short. “I think I have nothing scheduled for then.”

          “…Great.”

          “So, your place?”

          “Yup.”

          “Alright, see you then.”

          She hung up and smiled to herself in the chilly afternoon darkness of her apartment. She knew exactly what it was about.

          “Look who it is”, Paul ironized, seeing Chuuya approaching him. “So, what do you need help with this time?”

          “Hey, don’t be like that”, Chuuya scoffed. “It’s not like I only come to you when I need something.”

          “Yeah, right. It’s something kitchen-related, huh?”

          “How’d you…”

          “It’s written all over your face”, Paul smirked.

          “Come on, you know baking hates me, and I… really wanted to make it something special. I’m not asking for you to do everything for me, just some help would be great.”

          Paul turned around, probably thinking it over.

          “We’re almost out of sugar, so you’ll need to go fetch some. And where was that welding mask of yours?”

          “First of all, you’re being overdramatic”, Chuuya barked, already running to get his shoes. He stuck his head into the kitchen to make a final remark. “And second – you’re the best!”

          “You already know you won’t be hearing the end of this whenever I need a favor”, Paul said, but he was smiling to himself.

          Finally, Wednesday came around and Tsujimura appeared at their apartment. Since the weather still wasn’t the best, they’ve decided to spend the afternoon indoors this time. Chuuya sat her down on the sofa and made Ena and Adam watch her while he went to fetch something.

          “What’s gotten into him?”, she asked, confused.

          Adam chuckled and Ena hit him on the head.

          “Shh, you’ll spoil it!”, she hissed at him.

          “Spoil what?”, that got Mizuki interested.

          One of the two would’ve definitely spilled it if Chuuya took even a few seconds more; fortunately, he didn’t.

          “Happy birthday!”, he exclaimed, going through the door.

          That was Adam’s cue. He activated the confetti launcher, unfortunately, right in the girls’ faces.

          “Wow, you really didn’t have to”, Mizuki smiled, pleasantly surprised. “I’m really glad you remembered.”

          “Someone did and it’s certainly not him”, Ena mumbled only to get slammed into the cushions with Chuuya’s shoulder.

          “Aaaanyway, here’s a little something for you”, Chuuya handed Mizuki a weirdly offputtingly big cupcake with a single candle on top and an excessive amount of frosting. “Made it myself.”

          “It was the biggest thing I could’ve allowed him to make without risking a burnt down kitchen”, Paul added from behind the door.

          “Oi!”, Chuuya yelled back.

          “That’s really sweet of you”, Mizuki chuckled, trying to hold back laughter so he wouldn’t feel bad. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

          “Oh, it’s really nothing. So then, the rest of the night’s up to you. We can do whatever you want – as long as it’s indoors, of course.”

          “I’m gonna go fetch the wine”, Ena slipped out of the door.

          “Hey, you’re still not allowed to drink!”

          They spent the rest of the afternoon doing karaoke, playing video games and talking about everything and nothing at once. Mizuki ended up enjoying it just as much as she thought she would. When it’s gotten late and she had to go back home, Chuuya escorted her under an umbrella right to the front door of her apartment.

          “Today was really fun”, she smiled. “Thanks for having me.”

          “Don’t mention it. I know there were some things I could’ve planned out better, but-”

          “No, I really had a great time”, she assured. “You know… it’s nice to just have fun and unwind once in a while, when life gets monotonous, right? And it’s even better if you can do it in such amazing company.”

          She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

          “See you tomorrow at work!”, she said, closing the door.

          “Yeah… Bye”, he muttered to himself before leaving.

Chapter Text

          “You’ve got to be kidding me”, Paul said when Chuuya closed the door. “Where’d you even get this?”

          He was holding a puppy. Of course he was.

          Paul knew it was bound to happen at some point.

          “Come on, how can you say no to that face?”, Chuuya held the little guy up.

          “I didn’t ever say no, though”, Paul noticed. “But… you know how huskies are, right? They might not bark, but they make… other sounds.”

          “I am willing to make that sacrifice.”

          “Whatever you say. Just so you know, this is you’re responsibility. I will not be the one taking him out for…”

          “Are you kidding? Do I look like a ten-year-old to you? Of course I know it’s my responsibility. Of course I’ll feed him and walk him and shit, you won’t even notice he’s-”

          The dog made a… sound. It could not be described in any other way.

          “…here”, Chuuya finished the sentence he started.

          That exact moment, the door opened once again.

          “Is that a puppy?!?”, Ena squeaked from the entrance.

          After the initial enthusiasm quieted down, Ena remembered a rather important detail.

          “Weren’t we supposed to go on a Hanami picnic today?”, she asked. “Hope we’re not having a change of plans.”

          “Why would we?”, Chuuya responded, then turned to the puppy. He started speaking in a high-pitched voice. “You wwon’t have anything against coming with us, wiww you? Oh, wiww you?”

          “That’s… wildly out of character for you”, Ena commented.

          “Oh, don’t worry, he does that every time he sees a dog”, Paul assured, which earned him a death glare from Chuuya.

          A few hours later, they set out to the park, with all the necessary picnic gear and snacks for the flower watching. The park was crowded as expected, so it took them some time to find a free spot. And once they finally did, well… Let’s just say they couldn’t get the dog to sit still. He turned out to be from the overly active type.

          Chuuya had no choice but to take him for a lap around the park. And then another one. During this time, the pup managed to ram headfirst into fourteen trees, three pedestrians and six dogs way larger than himself. Chuuya, of course, had to apologize for him to all who he hit (at least the trees were out of question there). No wonder his energy got exhausted way faster than his four-legged companion’s.

          “Tell me, sir, why do you keep bumpin’ into stuff?”, he asked affectionately, picking up the dog and messing the fur on his head. “You’re no sheep. Or goat, for that matter. Or maybe you are. You didn’t catfish me, did you?”

          He just howled quietly in response, sounding almost remorseful.

          “Just like I thought”, Chuuya smiled and put him back down.

          They joined the rest back in the spot where they set their mat. They found Paul sleeping, Ena reading some gory seinen and Adam gone.

          “He went to get more snacks”, Ena anticipated his question. “Those other two consumed everything we brought already. I barely managed to get a bite in myself.”

          “Just like I thought”, Chuuya sighed, then hit Paul in the stomach to wake him up, which worked just as expected. “Wakey, gluttonous bastard. I’d expect nothing more from human vacuum, but you?”

          “Hungry…”, he grunted before rolling on the other side and closing his eyes again.

          “Has he always been like this?”, Ena asked. “You know, back when he was the ‘most dangerous assassin in the world’ and stuff.”

          “Nah, the exact opposite. I think it might’ve something to do with him losing his original singularity. The previous one had a nearly unlimited energy output, and the one he has currently is a lot more limited and takes a shit ton of time to regenerate. He eats a lot more and sleeps just as much to compensate for that energy loss.”

          “Ah, that makes sense.”

          They sat in silence for a short while.

          “What’re ya reading?”, Chuuya suddenly expressed his interest. He leaned in to see, and his expression changed to a mix of shock and pride. “Huh, I’d never guess you’re into this sorta stuff. You come across as more of a slice of life type of person.”

          “Well, you were wrong”, Ena replied, not bothering to look up from the reading. “Besides, I’ve seen much worse with my own eyes. You could say this is slice of life to me.”

          She sighed and put the volume down.

          “Sometimes I do wonder what it would be like to have a normal life. Like, going to school, having a boring job and not having to worry about potentially world-ending threats. Don’t you?”

          “Sometimes”, he admitted. “But y’know, no maybes and what ifs are gonna change the way our world looks. We’re not meant to have a normal life, and we’ve gotta deal with it. I bet somewhere out there, there’s a person who’d kill to have the life I live.”

          “Who wants some ice cream~?”, they heard. Adam came back with two huge paper bags and desperately trying to hold on four ice cream cones.

          Upon hearing about ice cream, Paul rose up in an instant and reached out his hand, silently demanding the treat. Adam fulfilled his request, then handed Ena and Chuuya their own.

          “I get the gal, but how’d you know which flavor I like?”, Chuuya was a bit put off by how accurately he got his favorite ice cream flavor right.

          “I’ve simply analyzed your taste preferences I’ve recorded over the period of the last six months”, Adam explained like it was no big deal, then bit a huge chunk out of his ice cream.

          The other three shivered as they felt their teeth hurt just seeing that.

          “Please, just lick it like a normal person”, Chuuya groaned.

         “But that would be nowhere as efficient”, Adam argued, confused.

          “No, Tagi can’t have it”, Chuuya scolded Paul, seeing him try to share some of his ice cream with the dog. “I have his treats, you can just give him these.”

          “Tagi’s such a cute name!”, Ena exclaimed. “C’mere Tagi-chan, catch! Good boy~”

          Chuuya couldn’t help but smile. Was this… what ‘home’ felt like?