Chapter Text
"The doctor's ability would be invaluable to our work," Kouyou mused, running her finger across one of the many files spread on the meeting table. "Bringing her in could at least halve our casualties in every skirmish”
Mori sighed dramatically, slumping back in his chair. “Fukuzawa would never let us take her while he’s alive. And not even Yosano-chan is worth killing him over.” He tossed her file in the wastebasket without a second glance.
“What about the weretiger? Nakajima,” Chuuya proposed. “He’s a very capable fighter, but if he ends up disappointing us, we could just sell him to the highest bidder.”
“Hmm, I suppose. But I doubt he’ll fetch much now that Fitzgerald’s lost interest” Mori flipped through their file on him. “Oh wait, didn’t Akutagawa-kun swear to kill him in a couple months? That would make him quite a poor investment.”
“I’ll put him in the ‘maybe’ pile.” Kouyou took the papers and arranged them on the edge of the table. “Kunikida certainly has all the enthusiasm we could ever need and more. With a bit of training-”
Chuuya barked a laugh. “That’s reserved for his ideals! Nothing else! And I’m sure ‘be a good mafioso’ is not one of those.”
“And besides,” Mori added, “his ability’s convenient, but not much else. We’d be better off with nearly any other ability user over him”. He unceremoniously tossed Kunikida’s file into the bin with Yosano’s. “How about the illusionist?”
“He certainly would make a skilled assassin, but that may be too much of a good thing,” Kouyou picked out Tanizaki’s file. “All our security, the Black Lizards, and myself were barely able to stop him from assassinating you. There’s no way to stop him from doing the same thing again if he was in the mood.”
“I’d say that’s a point in his favor,” Mori argued. “Yes, boosting security would be annoying, but not many of our assassins can say they broke through almost all of the boss’ finest”.
Kouyou shrugged. “I worry, that's all”. She skimmed through the papers.
“Hey, doesn’t he have a sister?” Chuuya chimed in. “If we got a hold of her, that would eliminate the security issue.”
“Yes, but the deal’s only for one person,” Mori confirmed. “We’d likely have to kidnap her, which Fukuzawa would not take kindly.”
Kouyou placed Tanizaki on the ‘maybe’ pile and moved to the next detective. “Miyazawa, the farmer with superhuman strength and durability, but only when he’s angry. Odd condition, but not completely useless,” she read.
“I believe he’s just very good at hiding the anger,” Chuuya recalled. “He’s more than held his own against me, without any visible anger to speak of. With training, he’d be a superb asset for our side.”
“He’s also just a child,” Kouyou glared daggers at Mori when he perked up. “We’d have to invest a lot of said training into him.”
”But higher potential for loyalty in the future.”
“Did you hear what he did to that Hunting Dog?” Kouyou asked, “Nearly killed him single-handedly. We’d definitely need some kind of security insurance.”
“Already done!”, Mori assured. “We have emergency sedative dart guns hidden across these buildings in case of emergencies.”
“When did you do that?” Chuuya was puzzled. “This is the first time I’m hearing about it.”
“Because it was originally meant for you, I figured it would be better not to tell you then.” Mori smiled. “Don’t look so betrayed, I never would have hired an ability user as powerful as yourself without a security plan”.
“Touche” Chuuya grumbled, still pouting a bit.
“Let’s put the farm boy with the ‘maybes’ and move on.” Mori sat up suddenly. “We should ask for Kyouka-chan back! She was wonderful!”
“Absolutely not.” Kouyou said with an ice cold finality.
Mori pouted, but didn’t argue as he threw her file away. “That’s okay, I have a better idea! With Ace gone, we’re in the market for a new executive. Or perhaps an old one. Let’s bring Dazai-kun back!”
“NO!” Chuuya practically shouted.
Mori looked at him curiously, and Chuuya collected his thoughts with a breath. “I mean, you remember how hard he was to handle, right? That was when he was only half-assed trying to kill himself. Bring him back now, and he will devote his whole ass into finding a way, and will probably succeed sooner rather than later.”
“And he would bring the entire organization down with him. You know he could.” Kouyou added seriously.
“Bad investment, you know?” Chuuya finished lamely.
Mori sighed in disappointment, but threw away Dazai’s file anyway. “You knew him better than anyone, so I suppose I’ll trust your judgement on this.” He picked up the last file. “Finally, Edogawa. Ability: Ultra Deduction.”
“He may be a decent candidate for that executive role, if he really is the world’s greatest detective,” Kouyou pondered. “But I highly doubt that, so you would need to test him rigorously”.
“Of course, he’d need to prove himself. But that’s not the issue,” Mori flipped to the final page of the file. “Fukuzawa founded the ADA for him, and is his father in all but blood and law,” he tapped the photo clipped onto the page, depicting the ADA’s founding party with its two original members front and center. “There is nothing he would not do for Fukuzawa, and that would inevitably compromise his loyalty to the Port Mafia.” He tossed the file into the trash. “So that’s a no for me.”
And then there were three. The executives took all of the remaining files and rearranged them across the table for another round of pondering.
Nakajima, Tanizaki, or Miyazawa.
“I believe we know who our newest recruit is.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a bright and sunny afternoon at the Armed Detective Agency headquarters, but everyone was far too distracted by the daunting task ahead of them to notice.
Yosano had already gone through an entire bottle of wine, and locked herself in the infirmary with another. Nothing Fukuzawa said through the door seemed to be getting through, but everyone else felt far too bad for her to try breaking in.
In contrast, Kunikida had thrown himself into work and could barely be seen behind the mountain of paper he had taken on. He was making unusually rapid progress, as Dazai hadn’t bothered to show up to work that day. Tanizaki was trying to follow Kunikida’s example, but couldn’t concentrate and got up to pace every few minutes. Everyone else was going about their normal routines while doing their best to avoid wondering which of their friends they would lose to the darkness.
All too soon, the darkness arrived with a knock on the office door. Everyone present, excluding the unconscious Yosano, froze as the president let the three imposing mafia executives in.
“Welcome”, Fukuzawa bowed stiffly, but respectfully, to Mori.”
“Such a shame we can’t ever meet under favorable circumstances”, Mori inclined his head back. “But we’ll be out of your hair as soon as we collect what’s owed.” Kyouka was gripping the hidden knife in her sleeve so hard, her knuckles were ghost-white.
Tanizaki set his shoulders resolutely and stepped forward. “I volunteer. I have a very useful ability-”
“Oh, we’re not here for you,” Chuuya cut him off, “we chose him.” To the shock of every detective, he pointed in Kenji’s direction. Kenji turned around to see who had been chosen, but no one was there.
“Welcome to the Port Mafia, Miyazawa Kenji,” Kouyou smiled politely. “We trust that you will be an invaluable member of our family.”
Huh?
“When you’ve finished cleaning out your desk and saying goodbye, meet us in the hall. There’s a lot we need to discuss.” Chuuya instructed as they stepped out, though Kenji was still too busy processing what was happening to him to listen properly.
After the door clicked shut, the office was dead silent for a minute while everyone stared at him.
But the debt had to be paid and everyone knew it. And besides, better him than losing Kyouka, Yosano, or Dazai again. So Kenji put on his most convincing brave face and collected his few desk supplies and his favorite plant into a neat pile. “You’ll take care of our cows right?” he asked the president.
“They’ll want for nothing.” he swore, bringing a box over to help.
As he finished cleaning up the last couple of passed notes scattered across his desk, he was suddenly enveloped in a tight embrace from all sides. He nearly broke into tears right there, he would miss his friends so damn much.
“I’m sorry, it should’ve been me-” Tanizaki choked out.
“Not your fault, don't be sad,” Kenji smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be fine, as long as I can keep visiting!”
“You’ll always be welcome back, Kenji.” Kunikida reassured with all the solemn gravity of a life pact, even making note of it in his book.
Eight heartfelt goodbyes later, Kenji found himself stepping out into the hallway, with just a small box of souvenirs to show for it. Whatever the future could hold, he resolved wholeheartedly to face it in his family’s stead and do it gladly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Joining the Port Mafia entitles you to many benefits, including housing assistance,” Chuuya continued on with his introduction speech as the now four mafiosos were driven back to headquarters. “We’ve prepared a small apartment for you in one of our complexes, and rent will automatically be deducted from your paycheck for extra convenience.”
“Oh, that’s okay Chuuya-san, I already have a home.” Kenji chimed in.
“Kid, I understand, but you can’t keep living at the ADA. You can move in anytime from now to-”
“But I don’t live at the ADA. I live with my parents out in the country. Thank you though!”
Parents? A home? Who the hell is this kid?
“Actually, can I keep it for storage?” he asked innocently. “There’s some chickens I’ve been meaning to apartment-train before their sale.”
“Uh,” What am I getting myself into? “Sure, why not.”
“Thanks Chuuya-san!” he exclaimed as their car let the four of them out at the entrance of the central tower.
Kenji moved to follow Kouyou and Mori inside, but Chuuya stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Walk with me. We have more to discuss.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Rule number one of being in the Port Mafia,” Kenji’s brand-new boss began as they took their seats in the diner booth. “Forget everything Dazai has ever told you.”
Kenji looked up from his vanilla milkshake. “Because he has some screws loose?” He liked Dazai-san and considered him a friend, but Kenji took all of his words with a pinch of salt ever since he confidently told him that planted shrimp tails would grow into harvestable shrimp-plants. Which wasn’t how anything worked at all!
“Exactly! You get it!” Chuuya-san threw his hands up in surprised satisfaction. “How old are you anyways, kid?”
“14, but I’ll be 15 in August.” He hoped that wasn’t far too old for the Port Mafia, it seemed like everyone he’d known had spent their whole childhoods in the darkness.
Chuuya-san’s face turned dead serious. “You should be fine, but just to be safe,” he looked gravely into Kenji’s eyes “Rule number two of being in the Port Mafia, don’t ever visit or even speak to the boss alone.”
“Why?” Did Mori-san really despise young people that much?
“Just… trust me on this one. Tell me first, and I’ll go with you”.
“Okay.” Weird, but whatever. Chuuya-san knew better about these things anyway. He fished around in his milkshake until he found the cherry, and thought about his friends in the Agency. I can follow any weird order if it keeps Mori-san’s eyes off the others.
“And while we’re on the subject,” Chuuya-san continued, “rule number three, the most important rule of the Port Mafia is that you always listen to the boss and I.”
Kenji was lost on why he felt the need to emphasize this. “Isn’t that part of any job?”
“I mean- yes, I suppose, but it goes double here!” He lowered his voice so the other customers wouldn’t hear. “If I tell you to kill, you kill. If I tell you to break someone’s jaw, you break their jaw. And if I tell you to run and leave me behind, you run and leave me behind. Understand?”
It sounded intense, but that was already a decent portion of Kenji’s job description at the ADA. Besides the whole breaking jaw thing. But if it was to protect his friends, he would do anything. “I understand.”
Chuuya-san’s gaze softened a bit. “Kid, I’m not trying to scare you, but if you fall through, Mori will go back and take one of your friends instead. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not!” Kenji said forcefully.
“Excellent,” Chuuya-san smiled with pride and handed him a cellphone out of his pocket. “Use this for work. Your employment starts now.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where the fuck have you been?” Chuuya struggled to keep from raising his voice at the confused Kenji on the porch in front of him. “You were supposed to be in my office four hours ago!”
“I was here, at home, Chuuya-san,” Kenji pointed back to the tiny farmhouse that he’d emerged from. “It’s my day off.”
“No? It’s not?” Chuuya pulled up the detailed schedule for the week he’d texted to him the previous day. “Your next day off is in four more days.”
“The Agency always gave me Tuesdays off.” Kenji explained calmly, as if he was correcting a common misconception. “I’m only a part time worker, the farm keeps me busy otherwise.”
“That’s not-” Chuuya had to take a deep breath of fresh air to lower his blood pressure. “We’ll figure out the details once you’re fully trained. Did you at least read anything else I texted you?”
“Wow, this thing can text too?” He took out and examined the new phone Chuuya had given him yesterday. “I thought it was just for calls!” He pressed a couple buttons until the screen turned on. “Oh yeah, now I see everything!”
What fucking planet is this kid from?
“Sorry about that Chuuya-san, I’ll do better next time. Since you’ve already come all the way out here, do you want to see the puppies?”
Chuuya’s annoyance vanished in the blink of an eye. He pretended to think about the enticing offer for a moment, as not to seem too eager. “I suppose I could spare a few minutes.”
“Great! Right this way!” Kenji hopped down from the porch and beckoned Chuuya towards an empty pasture a few meters away. “My neighbors are selling them if you’d like one, Chuuya-san!”
Yes! “No, I couldn’t possibly…” Chuuya tore himself away from the knee-jerk urge as he let the kid lead him through the field.
They reached a small wooden shed on the other side, and Kenji knocked on the faded green door until a chorus of barking sounded off like an adorable doorbell.
When they squeezed in, Chuuya was immediately set upon by a horde of shin-high golden fur, soft tongues, and furiously wagging tails. It was a trying task to pet all of the lovable little creatures at once, but Chuuya managed. On the biggest pile of old blankets, Kenji was busying himself petting a larger tawny dog, probably the mother, all over.
“All nine of the puppies survived! I’ve never seen that happen before,” Kenji was explaining as Chuuya played tug of war with some of the rope toys scattered around. “You should really get one, Chuuya-san. They’re good luck! And look how much they like you already!”
Chuuya felt like he was arguing with the devil on his shoulder. “I would absolutely love to get all nine of them, kid.” Just looking into their big black eyes made him want to melt and cry and hug all of them at once. “But my… roommate isn’t fond of dogs. Even these cutie pies.” A smaller puppy climbed into his lap and he scratched behind its ears.
Kenji frowned, and silently counted on his fingers. “But if you want nine puppies, and your roommate doesn’t want any, wouldn’t it be smart to compromise and only get four or five?”
Fuck, this kid was an amazing salesman. He wasn’t sure if four adult dogs would be able to comfortably fit in their apartment, but maybe two or three-
What the hell was he thinking? He’d never owned a dog before!
“Or you could throw the whole roommate out.”
Chuuya barked a laugh. The puppy startled off his lap, but two more took its place in an instant. “I’ve considered it, but he’d be lost without me”.
Oh, what the hell. Chuuya paid most of the rent anyway. “How much for just two?”
Kenji beamed. “My neighbors will be back soon, we can barter with them then!” He crouched and pointed to the ones on Chuuya’s lap. “This one’s always been a real sweetheart for new people, and this one’s the quietest if you have close neighbors…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, what makes you angry?” Chuuya-san asked as he neatly placed his hat and overcoat aside in one of the few clean corners of the abandoned trainyard.
Kenji pondered that as he did the same. There weren’t many examples to go off of. “I don’t know… I guess when my friends get hurt?”
“Okay, we can work with that.” Chuuya-san kicked his leg all the way up in the air. “How’ve you been controlling your ability so far?”
“I’m not just strong when I’m angry, Chuuya-san. It also works when I’m hungry.”
Many different (and pained?) expressions flashed through Chuuya-san’s face in a second as he digested this revelation. “Do yourself a favor and let’s not ever tell the boss that.”
Keeping all these secrets didn’t make sense to Kenji, but he had promised to follow Chuuya-san’s orders from now on. “I can use it now, if that’s what you’re wondering!” To demonstrate, he picked up an ordinary pebble and flung it so hard it left a fist size hole through an entire train.
Chuuya-san nodded in approval as he finished his stretching. “Excellent. Now show me what you got, and hit me as hard as you can.” He opened his arms, leaving his chest exposed. “The first one’s free. After that, you gotta pay.”
He hesitated, weighing how much he should pull his punches. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, not at all!
Kenji barely managed to duck out of the way as a huge sheet of glowing red metal fell towards him. “Hesitation is death! I could’ve killed you then! Fight me, kid!”
“Look out!” Kenji warned, as he leapt towards Chuuya-san, landing a perfect, direct punch to his heart.
His entire arm screamed in agony, and Kenji could barely keep himself from doing the same. It felt like punching a solid brick wall with no superstrength attached.
“Get out of the habit of warning me.” Chuuya-san’s fists glowed red as he readied for another attack. “I’m almost insulted that you think I need the help.”
Kenji lept back. Entire train cars were careening towards him at impossible speeds. He danced back and forth avoiding being crushed by centimeters. He yanked a rusty guard rail out from a scrap pile and lunged again. Chuuya-san stopped the rail in its tracks, but not Kenji, whose body flew straight into him.
His teeth rattled in the impact, but he grabbed ahold of Chuuya-san’s wrist and swung his dense body into the ground hard enough to make a meter deep manga-style crater.
Chuuya-san slowly sat up, brushing concrete dust off his clothes. “Not bad, kid, not bad at all.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Kenji made his way through the winding hall of Mafia Headquarters, he couldn’t help but feel a prickle on the back of his neck as if he was being watched. The building was far from abandoned and teeming with all kinds of employees, so maybe some of them were looking in his direction?
But why did he feel like a hunted animal?
There was no reason to be afraid, he trusted Chuuya-san not to let anyone hurt him, but he quickened his pace towards the elevator anyway. The sooner he got home, the happier he’d be.
He almost made it.
Out of nowhere, a surprise attack from the side knocked him off his feet. He instinctively raised his arms to defend, but where an attacker’s skin or metal would be hit, he strangely could only feel… fabric?
Only a moment later, Kenji’s face was being crushed against the wall of the supply closet, his whole body tightly bound in the strange fabric, with something sharp against his throat.
Damn, just when I thought it would be safe to eat supper early.
“So you’re Nakahara-san’s new favorite pet,” a familiar voice rasped from behind him. “But he can’t help you now. If you want to leave here with your life, answer my quest-”
“I think you’ve got me confused with Rui and Satsu,” Kenji interrupted pleasantly.
There was a moment of bewildered silence. “Who?”
“You know… Chuuya-san’s pet puppies! I’m flattered, but I could never compete with them.” He wriggled slightly against the bonds to test mobility. If he could just get one hand free-
“Never mind,” Akutagawa-san snarled, pressing the sharp deeper into Kenji’s neck. “If you want to live, tell me the weretiger’s weaknesses!”
Kenji had to pause twisting his right hand free as he gave it a genuine moment of thought. “Hmmm, there’s not much to say really. He’s very brave and courageous and kind, and-”
“I asked for the weretiger’s WEAKNESSES, not STRENGTHS!” Akutagawa-san roared. “There must be SOMETHING about that weretiger that Dazai-san doesn’t care for!”
“You do know his name is Atsushi, right?”
“no-I-uh-of-OF COURSE I knew that, you idiot brat! OBVIOUSLY!”
Hmmm, this seems like a bad situation to be caught in with someone as violent as Akutagawa-san. Maybe it’s time to start worrying.
As Akutagawa-san rambled angrily about how much he did in fact know about Atsushi, Kenji gave one final yank to free his hand and shove it down his throat. In no time, he had coated the fabric bindings with half-digested tempura, wrestled the fabric blade from his throat, and threw a mop handle behind him with all of his returned strength.
CRASH!
Kenji missed Akutagawa-san, but did not miss the door, which had been blasted clean off its hinges. “I’ll be able to think better if you let me go.” Kenji sweetly urged.
Wordlessly, Akutagawa-san retracted the fabric back to his overcoat, but continued to glare daggers at Kenji. He reminded him of the wasps a neighbor of his encouraged to control their insect problems-
Wait. That’s an idea!
“Now that I think about it, there’s one thing Atsushi always had trouble with,” Something in his eyes shifted. No longer pure rage, but a sliver of hopefulness taking root. “He can’t keep a plant alive if his life depended on it.”
“And how could that possibly-”
“Being able to sustain yourself is the most important skill anyone could hope to have,” Kenji explained patiently. “But sustaining those around you is a close second. Dazai-san will understand, I know it!”
They stepped out the new doorway into the brightly lit hallway. “We got off on the wrong foot. Let’s start over!” Kenji held out a hand. “I’m Miyazawa Kenji!”
Akutagawa-san didn’t smile or take his hand, but he didn’t glare either, so Kenji counted that as progress. “I’m Akutagawa.”
“Nice to finally meet you!” Kenji hit the button to summon the elevator. “I know some perfect starter vegetables you’ll love…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great. He’d gotten turned around somewhere, and now had absolutely no idea where he was. Kenji mentally kicked himself for not realizing something was wrong when the narrow staircase he’d broken through had him going down far past the ground floor. Now he was lost in his own workplace, with no sunlight to tell him the time or direction-.
A child’s sobs echoed from somewhere ahead, which was the last sound Kenji expected to hear in this empty dark labyrinth. Is someone else lost down here? Maybe we can help each other out! With no other leads, he trotted towards the mysterious cries.
His ears led him to a tightly locked metal door. Odd. Then they probably weren’t lost, but maybe they still knew the way back upstairs! He knocked politely. “Hello? Are you alright?”
The crying stopped. “W-who are y-you?” the voice from inside sniffled.
“My name’s Kenji! What’s your name? And do you know a way back to the ground floor by chance?”
“You won’t get out. It’s too heavily guarded.” they declared glumly.
“Wow. Strange. I didn’t see anyone on the way down here. Maybe there’s more than one route!”
A moment of silence from the door. “Are you here to rescue me?” they asked, voice filled to the brim with hope.
“Well I didn’t mean to, I was just looking for the bag of worm treats I left here yesterday and got lost.” That was the honest truth, but the mystery prisoner’s sigh of disappointment felt like a kick to the chest. And it was so dark and lonely down here… Chuuya-san had never told him anything about what to do in a situation like this, so he went with his instincts. “But if you help me, I’ll help you!”
Was this a good idea? Kenji had no clue, but it was technically his day off, and even indoor animals need regular enrichment and company, so really everyone should thank him anyway. “Step away from the door, please!”
“That won’t work, this is an old modified bank vault-”
“No problem!” Kenji wound up and kicked the solid door handle with just enough strength to keep the door intact. The broken locks failed and the door slammed open against the wall with a crash.
Inside was a kid about Kenji’s age that looked utterly out of place in such a harsh environment. They were wrapped up in a soft coat with a cutesy animal purse at their side. The kid was the most colorful thing in the room too, with the bare metal walls, cot, toilet, and sink not offering much competition. The kid grabbed a couple books from the pile by their bed, tucked them into their purse, and walked out past Kenji.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh! How rude of me! I’m Q. Thanks for rescuing me!”
“No problem! I came here from that way,” Kenji pointed to their right. “Other than that, I don’t know.”
“That’s okay. We’ll find it.” They set out confidently in the direction Kenji indicated. “What’s the entrance look like anyway?”
“Funny story actually!” Kenji chuckled to himself. “I was looking for my worm treats, then accidentally busted through a wall! Then there was a staircase, so I went down it. Now I’m here!”
“That’s cool!” Q paused at an intersection, then turned right. “The main entrance is in this direction, so the rest of the upstairs must be too!”
“Great!” Kenji followed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After what must have been hours of the two of them wandering and taking turns choosing the path, they finally emerged from the Kenji-shaped hole in the supply closet wall. Kenji immediately rushed to the window in the computer office across the hall and flinched.
It’s almost noon. Oh no, I’m going to be late! He sat down at one of the computers and typed up a quick apology email to Kyouka.
While he was occupied, Q explored the unfamiliar terrain. Something brown and sandwich-sized under Kenji’s chair caught their eye. “Is that what you were looking for?”
As soon as he saw the little brown bag, his face lit up like the sun. “Q, you’re a lifesaver!” He shoved the bag in his pocket, deleted the email, and grabbed Q’s hand, dragging them to the elevator. “If we hurry, we can still make it in time!”
“What?” Q shrieked, digging their heels into the carpet.
Kenji let go. “Oh, I forgot to tell you! So sorry! My friend’s coming over to my apartment for lunch. Want to come?”
“Anywhere’s better than here!” Q cheered and followed Kenji to the elevator. “Is that what the worms are for?”
“Yeah! I’ve been teaching my chickens tricks, and I’ve gotta show her!”
“I spent this whole time thinking you were going to eat them,” they pouted.
That made Kenji laugh. “Not these ones!”
“Hey, Kenji?”
“Yeah?”
“Want to be my friend?”
“Of course!”
His phone rang with a text from Chuuya-san just as they exited the building. ‘There’s been an extremely dangerous security breach. Stay indoors whenever possible until it gets sorted out.’ Whatever that could mean. Unfortunately, he and his new friend had places to be, but he promised to keep his eyes peeled for dangerous people.