Chapter Text
It was a normal day at the Agency. It was supposed to be normal. Everyone was having a good day — the average Dazai and Kunikida argument, Kenji talking Kyouka into going to the farm, Yosano in her office, the siblings being…Eugh.
Normal. Everything was normal. It was supposed to stay normal. Normal is good. Normal is…normal. There’s nothing more to say to it.
Everything was fine.
Until 3PM.
Wednesday 14th, xxxx.
Armed Detective Agency
11AM
————-
“Atsushi, Junichiro, come here. There’s a new mission that you two would be exceptional for.” Kunikida called out to them, holding a yellow file in his hand.
The two got up and walked over to Kunikida, and older man wasted no time on explaining what was happening.
“There’s a new ability user in the city of Yokohama. His name is Maurice Sendak. Most likely moved here from some part in America. His ability isn’t known, but you’ll probably figure it out on the job. He was last seen near the Umikaze park in the town of Yokosuka.”
“Find Sendak and bring him to the Agency. That is your mission.” Kunikida handed the file to Atsushi, who opened it and began scanning through the information with Junichiro looking over his shoulder.
”He looks old, I wonder what trouble he could be causing.” Junichiro commented.
”I dunno, but I do know that he’s causing trouble for his back if he doesn’t stop moving like he’s in a ninja movie.” Atsushi chuckled at his own joke. Junichiro didn’t care for it.
“Let’s just find this old hunk uh’ junk and bring him here. It can’t be too hard chasing an old man.” Junichiro shrugged and walked away. Atsushi shoved the file onto his desk and quickly followed after him.
———
The two made it to Umikaze park and began searching. They asked questions to civilians walking around the park, but they didn’t get much of a lead because nobody really knew who they were talking about, so that was pointless.
“Ugh! We’re not getting anywhere..” Atsushi groaned, biting his nails. It had been an hour and they had no lead as to where or who this guy was.
“Well…we never really asked how long ago he was spotted here. He could be anywhere now.” Tanizaki sat down on a nearby bench as Atsushi paced on the sidewalk.
“You seriously thought of that now?! Ugh..I don’t want to bother Kunikida. Let’s just think, where do old people like to hang out?” Atsushi signed, flopping down on the bench next to Tanizaki.
”..Nursing homes?”
”Thats the place where they get forced into labor.”
“…Atsushi, I think that’s a slave camp.”
”No, no. I know what I’m talking about.”
”…Mhm. Whatever you say, man.” Tanizaki shook his head.
——————
Atsushi and Tanizaki got up from the bench eventually and began searching in quieter, more relaxed areas. Libraries, cafes, places where old people would typically go. They stumbled upon a children’s library center and figured they might as well give it a shot.
“Dude. All these books are for toddlers, are you sure we’re in the right spot?” Tanizaki looked around, noticing all the parents with their children that were probably all at MOST 2 years old.
“Yeah. Sometimes the elderly like to visit nostalgia one last time before they die.”
”You’re acting like he’s 83! He looks 56, for Christ sake!”
“..And I just really wanted to look at this book.” Atsushi admits, pulling a book from the bookshelf called “My Brother’s Book.”
“Atsushi, that is a kindergarten level book. We are here to find a person, not a children’s book.” Tanizaki could hear Atsushi’s sigh as he put the book back. He did feel a little bad, but they could get back to books later. After they find Sendak.
Atsushi stood up and turned to his right, only to see an elderly man infront of him. Atsushi jumped back in surprise before realizing it’s just some old dude.
“I’m sorry, did I startle you?” The man asked. He looked no older than 60, his hair beginning to gray at its roots. He wore a long sleeved shirt with a white color and black trousers, formal, brown shoes to go with. He adjusted his glasses as he looked up at Atsushi.
Atsushi raised an eyebrow at the man. He had no idea what the fuck he was saying. He never learned how to thoroughly understand English.
Atsushi looked over at Tanizaki, who sighed before stepping beside Atsushi.
“Forgive him, he doesn’t know English.” Tanizaki rested a hand on Atsushi’s shoulder.
“That’s fine, I haven’t been able to find a single English speaker here since I moved.” The man waved his hand at the apology, tucking his hands into his pockets.
“That’s Yokohama for you. Do you need help getting around?” Tanizaki asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, I need help translating these signs. I don’t know how to use this app that’s supposed to do just that.” The man took his phone out and showed the app to Tanizaki.
The three walked out the children’s library as Tanizaki explained how to use the translating app, and they stopped infront of an alleyway in between two buildings.
”Thanks for teaching me, young man.” The old man smiled and turned to walk into the alleyway.
“Uh—sir? You’re going straight into an alleyway!” Tanizaki began walking after him, Atsushi following suit as the old man said nothing.
The old man didn’t reply to Tanizaki’s shout, instead, he took a left turn. Atsushi and Tanizaki followed him, telling him that he’s not going to find a proper home for an elder man like him in an alleyway.
Then, he stopped. It wasn’t a dead end, just another hidden fork in the road. Atsushi and Tanizaki stopped in their tracks.
“Excuse me, sir! You’re walking through an alleyway!” Tanizaki called out, taking a step forward.
The old man’s back was facing them, but they both could hear the annoyed ‘tsk’ sound coming from him. The two boys tilted their head to the side.
“What’s he annoyed about?” Atsushi asked. Tanizaki shrugged.
Everything else happened in a flash. Another man came out of the shadows, jumping over the older man and landing infront of him with a paintbrush and student handbook in his hands.
“What the hell?!” Atsushi shouted his arms transforming into the ones of a white tigers.
The man didn’t say anything, he simply opened his student handbook and dashed his paintbrush across the page. Atsushi and Tanizaki shared a confused look.
The handbook was then flipped so they could see the contents. The number 3 was displayed on the paper
‘Special Ability: Innocence of the Youth’
A white smoke filled the area of the alleyway — Tanizaki was gone in a flash, but Atsushi was caught in the amidst of it all, coughing and swiping his paw at the smoke.
When the smoke cleared, Atsushi was leaning against the wall and covering his mouth with the palm of his hand.
Tanizaki reappeared a moment later — Atsushi concluded that he most likely disappeared using his ability.
“Atsushi! Are you alright?!” Tanizaki ran up to him and rested his hand on his shoulder.
”I think so…” That was a lie. Atsushi’s brain had immediately began to feel fuzzy and almost warm — which was an oddly weird way to describe the human brain. But he couldn’t think straight. But he shook his head and pushed the mushy feeling to the back of his mind.
“Let’s go back to the Agency..” Tanizaki suggested.
”But we have to find Sendak! Kunikida will be mad at us if we don’t find him!” Atsushi protested, his arms transforming back into scrawny, human arms.
“We can tell him what happened, but we have to make sure you’re not injured.” Tanizaki grabbed Atsushi by his wrist and dragged him out the alleyway. Atsushi clumsily tried to keep up with his walking movements, but he found himself in more of a stumble — or waddle, if you will.
Wednesday 14th, xxxx
Armed Detective Agency
11:30AM
—————-
The two made it back to the Agency, and Atsushi was feeling much groggier than earlier and his movements were sluggish. But when asked if he wanted Yosano to check him up, he kindly refused, shaking his head gently.
As the day continued, Atsushi’s motor abilities decreased. They became sudden and sharp, as if his mind wasn’t registering the actual movements he wanted to make. His mind was basically mush, and he found himself yawning before 1:30PM — which is weird, because he doesn’t get tired. Not at the Agency. That would be embarrassing.
But his mind was slipping from him. He stopped writing a report a while ago, his pen fallen on the ground and his arm hanging off the desk. His brain felt warm and soft and it lulled him to sleep, having an unusually soft dream about being on the clouds with lots of kind, sleepy animals.
The thought of the other Agency members finding him like this has disintegrated from his sleep-addled brain the moment he fell asleep.
Everyone had been noticing how Atsushi got increasingly more sluggish throughout the day. The room immediately erupted into small whispers of concern.
Dazai didn’t participate in it. He can figure out what’s wrong himself. He stood up and walked to Atsushi’s desk, trying to examine Atsushi up-close.
Nothing unusual. The only difference was that his tiger ears and tail were out, which started to become more of a common occurrence at the Agency as Atsushi got more and more comfortable with them.
Dazai then walked over to Ranpo’s desk. He didn’t say anything — he didn’t have to. He simply gave Ranpo a lollipop out of his coat and a brownie from one of his other pockets and Ranpo spilled.
”Some kind of de-aging ability. He’s not going to remember us when he fully de-ages, so be gentle.” Ranpo explained while munching on the brownie. Dazai patted his head in thanks and went back to Atsushi’s desk, lifting himself up onto it and sitting down, waiting.
He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for — but he was waiting. Maybe for Atsushi. Maybe for something to happen. He didn’t know.
The whispers had died down by 2:30PM, and everyone went back to work, throwing an occasional worried glance Atsushi’s way.
———
by 3 o’clock, a bright, white flash had covered the agency. Everyone gasped and ducked under their desks to try and hide from the sudden brightness. Dazai shut his eyes, though kept his spot on Atsushi’s desk until the bright light had faded.
When he had opened his eyes, he had found a small, sleeping Atsushi curled up in the chair, his ears and tail still out, his mouth slightly open and drooling. His face was covered in dirt and grime and there were heavy eyebags underneath his eyes. His arms had newer-looking scars on them, his legs having deep scars that looked like they were originally gashes. His hair was matted and had god who knows how many knots in them.
It was the saddest thing Dazai had ever seen.
The others got up and walked over to Dazai, who made a ‘shhh’ sound and pointed to Atsushi. He looked no older than five.
“We should show this to the president immediately.” Kunikida suggested, leaning over to try and pick up Atsushi. Dazai swatted his hands away without a second thought.
”Leave him alone. If he wakes up to some stranger holding him, I’m sure he’s gonna scream.” Dazai shooed Kunikida off without another word.
”Why is he so dirty?” Naomi tilted her head to the side as she reached out to gently move Atsushi.
Atsushi awoke immediately with a loud, girly scream. He pushed away from Naomi’s hand, the office chair following the movement and crashing into the wall.
Naomi jumped back in shock at the sudden sight. The others grimaced.
“Great. Now he’s awake. How are you guys gonna get him to stop screaming?” Ranpo sighed, crossing his arms.
“I think it’s better if we leave him alone for a bit. Poor thing screamed his life out.” Yosano suggested, standing up and brushing herself off.
“Well he can’t just stay in that chair forever. Someone’s gotta take him home.” Tanizaki was right. They can’t just leave a shivering, smaller version of Atsushi alone once the Agency closes for the day.
“We can just leave him with Kunikida.” Ranpo shrugged.
“Kunikida doesn’t have time for a traumatized toddler. Just hand em’ to me!” Dazai grinned as everyone shouted ‘No!’ In unison.
While they discussed who was taking Atsushi home, Atsushi was staring at them all, eyes wide in shock and pupils slit.
Who are these people?
Why are they talking about me?
Atsushi’s mind immediately jumped to the worst answers to his questions.
Orphanage staff.
Talking about lies that the headmaster would believe about me.
The thought sent him into almost immediate panic. He bolted away from the chair and ran into something. It doesn’t matter what he ran into — it had a cape that he could hide in. A way to become invisible.
He wrapped himself in the ends of the cape, not thinking to look up at who owned the cape until they spoke up.
“Why are you in my cape? That’s mine, y’know!” Ranpo scolded, grabbing and shaking his cape as if it would do anything.
…Which I guess it did, because Atsushi shrieked and unwrapped himself faster than he got himself in the situation, fell to the ground below ranpo, and scrambled out from underneath him and to his feet.
“Stop doing that! You just scared the shit out of him!” Yosano turned around to look at Atsushi. He was hiding behind a desk, his small head peeking out. He immediately went away as soon as Yosano caught sight of him.
“It’s not good for him to be stressed out this long, especially with his ability. We have to get him to relax somehow.” Kunikida leaned against the wall as he thought aloud.
The door creaked open. They all snapped their heads to the door, praying it wasn’t Atsushi trying to escape.
It wasn’t. It was the president.
The president quietly gazed around the room before spotting Atsushi. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at the group of detectives.
“Atsushi turned into a kid and now he’s scared of us.” Kyouka frowned. Kenji gently patted her shoulder in a weak attempt to comfort her.
Fukuzawa looked away from the detectives, satisfied with the explanation. He slowly took a step towards the desk where Atsushi was hiding, and Atsushi dashed away to another desk.
Fukuzawa moved again, and Atsushi ran away. He wasn’t even moving in the boys general direction — but the boy still scrambled away.
—————-
Fifteen minutes of constant chasing, tiger scratches, and help from the other agents, Atsushi had finally been caught into Fukuzawa’s grasp.
Atsushi tried to pull himself out — biting and scratching and hitting. But the president had no reaction as he walked over to a chair and sat down.
“Who knew kids had so much stamina…” Dazai sat on the floor, catching his breath to after trying to help out Fukuzawa.
“No, I think this is just another Atsushi and his weretiger ability thing.” Yosano sat down next to him, slumping.
“I wonder if he’s good at tag…” Kenji mumbled.
“I don’t wanna find out…” Kyouka sighed, lying down on the floor with Kenji crouched next to her.
“Man, does he ever stop screaming?” Ranpo complained, grabbing a lollipop from his desk and tearing the wrapper off before popping the candy in his mouth.
The sound immediately caught Atsushi’s attention. He knew that sound very well. The other kids sometimes got treats for being good. He had never gotten one before. Atsushi stayed quiet for a world fucking record of five seconds before he turned his head away from Ranpo and went back to trying to escape Fukuzawa’s grasp.
“Might wanna lock your drawers.” Dazai pointed out.
”Hm? Why? It’s Atsushi. He’s not gonna steal anything.” Ranpo shrugged, adjusting his glasses so they fit nicely on his face.
“I don’t know…Everytime you take the wrapper off of a candy, he looks over.”
“I’m not giving him my food if that’s what you’re trying to do.”
”That junk barely passes for food, anyway!”
Nobody said much after that. The only real sounds besides their breathing and Ranpo’s chewing was Atsushi’s endless scratching. But he wore himself out and leaned forward in Fukuzawa’s arms, dead asleep.
When the scratching stopped, the other agents looked at the president and Atsushi. Atsushi slept like he was going to get brutally murdered in his sleep — shoulders tense, furrowed eyebrows, uneven breathing.
The others began whispering about what they were gonna do next. They had no idea — as only some of them had a vague idea on how to care for a child as traumatized and hurt as Atsushi.
“—What do you think, Kyouka?” Yosano turned her head to the left — and Kyouka was gone.
“Great. Now we have to find one—“
”uh…Kenji’s gone, too.”
“Two. Two members. Wonderful.” Tanizaki sighed.
“They’re responsible. I think they can handle themselves for a bit while we figure this out.” Dazai waved a dismissive hand. The others shared a look, but they continued talking about how to care for Atsushi.
————————————-
Kenji and Kyouka were in Atsushi’s dorm, Kyouka sitting down infront of their window with Kenji sitting just a smidge behind her.
The two sat in a silence that should’ve been uneasy. It usually was with kyoukas awkward silence. But Kenji’s good at lighting it up a bit.
“He looked so scared.” Kyouka mumbled, staring down at the floor.
”Well, yeah. He doesn’t remember us by the looks of it. We had to chase him down — and even then he was still trying to fight. He’s gonna be scared of us for a bit.” Kenji lifted his hand before he let it fall limply onto the floor.
“I don’t want him to be scared. I don’t want my brother to get hurt anymore.” Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed in anger, clenching her fists.
“He’s not gonna get hurt anymore because —“
”There will be nobody left to hurt him.”
”He’s with us.”
Kyouka brought herself to look up at Kenji. Who was looking at her with a soft frown on his face.
“Kyouka, there isn’t much you can do here. Nothing is going to get solved if you hurt people.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?! Atsushi’s in the office covered in nature and fresh scars and you want us to just sit back and do nothing?!” She shouted, turning around to face the blond haired boy.
“We’re gonna do something, Kyouka. But we can’t go going around hurting everyone who hurt Atsushi.” Kenji advised.
Kyouka stood up on the sudden, and Kenji followed suit. She turned around and walked to the door, but was stopped by Kenji, who grabbed her wrist.
“But we’re not doing anything until you’ve relaxed.”
Kyouka rolled her eyes and tried to pull her wrist away from Kenji — which was an idiot move, really. As Kenji’s grip only tightened.
She tried to continue walking, but Kenji used his free hand to put her into a (rather gentle) headlock.
The girl immediately began to swing her legs like it would do anything. She shouted at him to let go, to let her “bring justice” to Atsushi and hell upon those who struck a bad hand to him.
Kenji didn’t say anything, nor did he break her free from the headlock. He listened to her shout, and he waited. Waited for her to get it out of her system. That’s when he’d say something.
But for now? Listening to her scream was the best he could do.
It was decided that Atsushi would stay with either Yosano or Kunikida for the time being until they could figure out how to reverse the ability.
But before he could stay with anyone — he would need a health checkup.