Work Text:
It's early in the morning when Atsushi wakes up to a loud BANG. He jumps up and hits his head on the ceiling since there isn't much room in his “bedroom”. He rubs his head, but then begins getting up so he can check out who or what the fuck that was.
As he opens his door to get out he gets hit with a strong whiff of burnt something. He then will start to panic trying to figure out what was burning. He runs out of his room (if that's what we will call it even though it's clearly a closet…) and goes to the kitchen just to look up and see.. KYOUKA??
That's when it hits him, he completely forgot the fact that he is sharing a dorm with her. Even though he had to run through her room to even get to the kitchen but that's another problem for a different day..
He completely forgot the main reason he even woke up until a horrifying smell hits him in the face. That's when he looks up and just sees burnt eggs on the floor, along with the pan that was used to attempt to make eggs. Clearly something went wrong. Atsushi was about to speak up and ask what happened until he heard a small voice say “I'm sorry about the mess.. I just wanted to get up earlier and make you breakfast before your long mission you will be going on later.”.
Atsushi begins to whip his head up and to look at the young girl holding her head down. “NO, no, it's fine, seriously! You don't have to apologise when this was clearly an accident, plus the fact that you were thinking about me before my mission makes me extremely happy anyways! Even if it went wrong, it's the thought that counts right?”. He gives her a warm smile hoping she will at least respond back and not feel bad for the honest mistake. “Yeah, I guess so,” she says.
Phew, Atsushi sighs. He didn't want her to feel bad when she was trying to do something nice for him and she is still getting comfortable so for her to do this for him was seriously a big deal for him.
He did though secretly feel off about the food soon to be thrown out since it was just burnt and on the clean floor since he used to eat anything he could even lay his eyes on when he lived out on the streets, BUT Kyouka doesn't need to know that so he swallows his thought or something similar to that and begins to walk forward to help clean up the eggs. When Kyouka notices she mutters a small “thanks.” and then gets up to go turn off the stove before the eggs won't be the only thing burnt.
As Atsushi gets up after wiping down the floor to throw out the eggs he sees the time out the corner of his eye. It reads 4:15AM, and to most people that would be a “woah, he's up early” but to Atsushi that is telling him.. He has 45 minutes to take a shower, brush his hair AND teeth, get dressed, figure out what to wear(as if its not the same silly looking uniform he wears literally every day), AND to get to the place where he needs to meet his partners for his upcoming mission unless he wants to get shamed and teased for being late.
“Fuck” he mutters to literally anyone and anything. He once again thanks Kyouka for the attempted breakfast but that he needs to go ahead and get ready so he won't be late to his meeting?? (idk how to call it) He gets up and heads to the bathroom and starts to get undressed so he can go and hop in the shower. As he is taking off his pj’s he starts to feel uneasy in a sort of way but he just pushes it off and blames it on the burnt smell.
As he was getting ready to take his pants off next he got hit with a huge wave of visceral. He runs over to the toilet, lifts the toilet seat and begins to dry-heave only since he never ate anything that morning. This goes on for only a couple more minutes and he spits out a bit of acid from all the gagging. He then stands up and flushes the toilet and goes to continue getting undressed because he still can not be late. Finally about 20 minutes later he is out of the shower. He looks at the time and sees he has 25 minutes left. Which leaves him 10 minutes to get dressed and brush his teeth and hair. The other 15 minutes goes to the drive because it is a 8-10 minute drive but he doesnt know if the traffic will be bad or anything so he would like to have some spare time just in case.
He then throws on his robe after drying himself off. He walks out into the bedroom and locks the door so poor Kyouka wont walk in on him changing. He then takes off the robe and begins getting changed. That only takes him about roughly 2 minutes. So 8 more minutes to go. He unlocks the bedroom door and heads back to the bathroom to brush his hair and teeth. (and i hate doing this but for the sake of his time lets just say his hair is already dry by now. ;D). He begins styling his hair which is pretty knotty so that takes him about 4 minutes. He then brushes his teeth which takes 3 minutes. Great now he is done and proceeds to head out of the bathroom and sees Kyouka sitting on the couch in her pj’s. He assumes that she must be off work today for some reason, forgetting that she is in fact going to work. Just not the crack ass of dawn.
He’s saying bye to her when his phone buzzes. He gets it out of his pocket just to see a text notification from Dazai. The text reads “come outside.” Atsushi may have slightly panicked a bit at that but he still opens his door just to see him in the driver seat of a car with the passenger side window down and he yells at Atsushi to hurry up and get in the car.
He hurries down the stairs and hops in the car. He then proceeds to ask Dazai “why are you picking me up? And most importantly.. Why are YOU driving??? Kunikida said that you didn't know how to?” Dazai snickers at that. “Now now Atsushi, you can't believe what Kuikida says. He exaggerates his words quite a lot. I know how to drive perfectly fine. Anyways, the reason I picked you up was because I was one of the people assigned to the case with you and I got all the details for it and everything! Also the names of the other two people we will be working with.” Atsushi whips his head around in excitement at the fact that Dazai will be working the case with him.
He was feeling originally pretty nervous even if it didn't show since he was worried he wouldn't know the people he would have to work with. He was worried he would mess something up but now he knows that there is at least one person he knows and trusts so he feels much better now.
Except for one thing. Ever since this morning he has had a slight headache and has been feeling sorta nauseous but he just shrugs it off not thinking too much about it.
“ Okay, that's great that you will be with me! Who are the other two we will be working with and also where will we be staying? I heard this mission may take a few days and it's quite far away.” Dazai smirks “ we will be staying at a hotel. And for your other question you will just have to wait and see! But you do need to go ahead and get in the back of the car cause when we go to pick them up one of them will NOT sit in the back no matter what. We are lucky enough that they will come in the car with us since we don't have much room for parking at the hotel.
Atsushi was definitely noticing that this will not go so well based on the little information he was told. Especially with the front seat issue. But he just nods and hops into the back seat and then they are off. About 10 minutes later he hears Dazai say “we made it to the place where we will pick them up!” Atsushi then looks up and sees… THE PORT MAFIA BUILDING???
He truly shouldn't be shocked since he's had to work on cases and missions with the port mafia before. After he registered that he calmed down and didn't care much until he saw who was walking out the doors of the tall building. It was Chuuya Nakahara and….
Akutagawa Rynnosuke.
He looked at Dazai and could tell he was smirking. Atsushi slowly sunk into his seat some more, then he heard the car doors open. He already noticed that Chuuya would definitely be the one in the front seat but then he just sees Dazai get tossed into the passenger seat while Chuuya gets into the driver's seat.“ There is absolutely no way I am going to be in the same car as you if YOU are the one driving. I know you may have a death wish but I do not.”
Atsushi was a bit confused especially since Dazai was talking about how he was such a good driver but all thoughts get pushed aside when he notices the door on the other side of him being opened and akutagawa gets in. He slightly looks at the weretiger but then buckles himself in and looks out the window.
Then the car starts moving and Atsushi notices there is a GPS tablet in the front of the car. He slightly leans to the left to see how long until they arrive and he reads 3 and a half hours. Right then and there he considers jumping out of the moving car but decides against it.
As much as Atsushi would love to go ahead and take a nap on the way there since they won't be doing anything other than Chuuya and Dazai bickering back-n-forth and he isn't driving he can’t. Why? You may wonder, it's because little Atsushi here has the most raging headache ever which will NOT let him even try to get an ounce of rest or relaxation.
He was hoping during the car ride that maybe it will go away but they have only been driving for 15 minutes so there was no telling. He simply just folded over and put his head on the back of Dazai’s seat since he sat right in front of him.
About 45 minutes later Atsushi still has the headache and it's almost getting worse. He simply groans quietly and puts his hands on either side of his temple to rub his head slightly to see if he can get some of the pressure to go away. Atsushi doesn't notice this since he is too busy figuring out how to cure his headache but when he groaned Akutagawa looked over at him, slightly turning his head to see what the fuck he just heard. He just sees Atsushi hunched over, holding his head with his eyes closed. He has one and one though only on his mind right now. “What the fuck is wrong with this weretiger?”
He proceeds to ignore whatever he heard after realizing it was probably because his head hurt. He wasn't going to try and do anything because that is none of his business and he could care less.
They are now about two hours into this interesting car ride. Chuuya is focused on driving, Dazai has put his sad idea of a playlist in the car's music thing, Akutagawa is still simply staring out the car and observing maybe? Or preventing himself from coughing since it sounds horrible and probably doesn't feel the best either. Now we get back to Atsushi. He is now sitting with his legs criss-crossed on the seat and he is leaning onto the car door with his head poking out slightly since he rolled his window down.
He proceeded to get mad at himself for not doing this sooner since it was seriously helping his headache. He was going back-n-forth with himself until he heard Dazai start talking again. “Chuuyyaaaa”, Chuuya then slightly looks over at Dazai to confirm he sadly heard him and for him to continue saying whatever bullshit he was going to say. “Can we stop at this next gas station, I gotta use the bathroom” he whines. Chuuya then just simply nods his head even though he is against it and would rather have Dazai wait until they got to the hotel since he didn't want to have to stop the car at all during the trip since it wasn't a very long one, But he knew if he didn't stop then Dazai would complain for the rest of the hour and a half and he did not want to deal with that or hear it.
Atsushi was pretty happy with that too since he would be able to go into the gas station to use the bathroom too since he may or may not have forgotten too this morning and he has been chugging water this whole car ride hoping it will cure his headache in any way.
After about roughly five minutes they stumble across a gas station so Chuuya goes and pulls into the gas area because since he was already here he might as well just go ahead and get gas. So he gets out along with Dazai and Atsushi. Akutagawa just stays in the car.
Dazai and Atsushi head into the gas station and Atsushi was expecting him to also go to the bathroom since he said he needed too until he turns around and shows Atsushi this credit card? It looked heavy and not like Dazais. He was going to ask why he was showing it until he heard Dazai start talking.“ I stole this from Chuuya in the car so I can buy whatever I like” while walking and humming to look at all the different candies and drinks.
Atsushi decides to act like he didn't hear that since he was trying to not get on Chuuya's bad side. Especially if they will have to work together.
So Atsushi walks into the bathroom and as soon as he actually takes a sec to try and calm down to see how bad the headache truly is, he just gets hit with the worst pain ever and immediately he knew he was going to actually throw up this time.
He runs over to a stall, hoping no one will walk in and hear him and he just starts gagging and puking all of the water he drank earlier along with this protein bar he snagged on the way out the door so he could at least have something on his stomach. His eyes start to water and the throw up finally comes to a stop. Atsushi spits into the toilet and stands up. He loses his balance though and falls into the stalls wall from being so dizzy. He finally regains himself, flushes the toilet so he can actually use it this time. Leaves the stall and washes his hands.
He only feels straight disgust with the slight taste of the vomit still in his mouth and with how bad his headache still is now coming with a side of dizziness. He sighs out loud wishing he could just tell Dazai that he isn't feeling too well and to ask if he could uber home since he may not be much help when he is feeling like this.
Until he was about to actually walk out and tell Dazai but then the head master suddenly appears behind him and calls out his name.
“Atsushi. I know you are not considering letting people down because of an “illness””
Atsushi whips his head around the best he can since it wouldn't be easy when you are so dizzy."I'm not going to let them down though, right? I simply don't feel good and if I go and I can't even do anything then what's the point.”
“You WILL let them down. I bet you are just faking this again. Just like all the other times in the orphanage. The times where you would so call “faint”. If you leave Atsushi these people if they die or get hurt it will be all YOUR fault. Do not forget that.”
That's the last thing he heard from him when Dazai bangs on the door asking if he is ready to go yet since Chuuya is starting to get impatient. He calls back saying yes and he leaves the restroom and walks back to the car with Dazai.
They both get in and the car ride starts back up. Atsushi regretted not getting water while there also since his mouth tastes absolutely horrible. As he was lost in thought he hears Dazai call his name while holding out a water to him. Atsushi then raises his eyebrow in questioning until he hears Dazai say “you are looking a little pale, You good?” Atsushi, remembering what the headmaster had told him,said “yeah im fine! Just some car sickness, that's all.” Dazai nods his head then drops the water bottle in Atsushi's lap.“Well, drink this, it should help a bit with car sickness.” Atsushi mutters a small thanks to him and opens it to only take a small sip of since he would rather not throw this water bottle up too. He just needed to cleanse his mouth out with something.
Finally after the exhausting trip they arrive at the hotel, and that's when Dazai decides to mention that they only have two rooms. Atsushi’s jaw drops because he knows what this means.
He has to share a room with Akutagawa.
Some may wonder why and it's because Chuuya and Dazai are actually dating. Shocking right? (no, not really) They keep it private since well it's their business and it could ruin the armed detective agency's reputation if the public finds out that one of their members is dating someone from the port. Especially since it is Chuuya Nakahara, an executive.
Atsushi and Akutagawa both know about it though since both Dazai and Chuuya NEEDED to talk to someone about it when they first got together and the two just so happened to be the closest ones to them at the time of events.
As much as Atsushi wanted to complain about the fact he has to share a room with him, if he talked it would not be words coming out of his mouth. And he did not want to take that risk so he somehow got his key and room number from Dazai and headed up to his room so he could put his stuff away. They all followed behind him since the rooms were right next to each other.
Once they finally reached their separate rooms they both went into their designated places. Luckily Dazai was nice enough to not troll them and actually gave them a hotel room with two beds. There was one by the door to the hotel but it was closer to the bathroom while the other one was closer to the balcony.
Atsushi wanted the one closest to the bathroom just in case, Akutagawa couldn't give one shit, he just wanted to be able to relax and read a book.
They both got situated and comfortable. It was now 4PM and even though Atsushi took a shower earlier this morning he had been in a gas station bathroom throwing up so he did not feel clean anymore at all. So before he gets changed and comfortable he decides to take another shower so he gets a towel and his set of pj’s he will be wearing and head to the bathroom.
Akutagawa looked up when he saw a bit of movement and watched as Atsushi disappeared into the bathroom. Akutagawa was thinking about what Dazai had said earlier about Atsushi looking a little pale and now that he actually got a good look at him he was right. He also thought that he was walking kind of funny but it could’ve been from the way he was sitting.
As Atsushi closes the door behind him and locks it he simply falls on the door and slides his way down until he is sitting on the floor with his back against the door. “Fuck, i feel horrible” He mutters to himself.
He typically is better at preventing himself from getting sick but from all the neglect at the orphanage and the lack of nutriets it fucked up his immune system somehow making him more prone to sickness. After a few minutes on the floor he decides to get up and start actually getting ready for the shower. He undresses himself and puts his clothes into a nice, neat pile and then walks over to the shower to turn it on.
As he is waiting for the water to get warm he stands in front of the mirror and just stares at his body. He runs a hand down his chest feeling all the bumps and raises in his skin from the scars he got from fights and mainly from the orphanage. He didn't care for them much; they were kinda just there until he laid eyes on the big three burn marks on the side of his torso."So ugly.” he muttered. He got lost in thought about his body until he noticed how much the mirror had fogged up. He realized the shower had probably been ready by this point.
After he is done with his shower he turns the water off and dries himself off before getting dressed. He unlocks the door and turns off the lights as he heads out. He notices Akutagawa hasn't moved an inch ever since he left. He thought that was a bit weird but ignored it.
Atsushi still didn't feel good and he wanted to sleep but Dazai told him that the four of them will be going out to eat later so he better not be late. That's when Atsushi gets an idea. Since it was only 4:45PM and the reservations were for 9PM that would give him about roughly 3 hours and 30 minutes to nap before he would get woken up to get dressed and head out. There was one problem though. Atsushi is a heavy sleeper which means he sleeps through his alarms a lot. And if he set one and didn't wake up to it Akutagawa would be fuming since the alarm would just keep going off.
So that's when Atsushi gets the brilliant idea to just ask Akutagawa to wake him up at 8:30 so he can get dressed and get to the restaurant on time. So he sits up from his bed and looks at Akutagawa before speaking up and asking “Hey uh if you don't mind could you wake me up at 8:30 please? I would like to take a nap but I don't want to miss the reservations that Dazai set for tonight.” Akutagawa looks up from his book and gives Atsushi a slight nod before going right back into the book.
As much as Atsushi would've liked a verbal answer he will take what he can get. Atsushi then proceeds to get under the covers and fall asleep.
It's now 6PM and Akutagawa finally puts his book down. He wanted to just make a cup of tea and go sit on the balcony and wait for sunset but there was one problem. The tea pot was waaayyy too loud.
He isn't close to Atsushi whatsoever so he didn't know that atsushi is actually a really heavy sleeper. I mean you could be banging pots and pans in this dude's ear and he still will not wake up.
But since he had no clue of this fact he simply just went and sat on the balcony, just with no tea. He shouldn't feel too down about it though because this will certainly not be the last time they have to stay the night at the hotel.
As he is sitting there and looking into the sky he is sorta lost in thought just thinking about a bunch of different things, he does wonder what Chuuya and Dazai are doing… well maybe not since they are a bunch of freaks.
Finally he gets out of his thoughts and looks up and the sunset is in full bloom. Leaving streaks of orange rays on stuff making them seem even prettier than before. He slightly smiles to himself, feeling at peace.
He slowly turns around to check on the sleeping man, and to make sure no one is attempting to break into his room, which would be very unlikely but when he turns around he sees Atsushi laying on his left side facing the balcony and there is a beam of orange going across his face. Akutagawa completely freezes up, he doesn't know what it is he is feeling when looking at Atsushi like this but it makes him almost feel warm inside.?
Akutagawa proceeds to shake his head to try and get rid of these thoughts because there is no way HE likes the weretiger. The one he talks bad about on every mission, the one who got his own name “jinko” and the one that for some reason keeps on getting paired with him every single time there is a joint mission.
He tries to occupy his thoughts with something else by checking his phone and it actually ends up working. He finds himself doom scrolling on instagram and looking at cute cat videos with a slight smile on his face. Then he finally remembers that he should be keeping an eye out for the time since he still will have to wake the Weretiger here in a bit. He looks at the top right of his screen and it reads “8:03PM”. Akutagawa was a bit shocked since it felt like time flew by but he wasn't paying much attention to it anyways.
He decides that he could take a quick shower before having to wake up the sleeping Weretiger. So he goes back into the room and shuts the balcony door so no bugs fly in, and he gathers his clothes that he will put on after the shower which are the same ones he will wear when they go out to eat. He heads for the bathroom and gets in and shuts the door. He starts to get undressed by taking off his shirt first, then pants, and lastly his boxers.
He turns on the shower and unlike Atsushi who waits for the water to heat up, Akutagawa just goes ahead and gets in as it's warming up. He has been doing that ever since living in the slums. He's always thought even the smallest amounts of water going down the drain without being used is extremely wasteful so he prefers to just be cold for a few seconds or even minutes depending on how long it takes the water to heat up.
He wets his hair completely before grabbing the shampoo to put a bit on his hands to then massage it into his scalp. After rubbing it in for a few minutes he starts to wash it out so he can redo that process one more time. After finishing rinsing for the second time he grabs the conditioner to put on the ends of his two longish strands of hair.
He lets that sit in his hair as he washes his body with whatever body wash they had in the hotel's shower. Once he rinses it all off and out of his hair and body he turns the water off and gets out the shower and begins to start drying off his body. After his body is dry and he puts on his clean clothes he simply styles his hair by brushing it and then exits the bathroom.
He goes to check the time once again and the time reads “8:25PM”. Akutagawa then just goes back on his phone for five more minutes before he calls out Atsushi’s name.
It stays quiet and there are no signs of him waking up so Akutagawa calls his name out even louder. Still there is no response.
Akutagawa has no clue if he should just consider him dead at this point because why is he not waking up? He thought since the Weretiger got spooked so easily then it would somehow correlate with being a light-sleeper but he soon realized he was so wrong about that.
He finally decides to just call out Rashomon to go over and poke the Weretiger awake. After a few pokes he hears Atsushi begin to groan and sit up. “I'm awake, I'm awake, jeez you can stop poking me now.” Akutagawa thinks to himself that atsushi must not be a happy person when he first wakes up.
He simply calls back Rashomon and just gets back into whatever videos he was watching before he had to wake Atsushi up.
Atsushi stretches as he is sitting up. He sits there for maybe two minutes before getting up to get his clothes so he could go change in the bathroom so he can have some privacy. He closes the bathroom door and starts to get changed. After doing so he starts to fix up his hair since he gets a major bedhead. He also brushes his teeth before opening the door to get back into the bedroom.
It is now about 8:45PM so they have 15 minutes before the four of them have to leave for dinner. Akutagawa who wanted to make tea earlier but didn't since he worried he would wake Atsushi decides that he will just make him some now since he is already awake.
He gets up off his bed and puts his phone down. "I'm going to make myself some tea. Would you want any?”. Atsushi shakes his head and politely says “no thank you, i do not like tea” but when he said it his voice sounded horrible, almost hoarse in a type of way, leading Atsushi to try and clear it but it doesn't help it one bit. He knows he isn't too well ever since the gas station incident but he still didn't want anyone to worry so when Akutagawa shot him a weird look due to how his voice sounded he just simply responded to the look “Oh yeah sorry about that haha, my voice always sounds bad when I first wake up.” Akutagawa just turned around so he could go and start working on making his tea while Atsushi tells him that he will be right back and that he needs to see if the front desk downstairs has something.
Atsushi hurries himself down the stairs and heads to the front desk where they sell all kinds of drinks, snacks, medication , and other stuff too. He looks around hoping he will see his best friend for the night and tomorrow also most likely. He looks around for a minute or two before he finally spots the magical potion he was looking for.
Honey.
This stuff will become his dream come true since he has a sore throat and it's making him sound like a smoker and that is not like him at all. He gets out his wallet and grabs the honey and heads up to the front desk to pay for it.
After dealing with that and buying the most expensive honey ever he heads back up to his room and sees that they now have about eight minutes until they will have to head out. Akutagawa was sitting on his bed while sipping his tea. He slightly glanced up when he heard Atsushi enter the room but that was it.
Atsushi heads over to the kitchen and grabs a spoon and opens the honey. He pours a decent amount of the honey and eats it all in one bite. He does that one more time before getting a glass of water to rinse it all down. He then turns around and faces Akutagawa. “Do I sound any better now?”. Akutagawa looks up and gives him a plain and simple “yes” before looking away to check something on his phone. “Okay great! Lets go ahea-” he attempts to say until a loud knock rings through the hotel room.
“Open up the door, we have to get going soon or we will be late to the reservations.’ Chuuya shouts from outside of the room.
Atsushi and Akutagawa quickly put on their shoes and open the door to head out so they won't be late.
They walked to the place since it wouldn't take long and as said they got there pretty fast. They head inside and get greeted by a waitress.
“Hello gentlemen, do you have a reservation or do you need a table?"
“We have a reservation under the name of Chuuya Nakahara for a table of four.”
“Okay great! Follow me please.” The waitress then walks with the group walking close behind. They took a few turns but not too many before they got to their table which was sorta in the corner but there was still a decent amount of space away from it.
“This is where you will be seated. If your ready to go ahead and order drinks go ahead”
They all take a seat and take a peak at the drink section of the menu before Chuuya speaks up“ I'll have a red wine” After that dazai orders himself some whiskey on the rocks while Atsushi just gets himself some water and Akutagawa decided if he should try and seem cool by getting some black coffee or to get himself some jasmine tea. He ends up getting the tea not caring what the other three think of him much. Except for Dazai maybe but he wasnt even paying attention anyways like usual.
“Okay that sounds perfect. I'll bring the drinks out in a little and I'll go ahead and take your orders as well if you're ready.”
Two of them nod as she walks off to go put in their orders to the bartender.
Chuuya starts up a conversation with Akutagawa and lets him know of his plan and why they even came to this stupid place anyways.
Akutagawa would be shocked but it's Chuuya so he just nods and tells him he won't say a word about it to Dazai or the Weretiger.
While they were talking Dazai looks over at atsushi and almost scans him in a way sensing something was off about him but he couldn't figure out what for some odd reason.
Atsushi felt that someone was looking at him and he looked up just to see Dazai staring him down like he did something wrong. “Uhm are you okay Dazai?? You've been staring for a while, did I do something wrong?”
“No no dear Atsushi, just thinking of some stuff… Anyways! Are you feeling alright, you look paler than typical.”
“Oh yeah I'm fine, just a sore throat but nothing too serious of course!” He lies to Dazai knowing this properly is something more serious but he doesn't want to ruin the future of the mission so he chooses to stay quiet about it.
“Hm okay if you say so then!” Dazai then turned to his right a bit and started poking at Chuuya to be annoying of course.
Everyone was now chatting and having fun while relaxing except Chuuya because he knew what was about to happen in
3… 2… 1… BOOM!
The other three whip their heads around just to see what just happened and there he was the person who they were supposed to be fighting that next day according to Chuuya but change of plans apparently.
Atsushi was dumb founded forgetting what he was supposed to be doing until he remembered the folder they had to go over like a billion times.
“Zankai Kuroto, Ability- Mind control; he could control a person's thoughts to take them to the worst parts of their life forcing the person to break down and start giving brief descriptions of the different parts.” But not only did he have this horrible ability he was a master mind. He was extremely intelligent and came up with his own weapon which would be a pain for them to deal with later on.
Atsushi snaps back into what was happening when he hears Akutagwa yell his name to move out the way since a very long, thin, and fast sword was coming his way.
The sword slowly retreats which goes back to the man standing in the middle of the room now.
“Why don't you say we bring this out into the alley way outside of this building. It would be a real shame if this place got wrecked.”
They made their way outside surrounding him. The alleyway was silent except for the slight tapping of rain against the pavement and buildings. The neon sign which was perfectly fine when they got there was now all broken and flickering above their heads.
But in the center of it all there he stood once again, Zankai.
Atsushi didn't get much of a good look at him when he first got there but now staring he noticed his appearance.
His black coat which hung loosely from his shoulders, and in his hand rested a long silver sword that previously tried to attack him. He was looking at it and it almost seemed alive in a way. The blade twitched ever so slightly almost as if it was breathing. Dark like energy curled around it like smoke.
Around him stood the group of four.
Osamu Dazai who kept his hands in his pockets. He was calm despite the dangerous man in front of him. His bandages fluttered very lightly in the wind as he watched the man very carefully reading to attack when necessary.
Beside him was his partner in crime some would say. Chuuya Nakahara, He cracked his neck in annoyance. His ability gave him a light red energy glow faintly around his boots as the floor bent beneath him.
A few feet away from him stood Ryunosuke Akutagawa. His black coat was shifting unnaturally. The fabric moved like a wild beast waiting to strike at any given moment.
And finally, standing directly in front of Zankai was Atsushi Nakajima who was tense and focused. His tiger-like claws had already formed over his hands, sharp enough to shred steel.
Zankai smiled cockily.
“So the Port Mafia and the Agency work together now, How pathetic”
Suddenly his sword jerked in his hand.
A horrible screech rang through the street.
Then the blade moved on its own like before.
It slashed sideways without warning.
“MOVE!” Dazai shouted.
The pavement exploded apart as the sword cut through the orad like it was made of paper. Chuuya instantly kicked off the ground, his gravity twisting around him as he flew over the attack.
Akutagawa was the next to react.
“Rashomon!”
His coat proceeded to erupt with black tentacles fleeing forward intercepting the slash. The living fabric tore apart from impact, pieces scattering into the rain before reforming around him.
Atsushi lunged straight at Zankai.
His claws flashed towards his chest but the sword blocked by itself.
The force blasted Atsushi backwards.
“That sword is moving on its own.” He growled.
Zankai’s smile widened. “It protects me because it is tied to my soul.”
The blade suddenly twisted violently which dragged Zankai forward faster than any human should have been able to move.
He appeared directly in front of Dazai.
Dazai barely caught his wrist before the sword pierced him.
The instant their skin touched, Zankai’s eyes widened.
As his dark aura flickered he muttered “my ability is gone?”
Now it was Dazai's turn to smirk. “Thats how Nullify works.”
Chuuya did not waste this opportunity.
Gravity exploded downwards.
The entire street cracked as invisible pressure slammed onto Zankai from above. He crashed into the pavement hard enough to form a crater.
Before he could recover Akutagawa attacked.
“Rashumon: Devour!”
His coat transformed into massive black jaws that tore towards Zankai in every direction. Buildings beside them split apart as the attack shredded through the concrete.
For the first time Zankai actually looked overwhelmed.
But then.. The sword screamed.
Even without his ability active, the blade still moved wildly, slinging through Rashomon’s attacks on its own. Sparks and black fabric flew everywhere as Akutagawa’s ability was forced back.
Zankai coughed blood up but still laughed anyway.
“Do you seriously think you could kill me that easily?”
Dazai narrowed his eyes. “ Chuuya.”
“Already know”
Chuuya then lifted one hand and gravity reversed instantly.
Chunks of broken pavement rose into the air around Zankai before shooting at him like a meteor. At the same time Atsushi sprinted forward with impossible speed.
The tiger claws slashed across Zanaki's side as blood splattered across the street.
Akutagawa followed immediately, Rashomon piercing through Zankai’s shoulder and pining him against a shattered wall.
Zankai let out a gasp and the sword trembled violently.
“No..” He whispered
Dazai walked closer carefully. “It's over.”
Just for a second everything became quiet. The rain poured even harder.
Then Zankai smiled again.
“You’re all fools.”
His sword suddenly broke free from the wall on its own.
And before anyone could react, Zankai lunged forward one final time.
Straight towards Atsushi.
“ATSUSHI!” Dazai shouted but it was too late.
Zankai’s hand slammed against Atsushi’s arm.
Instantly Atsushi froze up.
His claws vanished, his breathing stopped, and the world around him disappeared.
Darkness swallowed him whole as terrible memories forced their way into his mind all at once. The loneliness, fear, pain, the voices that never stopped telling him that he was worthless.
Zankai’s bloody grin widened as Atsushi staggered backward in horror.
And then everything went silent.
Suddenly they were back at the hotel room. The room was quiet except for the sound of rain hitting the window.
Dim yellow lights filled the room as Atsushi sat up curled on the edge of one of the beds. He was shaking slightly and his hands gripped the blanket so tightly that his knuckles had been turning white.
Nobody said much on the ride back to the hotel, especially not after what had just happened.
Dazai leaned against the wall near the door, unusually serious for once. As Chuuya sat in a chair beside the window with his arms crossed, Akutagawa watched Atsushi very closely, standing closest to him.
Atsushi hadn’t spoken for nearly an hour by now.
Every few minutes his breathing would suddenly hitch. Almost like he was reliving something horrible all over again.
Finally Dazai spoke softly. “Atsushi.”
Atsushi flinched violently at just hearing his name.
The reaction made the room feel even heavier if that was even possible.
Chuuya looked away quietly while Akutagawa frowned.
“It’s still affecting him..” Akutagawa muttered.
Atsushi lowered his head down even further as his voice came out small.
“I can still hear him.”
Nobody needed to ask who he meant.
Zankai’s ability hadn’t physically injured Atsushi. It only ripped open every wound that was buried deep inside him and forced him to experience them once again. Over and over again.
“He kept saying the same things..” Atsushi whispered shakily. “You’re worthless. You ruin everything. Nobody wants you alive.”
Dazai's expression darkened slightly after hearing that.
Atsushi wrapped his arms around himself tighter.
“I thought I got over it.” He admitted. “But when Zankai touched me.. It felt so real again. Like I was back there.”
Silence filled the room.
Then Akutagawa slowly walked closer and sat beside him on the bed.
For once there was not any anger in his eyes, only concern.
“What happened there?” He asked quietly.
Atsushi hesitated. His claws trembled slightly before disappearing completely.
“When I lived at the orphanage the headmaster hated me.”
Rain tapped softly against the glass.
Atsushi kept staring downwards as he talked.
“He locked me in storage rooms for days sometimes. If food went missing, he blamed me. If someone got hurt, it was my fault somehow.” his voice cracked. “He used to tell me I should've never been born.”
Chuuya’s jaw tightened.
Dazai stayed silent.
Atsushi laughed weakly, though it sounded more painful than amused.
“The worst part is.. After hearing it for so many years I started to believe him.”
Akutagawa looked at him carefully.
Atsushi continued quietly, the words just pouring out of him now that he has started.
“When I was hungry, I thought I deserved it. When people hurt me, I thought it was normal.” Tears slowly formed in his eyes. “Even after leaving the orphanage, I kept thinking everyone would abandon me eventually.”
The room went completely still.
Then Dazai finally walked over. Without joking or teasing for once. He placed a hand gently on Atsushi's shoulder.
“You survived all of that.” Dazai said softly. “That alone proves those things weren't true.”
Atsushi stared at him silently before standing up from his chair.
“For someone who thinks nobody wants him around you’ve got three idiots risking their lives for you” He muttered.
A tiny laugh escaped from atsushi despite himself.
Small, but real.
Akutagawa glanced awkwardly before speaking.
“You are weak sometimes.” He admitted bluntly.
“Akutagawa.” Chuuya warned.
“But,” Akutagawa continued. “ You continue standing back up anyways.”
Atsushi blinks in surprise.
“That is strength”
The words hit harder than any compliment Atsushi had ever received.
Tears finally slipped down his face but this time he didn't try to hide them.
For the first time since Zankai touched him, the crushing pressure in his chest started easing slightly.
Hours passed slowly after that.
The rain outside softened into a gentle drizzle.
Eventually Dazai stretched and headed towards the door.
“You’ll be okay tonight?” he asked.
Atsushi nodded weakly. “Yeah.”
Chuuya grabbed his coat and paused near the doorway.
“Try not to have a mental breakdown before morning,” he muttered.
Dazai smiled faintly. “That was your version of being nice.”
“Tch”
But before leaving, Chuuya ruffled Atsushi’s hair anyways.
“Get some sleep”
Then the two of them disappeared into the hallways, leaving the room quieter than before.
Atsushi sat silently for a moment, then he looked over at Akutagawa.
“You stayed”
Akutagawa looked annoyed at the obvious statement.
“You are still unstable.”
“Thats not what I meant.”
Akutagawa went quiet.
After a long pause, he sighed and sat back down beside him.
Atsushi slowly leaned sideways until his head rested carefully against Akutagawa’s shoulder.
To his surprise, Akutagawa did not move away.
The room felt warm now.
Safe.
Something Atsushi still wasn't used to feeling.
“You know.”Atsushi mumbled tiredly, “A few years ago i would’ve thought this was impossible.”
“What is?”
“Having people who actually care if I'm hurting.”
Akutagawa was silent for a moment before answering.
“You are not alone anymore.”
Atsushi smiled softly at that.
Exhaustion finally began catching up to him.
Akutagawa pulled one of the blankets over both of them as Atsushi curled closer against him, already half asleep,
Outside, the storm finally came to an end.
And for the first time in a long while, Atsushi fell asleep without fear.