Chapter Text
Rain cripples down as the day starts to near its end. Right now, it was 6PM, most people would have dinner around this time.
Warm tea and sushi would be more than perfect during a heavy rain like this. He would have his headphones on and a warm sweater wrapped around his body, the headphones being essential because the sound of rain was simply way too annoying. All its pitter-patters make drum vibrations on the ground, which constantly echoed in his ears.
But how was Jouno supposed to care when he had a crying soldier in his arms?
Teruko was crying across from him and Tecchou, and the blood of their commander was being washed in the rain. The president from the Armed Detective Agency was looming right above him, trying his hardest to keep his sobbing in check.
Jouno could tell how much he was trying to suppress his emotions because of his heartbeat and soft whimpers, which he understood was something no one could control, especially at a moment like this.
In fact, he knew that better than anyone else.
Yet, why was he able to control his tears when his commander was dying right across from him?
Yes, Jouno did feel sympathetic. In fact, he was disappointed and mournful. The man may have betrayed the Hunting Dogs, the government, Yokohama, and the entire world, but what he truly desired was world peace.
Jouno might have been able to control his tears, but what he couldn’t control was his own heart. He didn’t even know if Tecchou could hear it from their proximity, but it wasn’t important.
Despite Fukuchi Ouchi being a traitor, each and every of the Hunting Dogs mourned him.
He wasn’t the perfect captain the entire world idolized all the time, being overconfident and loud all the time as he chugged his sake midway through paperwork and filled his nostrils with his disgusting fart. The times he would go up to any of the three Hunting Dogs in the office and pat their backs while talking about some new bullshit that happened during the morning; usually about his pet dog pissing on his new boots which Teruko would laugh at like it was the funniest shit ever.
Or when he went up to tickle Jouno from behind while he was trying to adjust some paperwork. Or when he patted Jouno on the head after he finished a mission. Or when he would slap Jouno’s back whenever he had the chance purely to see his expression–yet chicken out when he finally got mad.
Or when he ‘rescued’ Jouno from the cold jail cells when he was considered irredeemable by other people.
Even so…even if he was a traitor, a stupid, useless captain who always did bullshit…
Jouno would definitely mourn him, in his own stupid way.
He doesn’t realize it when tears start streaming down his face, thinking that a few raindrops just decided to run above his eyelids.
Jouno wipes the drops from his face, surprised to realize that he is crying.
“Jouno? Are you…?” “Shut up, Tecchou!”
Of course he was crying. Even after all this time of torturing criminals and becoming part of a criminal syndicate at a young age, he’s still weak and emotional as fuck. Maybe he’ll give himself a beating after this.
He didn’t like the worried heartbeat from the man in front of him. For whatever reason, being pitied just felt so icky.
Jouno Saigiku was crying over a traitor, isn’t that weird?
The fearless and sadistic hunting dog–reduced to tears in just a while. Ironic, isn’t his ability called Priceless Tears?
These tears surely had a price to it. Maybe the dead body of his commander lying across from him and the victims of the ability user war started by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
To think that he was supposed to work with Dostoyevsky… What a joke.
But would the Jouno Saigiku from a few years ago think the same way? Probably not.
The sound of the rain was being muffled by Teruko’s cries, which was slowly getting louder as time passed.
Was she going to sit here and cry for days, praying that their commander would somehow come back to life and give her a hug? If he did, at least they’d all have a good laugh about it.
And maybe, just maybe, they’ll return back to normal.
But of course, there was no way that was happening. Even Teruko herself acknowledges how stupid he was to believe in Dostoyevsky and start all of this shit.
Of all of Fukuchi’s bullshit in these past years, this was definitely the worst.
Tecchou moved out of Jouno’s hold and moved closer to where Fukuchi’s body was stationed. This time, Jouno didn’t stop him.
He sat down with his head down. His heart told Jouno that he still wasn’t sure of what to think about the events, which Jouno could completely understand.
Were all those years of idolizing and training with Fukuchi Ouchi all fake?
Were all those years of working for the government and sacrificing their bodies all for this?
Jouno couldn’t answer any of these questions.
Tecchou and Teruko cried and mourned the loss of their captain, while Jouno stood behind the two, wiping away any tears that fell down while he was reminiscing.
Come to think of it, where is Tachihara? Why are there only three of them here?
As much as he’d like to ask Tecchou or Teruko, he knew that this wasn’t the right moment. Maybe he should join in the mourning.
Spilling his tears for a traitor…yeah, no.
20 minutes later, the rain ends and Teruko’s sobs finally subside. Fukuzawa slipped away from the scene around 18 minutes ago with Fukuchi’s sword in hand.
How tragic. What kind of bond could the two swordsmen have had with each other?
Teruko stands up from her spot on the floor, which is now warm because of how long she has been crying on that specific spot. Tecchou, however, is still on the ground, thinking deeply about something.
Those cries of agony just minutes ago weren't present in his expression anymore. He just looked disappointed now after his sobbing. Jouno liked all sounds of discomfort and disdain, but this time, it was different.
The sound of his stoic co-worker bawling his eyes out was so foreign to Jouno, and worse, he felt the same way he did.
Teruko places her hand on Tecchou as she speaks. “Tecchou, stand up.” she commands. Tecchou doesn’t budge for a while, but gets up eventually.
Jouno notices that Teruko is still in her child form as she speaks–no, she’s much younger than the age she usually chooses.
She’s in the form of a twelve year old girl.
Why twelve specifically? He’d expect her to turn into an older form to become more mature.
“We’ll be…heading back to the base. It’s better for everyone to get rest after all.” She continues speaking, tying her hair into a side ponytail using the spare hair tie that was buried deep inside of her pocket, which was now filled with chunks of dirt and rubble.
Tecchou raises his hand. “Shouldn’t we rescue any citizens first before leaving?” he asks. Jouno silently agrees with his idea.
“...Yeah, we should… come on, get going!” Teruko sighs, before reverting back to her normal self. Of course she was still trying to act strong.
But a pig like Tecchou would obviously listen to orders regardless of the situation of the person commanding him.
And Jouno was as much of a pig as he was.
He kneels down and places his ear onto the ground, trying to listen to any heartbeats. Four heartbeats, southern around 20 miles away from him, Tecchou, and Teruko.
“There are four heartbeats that are weakening southern from here, twenty miles away.” he tells the swordsman next to him, who lengthens his sword and latches it onto a pole to reach the destination sooner.
Jouno is about to activate Priceless Tears when he senses Teruko’s heartbeat behind him. It’s slowly stabilizing, but it wasn’t as energetic as it usually was.
He would usually think that it’s nice, as he doesn’t have to be distracted by her eccentric heartbeat, but it was much heavier this time around.
Jouno turns towards the shorter girl. “Vice-commander, are you okay?” he questions. Though his eyes don't meet or face towards her, Teruko knows that he’s watching.
“Yeah, I am. And you can call me commander now.” she mutters. Jouno nods.
“Alright, commander. I’ll go to Tecchou now, do you think you can catch up?” he asks her again. Teruko responds quickly.
While speaking, the commander turns around and walks past him. “I’ll try to find anyone that’s still in this area. You and Tecchou should look for people in other areas. Bring them to the safe zone the detective agency made.” she says before leaving.
Jouno immediately disperses into particles and makes his way to Tecchou, who has already rescued nine civilians.
“Jouno-san, where were you?” Tecchou asks.
“I was with the commander. She’s checking in a different area.” Jouno responds. “Has everyone here been evacuated?”
“Yes, everyone has. We should regroup with vice–huh?” the man pauses. He’s not used to calling her commander yet.
“Teruko.” “Right…”
Or maybe he has forgotten about Fukuchi’s death altogether. That’s just how much of a stupid klutz he is.
Jouno and Tecchou walk side by side. It’s the same as usual, but it just feels…way too tense after everything that has happened.
Even with how much Jouno hates Tecchou and would just prefer him to shut up forever, he did feel terrible about this silence.
They would usually be bickering about some stupid shit. Why was it so hard to speak up now? Where was his sharp tongue?
Jouno silently listens to Tecchou’s heartbeat. Stable. Totally different from the way he acted just mere minutes ago.
The regular 72 heartbeats per minute. Always 72.
Jouno wouldn’t admit it, but it was soothing to hear his always steady heartbeat. It never seemed to move from that number. Well, except for that moment earlier.
It was interesting to listen to Tecchou’s heart beat spike up as he cried. It was somewhat similar to Jouno’s torturous interrogations where his victims would plead to try reasoning with him to not beat them to death with their unsteady heartbeats and tear stained faces.
Just thinking about it made Jouno’s heart go all giddy. How long will it be until he’ll be able to torture another person?
Suddenly, Jouno feels a sharp pain from his arm–a stab? “Stop it.” the swordsman sheats his sword again. The former immediately shouts at him.
“Old habits die hard, Tecchou!” he yells, pouting slightly. It was hard to control his feelings, especially when he was thinking about torturing a criminal.
“Try to keep it in, then.”
“Does your dumbass really think that’ll work?!”
Tecchou scratches his head. “Yes?”
“It won’t, dumbass!” Jouno hisses. “You’re so damn stupid, I can’t believe I have to work with you every single fucking day!”
Tecchou chuckles at this. Oh, so now he’s laughing?!
Jouno finds himself a little bit flustered at this, but covers it with anger. “I’ll beat you and your stupid face up!” he screeches. This time, Tecchou laughs louder.
He sounds so free. Jouno doesn’t remember the last time he heard Tecchou so happy. Was it that time he considered trying his food combos before puking all over the carpet?
What was that atrocious combo again…? Pineapple and macaroni? Yuck!
As much as Jouno would like to yell at him and tell him to die, it was quite...quite nice to see him as something that wasn’t a stoic stupid soldier for once.
Maybe it’s not too bad. Not yet.
For the time being, perhaps he should just enjoy this moment of tranquility.