Chrysanthemum Garden [Dazai x Reader] ✓

20. "Boyfriend" killed

'[Y/N], what a pleasant surprise!' Mori greeted, eyes following my unexpected presence in his office as he replaced his earlier blank expression with a pleased smile. 'It has been some time, hasn't it? We thought you had died.'

I approached his desk, digging into the depths of my pocket to retrieve the folded paper, and thumped it gently on his desk, right below the chin he perched on his interlaced fingers. 'That's a report written about the target I was assigned to handle in the outskirts of the city – the care home patient with dementia,' I introduced briefly, leaning closer at the gesture of his hand. 'No one else was harmed, surprisingly, but –'

With a sheepish grin and squinted eyes, his hand reached up towards my chest, but despite being caught off-guard by his action, I decided not to move away; instead of coming into contact with my breasts (as I expected he would), however, his fingers glided towards the stone that had managed to slip out of my shirt and was dangling from my neck aimlessly.

'What a nice necklace you've got here.'

My heart ached at those words somehow; this is far from a simple gem for his lapidarist eyes to glide over and estimate its value of money.

'It seems you were gone for far longer than I'd imagined. Busy, too.'

'While I was away,' I stuttered, adjusting my posture so that I was standing before the desk again and out of his reach – 'I thought I ought to prove my worth as a Mafia member, before having the audacity of showing up again before you, sir, with only one kill.

'I have heard talk about the Armed Detective Agency being an enemy to us, and I happened to stumble across the previous owner of this.' – I had to cut the detail of my manufactured confession short for the anxiety it withdrew within me, hammering loud poundings against my chest and tightening the nerves in my head.

'I didn't tell you to stop. Continue, if you may; I am intrigued,' Mori persisted, tilting his cheek on the back of his hand with a smile that seemed to attract Elise's attention towards us; her presence had gone by almost unnoticed for she had been sitting on the floor as usual, drawing quietly. 'If I'm not mistaken, [Y/N], that thing belongs to Dazai, doesn't it? I'm curious to know how you got your hands on it, especially since you refer to him as the "previous owner".'

The blonde girl gasped, leapt up from her comfortable seat on the floor and hopped her way towards me, focusing all her strength in tilting her head upwards to stare at me with a rather childish squint when she halted before me. She pointed at my neck. '[Y/N] killed her boyfriend!'

Mori chuckled in agreement while standing up from his leather chair, making his way slowly around the desk while the heels of his shoes thumped calmly beneath him before he stopped by my side, leaning on his lower back on his desk with one hand to look me down in the eye. 'I find it hard to believe that you'd go as far as killing him; you seemed almost enamoured the last time I saw you two together.'

'I've killed anyone I've ever had any attachment to,' I excused quickly, missing a breath while trying to suppress my guilt of the act further.

'So you were attached.'

'I shan't deny it,' I forced out, backing away slightly from the Mafia's boss and Elise after lying on his desk the cut obijime and Mother's knife. 'He wanted a woman whom he could die with so I played that part; I earned his and the Agency's trust so that I would not be suspected of cynical deeds.'

A door to the office was pushed open and silence penetrated the walls. Calm stiletto heels paced towards us and stopped beside me. Firearms were aimed towards them at the trespassing they was committing.