Chrysanthemum Garden [Dazai x Reader] ✓

27. Dazai or the Agency

'Dr Yosano and I will patrol the area downstairs,' Kunikida announced before pushing the front door open and echoing the creaking of the hinges against the deathly silence in the building. 'Atsushi, handle the floor above with [Y/N]; if something happens and you require assistance, we'll be able to hear your stomps for help.'

I watched as the elder two branched separate paths from the main reception counter, stealthily pressing their ears to every door they came across before swinging it open to reveal disappointment.

Behind the counter were the glass shards from the day of the fire, evidently having been rummaged in since then for there was a large gap in the middle of the pile – the piece Sakaguchi handed me that day belonged there. But unlike the last time I'd encountered broken glass at my feet, I did not kneel and cup the largest pieces in my palm, and instead followed the albino boy up the tiled steps that clicked under our heels.

Atsushi suggested we should conduct the search together, claiming that if we got in trouble or some sort of danger, we'd be there to support each other through it and help each other out – "like a team".

'The biggest danger we're prone to face here is that woman's ability,' I informed him casually, keeping the majority of my attention on mimicking the stealth of the older agents as I pressed my ear against every door before declaring it silent enough to push it open. 'Besides that, the worst enemy we face is time.'

'Time? You don't think she actually... Do you think Dazai is...'

I stepped into the room and bent over the wrinkled bedding of a lonely mattress by the corner, inspecting the several white petals on the sheets and loose strands of brown hairs on the pillow; these seemed to belong to Dazai as they matched in colour and thickness, but I gathered them in my hand nonetheless for closer analysis, sensing Atsushi come closer to scan the hairs too.

'That must be Dazai's hair...' he professed slowly, and I nodded silently before looking up at his own lock of silver hair that framed his cheek. He grew aware of our proximity and took a step back as a red tint of embarrassment painted his cheeks, but I held him by the wrist before he was able to step back any further. 'What –'

'Don't move.'

He obeyed leniently, holding in his eyes the look of a petrified child whose innocent mind had witnessed a macabre and traumatising scene, likely to be considering the possibility that my earlier delusions were acting against me. His dangling strands – unevenly cut longer than the rest of his hair – were dancing aimlessly in the fingers of an invisible entity, and I approached my hand to test the theory: a repelling force withheld the touch of my hand.

'Her ability,' I told him as his eyes looked back at me anxiously, then he flinched when I aimed the revolver in my hand towards the open-air beside him and fired; the bullet dug into the invisible flesh before dropping to the floor in a rapid motion. 'If you feel it touching you, don't fight it.'

Silent footsteps approached from the hallway and made Atsushi and I look in its direction hastily; a dark figure leaned against the doorframe, completely dressed in black, and the curves of its body were barely visible under the darkening purple light of dawn.

I glared ahead at them as they spoke.

'It's so nice to see you here, [Y/N],' the voice greeted, stepping into the room to reveal Mother's grim face grinning discontentedly. 'And you brought company, how thoughtful of you. What's the boy's name?' – I aimed my gun at her and told Atsushi to stay still with my palm. 'Dreadful manners you've got,' she sighed, stretching her hand out for me while asking me to hand her the weapon with the waving of her fingers. 'Pass over the revolver and I'll lead you to Dazai.'