the beauty of water: deep end | o. dazai ✔

chapter twenty-four.

"Why? What's wrong?" Dazai hastily went to the door, Atsushi following him at a pace not nearly at his speed. "What's wrong with (Y/n)?"

"Not (Y/n), Aimi. Her married name is Aimi Davidson – but her maiden name is Aimi Fujinuma. She is the biological sister of Zack Fujinuma." Dazai had a grim expression. "I think we found our Usotsuki."

"How do we get (Y/n) out of there, then?" Tanizaki asked, him and Atsushi realizing how dire the situation was.

"We go in calm and then detain Aimi as fast as possible—"

Dazai was cut off when a gunshot ran throughout the agency.

He broke out into a sprint as soon as they realized what the echoing noise was. Tanizaki and Atsushi ran close after him, but Dazai continued a quick pace.

Atsushi had never seen Dazai so desperate or spooked before. He'd never truly seen Dazai distressed – not when he first encountered him after pulling him from the river after his suicide attempt. Not when he had been revealed to have a special ability, threatening to kill Dazai with his uncontrolled tiger form. Not when he had seen any of the members of the Agency at their lowest, but that might have been because he had already experienced it.

Atsushi nearly ran into Dazai as soon as they reached the main part of the office, able to scrape his boots against the ground as he came to a screeching halt. That was when he saw Dazai's expression – oh how he wished he hadn't.

He wanted to describe it as pure horror, but he couldn't. There was a tinge of something else in his expression.

Shock? No.

Sadness? Maybe. It wasn't quite sadness – something more, something devastating.

It was heartbreak.

Atsushi turned to where Dazai's eyes were fixed, finding the crimson-painted scene before them. Aimi stood across mostly in their view, her pistol slightly pointed downward as her shoulders heaved up and down with her heavy pants.

Kunikida and Kenji quickly joined them at the scene, discovering the horror before them as well. They, along with Tanizaki, didn't hesitate to take her down. They practically broke down the wall behind her as they tackled her to the ground, kicking the gun out of her grip.

But what was hardest to see was the woman seated opposite of the tackled one.

(Y/n) sat in her chair, her notepad and pen on the ground and scattered at her feet. Her neck was craned back, her head weighing down behind her in the chair. Blood was splattered on the wall behind her, dripping onto the floor and down the back of the once lightly colored chair.

Atsushi let out a gasp, clapping his hand over his mouth as he saw the horrific state (Y/n) had been left in. He stumbled back a couple steps, his eyes flicking back to Dazai as his expression steadily remained.

"Dazai..." Atsushi attempted to say, pulling his hand from his mouth just enough to speak. "Dazai, are you okay?"

Dazai slowly walked over to (Y/n)'s fresh corpse, taking her hand as he pulled her from the chair. He fell to his knees, sitting on the ground as she laid limply on his lap. He pulled his hand from under her, his palm and the bandages covering it soaked with her blood.

A single tear went down his cheek as he clenched his fist. He eventually pulled her body closer to his, pressing his face against her chest as he let out a silent sob.

Everyone in that moment froze, turning to look to them with slight shock and despair as they watched their usually goofy and suicide-oriented coworker (dare they say friend) practically break down in front of them.