twisted devotion || Yandere!DAZAI/READER

[3] The Ability User

You're resting by the bar of the Uzumaki cafe on the 1st floor, nursing a cup of warm coffee that the pretty barmaid had prepared for you; she was currently now wiping the delicate porcelain of a pink orchard adorned cup, the silent blue jays sprawled across the curvature of the china.

You take slow, calculated sips before the bell by the door jingles.

"Ah! Just the person I was looking for," Dazai's velvety voice sounds out, and you turn your head around to see him smiling boyishly at you, warm and happy.

"Hello Dazai," You spot his companion, "And Atsushi."

"You weren't in your hotel room," The brunette comments.

"Yes, I needed a drink. The coffee served at the hotel are subpar compared to the ones served in a cafe."

"Well," He takes a seat on one of the comfier couch seats by the windows, where the sprawled streets of Yokohama could be seen, glimmering and gleaming under the vivacious afternoon sun, "Atsushi and I realised you don't know who we are and who we work for. So, like the good Samaritans we are, we decided to find you to explain."

You quirk an eyebrow, "Go on."

"People here turn to us," He puts a hand on his chest, fingers parted around the emerald bolo tie, "the Armed Detective Agency when the police deems a case to be superhuman or unnatural."

"What? Unnatural?"

"If a case is dealt or executed in a manner that seems to have been done with an ability, then it is handled by the Agency: Us," Dazai says.

"Abilities. What do you mean? Like, talent?"

Dazai laughs. A charming, wind-chime laugh; velvet-iris eyes stare at you as though burning you into the darkness of his eyelids, "No, abilities here mean skills; a special force possessed by some individuals throughout the world. A person who possesses one is called an ability user."

"Like...Can you give me an example?" You put your cup down and swivel around.

Dazai wordlessly looks at his co-worker, who sheepishly turns to you and raises his delicate, thin hand—to your complete astonishment, it began to turn grey and swollen, until it revealed itself to be a giant paw, with bulbous red digital pads of a large feline, lined with dark grey stripe patterns.

"What? How?!" You're bewildered, inching forwards to take a greater look into it; Atsushi laughs nervously when you take his hand gently into yours, feeling the fur under your fingers relinquish its great power and flatten under your soft strokes. "And—And this is normal?"

"This is one example of an ability; it is normal for some, yes," Dazai says cheerfully.

"Well," You carefully drop the giant paw down, to which it transforms back into a human hand, "What's yours?"

Dazai blinks, "Mine?"

"Yes."

He chuckles, "The beautiful belladonna wants to know of my ability; how flattering, how flattering! No need to worry about mine, not yet at least. But, I will let you know on one thing; I deem it No Longer Human."

"A strange name for an elusive ability," You comment, "What, does that mean an non-ability user is more human than those who do have it?"

"Ah, getting philosophical," Dazai chuckles, though you note there was a twang of sadness in his dark gaze as though it had been struck by a finger to a chord, "Years and years of literature and yet no one has yet to define what a human is."

"Your ability name further gives elusiveness to that..." You trail off when he waves his hands away to your reply.

You spot Atsushi staring at his phone.

"Dazai, I have to go," He nervously says, "Kunikida is demanding a report for me that I haven't done."

"Ah, the always demanding Kunikida," He waves his co-worker off, "Good bye, Atsushi."

"Yes, goodbye!" He says, before he rushes off into the elevator that led up to the Agency. Not sure what to talk of next, you blurt out the very thing that had been bothering you since your arrival here.

"Have you noticed the moon?"

Dazai tilts his head, "The moon? The red one, I presume?"

"Yes. I saw it when I...I was separated from my world."

The handsome brunette smiles tenderly at you, with all the softness in the world, with the ends of his lips blurring into such sweetness that it almost seemed to be mocking you; yet it was just his visage melting into that of an absolute playboy charmer.

"Why do you think I've brought up the topic of ability users, (Last name)? A red moon? It's not possible; there's no reasonable explanation for this other than some illusion of a strange suspension or violation of the limitations of time, space, and all that nonsense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Suppose that there was an ability user who brought you here, surely, like alchemy, there must be a price," He says, and his smile melts like dissolving cotton candy, "Surely, you do not believe you were brought here by pure coincidence, no?"

"I'd like to believe that," You stare at him over the rim of your cup, "I'd like to believe it was pure randomness that had chosen me to be put here, not because of a specific choice."

"Oh, you demean yourself too much," He says, jokingly, waving his hand as though it would gesture your thoughts away, "But the Agency believes that the price of your arrival has resulted in a second moon; a byproduct of an unregistered ability being in use."

"A red moon?"

"A blood moon; blood oceans that are either highly concentrated with iron-oxides, like an ocean-wide version of red beaches that can occur...or, human blood. No one knows yet. They're taking samples from it but that takes time."

"That's very strange. It seems surreal, all of this."

The two of you sit in comfortable silence for a while, with the barmaid humming to herself as she wipes a glass. You empty your drink and see the patterns of the remnants at the bottom of your cup.

"Let's play a game, (Last name)," Dazai says, out of the blue, breaking the lethal silence with his lively words. You tilt your head.

"A...A game?"

"Yes, a game. It's called, guess my profession. No one has gotten it yet; there is a monetary reward too!"

"But I'm not interested in either," You say.

That takes him off guard; a moment of pure surprise flashes over his face like a burning strike of thunder, before it disappears just as it appeared, leaving behind a soft smile and a chuckle. Then, his chuckle evolves into a full-blown laughter. He slaps his knee.

"I like you, (Last name)! You're funny. You and I; we are too dissimilar—that makes me happy."

You gaze at him, and Dazai is intimidated by your eyes; there was a danger in your gaze that seemed to caress his flesh; a power that he couldn't seem to reciprocate onto your iron-clad femininity. For the first time in his laugh, a fearful, violent desire washed over him like the accordions of an Icelandic aurora borealis in the blood, before it was gone within a blink. He lets out a breath he was not even aware he had been holding.

What a strange, eccentric, powerful creature, all in the form of a normal woman, unknowing of her power, Dazai thought.

"I don't think I'm very funny," You say, but your eyes fold and lower and your smile turns soft, "But thank you.