the beauty of water: resurfaced | o. dazai ✔

chapter fifteen.

"And why am I the one who has to go?" Dazai questioned, pulling his coat on as he followed Junichiro out the door. "Wouldn't it be better if you stuck with Junichiro and I stayed with (Y/n)—"

"You nearly burned down the safe house a couple nights ago," Kunikida stated, his voice stern. "You need to get out of here for a while. Go with Junichiro for this one errand – I'll stay with (Y/n) and make sure nothing happens."

Dazai didn't protest any further, simply nodding as he finally shrugged on his coat. He followed Junichiro out the door, leaving Kunikida alone in the living room. (Y/n) was in the bedroom, getting dressed for the morning.

He sat on the couch, pulling out his notebook. He flipped through the pages, skimming through his writings. He finally stopped at one page – one filled with requirements that were once called "unreasonable". He wasn't sure how to feel anymore looking at that page.

The door to the bedroom suddenly opened, (Y/n) stood in the doorway. She had on a pair of black leggings paired with a black and white striped shirt. Her hair was in an updo and held back with a white headband. She had a small book tucked under her arm, pressed against her side. She tucked a stray strand she somehow managed to miss under the headband, looking around the nearly empty house.

"Where's Dazai? Was that him leaving just now?" she asked, stepping out into the living room.

Kunikida turned to her, remaining on the couch as he responded, "He went with Junichiro to run an errand or two."

"Okay..." She appeared uncertain and almost unsatisfied with that answer, but she was just too tired to push further for any questions.

She walked over to the couch, flopping back beside Kunikida. She opened the book, beginning to read through it. Kunikida went back to his notebook, occasionally sneaking a glance to her. He studied her features – how her hair was lazily pulled back, how the bags under her eyes grew every day. He knew she was tired, just not how tired she was.

They sat in silence for over half an hour. Kunikida finally broke the tension he apparently felt (not that there was much to begin with) by closing his notebook and turning to her. His arm rested on the back of the couch, his leg tucked underneath him – he tried to appear more relaxed than he actually was.

(Y/n) felt him shifted against the couch, peeking at him through her peripherals. She could tell he was trying, yet she could see right through his façade. She wasn't sure what he was about to do or what he was getting at, but it made her somewhat uneasy.

"Do you remember the first case that you and I worked on together?" he asked, surprising her somewhat.

She looked up from her book to him. "Uh... yeah." She replaced the bookmark, closing it and letting it rest on her lap. She messed with the hardcover binding as she continued her answer, "We were working a museum burglary where an ancient axe with apparent magical properties had been stolen."

"Yeah... That guy was strange."

"Well, he did steal an axe that he thought would give him some kind of godlike qualities." She shrugged slightly, looking from the book cover back to Kunikida. "It certainly didn't help his case that when he caught him, he tried to fight us off using said axe."

"He should've practiced more. It was sad to see him nearly fall over whenever he lifted it above his head." Kunikida mimicked the action, wobbling as he mocked the man.

(Y/n) laughed, her hand going to her mouth and then down to her chin. "He did manage to get me pretty good. He managed to cut off a good chunk of my hair." She rose her hand to her updo, twisting a portion of her hair between her fingers. "That was a very unpleasant sensation."