But in the End

Raid

I cringed in my seat as I heard Jun'ichirō's shrieks before it went silent. I don't ever want to be treated by Yosano... it sounds horrible. Speaking of-

"Dazai, I'm curious about something." I turned my attention to the brunette. "Since your ability nullifies others by touch, does that mean you can't receive treatment from Yosano?"

"Yeah, that's right." He nodded.

"Well that must suck." I replied, thinking it over. "If you ever got injured, you can't be fixed up."

"On the contrary, I am perfectly fine not receiving treatment from the woman." Dazai spoke up, causing me to tilt my head in confusion. "I wouldn't want to go through the pain that comes from her treatments."

I nodded at the thought. "It's really that bad, huh..." I sweat dropped as Kunikida came back into the office. "How're they holding up?"

"They will be fine." Kunikida replied, crossing his arms. "Have you written your report yet, Dazai?"

"So much work..." Dazai sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"I don't have time for this, (Y/N), see to it that Dazai finishes his work. I have something to do." Kunikida began walking back out the door.

"Wait-!" I tried to stop him, to no avail, letting out a sigh. "You really should write that report."

"Eh, I already finished it." Dazai rested his arms behind his head. "Just wanted to get under Kunikida's skin."

I shook my head slightly, never understanding the two, and lied my chin down on my arms that rested on the desk. "Kunikida seems more cautious than usual."

"It's because of the Port Mafia getting involved. As far as I know, the Agency really never had any conflicts with them until now." Dazai replied, I noticed he became serious again.

"I guess that makes sense." I blinked, thinking about Atsushi and the Mafia's interest.

"Well, I'm going downstairs, you coming?" Dazai stood up, stretching.

"Nah, I think imma just stay here, possibly take a nap." I leaned more into my arms.

———

"Hey, (Y/N)." I opened my eyes, turning to Kunikida.

"Oh, hey." I greeted, leaning back in my chair, stretching.

"All of us are going to look over some files, hopefully find some intel on the Mafia." Kunikida, motioned me over to Ranpo's desk.

Gaining my attention, I followed after him, giving Ranpo, Kenji, and Yosano a small smile as a greeting. I rose a brow, noticing all the notebooks on his desk. "What're these f-"

I was cut off as the door of the Agency was blown off its hinges. Turning our attention to the entrance, we saw a bunch of men with guns file in.

"Can I help you?" Kunikida asked.

"Apologies, detectives. We must've forgot to make an appointment." The older guy in the middle spoke up. "And we even forgot to knock."

"The Port Mafia, Black Lizard." Kunikida stated, glaring at the group. No way, these guys are the Black Lizard? I looked over each one of them, processing the information.

"Please, forgive the bad manners. Our work here will be done, soon." The older man pointed to us, taking aim.

"Take cover!" I shouted as all of us went and ducked behind desks right as the gunfire ensued. I let out a hiss as one of the bullets managed to graze my side, placing my hand on it. "Damn that hurt..." Once the gunfire ceased, I stood up, holding my other arm out. "Beast From Within!"

I focused my attention on the ringleaders, snatching their physical strength, as the henchmen were quickly dealt with. I left it to the others to restrain the man with red hair and the woman.

Lowering my arms, I watched as Kunikida grabbed hold of the older man's arm, flipping him over. "STOP IT!" I turned my gaze to the entrance, seeing Atsushi running in.

"Don't worry, Atsushi." I walked over to the boy as Yosano and Kenji finished off the last two, placing my free hand on his shoulder. "We're just getting rid of some pests."

"So you finally came back, kid." Kunikida turned to us, twisting the older man's arm. "This is exactly why I hate raids... they really throw off our budgetary projections."

I watched as Kunikida stood up and began writing in his book. "There's nothing we can do about it, they started it." I replied, shrugging.

"Repairing all this structural damage and replacing ruined inventory is going to cost us a damn fortune." Kunikida complained.

"Using machine guns for a raid, is really over the top." Yosano sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Now somebody needs to go around the neighborhood with apologies and reconciliatory gifts... Isn't it you're turn Kunikida?"

"So, the worst case scenario did indeed come to pass." Kunikida ignored Yosano.

"What'd you expect?" I told him. "It was only a matter of time before they knocked on our door."

"Uh... (Y/N)?" Atsushi spoke up hesitantly.

I turned to the boy, blinking a couple times. "Yeah, what's up?"

He brought a hand up, pointing down. "You're bleeding..."

I trailed my eyes down to where he was pointing, realizing it was where my hand was, blood coating my shirt and fingers. "Oh yeah..." I trailed off, looking back to the boy. "One of the bullets grazed me. Hurts like a bitch, that's for sure."

I watched the boy deadpan, letting out a sigh. "Want me to use my ability on it?" I heard Yosano speak up.

I turned to her, shaking my head. "Nah, I'll just get some stitches and let it heal, it's not that big of a deal." More like I don't wanna go through your treatment.

"Mr. Kunikida, what do you want me to do with all of them?" Kenji asked, a closed eyed smile on his face.

"Throw them out the window." He replied, not putting much thought into it.

"Roger!" Kenji grabbed two of the men, walking to the window. "One! Two! Three!"

I let out a chuckle as I watched him throw the men out the window, as if it was a normal thing to throw people out of windows.

"Hahaha, whoo!" Kenji exclaimed, having fun. "Yay! Hahaha!"

———

As the others focused on cleaning the Agency, I went over to the infirmary to clean and stitch my wound up. It was a pain in the ass to do so, but I didn't want to bother Yosano with something as small as this.

"Man, and I liked this shirt too..." I sighed, glancing down at the tear, surrounded by blood.

Once I finished, I began to make my way downstairs, seeing Atsushi and Ranpo in front of me. "You guys got a job?" I asked, catching up to the two.

"More like Ranpo does, Kunikida asked me to tag along." Atsushi replied.

"Ah, I see." I nodded. "You're to guide Ranpo through the train station, aren't you?"

He rubbed his neck, sheepishly. "Yeah..."

"Well, I'll tag along with you." I spoke up. "Plus I haven't seen Ranpo in action myself, I've always wanted to see it."

"With my ability, we won't be there long." Ranpo stated, matter-of-factly.

I let out a chuckle as we made our way to the station. "I don't doubt it."

———
Published: 10/13/2023