Wilted Flower ~ Chuuya x Non-Binary Reader

Chapter 2

~a few months later~

Y/n POV:
"Y/n-kun, your next mission will be to assist Akutagawa-kun and Higuchi-kun on their mission. In simple words, make sure they don't do anything unnecessary," I hear Mori say through my earpiece.

"Yes, sir," I say in response.

"I'll send you the location. You are to leave as soon as you receive it, understand?" he asks.

"Yes, sir. Understood," I say.

And with that, I patiently wait for the location to be delivered to me. A few moments later, I hear a knock on my door. As I open it, I'm greeted with a tall man dressed in all black with black sunglasses holding an envelope. I thank him and bow as I turn back into my room to read the contents of the envelope. 'Another alleyway. Of course.'

As I follow the map to the designated location, I take in a few of the sights since I've never been to this part of the city. 'I've always wanted to visit this city but this is not exactly what I had in mind,' I think to myself as I sweat drop at the thought.

Once I reach my destination, I'm met with gunshots. 'Crap, it's starting already?!'

I rush into the alley after putting on my mask and cloak and turn to corner to be met with Higuchi holding up two guns and a girl protecting the two boys behind her.

'Is that? No way! That's Naomi!'

"Higuchi, what have I told you about your reckless behavior? You do realize we need him alive, right?" I say to her in a low voice.

"I don't recall asking for your advice on how to do my job," she says in response.

'God, I don't understand why she hates me so much.'

Higuchi walks up to Tanizaki with her gun to his head and says, "Care to follow the same path your lovable little sister took?"

"Eh? You dirty little punks... You hurt Naomi, didn't you?" Tanizaki says.

'Shit!!'

"Higuchi! Get away from there!!" I say to try to warn her but Tanizaki has already activated his Ability, Light Snow.

"Atsushi-kun... take cover down the alley. This woman... is dead," Tanizaki told Atsushi will venom seeping through his mouth as he said that last sentence.

I quickly move off to the side knowing that Higuchi will recklessly start shooting in random directions to try to hit Tanizaki but will inevitably fail.

"Wha...? Where are you?!" Higuchi asks.

"I can 'overwrite' the background behind me over my body. You can't see me anymore," Tanizaki answers.

"But... my bullets will work whether I see you or not!" Higuchi shouts.

"Missed by a mile. Time to DIE!!—" Tanizaki shouts.

'What's going on? I can't see anything?!' I think as I notice that they both disappeared from my vision.

Suddenly, I see Tanizaki fall to the floor. 'Akutagawa's here!'

"You must fear death. You must fear killing... as much as you covet death. For death... covets you just as much...cough..." I hear Akutagawa say from behind me to Atsushi as he coughs at the end.

"Wha—?" I hear Atsushi exclaim.

"And so, we meet for the first time. I am Akutagawa," he proclaims.

"Just like these two before you... I am but a humble dog of the Port Mafia," Akutagawa finishes.

"Akutagawa-senpai! You have to take care of yourself—! I can handle this alone!" Higuchi excalims.

*slap*

"I'm sure L/n has already reminded you of what we were instructed to do, which was to capture the weretiger alive. What will killing them all accomplish? You useless bitch!" Akutagawa yells at Higuchi.

"—I apologize," Higuchi says in a low tone.

"Capture the... 'weretiger' alive...? Who are you guys...?" Atsushi asks.

"Our original plan... was you, weretiger. Your friends lying down there... are innocent bystanders, in a way," Akutagawa explains.

"This—was my fault?" Atsushi asks with pure fear in his eyes.

"Indeed. That is the fate you must bear, weretiger. The fact... that you still live and breathe harms those around you. Surely you must have realized it in your subconscious by now...?" Akutagawa finishes.

Akutagawa then used his Ability, Rashomon, to 'attack' Atsushi but he misses on purpose.

"My Rashomon has poor taste. It devours anything and everything in its path. If you resist, your leg will be next" Akutagawa warns.

Atsushi ignores his warning and decides to try and attack Akutagawa so he dodges Rashomon's attack and picks up the gun that's behind Akutagawa and shoots him with it. But unfortunately for Atsushi, Akutagawa stopped the bullets from hitting himself. With Akutagawa being uninjured, he keeps his promise and tears off Atsushi's leg with Rashomon.

To Akutagawa's surprise, Atsushi had begun his transformation into a white tiger. Thus, the battle between Akutagawa and Atsushi had started. In the midst of their fight, a man jumps down from the roof of the surrounding building and nullifies their abilities. That man was Dazai Osamu.

"Okay, that's enough," said Dazai.

"Dazai..." I say in a low whisper that only I can hear while I step out away from the wall I was previously leaning against.

"You're one of the detectives. Why are you here?" Higuchi asks.

"I'm the type who can't stop thinking about what a beautiful lady might be up to. I decided to secretly listen in," Dazai says with his fake innocent smile.

"Impossible. Back then... You had already seen through my plans then," Higuchi states.

"Come on, wake up, Atsushi-kun. I don't want to carry three people back at the same time," Dazai says.

"You think we'll let you go alive," Higuchi says.

"That's enough, Higuchi," I say to her.

"Heh heh... L/n is right. You can't beat him," Akutagawa states.

"But, Akutagawa-senpai..." Higuchi starts.

"Dazai-san, we'll retreat for now. But the weretiger will be the Port Mafia's someday," Akutagawa proclaims.

"Why?" Dazai asks.

"Simple enough. That weretiger has a bounty on him from the black market. The bounty sum is seven billion yen," Akutagawa states.

"Now, that's very generous," Dazai says.

"We'll pay a visit to your Agency at a later time. The Port Mafia will claim that seven billion," Akutagawa proclaims.

"Is that a declaration of war on the Armed Detective Agency? Try it... if you dare," Dazai says with a malicious look in his eyes.

'I hate that I love the way his voice sounds!!!'

"You're a small-scale operation, whereas we are this city's darkness made incarnate. We have connections in this city's politics and economy at every level. An agency with a dozen or so operatives will become ashes along with your office in three days' time. No one has opposed us and lived," Higuchi explains.

"I know all that," Dazai responds.

Before Akutagawa can say anything, I say, "Higuchi, you're greatly underestimating the former Port Mafia executive, Dazai Osamu."