Withering moon lit rose

Chapter 19

While in the car the journey was majorly silent until Chuuya began to ask questions.
"So you and Ryuunosuke, that train moved along a lot faster than I expected." Atsushi felt his cheeks redden slightly, but he responded calmly.

"Well it wasn't exactly one sided, and I don't see any point in prolonging things for longer than necessary. I wasted enough time doing that in the orphanage." Chuuya knew briefly of what had happened to Atsushi in the orphanage but he never pried too deeply firstly as Dazai was always the one to inform him and would never give complete answers and secondly he feared what he might learn about the otherwise happy natured boy.

"Osamu told me what happened between you and Ryuunosuke when you first met. If Osamu hadn't shown up that day, would you have taken Ryuunosuke's offer?" Atsushi remained silent for the remainder of the journey after that. When they finally arrived at the warehouse Atsushi finally spoke.

"Yes." This took Chuuya aback; he'd not expected this from the otherwise righteous boy. "Akutagawa and Dazai both gave me a glimmer of hope to live on. I can never repay either of them for that. But I believe that as long as someone has a reason to live, whether that's in the dark or in the light, it's worth it." Chuuya smiled at the boy's words. Cause he knew for himself that he lived by that same motto.

The pair left the car and headed to the designated location, an old abandoned warehouse by the port. Easily defendable but near impossible to sneak up on without detection.

"You sure you want to go through with this, I could charge in and bust his ass out. As usual." Atsushi shook his head in disagreement.

"I don't want to risk Dazai's life just because I can't agree to some ransom. And it's not like I'm defenceless, I have the tiger." Chuuya knew he was right, but he didn't like the setup of this deal. It was too easy, too calm.

When eventually inside they were greeted by two individuals Shirase and Yuan. "Well, well, well. The traitor comes crawling back to us. I told you he-" Shirase didn't get the chance to speak further as Chuuya's fist met with his face. Shirase quickly fell to the floor with a bloodied broken nose. "Heh, still the same old Chuuya." Chuuya curled his knuckles inwards tightly. "What's that mean?" He asked in a cold tone, he knew he was supposed to be careful but his anger to the sheep had had time to boil over the years.

"I do have a question where do you get all your tacky hats?" Something seemed to add up in Chuuya's mind at this point, but the reasoning should have been impossible.
"How... How did you know that conversation? There was only me and him in the basement that day!" Shirase wiped at the blood on his face to remove as much as he could. He then smiled in joy at how dumbfounded Chuuya was.

"Whatever do you mean dear Chuuya? Or should I call you Arahabaki? Wait, I have an even better one!" His unnerving grin never wavered, "How about Chibi, Slug, Hatrack? Any of them appeal to you?" Chuuya felt his anger growing more and more intense, he tried his very best to stay calm and not throw another punch at the man, but he was making it incredibly difficult.
The place grew silent for a couple of minutes, Chuuya unable to sit and wait around for much longer began to stalk his way towards the other but stopped when he saw the distinct item held between Shirase's fingers.

Dazai's wedding ring.