Withering moon lit rose

Chapter 23

Nakajima crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly in curiosity to her son's request.
"And that would be?" Atsushi locked his vision with the woman. "I get time to write a letter to someone. Someone important." Nakajima nodded in acknowledgement.

"There's a room back there," She pointed to a small compartment where a desk and files lay, "You can use that, you have ten minutes. No more, no less." Atsushi nodded his head in agreement, without looking back at the other pair he made his way to the room.

The pair and Nakajima spent the next nine minutes in silence. She had healed Chuuya's chest when Atsushi went into the room. Chuuya wanted to punch the woman into next week but he didn't dare risk Dazai in his current state, if they wanted a quick escape he wouldn't be able to. One minute to go.

"Also you can't tell anyone of my existence, or what has occurred here. Or else I won't be responsible for what happens." Chuuya was about to retaliate but Dazai placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

Atsushi finally emerged from the small room carrying a letter in hand, he turned and gave it to Chuuya.

"You are his mentor afterall, I believe you should be the one to give it to him." Chuuya took the letter and gave a curt nod. "Also, could I speak to Dazai alone for a minute? There's something I want to speak to him about." Chuuya nodded in agreement, "Follow me, witch." He hissed at the woman who reluctantly followed him.

The pair ended up outside, Chuuya leant on his car while the woman leant against a nearby wall. Chuuya couldn't stand to look at the woman and stared at his car. However, something caught his eye on the front seat.

A small brown envelope.

Chuuya grasped it in his hand and pulled it out of the car, he could feel something inside. A ring. Nakajima scowled and clicked her teeth.

"Dammit, I told him to throw that in the river." She complained, throwing her head the other way.
"Why's that? Can't stand the sight of rings?" Chuuya joked feeling better at the fact she was unhappy with whatever was inside.

"No. Can't stand people like," She gestured her hand up and down at Chuuya, "You!" She scoffed again while crossing her arms, she really did despise the ginger.

Chuuya didn't need any further clarification, he knew what she was referring to. He held the package close to his chest. She wasn't the first to treat him like this.

~

"Do you think something happened in the trade off?" Yosano questioned Kunikida who was covering Kenji with a blanket. He'd fallen asleep next to Kyoka on the agency sofa. Everyone had refused to go to their homes and stayed in the office. Ranpo was sitting with Fukuzawa in his office, sleep being a distant friend to him despite the amount of things Fukuzawa had tried to get the man to rest. Yosano was constantly checking her phone for something while talking with Kunikida to keep her mind off the main problem at hand. The Tanizaki siblings were slumped against one another in an adjacent seat to the younger members. Lucy had visited the agency earlier in an attempt at a surprise visit to Atsushi as she was made aware that he had returned. Although to her dismay no-one would inform her of where he was, she left in a huff and swore she would be back the next morning and they had better tell her the truth.

"I'm sure everything is going smoothly, maybe the mastermind finally made an appearance causing a delay." Kunikida queried, trying to keep himself in a positive mindset however it wasn't exactly helping him. "You finished all your paperwork?" Yosano questioned in another attempt to divert the topic. "Yes, and that lazy ass, and Atsushi's. There isn't any paperwork which is behind." Yosano gave a weak smile, "You really do know how to get paperwork done. You'll put the copy machine out of business." Yosano's attempted joke wasn't received well by Kunikida or herself.