His last message ~Soukoku~

~2~ Unexpected gift

You are probably wondering who this "He" is.

There...well...meh, nobody so important after all.

He was just my partner when I was still working in the-

«Dazai Osamu!»

I raise my eyes, towards that very annoying voice that with distracts me from my thoughts. Is Kunikida, that starts whit his usual controversies on my missing work.

«I asked you to write the last week's case report, and what did I found in the archive? A total unfilled sheet whit the only written "I don't feel like it"! Office work looks like a joke to you?»

Reluctantly, I raised my head from the desk, where I tried to take a nap, and I decide to at least answer him.

«Not at all Kunikida-kun, I just find it boring and useless»

I shouldn't have said that.

Now he's way more angry, and yells with excessive arm's movements. I look at him totally bored, hoping in a quick closure of the discussion. Thanks God, Kenji-kun enters the office whit a chicken, letting her run around the room, distracting Kunikida from my sermon, and making him starting to chase that poor frightened beast. More bored than before, I look at the clock on the wall, feeling relief seeing that my shift is ending in ten minutes.

That means that I can go.

I get up and head towards the door, ignoring Kunikida that is scolding me for my bad behavior while is trying to catch the chicken; I allow myself to respond at the kind greeting from Kenji-kun. I have a heart too, after all.

On the way home, I think about how I miss the work pace at my previous job. I could get up when I wanted, go home when I felt like it, and I didn't have to fill boring reports. But only this. I don't think I miss the job itself.

Absorbed in this thoughts, I find myself at home. Although calling it home is an exaggeration. It simply is a complex of little apartments bought by the Agency's president to be available by the members. From what I understand we all live her, apart from the president, that I think lives in a way better place and, I hope for him, whiteout noisy neighbors like the Tanizaki's brothers, Yosano-san or Kenji-kun.

I go upstairs, at the second floor, but I remain surprised about what I see in front of my door.

Placed on the ground, there's a little carton box like the ones used by couriers, but whiteout any advertising writing or delivery receipt.

After years of working closely with crime, I have developed the habit of not trusting anything or anyone, so I slightly dodge the package with my foot, to allow me to enter the house. Took a pair of leather gloves and a letter opener, I go out, grab the package, and go down into the garden.

Why?

If it were to explode it wouldn't destroy much of the building, simple as that.

And I?

Well, maybe I could finally die!

I take the letter opener, and carefully tear off the tape holding the package closed. I then grab the cardboard flaps and carefully open them, revealing an excessive buildup of bubble-wrapped packaging paper. After peeling back a couple of layers, I see something. It's a sheet of paper, with an elegant written line.

"I hope you find this useful"

I turn the piece of paper over a couple of times, but without finding the sender.

I approach the package again, inside which, under another layer of bubbles, I see a small white box, about ten centimeters long and just over five centimeters wide. I pick it up gently, wondering what could be inside that requires all those protective bubbles. I open the little box, revealing a foldable cellphone inside.

Turning it over, I see it.

A long scratch runs along the back of the phone, allowing me to recognize the device as mine.

Or better.

Mine from when I worked in the Port Mafia.

Yep, I spent a good portion of my life in the most dangerous mafia organization in Yokohama. I was saved from committing suicide by Mori-san, who trained me in the mafia and made me the only witness to the murder of the previous boss, in order to affirm the transition of power.

Shocked by that revelation, I quickly check the package one last time, finding only more bubbles, before grabbing the piece of paper and running to my apartment.

I sit on the couch looking at the little object in my hand. I was convinced I had lost him while rushing to Odasaku's rescue. I thought it had fallen somewhere in the manour, which was destroyed shortly after the conflict. Who knows who found it... and how they managed to recognize it as mine!

It's only as I turn the phone over in my hands that I notice the gloves. I didn't realize that I had taken the ones given to me by my partner in the mafia for my eighteenth birthday. Probably the best birthday of my life.

What if he texted me?

Nah, that's not like him.

Certainly not worrying, but maybe derision?

I would even accept an insult from him, I deserve it after abandoning him like this.

Hesitant, I lift the top of the phone, and turn it on. Off for years, it is very slow in any activity. Finally turned on, I notice a wealth of notifications, including phone calls and messages, and I decide to start with the latter.

Mori-san, Akutagawa, Mori-san, Mori-san, Ango, Mori-san.....Chuuya.

I don't believe it.

Did he write to me too?

~Authoress space~

Gosh, it's so difficult to translate everything, but I'm trying the best of my abilities.

The next chapter will come out in two days I hope.

Goodbye!

Yuki-chan