Secret (shinsoukoku)

Chapter 6

It's been one week. One week since he's last seen Jinko. One week since he's seen the weretiger cry, because of him. He didn't know why, but seeing Jinko hurt made him feel uneasy. Not hurt in the way of having injuries. They fought all the time, so injuries weren't rare. But seeing him cry because of an actual emotion, caused by the executive, made him feel guilty. Or atleast something similar to guilt.

His sister must've noticed how unfocused he was and she gave him a cup of coffee.

„Are you stressed about something?" She asks with worry in her eyes. Ever since they've been dumped on the slums and later saved by Dazai, they have been closer than ever before. They depended on eachother and Akutagawa was glad to have a caring sister like Gin.

„Thank you" Akutagawa responds and then stares at the dark liquid. „...do you ever feel like you've said or did something wrong? Like, when you're on a mission and you lose your temper, do you ever regret things because of that?" The brother decides to ask and Gin thinks for a while.

„I guess? But doesn't everyone say stupid shit when they're angry?"

„They do, but what if you actually made someone cry?"

„Ryuu, did something happen?" Gin asks, which catches him off guard even though it probably shouldn't.

„I don't know. I... I don't fucking know" Ryuunosuke whispers and his voice cracks a bit. Why does he feel like this? He hates this. He hates this feeling. Just like he hates the weretiger. He takes a pillow and hugs it, then starts drinking coffee. He needs to get his mind off Jinko. He has an actual job which cannot have any recklesness or any distractions. And weretiger was a distraction, so he needed to get rid of it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

His plan didn't last long. If you could even call it a plan. Because a few days after he had the talk with Gin, he was standing outside of Chuuya's office and was knocking on his door.

„Come in" He hears Chuuya say and the diablo opens the door.

Chuuya's wearing a small ponytail and has a pen in his mouth, visibly thinking what he should write on the paper infront of him. He slowly looks up.

„Akutagawa? What brings you here?" He asks and puts the pen away. The diablo stands in one place for a few awkward seconds and then goes to sit on the chair infront of Chuuya's desk. The chair is pretty comfortable, but that doesn't make Akutagawa relax. Damn it, why is he even so stressed? It's not like the thing he wants to talk about is important. He's just...curious. Yes, only curious. Not worried, or stressing or anything else.

„Hello Chuuya-san" Akutagawa greets the executive and doesn't know how to start his question. Chuuya must've noticed that because he offered Akutagawa some chocolate.

„Did something happen?" The older man asks as Akutagawa takes a small piece of the bar and starts eating it. Then, the diablo slowly nods his head.

„Yes. I'd like to report something about the weretiger" He says in a robotic voice. He's learned to use that voice whenever he's nervous and he knows that it makes him look and seem atleast a little bit knowledgable.

Chuuya nods. „Alright. Should I write it down or do you already have a paper?" He asks. Akutagawa shakes his head.

„I'm not sure I should write it down. It's not really a practical issue."

„Then what is it?" Chuuya asks, suddenly curious. Does this have to do something about the same thing that Dazai told him a few nights back?

„The weretiger's been acting weird" Akutagawa finally announces.

„Weird how?"

„Well, he's weirdly quiet. Right now. But before, he was more aggresive than he usually was. I guess you could say he was more emotional? I don't know. He just acted weird and I didn't find any reaons for it yet."

Chuuya thinks for a while. „Does this affect the mafia in any way? I mean the emotional distress"

„Uh, kind of? The last two mission which we weren't able to finish were because Jinko wouldn't do as told. The first mission he threw up, and the second mission we had a fight because he wouldn't stop ignoring me, and I think that the men we were after used that time to escape. He must've heard us."

„Hm. It seems like problem. Alright then. I'll inform Mori." Chuuya says and thinks Akutagawa's going to leave, but the younger mafia executive yells „No!". Chuuya raises an eyebrow.

„Is there something you're not telling me?" The older man asks and sees how the younger man realises he just screamed at the authority. Chuuya doesn't mind that, actually. He's glad the kid finally grew some back bone. But Akutagawa seems to be panicking a bit.

„Hey, don't worry" Chuuya says and pats Akutagawa's arm. The diablo calms down a bit and then looks down at the table.

„After our second mission something happened. Well, it happened before too but this time it actually made me think about it"

Chuuya grabs a wine bottle andd pours himself a drink. This is getting interesting. Because he's spent so much time with Dazai, he's learned how to read people's emotions, and he as surprised when he realised that Akutagawa was worried for the weretiger.

„When we failed to catch the man I kind of lashed out on him and cut his cheek. And the wound wasn't even that deep. There was barely blood on it. But he just started crying. And I mean the very loud kind. And I don't know why. It also happened before, when At- i mean the weretiger tried to save a little bird, he started acting really aggresive towards me when I threw the bird away. He wanted to waste his life away for a stupid bird! And there's also his puking. He's been throwing up on nearly every mission we've had. And not the brutal ones. I mean the very casual ones where the ADA uses mafia people to help them solve a normal detective case." Akutagawa finally finishes talking and looks at Chuuya, thinking the mafia executive has the answers the diablo has been looking for. Unfortunately, Chuuya did not have them.

„...That seems very worrying" Chuuya says and looks at the clock. It's nearly 1am.

„I'll do some research and ask some people that know Nakajima. I'll try to find out what's wrong. But in the meantime, try not to stress yourself too much. Don't believe every word that Dazai said, that you don't need sleep for long amounts of time. Because you do. You're dismissed" Chuuya says and watches Akutagawa leave. He, too, packs his bag and heads home.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A few hours later, he writes one message to two different people.

„Is Nakajima's tiger form a female"?

He gets two different responses.

„No, I don't think so. Why? Does Chibi have some plan to use Atsushi-kun's tiger form~?" Dazai writes and Chuuya scoffs. Seriously, Dazai needs to be serious from time to time.

The next message catches his eye. It's the one from Akutagawa.

„Yes."
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I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter
-Nat