But in the End

Unexpected

I let out a sigh, pulling the phone away from my ear, staring at the contact name as it went to voicemail again. "What is going on over there...?"

Nobody is answering... I thought with a frown as I went back to my contact list. Kunikida and Yosano haven't answered, but Atsushi and Kyouka should be there by now... I went to click Atsushi's name as I heard shuffling.

I brought the phone down from in front of me as I looked over to the bed, seeing Dazai begin to stir. I put my phone away as he began opening his eyes. "If you were trying to get yourself killed, hate to break it to you, but I didn't work."

Dazai glanced over to me before he began shuffling to sit up, grunting here and there from the movement. "Ah, well, it doesn't hurt to try."

"So who is it?" I asked as he got settled in his new sitting position.

Dazai turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

I crossed my arms, leaning back in my chair. "I've gotten pretty good at reading you, Dazai. I know you went to that alley knowing full well you were going to be attacked."

Dazai closed his eyes, letting out a hum. "And here I thought I was being sneaky."

"Idiotic is what you were being, letting yourself get shot for information." I sighed out, never understanding his thought process. "So who is our man pulling the strings?"

"So you don't think it's the assassin?" Dazai asked me, quirking an eyebrow.

I shook my head, waving a hand back and forth. "Please, I figured that out when the President was attacked. If it were the assassin, he would've simply just killed him and Mori both, but this guy, he kept them alive for a reason."

"Mori was attacked too, huh." Dazai stated, not surprised, which didn't surprise me by his laid-backness.

"Sure was. I spoke with Kunikida earlier and supposedly the two are linked with an ability that slowly kills them unless one dies first. Yosano was seeing if it was true, but I haven't gotten through to anyone, making me think I was right in thinking the Mafia would make a move."

"The ability is real alright." Dazai spoke up, causing me to bring my gaze towards him. "The guy behind it is a guy named Fyodor Dostoevsky and I ran into him once before."

"Man, that's one scary ability." I frowned, wondering if the others figured it out or not. "We need to somehow get you there so you can nullify it."

Dazai shook his head. "That won't do. If I try to, it'll just kill me too."

"Damn..." I trailed off, not knowing what to do. "Hopefully the others can figure something out and fend off the Mafia."

"Why aren't you with the others then?" Dazai asked me.

I looked back over to him. "Someone had to check on your suicidal ass."

"Awe You're making me blush~" Dazai teased.

I puffed my cheeks out. "W-Whatever. And besides, I'd just become a liability if the Mafia decides to use me as a hostage."

Dazai let out a hum in acknowledgement. "Yeah, they'd try to use you as a bargaining chip to get to the President."

I looked down in front of me. "That's not what worries me, I know the others wouldn't give up that easily. I just don't want them to be put in that position and rather focus on protecting the President and only that."

I let out a snort as a thought came to my mind. "Guess the bodyguard needs to be guarded in case someone tries to come after your head too."

My attention was brought to my phone as it started ringing. Looking down, I saw it was Ranpo and picked it up. "Ranpo, how is everything over there? I've been trying to contact everyone."