Wilted Flower ~ Chuuya x Non-Binary Reader

Chapter 32

Atsushi POV:
'Hurry! Hurry! Ranpo-san said the rules of the battle have changed.'

~Flashback~

"This isn't so much close-quarters guerrilla warfare anymore as it is a ball game. Whoever chases Bram and the girl onto their own turf wins. Do you know what that means?" Ranpo asks. "It means that you three, our fastest runners, are the key."

~End of Flashback~

Y/n POV:
The three of us (me, Akutagawa, and Atsushi) are currently searching for Aya, the little girl that Ranpo mentioned to us earlier.

After a short while of running, we spotted a little girl of close resemblance to Aya.

But it wasn't her.

"That's not her, Atsushi," I tell him before he gets too close.

"Huh?" Atsushi questions.

"You're pretty smart," the little girl says, revealing her true self to be none other than Ōkura Teruko. "This just got a whole lot more fun."

"Took the words right out of my mouth. But before that, there's something we'd like to show you." As I say this, Atsushi reaches to take out his phone, but before he can fully remove it from his pocket, Teruko snatches it from his hand.

"Were you about to contact your other buddies?" she asks. "What a waste of effort," she says while turning to look at the screen before freezing, shocked by the contents of the phone.

"Not quite," Atsushi says.

"I did say we were going to show you something, didn't I?" I say.

"Teruko-san, if you're watching this, it means that I'm dead or enduring something even worse," Tachihara's voice echoes from the phone.

"Tachihara..." Teruko says softly.

"I know that you were looking for us. Or rather, you were looking for Atsushi. But you were gravely mistaken. We were the ones looking for you," I say to her.

"So that we could show you that," Atsushi adds.

"I won't pretend I'm okay with this. Just thinking about being dead makes me sick. But it'll be even worse dying in vain, so I'll report on my investigation. The Detective Agency was innocent," Tachihara says in the recording.

"A falsified video," Teruko states.

"Think what you want, then," Atsushi says.

"I'm going, now. Honesty, I'm really not the type to risk my life on some damn mission. Maybe I'm finally a little closer to being an exhilarating badass." As Tachihara says this, Teruko's eyes widen while she lets out a small gasp. "Well, then..."

"He's been missing since then. The enemy mastermind had gotten to him," I say after the video ended.

"So?" she asks, throwing the phone back to Atsushi. "What's the Detective Agency's plan?"

"If you cooperate, we'll tell you," Atsushi says.

"On one condition. I want to meet the person proposing the Agency's plans," Teruko requests.

"Ranpo-san?" Atsushi questions.

"Showing me this video was part of his plan, too, wasn't it? How cocky. I'll decide whether or not to help after I meet with him," Teruko says.

Atsushi POV:
'That's definitely too dangerous. There's no guarantee she's overcome the page and trusts the Detective Agency like Tachihara. But if she does, we can get the Hunting Dogs on our side.'