[BSDOC] Can't See In The Dark (ENG)

Chapter 17 - New threat

The whole world suddenly turned around. A scream escaped from Michiko's throat, her right hand twitched uncomfortably. Suddenly, her breath got stuck in her throat. Pain shook her whole body.

She lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, when her colleague's stern expression appeared in her field of vision. It wasn't hard to guess how unhappy he was with her performance today.

"You're not concentrating, Ishihara," he scolded her, lifting the glasses on his nose with his middle finger. "Your attacks are impetuous and predictable, defense almost zero. In a real fight, you wouldn't last five minutes with that attitude."

The girl raised herself on her elbows and looked at him. Her entire body was covered in bruises and her ribs on the left side ached, while there was not a single stain on him at all. However, it did not seem to her that only her shortcomings were responsible for her poor performance. Whatever the training was, she usually managed to hit him at least a few times, but he didn't give her any room at all. There was something different in his attacks today. More aggressive.

He acted like he was taking out his anger on her. Kunikida had the flaw that everything he thought was reflected directly in his face. And now she's seen annoyance and tension. It was not difficult to guess the origin of his foul mood. Yesterday was stressful for everyone. In addition to Dazai disappearing, they got an important case with the protection of a bureaucrat that turned their office upside down, and last but not least, the Port Mafia kidnapped Atsushi, which was also not the happiest situation. But that didn't mean he had to turn her into a punching bag right away.

"In a real fight, I usually take them down in less than five minutes," she said teasingly.

"That's not the point." Kunikida's frown deepened, but he immediately sighed and raised his wrist. "We've already lost enough time here. I'm going to work and you should too."

As soon as he left the gym, Michiko reluctantly got up and pulled the band out of her hair. She headed for the shower. She would have preferred to lie still for a while longer, but she was sure that her colleague had already started counting the minutes of her delay. And he had scolded her so many times today that she had enough for the whole week. There is no need to further provoke him unnecessarily.

The first drops of water hit her body like needles. She closed her eyes.

She hated to admit it, but Kunikida was right about one thing. She really wasn't concentrating today. Her thoughts kept returning to Dazai and their phone call yesterday. When she told him it was a joke, she couldn't help but think she heard the disappointment in his voice. At that moment she knew she had overdone it.

She tried to explain why she wrote him that message, but she still couldn't shake the guilt. She was too insensitive.

"I'm an idiot," she grumbled and bumped her head into the tiles. How can she even show up in front of him today?

---

It has never been so difficult for her to step into the office. And it was on the first day that Dazai brought her as a former famous thief to a room full of top detectives who far surpassed her in abilities.

But this was unpleasant in another way. Not only did she act on her own yesterday, she almost lost her life and was just slowing Dazai down. He promised her not to tell the others, but could she trust him? And then there was the frustration she felt every time she thought of him. Dazai fascinated her as much as he confused her. She tried to relax in every possible way - drawing, reading, becoming a punching bag...

But her mind was relentless. That's why her sketches for the past night captured Dazai from three different angles, the books in her head created images in which he replaced the main character, and every time Kunikida hit her and she wanted to return it, his face popped up in front of her eyes and she just got a double hit instead. She's never been so chaotic before0.