Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

62

"Keisuke, it's fine," Danaju reassured with a chuckle as she held his arms.

"I was still a fucking idiot."

"Yes, but that's besides the point. Anyway, I made contact with the Haitanis."

"Finally!"

After they got home and changed into more comfortable clothes, Danaju explained what happened and her own thoughts on the situation.

"Yeah, I figured it wasn't gonna be that easy," Baji said with a sigh as he relaxed into the couch.

"So did I, but we had to try," Danaju replied with a shrug before flopping down next to him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Plan B next?" he asked as he leaned his head onto hers and draped an arm over her shoulder.

"Nah, that won't work. Plan C."

"Which one's that again?"

"Hacking into Mikey's computer and finding a way to make contact."

"Ok, something I'm too dumb for."

"Most people are," she replied with a chuckle.

Baji lifted his head from hers as he looked curiously at her. "How'd you learn to do that stuff anyway?"

She let out a small hum as she thought. "Where did I learn it..." she muttered. Then, she shrugged. "No clue. Think I learned it sometime in highschool though. since by the time I started working at a journaling agency, I already knew how to do that stuff."

"I guess that Ichigoro dude wouldn't know then."

"Mhm. ... Wait, I still ended up working under him?" she quickly asked as she shot up and looked at Baji with wide eyes.

"Yep," he confirmed with a chuckle.

"That's actually awesome. Why didn't you say anything before? He totally could've helped!"

"I forgot."

"Well, I'll talk to him once he's free and go from there."

"I thought he just reported on celebrity scandals or somethin'?"

"The last I knew he did, but before that he was one of Shibuya's best detectives. He's got an eye for this sorta stuff."

"If you think he'll help, I won't stop ya."

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

Inside of a small, nearly empty, coffee shop at one of the corner booths by the window sat an older-looking man. His brown hair was short, neatly cut, and had some grey hairs that had started coming in recently. As he always did when he went out, he wore a white button-down with brown dress pants and shoes to match, the only thing he didn't wear was his almost iconic brown trench coat because of the swealtering heat. He took a drink of his coffee as he looked through the morning's newspaper. Then, the door's bell rang and he looked up.

"Ichigoro Sensei!" Danaju happily exclaimed with a wide smile once she spotted him.

With his own smile, he closed the newspaper. "Hey, Kiddo, what's shakin'?"

"Sir, I've told you countless times that kids slang sounds weird coming from your mouth," she said with a chuckle as she took a seat across from him.

"And I'm not your boss anymore, so you can quit with the respectful talk," he shot back with his smile widening a bit.

"No way that's happening," she replied, making him chuckle.

"So, what's this about? With that look in your eye, this isn't just some normal chit-chat."