Cursed 》Bungo Stray Dogs

Six

I didn't think this day could worsen, but sadly, it has. There were so many times I messed up at the agency that it's not even funny. I wanted to do something nice for them for letting me stay, but....everything had been a disaster. Take this morning, I bought some sweets for Ranpo but fell when I left the store and the whole bag flew toward the street. It wasn't that bad until a truck ran over his delicious treats. Yosano asked me later that afternoon if I could copy a few papers for her, yet somehow the papers were torn to shreds. Then I went to give Fukuzawa his tea until I almost dropped the hot liquid on his lap. Now, I'm sitting at my desk with a gloomy look and hugging my knees close to my chest while a stray dog whined next to me, sensing my embarrassment.

"Victims of Yokohama's recent serial abductions were located, but all died when a private detective agency conducted a raid," Atsushi read this morning's paper, which made me bury my head against my knees. "They all...died."

"This must've been the enemy's objective," Kunikida stated.

"You think that they set all of this up...in order to frame the Agency?"

The dog next to me whined before nudging its head against my leg. "Despite what Dazai said, maybe it wasn't my time to shine."

"Mr. Kunikida -" Atsushi looked at me. I didn't even know how to comfort Kunikida either. I mean, it wasn't his fault but we both knew he wouldn't listen to a word we said.

"Where's Ms. Sasaki?"

"She should be in the infirmary," I answered. I got up and led them the way. Which is kinda silly on my part since they know the way over there. 

When we got there we heard Sasaki giggling along with Dazai saying, "Oh, really? That's great! I'm glad to hear it."

For some reason, it made my stomach gurgle with uneasiness. It got worse when Sasaki kept giggling as we entered the room. My eyes widened in horror seeing Dazai so close to her. There's no doubt that Sasaki is pretty. She's even prettier than me, so I understand why Dazai would be close to her...not like I care or anything.

"Hi!" Sasaki greeted us with her perfect smile. I mentally kept pulling my hair. There's no reason for me to feel like this. They saved her, she's a patient. She's just being friendly that's all. "Thank you so much for saving me the other day." See? Friendly. She's expressing her gratitude. "If you hadn't all come when you did, I'm sure I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

"Well -" Kunikida started before he was interrupted.

"Not to mention, you were very kind in putting me up last night."

Half of Kunikida's face went blue. "Huh?"

"Where did you stay exactly?" Atsushi wondered.

Dazai grinned at all of us before pointing to himself. "My place!"

This time, Atsushi, Kunikida, and I looked at him in shock and disbelief. "What?!"

I shook my head. "When did that happen?!" I questioned. "I didn't see her come in!"

That blockhead managed to smile widely at me. "Oh, she came in when you were in the shower. I didn't wanna bug you and thought you wanted to sleep after the intense workout we went through."

My face was starting to heat up at the wording. Atsushi looked at me in horror while Kunikida looked annoyed. "T-That's not what happened!" I shouted while my dog ears came out. The dog growled at Dazai and took a protective stance in front of me, ready to pounce. The only intense workout that happened was trying to sober Dazai up before he had to meet with Kunikida. I had to chase him around the office before dragging him toward the bathroom to splash water on his face.