Found (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Chapter 15

Jane's aunt gave her a warm welcome but, for better or worse, found the topic of their meeting in the Mafia too awkward to talk about. Jane was reluctant to talk, too, so after confirming that she was still welcome to stay, she disappeared into the small room her aunt had given her. Jane lay on the bed, her body too cold and the room too warm to do anything.

Her aunt gave a single knock on the door before opening it and popping her head through. "I'm going out with my girl friends. Feel free to eat whatever you want from the fridge."

Jane sat up and wished her a good time before plopping back down. She pulled out her phone. No new messages. No missed calls. Crap! She hadn't given her number to Chuuya.

Could we perhaps continue this walk on another day?

Jane shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts. He was from the Mafia! Thinking back, Jane cringed at herself for staring into his eyes and telling him that she'd wait. Fat chance she'll wait! He's not a man worth waiting for!

Dazai! Right. She needed to make sure he was fine. The last time she saw him, he had been stabbed after all.

She selected the only contact she had and pressed call. The phone didn't even ring, immediately signaling that the line was busy. Several failed attempts later, she concluded that the Mafia had tampered with her phone after all.

Chuuya arrived back in his room later that night. He had had to stop the attack, deal with the cleanup, then write the reports. When he was about to finish, he was notified of another potential attack and the cycle had repeated.

He took off his hat and placed it on top of the hanger, wishing he could leave the day's worries inside and not think about anything until he put it back on the next day. But he knew he couldn't. As he was about to take off the coat, the image of Jane holding onto his coat after putting it on him popped into his head.

He sighed and slid it off his shoulders. There was no way she would actually like, let alone love him. His only hope of being with her was the arranged marriage, but even that was too conditional to be certain. Jane seemed to be unaware of him being her match, but he wanted it that way. He didn't want her to hate him because of a decision he didn't make. He could only hope that he had been nice enough to her and hadn't messed anything up that a bouquet of flowers and some jewelry wouldn't fix. Who was he kidding? Chuuya had a feeling that even flowers and diamonds would not win her over. She was that pure.

Head heavy with thoughts, he uncorked a wine bottle and poured himself a glass. He swirled the wine out of habit, catching his reflection occasionally.

He sighed and regretted opening the bottle, pushing the cork back on. There was nothing to celebrate and getting drunk would have made the next day's big mission impossible. He couldn't put his subordinates in jeopardy because of his own personal problems.

Jane awoke in her bed the following day at noon, still in the same clothes she had worn all day the day before. She pulled out her phone, trying to ring Dazai "one last time", but nothing had changed.

She noticed the clock on her phone said it was noon already. How could she have slept so long?

She dragged herself to the living room, where she found her aunt. "Oh dear, you sure managed to sleep long! Someone from the Agency dropped this off earlier today." She pointed at Jane's travel bag.

Jane had never been so alive. She hurried over to the bag, revitalized, but kept herself from opening it. "Who was it? Who was the person who brought it here?"

"Oh my. He was younger, wore mostly white and black. And his bangs were quite a mess!"

"Ah, that was Atsushi." Jane slumped a little bit again, but she hadn't lost hope. "Well, I'll finally get changed then!" she happily decided.