You lifted your head sleepily, catching Chuuya's smirk across the room with heavy-lidded eyes. A yawn tugged at the corner of your lips as you raked a hand through your tousled [h/c] hair.
"Oh, what's keeping you awake at night, huh? Akutagawa-"
"Don't even finish that sentence," you growled, your voice coarse as you fixed your fringe out of your eyes, moving toward the Mafia executive. If sleep hadn't been so evasive these past weeks, you'd have avoided the ugly shadows hanging thick below your eyes, and that hoarse-like texture of your voice. "What are you doing here anyway?"
Rolling his eyes, Chuuya withdrew a thin brown file from the folds of his coat and waved it in front of your face. "You've been assigned another mission - working with Akutagawa and Higuchi. Top-priority. Heh, seems like you're getting all the attention these days." He gazed at you beneath the rim of his hat, casting shadows over his eyes, but not enough to hide the vicious haze buried within. The look of a killer.
With a sarcastic smile playing along your lips, you took the file from his hand, flipping over to the first page.
Your heart missed a beat, then another, falling completely out of sync, as your eyes dropped to the photograph attached to the file - black and white, slightly blurred around the edges with a lens flare captured in the middle. But it was clear enough to distinguish the monochrome face.
"What is it?" Chuuya asked, monitoring your reaction with slitted feline eyes.
You blew out a long breath, shutting the folder and cradling it in your arms. "I know that boy."
Chuuya gave a mirthless chuckle. "Yeah? Well now you have to kidnap him. I guess having you around might just make our job a bit easier."
❖
"How do you know this boy?" Higuchi interrogated, her eyes sharpened to a point. With her palms planted flat on the table, leaning across it at a slanted angle, her hair tied into an unruly bun and her blouse buttoned up incorrectly, she looked as though she'd eluded sleep recently too. No wonder she so often wore those shades - probably to hide those godforsaken bags.
"You meet a lot of people when you're living on the streets. It's full of slum rats, like myself and this boy," you shot back, chewing the inside of your cheek as you studied the picture again. "His name's Atsushi. Nakajima Atsushi."
Higuchi snickered. "You don't think we know that already?"
Dismissing her comment, you turned to the brooding male with a frown. He hadn't spoken since you met up. "Why is he top-priority? What do we need with a slum rat?"
Circling the table, Akutagawa's expression remained unchanged. His coat, however, shifted restlessly by his sides, an unseen tension emenating from his shoulders. Did he know this boy too? "There's a hefty price on his head - an offer from a third party."
"That still doesn't answer-"
"Tch, he's part of the Armed Detective Agency," Higuchi said exasperatedly, tapping her slender fingers against the sleeve of her blazer. "He's gifted - like you and Akutagawa."
You blinked at the woman in shock. That boy possessed a supernatural ability? And he was a member of the opposing side?
Chuuya had briefly outlined the ongoing war between the Mafia and the ADA to you, but all you really had to know was that they were the bad guys, and it was your job to fight them. The redhead hadn't failed to mention, however, the fact that one of the Mafia's old executives had left to join the group of gifted individuals shortly after you'd left.
"What's his... ability?" You asked in a quiet voice, your eyes focused on the documents strewn across the table - to the extent the words began to blur and merge, forming illegible text.
"He's a Weretiger; turns into a beast under the-" his voice fell short as he fell victim to a sudden bout of coughing. You saw Higuchi stiffen as his skin turned a waxy pallor, making his eyes seem more black and empty than usual.
"You said you know this boy?" Akutagawa started again, his skin now alight with a feverish sweat. "Does he know you're in the Mafia?"
"No. We don't know each other well. But he trusts me."
The man nodded, already turning away. "Make sure he does, because next time you'll be bringing him to us."
❖
The world was silent above the rooftops.
You were sitting with your legs drawn up to your chin, listening to the rise and fall of your breaths and watching them smoulder the air with icy white fire. You eyes grazed the lofty expanse of midnight that had settled on the shoulders of the world, peppered with tiny silver jewels that winked in and out of existence, and a grinning moon that hung low and bright.
It wasn't long before your breathing was accompanied by the scuffing of soles against the tiles, and the faint flutter of a coat striking its wearer.
You cocked your head to the side, eyes an intense shade of [e/c] under the brilliant night sky, following every move of the man padding slowly toward you. He
He came and sat next to you, without speaking a word, sprawling out his long legs and propping himself up by the flat of his palms, his head lolling to the side. The pose appeared too casual - it didn't suit him at all.
"Good evening."
He grunted in response, not bothering to tear his eyes away from the patchwork rooftops that made up the sprawling urban jungle below.
The two of you dwindled into silence shortly after, growing attuned to one another's breathing again - falling out of sync, drowning out the silence. The smoke you blew scratched out the constellations dotting the sky, only to form new ones.
"[L/N], why did you leave?"
His voice was so sudden, so poignant, that you almost whimpered aloud, taken aback by the desperation in his voice. Was he really so bothered? You thought he didn't care.
Biting hard on your lip, you stayed silent.
"I was confused at first," he continued, his voice trembling as his fingers scraped along the tiles, curling his fists. "But then I was angry - so, so angry. I kept wondering, why would she leave, so suddenly, just like that? What was she thinking?"
You listened with baited breath, unable to comprehend the emotion dipping in and out of his words. "And now?"
His jaw cracked as he grated his teeth together, eyes ignited with a flame that might have crumbled the very stars into nothing but ash. "I can't forgive you. I'll never be able to forgive you."
"And you have every right to be unforgiving."
He ground his teeth in annoyance, peering at you beneath a frame of midnight bangs. "So why don't I have the right to understand?"
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