Frozen Eye (Dazai Osamu x OC)

Chapter 8: Our New Tiger

Atsushi's POV

We arrived at a dark warehouse where the only light source was from the moon shining in from a window. This is kind of creepy.

Dazai and Hikoku were sitting on the boxes with their backs leaning on each other. Dazai was reading a book, while Hikoku slept. The scene looked pretty natural as if they were accustomed to being in close proximity of one another. It honestly made me a little jealous.

"Are you sure the tiger is going to show up here?" I asked seeing as though we have been waiting for a good while now with no indication of the tiger's appearance.

"It will." Dazai said with great confidence that I would never hope to ever achieve in my lifetime.

The reassurance of the tiger showing up from Dazai scared me, and the expression must have shown on my face as he said, "Don't worry. It's no match for me. We also have Kirino-chan here whose ability does wonders. So have a peace of mind and watch us work."

Since we were in the mode of conversation, I also asked, "Is Hikoku-san okay?"

Dazai's eyes changed a bit at the mention of Hikoku, a hint of warmth was present in his expression. He moved his arm back to stroke her head as to not disturb her sleep. "I'm not sure, she should be fine since she's lasted so long. Her mission must've been rough." he told me in a tender voice.

Seeing his gestures and expression, it confirmed my beliefs that they were closer than just colleagues. "Is she your girlfriend?" I asked with a light blush on my face.

"Why, Atsushi~ Have you fallen for her charm already? I wouldn't be surprised though~" Dazai sung in a teasing voice.

I blushed even harder at his statement. "N-n-no! I was just wondering... since you two seem like you're more than just colleagues at work." I muttered.

"Well, you're right about that. We've been partners for a long time now... But no, she isn't my girlfriend." Dazai said. A hint of a blush could be seen as he said the last sentence. I raised my eyebrows slightly, but didn't push the topic any further.

"I'm a bit jealous. At the orphanage, all they would do is call me good-for-nothing. And I had no friends, nobody to rely on. Nobody cared about me." I told him my true feelings as I recalled the cruelty and curses of the orphanage personnel.

The wind blew loudly and the clouds unfurled to show the moon. A loud crash brought me up from my crouched position, also awakening Hikoku.

"It's here! The tiger has come to get me!" I panicked.

"Calm down, the wind just knocked something down. The tiger won't show up there." Dazai said calmly, as if we weren't currently in a life-or-death situation.

"How do you know for sure?" I yelled. What were we even doing here if it wasn't even going to show up?!

"We know becuase something about you wasn't right from the very beginning." Hikoku spoke up. "Just because your orphanage's finances were in the red, there would be many more efficient options than kicking you out, a single child. Kicking only one person out wouldn't solve their financial problems. It just doesn't make sense."

"Right on the mark, Kirino-chan. You came here about two weeks ago, right Atsushi? The same time as the tiger was reported to run around the city. You were also in Tsurumi four days ago, and so was the tiger." Dazai explained but by then I couldn't hear anymore. Everything went blank. All I could feel was pain rushing through me.

Kirino's POV

Blue rings appeared around Atsushi, his ability was about to be activated. I got up from the crate, and activated my ability in preparation.