ephemeral |o. dazai|

III

The morning sun feebly attempted to melt the snow as Dazai watched the streets bustling outside. "Good morning," Tanizaki greeted, following Fukuzawa in, and the other coworkers responded with varying levels of enthusiasm. He put down the envelope he was carrying, unpacking it. "There's a new homicide case. I thought it might be interesting to look into." The teen took a seat at the table as the others slowly gathered around him.

Tanizaki spread the papers and photos out and the other coworkers' expressions hardened as they noticed. All four of the victims had [hair colour] hair and [eye colour] eyes that had widened in fear. All of them had their abdomen slashed and three were missing a couple of their internal organs. Ranpo reached out to the photo of the intact corpse.

"This is a copycat. The news didn't report any missing organs and the cuts are messy compared to the other ones." He put it aside as the door opened, revealing a disheveled [Name]. She blinked a couple times before laughing out an insincere apology, seating herself next to Ranpo. She gave him a light greeting that he returned, before turning back to the photos. "I suppose it's because that fact wasn't disclosed to the public, so we can ignore this victim for now." He pushed the photo to the side, pulling the other three photos of the victims towards him. [Name] squinted at the photos, almost as if she was looking for something on the victims.

"Does the killer have a type? They all seem to have similar features," Kunikida remarked, pointing out the similarities between them all. Dazai looked at the three photos before letting out a joking statement.

"Maybe we should have [Name] on this case! Perhaps the killer would go after her." [Name], in response, let out a soft hum, leaning in on her arm.

"It's a shame you don't give the orders around here, sir, that sounds fun." She giggled, while Kunikida reprimanded him for the comment. Dazai gave her a small, slightly confused glance and [Name] laughed lightly. "Just kidding, just kidding," she assured lightly, laughing. The president, who sat silently, finally stood up, pushing his chair out. He crossed his arm and suddenly everyone was silent.

"Okay," he began, his steely eyes scanning the room, "[Name], you will be shadowing Yosano on this case," Dazai blinked. This was a strange first case.

"President, wouldn't it be a better idea to have Ranpo on this case?" Kunikida questioned, furrowing his brows. Fukuzawa turned to look at the blonde idealist.

"Yosano may be able to save some people if she is on site, and saving a life is the top priority," he said, and Kunikida nodded before looking at the two. [Name] sighed, sinking down in her seat.

As the office began working like usual again, [Name] gave a somewhat vague excuse, clambering out of her seat. "Where are you going?" Kenji inquired innocently, making [Name] jump, surprised someone actually noticed. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Just home for a bit." She grabbed her coat from behind her chair, only stopping when she noticed Dazai's interested gaze. "What?" She asked, raising her brow. He leaned forward, resting his head on the back of his palm.

"Nothing, nothing," he said with a small laugh, "it's just that just gave me deja vu." [Name] frowned, watching him get up with a wide smile. Rolling her eyes, she left as Dazai followed behind her gleefully.

Snow fluttered down from the sky, falling around the two gracefully, packing up on the streets against the sun once more. "Do you need something or are you just following me for the sake of it?" [Name] asked, shivering slightly.

"Now, now, no need to be so cold!" He exclaimed, feigning a hurt tone before quickly jogging up to her side, peering down at her slightly annoyed profile with a small smirk dancing on his lips. She opened the door to her house and began closing it on Dazai, sighing when he stuck his foot in its path. "I'm just wondering why you were acting so weird about that serial killer case," he stated, pushing the door open, following her into her small home.

"Get out, Dazai." Her voice was light and yet, the way his name rolled off her tongue was oddly menacing.

"Don't want to," Dazai responded, kicking off his shoes and looking around the house. It was small and rather old looking. There was an old painting on one of the walls, and the hallway itself was rather dark. [Name] walked into the living room in front of him as he stared at the old wooden stairs. He should try going up them one day.

Following her into the living room, he raised his brows. There was an old box TV that didn't seem to work in the centre of the room and an old, black leather sofa in front of it. There was a beer can lying haphazardly on the floor, with some of the alcohol spilling onto the brown rug, staining it. The blood on the sofa and the rug didn't go unnoticed either. There were holes in the wall, as if they'd been punched repeatedly. "You live like this?" Dazai murmured, but [Name] was too busy in the kitchen to hear him.

He noticed a photo frame on the mantlepiece that had been knocked over. Making his way towards it, he picked it up to see a cracked frame holding a picture of Chuuya, [Name] and himself. He and Chuuya were obviously glaring at one another and [Name] had her arms around the both of them, smiling widely at the camera, but her picture had been defaced with drawings and scribbles. "You kept this picture?" Dazai questioned with an amused smile as [Name] snatched the frame out of his hands, slamming it face down on the mantlepiece. He looked at her with a raised brow.

"Obviously," she said with a smile. "I wanted something to remember you two by." She quickly moved away from him, heading towards the doorframe of the kitchen, scratching the insides of her wrists awkwardly, averting eye contact.

"Ah, I need to go." [Name] looked up at him as he began darting towards the hall. "Bathroom, bathroom! Where is it?!" He screamed desperately.

"Use the one in my room upstairs! The other one's under maintenance."

He looks around the room, entering it. The mirrors on her dressing table and wardrobe were covered up and her bed didn't seem like it had been slept in in a while. There were pills on the bedside, next to an old glass of whiskey. Ah, so she doesn't stay here. He looked into the bathroom. There was nothing of note in there. Aside the mirror on the cabinet having drawings all over it, it was pretty plain. Closing the door, he decided to check out the other bathroom.

It was in a similar fashion as the first one, and so Dazai decided to investigate. After all, he was a detective now. He opened up the cabinet, and his eye caught something in the far back, behind all the paper towels, a small metal box—

"What are you doing?" An alarmed voice asked. He stood up abruptly.

"Well, it doesn't seem that badly kept," he responded, tucking his hands into his pocket. "I was expecting it to be crumbling or something."

"Does my house give you the impression that it's falling apart, sir?" She responded, following him out of the bathroom.

"Yes."

"What? How?" She asked, surprise lacing her words. Dazai stopped halfway down the stairs, turning to look at her. "Well whatever. If you're done criticising my living conditions, can we get going?" [Name] asked, passing him on the stairs, unlocking the door and pushing it open for him. He walked passed her, into the bustling streets, snickering lightly. "What?" She asked, locking the door.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're hiding something." She straightened at his words, her [eye colour] gaze meeting his chocolate orbs. Something flickered in them, something dangerously destructive, as she took a couple steps towards him, looking up at him. A wide, innocent grin plastered itself on her lips.

"Would I ever hide anything from you?" She asked before quickly skipping down the street. Dazai let out a soft sigh, watching her small back retreat from him. The answer was a resounding yes.

☁︎
o damn new update!
lets hope this goes as well as it's going in my plan~