Barkeep! | Dazai X Reader

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Investigating the Spirits

Still, even with Ranpo at their side, the Armed Detective Agency didn't know how to get rid of the spirits that have been haunting Atsushi. They tried the classic remedies, the somewhat uncommon remedies, and the entirely out-the-box remedies, but nothing worked for long enough to stop them from coming back entirely. There was nothing they could do until they could find similar issues with other people, but no one quite had the exact same experience. The ghosts never emitted cold spots, the lights never malfunctioned, and when they would try to see if an animal would react to the spirits, they found nothing. There was only one thing they could do next, which they planned to save for last since it showed potential danger.

"Who sent you?" Atsushi called out to the spirits.

They stood there silently for a moment just looking at each other, a few even giggling. "We sent ourselves."

The weretiger turned to Dazai, who was standing next to him directing his course of action, and told him what they said to him. "Ask them why they're here," Dazai directed. Atsushi did so, his voice quivering.

"We missed you so much, Atsushi! We just wanted to see you again."

"You've been visiting me for a long time now. What more do you want out of me?"

They smiled. "We want you to join us!"

Although they hadn't attacked Atsushi, he was absolutely terrified. They could attack him if they wanted to. They could push him to the edge and have him commit suicide if they really, really wanted to. Atsushi stumbled to the floor as they inched closer. "You'll join us soon, won't you?" they begged him. He scooted backward into Dazai's legs attempting to escape the kind, yet threatening, voices of the ghosts.

Dazai helped Atsushi up, guiding him out of his room. "Judging by your reaction, they wanted you to die so you could be with them them." Atsushi nodded slowly, still playing the events back in his head over and over again. "And I'm guessing they also threatened you?"

"No, actually. It felt like they were though."

"If it felt like they were, then they were." Dazai sighed, frustrated that he can't track down the source of the spirits without making matters worse. Ranpo preferred that they solved the ghost problem without him since he didn't really care much for cases that involved the supernatural, so there was no way he would be able to help. Dazai knew he would have to wait until the situation got worse to bring light to the base of the issues.

So he waited for things to get worse, and he prepared himself to investigate as soon as he caught wind of anything similar going on. As time went on, things got worse. The Port Mafia nearly killed two members of the Armed Detective Agency, and now the spirits have begun to give Atsushi a bunch of ways he could "join" them. But, with the agency being on high alert due to the mafia's recent attempts to capture Atsushi, Dazai couldn't focus on the spirit issue. He had to keep an eye out for mafia members so that they wouldn't get a hold of the weretiger.

Somehow, someway, Dazai let himself get captured by the Port Mafia while they threaten the lives of many civilians on a train that Atsushi and Yosano have boarded. Waiting patiently for his execution, Dazai hangs in a cell belonging to the mafia. He goes over his plan in his head each second he gets.

"Pretend I was caught off guard, tease whoever visits me, and when I'm completely alone I'll escape and find out who set the bounty so we can prepare accordingly," he thinks to himself, humming his favorite tune until eventually, he feels the need to sing. "You can't do a double suicide alone," he sings to himself, "But you can do it with two~!" A scoff from far ahead echos in the empty room, and just a split second later a deadly shadow reaches out towards Dazai's neck threateningly. Blue light follows, and the dark demon disappears. "Oh, you were here?" said the bandaged man, gently teasing the emo who was standing quite a ways away from him.