thicker than the mind | dazai o. ✓

twenty one.

"No signs of them?"

"No sir. I saw him park his car but he was gone in a flash."

Taiyo's back was pressed against Dazai, as he covered her mouth with his hand in order for her to not mutter a single word.

She was confused as hell as to why Dazai suddenly grabbed her and ran away from the precinct, but the minute they arrived at an alleyway, Taiyo immediately got the idea.

"Mm- Mmf." Taiyo grumbled as Dazai hardened his lock on her. Ushering her to stay quiet. "Listen."

"What are we going to do now, sir?" Higuchi rolled her neck, her bones crackling in return. She was surely stressed, since Hirotsu was surely giving her a handful of jobs. "I apologise if you are tired, but I'm only following Mori-san's request." The blonde nodded and sighed out, "We have no other choice anyway."

Higuchi slowly walked on ahead of Hirotsu, him following shortly after with a sigh. Then, the two mafia workers went further down the alleyway.

The two detectives who were eavesdropping, sighed out when they heard the footsteps disappear and echo out. Dazai released the red and uncomfortable detective, her following him with questions after.

"What the hell happened there?" Dazai leaned against the wall, making eye contact with her. "That girl knocked me out the other day and stole some of my hair."

Taiyo froze in embarrassment. She decided to let Dazai continue before she could spill the truth to him. "I saw her following me when I parked the car. Good thing I distracted her, and then I ran all the way to you."

Taiyo ran a hand through her hair in stress of this girl. The Port Mafia surely is a pain in the ass, more so than before. "To tell you the truth, Dazai."

He gave her his undivided attention to her, "She knocked on my door and told me about the girl with the page." Dazai's eyes slightly widened at the truth. "She came in your... form. And attempted to... seduce information out of me."

Dazai didn't want to believe her at first. The thought itself was ridiculous, and he refused to fall for such an absurd happening. Taiyo was embarrassed to the core. She didn't want to tell him, but she knew that telling the detective was a good thing.

He chuckled at her saying. Taiyo bit her lip and avoided his eye contact with all her might. When Dazai saw this, he stopped laughing and looked at her funny, "You're serious?"

She nodded. "Dead serious." Dazai has connected all the dots together by now. The turning red earlier, the stuttering, everything. He was no fool to not notice such things. He decided to brush off the topic, and instead just assured the girl that he understood.

"Alright. It leads us to the question. Why the hell are they following us?"

Taiyo backed away from the detective, kicking a lose pebble on the ground. "Probably to get more info from us when they could do it themselves."

Dazai put a finger on his chin, "True. I heard that Mori ordered them to do so. It's surely a thing he would do." The name put Taiyo on edge. She glared at the floor, just by imaging his obnoxious look. She has only met him once in her ADA life, but she didn't need any more meetings to know that the boss was strong yet aggravating.

"Ugh, Mori. That man surely is... something." Dazai wanted to chuckle and agree to her, but that would just break the wall he has built. "Out of all the possible mafia members to be the boss, it just had to be him. I'd rather that strong red head be the leader." Dazai choked on his spit at the mention of his partner back then in the mafia. He just imagined the red head's fit and look if he was the boss. It made Dazai even more irked than before.