Enemies

Alliance

Ren strode past the river running through Yokohama, returning to the Agency with more information. She could see someone's feet sticking out of the water, floating down the river, and she shook her head, sighing and dragging them to shore.

"How many more times must I do this? Drowning is a way of suicide that requires pain and suffering and it makes you extremely wet, and you said yourself that you dislike pain and suffering. God, I leave you alone for 5 minutes and this is what happens. Now I have more information and we need to get back to the Agency. If you want me to deal with this shit, give me a pay raise." She mumbled to herself.

Dazai smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair, but she grabbed his hand firmly and stopped him, and he grinned, pretending he was innocent.

"Why do you wear gloves?" It was a seemingly random question, and she shrugged.

"What's wrong with wearing gloves?"

"You never answer my questions, do you."

"I don't intend to."

"Roses are red, violets are blue, why can't you understand that I like you?" He leaned in front of her face, trying to gauge her expression.

"The roses have wilted, the violets are dead. If you like me there's something wrong with your head." She flicked him in the forehead, continuing. 

"Ouch." Dazai stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked beside Ren, smiling. Her expression had become a bit more relaxed as they went back to the Agency, but she took out her phone part way through.

Kunikida glared daggers at Ren, and she kept working, and she would mostly do her work and not talk with anybody unless someone asked her a question. The only times she ever got up was to take a short break before resuming. Dazai seemed to be actually doing his job and interrupted Ren less than she expected, so they both managed to get more work done. Kyouka seemed to be avoiding Ren and Chuuya, but approached them carefully before lunch, almost nervous at the two adults looming over her.

"Are you also here to try to take me back to the darkness?" She asked cautiously.

"No. You haven't done anything to me, and I'm not under orders to do anything to you, so I'll leave you alone. It's only Ozaki who's really affected by this." Ren said, typing something.

"Why do you keep working for the Port Mafia? Don't you feel bad killing all those people? I killed 35 people in six months and-"

"How old are you?"

"14."

"That's nothing. I stopped counting years ago. You're only an amateur." She said it casually as if she was talking about the weather, and Kyouka stepped back, eyes trembling and hands shaking, before bumping into Atsushi.

Ren continued working. Usually people would act how Kyouka did, and it wasn't uncommon for them to curse her either. Trying to sift through her memories, Ren could barely remember the first person she killed, and when she tried, their face was blurred out, and everything faded to black, but the memory still felt heavy and it made her feel gloomy.

"Ren, look at this." Dazai shoved an image of a cat in her face, and she looked at it blankly for a second before pushing his arm away and continuing.

She knew he knew she liked them, but it was her decision to let her guard down around them, so she didn't if she didn't want to. Dazai looked somewhat disappointed but continued. Chuuya sat beside Ren and watched what was happening and looked at him, sighing, then going back to work. Ren and Chuuya had to go out for the occasional assignment, but the Armed Detective Agency couldn't do anything about it.