Bungou Stray Dogs AU

Chapter-16

City

Haru ran again to wherever her legs carried her. She ran and ran until slowly she dropped her pace. She was now out of breath, not used to this kind of physical exercise. She moved herself to the side of the road as to keep her out of people's way and to have some rest. She leaned herself against the nearby building's wall and then thought of what she had said back then. She made a promise to that person, a promise that she was not sure she could keep. It was a spur of the moment. Now she had more of a reason to make up her mind regarding the conflict between the Detective Agency and Port Mafia.

And she thought if that meeting was planned. Dazai didn't necessarily said that she would meet him either in the message he sent her so it was definitely planned. Even if she asked him, she doubted if he would answer her truthfully. Even so, she couldn't dare to ask him. Everything he had done for her was for her own good. She knew that. She had know that ever since long before. So she couldn't dare to question him about his decisions just like when he suddenly told her to come with him to get out of Port Mafia. She had no right to question him after everything he had done for her. If this was Dazai's way of telling her to rush then she had no right to complain. Never and ever.

Just as she was thinking all these things inside her head, a hand on her shoulder made her get out of her trance. She looked up and saw the man that had been keeping contact with her ever since years ago. "Are you okay?" The figure asked. He hadn't changed a bit in the years she had known her. The same old smile that made her feel at ease. "Dor-kun.." She whispered his name, in shock seeing him here. She knew that he was in the city again but they didn't really had time to meet each other in person yet.

"I thought that maybe sitting in the café that you like would result in me having to surprise you if you were to come but I didn't really think that it would be this soon," He laughed. Haru was still in a daze. She thought that she was too tired by the events that occurred today that she ended up seeing her pen pal friend in person. She held her hands out, touching his face and for sure feeling his warmth in her hands to make her think that she was not hallucinating. "You...are real," Haru said in a quiet voice. In return, he held her hands in his, chuckling at her statement. "I am very much real," he said as he dropped down to her height, making his eyes looked directly to hers.

After a moment, he started to speak. "It would be a waste of our time to just stand here. We have much of catching up to do and I even left my coffee on the table without finishing it. Let's go," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to go with him. Now that Haru was conscious of her surroundings, she had noticed that it was her favourite café, that she had mentioned in the letters right in front of her. They had the best crepes there. The seat that he was sitting was right beside the water surface. It had a great view of the city and the sea. He pulled a chair for her signaling her to sit down. She did so and took in the scenery right in front of her while he made an order to the waiter for her. The scenery mad her peaceful and calm. The thoughts that were raging in her mind just a while ago welled down.

"I can see why you like this place. It has a unique charm of making yourself feel comfortable and the food is good too," he stated with coffee in his hand. Haru's eyes went from the scenery to her pen pal. "I..am glad...you like it, too." And then the waiter from before brought her a plate of strawberry crepe. Her eyes instantly sparkled. "I am also glad to see that your favourite haven't been changed," he said, while looking at Haru who was happily eating the food right in front of her, swallowing down one bite after another.

"So, why were you out of breath earlier?" he asked after she finished her meal. "I....I kind of..ran into..someone unexpected," Haru answered with her eyes down on the table. "So, you ran. Judging by the redness of your eyes, you had also cried. Was it your former friend?" At this, Haru winced. She couldn't see herself so she didn't know that her eyes were red. And the term "former" and "friend" crossed her mind. Chuuya was...not a friend back then or even now. She wasn't sure what to describe her relationship to him. He was like a brother, friend, caretaker and comrade. She just couldn't put a name on it. "Well, changing the subject, you told me that a new member just joined the agency. Nakajima.....Atsushi, was it? How is he?" Fyodor changed the topic, sensing her distress.

"I..don't know. We have.....never worked together. But...he seems to be...doing fine....being guided by Dazai-san," Haru was quite relieved at the change of subject. "Hoh....so he is the new disciple of Dazai-kun. What a coincidence" he smirked. "..Coincidence?" Haru questioned. "He is related to the wish that you did years ago," Fyodor answered. To this, Haru could only respond with an "Ah....". There weren't many wishes that she told him. In fact, there was only one that she was sure that he told him. The second wish still in waiting as Fyodor himself told her that he wasn't sure if that was Haru wanted at that time and that he would only grant it if she truly wished it from the bottom of her heart so he would give her some time to consider it. But for the first wish she was sure of it and Fyodor had taken it into his hands working with it. Of course it was not for free. But the compensation for that was to be his pen pal as you would call it. Writing him letters and sometimes meeting him like now when he was in the city.

Although there were loads of questions in her mind as to how Atsushi was connected, she didn't voice them. She didn't know but she had that feeling that Fyodor would do it perfectly like she trusted him fully, even though the two of them had only exchanged letters and she could count with her two hands how many times they had met face to face since she was in Port Mafia with security around her and all. And the wish thing was something that Fyodor started, during their third or fourth meeting, he told her that he would grant all her wishes so she should tell him. Really, it was just a spur of the moment. After all, she was still a child back then disheartened by the fact that Dazai scolded her, for not understanding the severity of her situation and her ability.

It was the first time that someone had said something like that to her. Not even Dazai had said it. It was like a ray of hope had been shone to her. She wanted to amend for her mistakes. Too scared to tell Dazai those and what he would do if he found out not only to her but also the subjects of her mistakes. Even if Fyodor was making a joke about it, it didn't matter. She just wanted to tell her desires to someone. The fact that said someone cannot grant it, it didn't matter. Not knowing that she was just about to make it to a devil. But even so, even if he was the devil himself, she didn't care. She just wanted to say it out loud.