Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
3rd Person / Dazai's P.O.V
Most of the italics are Dazai's thoughts.
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The silence between them was interrupted by the repeated beeping of the microwave. Dazai left momentarily to shut it up. Hands still shaking slightly, he returned with two sets of utensils and the reheated curry. Offering some to his friend, he tried to ignore how fast his heart was still beating for some reason. Coffee was definitely a bad idea right now. 
Kunikida downed yet another glass and apologized for interrupting Dazai's dinner. While Dazai felt even more out of place. No comments about me eating a full meal? No, admittedly justified, accusation of him messing with the food as a joke? The world really is going mad! 
"There's no need to apologize. You need a place to vent or drink with someone who has no room to judge." Dazia said with a casual shrug. "Besides, you're universally liked all around the city. I doubt you could even walk into a bar without it becoming gossip." He said with a sly smile. Kunikida gave a slightly bitter sounding chuckle as he finally stopped staring at his glass. Dazia nodded towards a utensil that sat idly by the steaming food. Kunikida sighed and poked at some before deciding to snag a bite. 
Definitely mad. Dazia thought.
"Eventually confiscating that alcohol is not the only reason I stopped by. I'm… starting to worry about Atsushi."
"Oh? Has our little tiger gotten himself into more trouble? Trying to help more mafia orphans or is Akutagawa trying to kidnap him again?" 
"No, it's none of that. And it's not just me, Rampo noticed it too, but until now we were content taking Asushi's word that he's just been tired because of his recent overtime. But apparently," 
A.K.A according to Ranpo.
"It started almost a month ago. He was yawning a little more than usual or looked a little more worn out after a fight. Then he started actively looking like he hadn't slept. And just yesterday, since it was slow, Yosono offered him a bed to take a nap, but from the look he gave her, you'd have thought she threatened to wear his spine as a belt.."
That certainly is odd. Poor kid. Dazai thought before replying, "Have you tried asking Kyouka? Maybe he's just stressed or having a bit of insomnia?" 
He said, being a fellow insomniac. 
Kunikida nodded as he took another bite. "Ranpo asked, and she said he's been sleeping fine. Perhaps a bit more fidgety than usual, but the full moon is coming up, so she assumed that was the cause."
Just then, there were a few loud knocks at the door. Dazai had to physically restrain himself from reaching for his gun. He couldn't let his own paranoia show right now. Damn it, his heart really needs to calm the hell down. Dazai intended to leave his friend in the kitchen, but Kunikida must have noticed his hesitation. The blonde quickly moved next to the door, pressing his back to the wall, and stood at the ready. Dazai nodded as he passed by, standing in front of said door. Dazai gripped the door handle, only to be greeted with another knock and a disturbingly familiar voice on the other side. 
Kunikida's voice, in fact.
"Dazia? Dazia, are you in there?"
There was a sigh, followed by a grumbling "you better not be trying something stupid. You pre-wrapped mummy. " The voice grew loud again, "Look, I know this is sudden, but I really need to talk to you. I even brought a few peace offerings if that helps. Boba and..some stuff.." The voice faded out towards the end. Dazai shifted his weight to his back foot and looked at the Kunikida in his apartment. Paranoia and my heart rate be damned. What the fuck??
The man next to him looked pale and his face was stricken. He shook his head and turned to fully face Dazai, putting one hand up in surrender as the other hand moved to his chest. Dazai's own free hand made a clear show of reaching for his gun, not taking his eyes off the person next to him. The man reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. "Doppo Poet," he whispered, and in an instance, the small sheet turned into a pen and dropped to the floor.
Dazai gave him a once-over and frowned, lowering his gun to the leg of the man next to him. He closed one eye and moved to look out the peephole. There was nothing, the peephole only showeing a murky white film. Dazai nearly growled as he threw open the door. Kunikida, still with his hands in the air, only leaned forward slightly so he could look outside. On the ground were two plastic bags and a to-go cup of boba. The murky film was caused by a note that was taped over the peephole.
Dazai swiftly moved to the end of the balcony, looking around for anyone nearby. Kunikida followed, firmly putting his hands on the handrail to continue showing that he wasn't a threat. 
"Ah, that must be the famously rigid Doppo Poet." Called a figure from the end of the parking lot. "That explains why you didn't answer my oh-so generous peace offering." 
That voice sounded like someone was trying to synthetically create Kunikida's voice: the inflections in 'his' speech pattern were distinctly off, the base and flat notes in the voice were too deep, and everything had a metallic hum to it. Worse yet, was that from this distance, it really did almost look like Kunikida standing there, save for the baggy blue hoodie and other nondescript clothing.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Kunikida shouted. The figure only chuckled. A disturbing, too-deep, mockery of the straightforward blonde. The figure turned to leave the lot. "You'll be seeing some of the fruits of our labor very soon. Oh, and give my condolences to the were-tiger. Unless you rather I give them myself?"
Dazai almost fired a few shots in the impersonator's direction, but they had already stepped into the shadows and disappeared with a large grin on that stolen face.
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Oh boy, it is good to back!
I'll try to post the next chapter by Sunday. After that, I'm going to try and post a chapter once a week or every other week depending on my hectic class/work schedule.
-S