Chapter 33: Beauty is Quiet Like a Stone Statue

                                    

                                          
(Season 1, Episode 9)
"Since when do you like to go shopping?" I turned to the brunette beside me while reviewing my grocery list.
"Can I not just spend time with a beautiful lady, such as yourself?" He flirted.
	"Ugh, what am I going to do with you, Osamu?" I sighed. 
	"I saw your list earlier, so I thought you'd need help carrying it all," he admitted. "Plus, I forgot to tell you that I'm almost out of bandages."
	"Wow, you're being genuinely nice for once, what a shocker." I smiled, as we headed to one of the stores. "The bandages are in that aisle over there. I'll be in the produce section, so meet me over there when you're done."
	"Okay."
	We headed in separate directions. Once I made it to the produce aisle, I picked out some strawberries and a few other things that I needed for that week. 
***
I had to be there for at least fifteen minutes, since I was going slower to allow Osamu to catch up. He never showed. Pulling out my phone in annoyance, I texted him and got no response. I'm certain he has his phone on him. 
Calling him didn't work either, since it went straight to voicemail. Ugh, I'm never going shopping with him again. He's like one of those kids who need a backpack leash. 
I rushed to the bandage section only to find it deserted. Looking down, I saw three rolls of bandages strewn across the floor. Now that I think about it, the Port Mafia is back in the picture. Did he get kidnapped?
	I quickly finished my shopping, thinking about what could've happened. Maybe I'm just overthinking it and he's trying to scare me. If he was kidnapped, there's nothing I could do. He must've let himself get taken if anything. That dumbass.
Oh well. He probably knows what he's doing, so there's no reason to worry... I think.
***
An hour later, I returned to the Agency. It became clear that Osamu wasn't the only one missing; Atsushi had been kidnapped as well.
	"Atsushi has been abducted!" Junichiro reported to Kunikida. 
	"Abducted? Well, that's terrible timing." That's what he's worried about? "That Ministry  escort job already has the Agency in an uproar. We don't have enough hands-on deck to go looking for him. Do we have any information on what happened?"
	"We do." Junichiro pulled out his notebook. "Based on eyewitness reports, he was attacked in broad daylight and shoved into a truck. Destination: unknown."
	"Well, that's not good," the blonde huffed. "There are numerous dedicated smuggling routes. Moving a single person in secret would be child's play."
	"We have to do something to help him," I argued. 
	"Do we really?" Ranpo sighed. "Why's that? He was captured because of the bounty on him as a weretiger. Sounds like a personal matter to me. We're not exactly his foster family and it's not like he joined the Agency to gain our protection."
	"Maybe not, but Atsushi is one of our own now," Junichiro countered. 
	"Actually, Ranpo is right about this," Kunikida agreed. "We shouldn't be the ones to take action."
	"I guess we should inform the police then," Ranpo suggested. 
	"They've designated Atsushi as a major threat, we'd take a hit if they knew he worked here," I reminded the group.