That night, Chuuya went to a bar he always did for a drink. He walked into a quiet place with rather dim lighting. Few high stools stood along the counter. As he always did, Chuuya sat on the one nearest to the exit. No one other than him was there with the bartender. There were usually other people but it's nothing out of the ordinary that no one happened to decide to have a drink the same time as him.
Oh goddd why him of all people. The things Ane-san said about falling in--ughh.
He grunted and frustratedly ran his fingers in his hair, messing up his own look. He swallowed the glass of wine within two seconds, a waste to the expensive wine meant to be savoured and enjoyed.
I did rather that stupid waitress didn't flirt with that idiot in the first place tho.
His eyebrows lifted in realisation of a certain possibility.
Maybe they exchanged numbers before we left?
But then he covered his cheeks with a hard slap.
Why do I care? It doesn't concern me even if that idiot is at the girl's house right now.
He then threw both his hands up while rolling his eyes in surrender.
Ah great, I have a freakin crush on that Mackerel, what now ?
''Urrghh !'' He let out his emotion, looking down at his empty glass. ''Can I have beer instead ?'' The man across him nodded and pulled out a bottle from the huge shelf stuffed with more liquor behind him. Without thinking about anything upon reach of his tiny brain, the ginger head drank bottle after bottle.
*
It's morning already.
He stretched his arms. After putting down his suicide manual on the bedside, Dazai bathed and got himself ready...to aggressively pull his short partner out of bed.
Putting on his oversized black coat, he started heading for Chuuya's apartment. The tall boy waltzed into the place only to find no sign of any human being drooling on the mattress.
The bathroom? No. The closet? No. Maybe he's hiding in a cabinet? No. Or is he sleeping on the ceiling? No. Oh what about the wall outside the window?
The brunet checked everywhere. A minute after peeking his head out the window, he headed to the boss' office.
He knocked on the door and poked his head into the office. ''Yes? Dazai-kun?'' Dazai pushed the door further creating a jar wide enough for him to slip in. The ginger head wasn't there. ''Mori-san have you seen my dog ?'' he blurted out. Mori blinked twice, visibly confused. ''Your what ?''
''I mean Chuuya have you seen Chuuya,'' Dazai rephrased his question. ''No,'' Mori replied. The boy turned his head ever so slightly to face a woman in traditional clothes whom was standing near Mori. ''What about you Ane-san ?'' ''Unfortunately no, boy. Is anything wrong ?'' Dazai started walking out. ''No, nothing.''
The noise of the doors closing behind the brunet interrupted the silence in the hallways of the port mafia building. He started dialling his partner's number again and again.
Why isn't he answering any of my calls? He told me he was going out for a drink but I didn't get any calls from the bartender last night asking me to pick up the drunk slug tho.
On the morning streets, Dazai took a turn into an alley. A few more steps, and he stood in front of the entrance of the bar Chuuya always went to. A big ''closed'' sign reflected on the brunet's iris. But instead of leaving, he checked nearby in case the shorty had fallen asleep against a wall or something.
To much disappointment, no one was there. Going through another much narrow alley, he was thinking of where to go next. He passed by the back door of the bar when he suddenly halted his rushing footsteps.
Something's missing.
Usually, Dazai would go through the back door to get into the bar for his drunk partner because he didn't want to deal with other drunk adults at the front entrance mumbling and clinging onto everyone they see. Every single time he walked through the back part of the outlet which was used to store utensils and more liquor, there would be a regular ticking sound.
It was an old clock, a family heirloom to the bartender. He treasured it so much that he put it in a glass box near the back door, which was why people could hear its ticking from the back alley.
But that sound was missing. It was awfully quiet compared to the usual days. Dazai tilted his head and stared at the door for a moment before he decided to lockpick his way in and investigate.
What could possibly happen that caused a clock protected in a thick glass door to break? It's not like it runs on batteries and could stop working at any time.
He made his way through the door and inspected the room. The clock was gone, so was the glass box. The room looked clean and tidy as usual, just some items missing. Some liquor, some glasses, some utensils. Things don't just disappear. A situation like this could only be that the bartender had broken them all at the same time and had thrown them away. But breaking random items on different shelves in one single day? Unless you're drunk, or an ability user new to your ability, or a fight occured here.
Well, no one drunk would be allowed in here, the bartender would literally choose death over letting a drunk man nor other strangers go close to his clock, so the second possibility can be neglected as well.
Dazai was the only one allowed to access that place. And he had only earned the bartender's permission because he had proved that he wasn't any of the violent types. He might be a mafia member capable of sneaking his way in, but he wouldn't do that, the trouble in the aftermath was unnecessary.
Dazai analyzed as his observing eyes caught a sight of something on the floor behind the table base by his side. He then squatted and slowly picked it up, a fiber in the size of his fingernail. He recognised it, it's from the suit the bartender usually wore. Traces of blood stain could be seen on it.
He looked around the table base for more leads, almost going under the table. At the corner of his eyes, he sensed a strange pattern of crimson above him. Blood, a lot of blood. His eyes went dark like a freezing night in the middle of winter.
A fight it is. A fight between struggling victims and their cold-blooded killer.
''Mori-san, Chuuya's missing. And I believe he's in danger,'' Dazai explained to his boss what he had found and hung up as soon as Mori promised to look into the case.
That blood...judging from its looks, it's caused by brutal smashing on a human skull.
YOU ARE READING
Parted Entanglement { ① }
Fanfiction''You used yourself as bait .'' Dazai couldn't see the problem here. What's the shorty upset about ? ''You could've died YOU IDIOT !'' Chuuya snapped as if he could read the question that was on the brunet's mind seconds ago. The next morning, Daza...
