Chapter Text
dazai and chuuya's texts mostly consist of back and forth insults, with occasional updates about cases that might involve the other or their organisations, rarely dazai would ask about kouyou, akutagawa or the black lizards, then once every month or two- chuuya starts a short normal conversation (well as normal a conversation between them could be at least) if he thinks dazai might or is starting to spiral.
so waking up to such a straight forward message from dazai was far from comforting.
mackerel
9:27
[hey nakahara, unfortunately we need your help on a case, please can you come by the agency now if your not working]
9:28
[and don't tell mori yet though, the president is going to talk to him :)]
'nakahara?'
'please?'
'if your not working?'
.
.
.
nakahara?! dazai has never called chuuya that... and it didn't start as a vague message to annoy him? it usually took at least 5 minutes before dazai actually got to his point in general.
so then one of his co-workers probably wrote it? maybe that kunikida guy? but it hardly sounds professional and from what chuuya knows, professional is what that man stands by? so maybe it was that smart detective guy? or the doctor? maybe the weretiger?
but why message him on dazai's phone..? and why is he getting told before mori? the few times they have needed chuuya, contact went through mori first? usually shortly accompanied by a snide text from dazai about them working together...
is he overthinking this? probably. It's gonna end up being a prank from dazai. something to inconvenience and piss him off. but he should probably go to the agency and check if they did need him. There's an alliance for a reason he guesses. even if it is his day off...
...was...
...was his day off.
What he was expecting, was the traffic on the way there. stupid dazai. stupid agency and stupid alliance making him sit in traffic for an hour on his day off.
What he wasn't expecting, was the continued feeling of hostility when he walked through the door. chuuya is aware of the deal between fukuzawa and mori and hes also aware that mori is yet to have made his decision, so there's still doubt about the sincerity of this alliance. but THEY asked HIM to come here so why is this the welcome he gets?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
everyone else stills with a defensive and hesitant nature when a certain port mafia executive wanders in. Well, everyone but kenji who looks up from his plant, smiles, waves and welcomes chuuya like he was a normal client. chuuya kinda can't complain about the others reactions though considering the last time he was here on his own he ended up in an "almost violent" one-sided shouting match with dazai.
"hi mr fancy hat! why are you here?" kenji asks. chuuya doesn't need to be ranpo to figure out ranpo was the one who encouraged the nickname...but he'd rather that then any of the nicknames dazai uses.
"hey kid" he smiles and waves back temporarily forgetting to reply to the question. glancing around he notices that the lack of an annoying brunette with those nicknames he hates but tolerates. he gets straight to the point "what kinda case do you have that means you need my help then? and next time communicate through the boss. not dazai. he's annoying."
"case? we don't have any cases that we need the port mafia's help for." kunikida steps forward, hostility still lingering but it seemed to turn more into confusion when dazai was mentioned. "dazai's not here. if he messaged you saying we need your help then he's pranking you."
"seriously. I'm gonna kill him" chuuya's anger rises even if he expected this outcome. "where is he?"
"we sent him home early yesterday" yosano explains "he was completely out of it. he's been here 4 years and I've never seen him actually sick. drunk, yes. hungover, yes. injured, more times then I'd like to count. but sick? he hides things too well" her tone turns hesitant and she moves closer to the group and turns her attention to chuuya "in the mafia. did he ever get sick? what is he like when he's sick? ...how can I help him?" yosano was a doctor. one who hated the fact she couldn't help dazai the way she could the others and one who hated the way she couldn't help where he needs it either.
"I uhh..." chuuya had only seen dazai seriously ill three times and 'completely out of it' was an accurate description. Headache, stomachache or anything small and he'd just be a bit slower with things but otherwise he hid it well. he's seen dazai go through withdrawal from whatever drugs mori made him take but even then he was with it enough to know what was happening. But he was in a different world when he was seriously ill. the only time he'd be somewhat coherent would be when chuuya was trying to drag him out of that damn shipping container to help him, where he'd use all of his energy trying and failing to prove he's fine, he was dead weight that didn't want to do anything but rot away from society in his pathetic excuse of a home.
"i guess so? but there's not really anything you could do. the bastard won't let you help him even if you could."
"what did he message you saying...?" atsushi pipes up
chuuya shows them the message, noticing a confused and amused look from yosano when he clicks on his messages with 'mackerel' and when she sees the exchanged insults before he shows them the intended message. "I've known him for long enough to figure it was a prank. i'm not that gullible. but he's never called me nakahara... it's... weird"
he wants to say worrying but he can't.
"should we go ask the president? maybe it's something that we haven't been told about yet?" tanizaki hesitates
"even with the alliance i doubt the president would meet with just mori, chuuya and dazai..." kunikida shoots a suspicious look chuuya's way. "...could any of you be planning something"
that look pisses chuuya off again "hey what the hell are-"
before his retort can be finished kunikida's laptop flickers and everyone's attention turns to look in confusion. A video starts, showing a figure wandering through a corridor humming a familiar tune, atsushi and tanizaki turn and take a quick glance at their laptops seeing the same video showing on them just without sound.
as if reading everyone's mind, ranpo reports "that's not a video."
"what...?"
"It's a livestream." ranpo's voice shakes a little.
chuuya notices their faces pale at the statement, confused by everyone's changes and curiosity over what's being shown leads chuuya into staying to watch.
after the tune he was humming comes to an end, the guy approaches a locked door and covers the camera while opening it. Their steps in the room being accompanied by an indescribable sound.
"ah how disappointing... it seems sleeping beauty is still asleep" the voice is deep in mockery while a hand still covers the camera.
rustling can be heard and its clear the camera is being propped up somewhere
A short smug laugh is heard "i hope you enjoy the show"
confusion turned shock turned horror as the figure backs away, Revealing familiar brunette waves slumped forward, now more clumps from blood than waves, familiar bandages and a shirt usually white now turned red and hung loose, beige pants the same shade and stone floor more red then grey...