the beauty of water: deep end | o. dazai ✔

chapter twenty-five.

Atsushi stepped towards Dazai, holding his hand out to him. "D... Dazai?"

Dazai didn't respond, only crying into (Y/n) as she laid limp in his arms. Atsushi was unsure what to do – whether to comfort his superior, the one who had been helping and saving him time and time again, or to take care of Aimi, the one who had killed a detective of the Agency (a member who did the right thing and helped others no matter the cost).

Aimi let out a cackle. "You see! That's what it feels like! To have someone who love dearly ripped away from you in mere seconds. It's awful, isn't it?!"

"You need to shut up," Kunikida snapped, twisting her arm as to force her to let go of the gun. "You aren't in the position to make statements like that – not now or ever."

Tanizaki quickly took her other arm, attempting to pin it behind her back but was having more trouble than he initially thought he would. A mix of Aimi's harsh thrashing and unusual strength made it difficult to hold her back.

It eventually led the two agents to throw themselves into the backwall, falling down as it toppled over and broke. They were able to get Aimi on her stomach, pressing her against the ground as they were finally able to pin her arms behind her back.

Yosano and Kyoka soon came out after they heard the commotion. Kyoka slightly hid behind Yosano, who led a quick pace towards the scene. She gasped when she saw (Y/n)'s bloody, limp body, covering her mouth with her glove at the sight.

She quickly went over to (Y/n), leaving Kyoka to go to Atsushi – whose job was to now watch over her as the others worked the scene. Yosano grabbed (Y/n)'s wrist, pulling up her sleeve as she felt for a pulse.

"She's already gone..." Dazai muttered, looking up to Yosano with puffy red eyes. "All that's left is the shell of her soul..."

Kunikida looked over to Yosano and asked, "Is there anything you can do, Dr. Yosano? Anything at all."

"I'm afraid not, Kunikida," she responded, her voice calm and quiet. "(Y/n) is already dead, there is nothing I can do now."

She stood back up, straightening up her skirt as she took a couple steps back. She rubbed her chin as she said, "How are we going to tell Ranpo? He loved (Y/n) more than any of us did, maybe even more than Dazai..."

"You'll tell him that she got what she deserved!" Aimi interjected with a gruff tone, only to be silenced again by Kunikida pressing his elbow into her back.

"You stay quiet," he hissed. He turned back to Yosano and said, "We'll just tell him and the President the truth."

"Tell us what truth?"

Everyone froze (excluding Aimi as she still attempted to free herself). The ones who could turned to look towards the agency's front door, finding Fukuzawa and Ranpo standing in the frame.

Ranpo, who had a bag of chips and a water bottle, walked over to the scene silently. He had nothing to say for once, only stepping over broken pieces of the wall and blood stains.

He stood in front of Dazai and (Y/n), beginning to uncap the water bottle. "Dazai, move your head out of (Y/n)'s chest for a moment."

He did as Ranpo asked, not bothering to look up at him as he kept his eyes on (Y/n)'s. He reached up, pressing his fingers on her eyelids and slowly closing them.

His moment was interrupted when he felt a slight splash of cold water, most of it hitting (Y/n). He shot his head back towards Ranpo and asked, "What was that for?"

"To activate her ability – duh." Ranpo threw his empty water bottle aside. "Now let go of her so she can heal."

Dazai looked back to (Y/n), scanning her body up and down before stopping at her knee. Memories of the bloody bandages from two years ago reentered his mind – prompting him to do as Ranpo instructed.