Frist Days Of Peace// Suegiku

Ch. 5

No one was expecting Fukuchi to show up the next day. And he didn't. It was almost as if all of their positive memories and interactions with him over the last months were all faked and then erased. Even Teruko couldn't care less about the fact that he was missing. Jouno and Tecchou had never shared their secret intel with the others.

That morning wasn't very spectacular, the four of them spent the noon shopping, simply passing time until Jouno and Tecchou had to leave for their rendezvous with the ada.

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It was already 4 pm when the two invited hunting dogs appeared at the detective agency's grillparty. The party was held in an empty space underneath dry pine trees right next to the nearest bay. For the members of the agency, it wasn't a long way as they only had to walk three minutes from their hotel, but the hunting dogs had to drive quite a while to get there, resulting in them being fashionably late.

Some of the ada members were already in mid preparations, while others simply sat down on a picknick blanket, playing cards. Yosano spotted the newcomers, she grabbed the nearest bowl with olives and approached them right away.

"G'day guys! Nice to see you actually came after being 2 hours late. Have some olives, we'll start grilling in 2 to 3 hours so make yourself comfortable in the meantime."

Jouno was about to reach for the olives when his friend stumbled towards the card players, nudging him slightly.

"Hey! Watch where you're going stupid!"

Yosano giggled as she asked: "Now now, where's your little friend heading off so soon? He completely ignored my poor food."

"Yeah, my 'little friend' is probably hanging out with his new bestie again, tsk as if he doesn't already have the best company with me."

As it turned out Yosano and Jouno got along quite well, mostly because they shared a common interest in well... sadism. Time flew as everyone got accustomed to the strong smell of pine resin and the sound of collective laughter, and before anyone knew Kunikida and Fukuzawa announced the dinner.

Everyone enjoyed their food, some choosing a classic steak, like Tecchou, Kenji or Naomi. Others preferred the vegetarian variant of grilled potatoes and vegetables, those were Fukuzawa and surprisingly Yosano for example. Of course, there had to be some extra people, those chose fricking sausages. Guess what, Jouno and Ranpo made a secret competition out of who ate the most sausages.

After a long time fighting over food (normal day in bsd), the evening ambience finally kicked in and everyone moved from the chairs and tables to the blankets. There weren't many so everyone had to sit quite close to each other.

The plan was: playing a game called "weretiger" with some agency members and the two hunting dogs. The players were Atsushi, Ranpo, Kenji, a drunk Dazai, evenly drunk Yosano, Fukuzawa, Tanizaki and of course Jouno and Tecchou.

First a narrator had to be chosen, to which Fukuzawa volunteered. Then the role cards were handed out and the story began. Everybody closed their eyes as Fukuzawa started telling the tale.

"Once in a small town, long forgotten and covered by forest, a horrible tragedy took place. The weretiger infection spread and many of the citizen turned into blood-thirsty monsters at night, searching a new victim every time the sun set in that once so peaceful village. But that wasn't the only mysterious and magical thing there. It was a place where witches, seers and many other kinds of magical creatures settled down. While the romantic sunsets let the roofs shine golden, the first nightly visitor awakened. It was the master of love, cupid. He wandered around the houses, ready to give love to two sad souls. You may now awake if your role card shows cupid"