the beauty of water: resurfaced | o. dazai ✔

chapter fourteen.

Junichiro stayed with the car, waiting as Kunikida made his way to the payphone. They went out the edge of Yokohama, a good distance away from the safehouse. It was a safer bet to use the payphones available than to use his personal phone – at least in his own opinion.

Kunikida pulled his notebook out from his vest, opening right to the page where Hinami scrawled her number out. He took a moment to dial, careful not to hit any unintended numbers. God knows who else he could've called purely from one careless mistake.

He closed his notebook again, holding it to his side as he put the phone to his ear, listening to it quietly ring. He didn't let it touch his skin, once again not knowing who else could've used it. He should've wiped it down – that would've been the careful thing to do. He wasn't totally sure why he didn't right when he entered the small space.

"Hello?"

That was when he remembered. "Asagiri? This is Kunikida," he began, speaking formally into the phone. "I wanted to call to let you know how (Y/n) has been doing since you left."

"Oh good – and how is she doing?"

"She's doing fine. Things have been uneventful – no threats or fights have occurred. Though I did hear that that idiot Dazai managed to slam a door right into her face."

Hinami hissed, some of it coming out as static through the phone. "That's gotta hurt. I kind of expected something like that to happen though."

Kunikida furrowed his brows slightly. "What do you mean? You expect Dazai to hurt (Y/n)?"

"Not in the way your tone seems to indicate." She laughed slightly, causing Kunikida to relax slightly. "He's been trying to apologize properly, so I can get that his mind might not be in the present moment. And when your mind isn't present, you forget things and accidents happen."

"That idiot forgets things without worrying about fixing a relationship," Kunikida scoffed. He then followed up with in a much gentler tone, "I can see where you're coming from though."

"Well I certainly hope so." There was a slight pause – it was almost as if Kunikida wasn't sure what came next. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

He hesitated at first, then he just took the plunge: "Are you okay, Asagiri?"

"You are aware that you can just use 'Hinami', right? I mean, you've used it before."

Kunikida took a sharp breath. "Okay, Hinami, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. The officers here have been very understanding – my family is just all freaked out now," she explained. She eventually let out a sigh and he could tell she was shaking her head – her hair snapped slightly against the phone. "It'll be fine though. I have a feeling that this is all going to be resolved very soon, right?"

Kunikida wasn't sure how to answer. They didn't know much about where Aimi was hiding nor were they sure how Zack Fujinuma's voice was heard in that chilling voicemail. The police in Yokohama have been less than helpful on top of that. She was organized and clever – a horrid combination in a murderer.

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he said, "I... I'm sure it will be. I will call you again soon to check in. Stay safe."

"You too." With that, the call ended.

Kunikida lied to her. He usually wasn't the type to lie about these things; yet, that was what he did.

He placed the phone down and held up his notebook. He fished for a pen in his pocket, opening the notebook and flipped a few pages inward. He stopped when he reached his requirements for his future wife.