❝Rethink❞ (BNHA x BSD)

♡ Chapter 6 ♥

Umbrellas are great, they hide your face from surveillance cameras. This meant that I safely made it to the Detective Agency without causing immediate alarm for the Port Mafia. It was rare for students to leave, and there was no reason for the Mafia to think it wasn't me.

~

I walked up the stairs to the 4th floor. Compared to the out-there style of the Mafia when it came to offices, the Detective Agency's felt off. It was as if they didn't care. Maybe they didn't have to care because they didn't do anything bad.

I knocked, unlike a regular member of the Mafia. But I entered without waiting for a response, unlike a polite member of society.

"Yees?"

I scanned the room until I spotted a slightly messy brunette, who turned out to be a very tall brunette.

"I'm looking for Dazai."

"That's me. This way please." He gestured towards a chocolate brown sofa that faced two armchairs of the same colour, all of which was separated from the rest of the room with folding screens. Very private. Thankfully he was the only person in the office.

I sat down on the sofa and he occupied one of the chairs after getting me a random tea. A tea I didn't end up drinking. "How may I help you?"

"I'm Eliana, nice to meet you." I held out my hand for a handshake but pulled it towards him and kissed it instead.

"Dazai Osamu, charmed."

He was still holding my hand and I felt the need to add, "I work for the Port Mafia."

He kissed my hand again. "Enchanted." I pulled my hand away. Something was wrong with this man.

"I want to quit the mafia," I blurted out. Boom, it was official: I had broken the three rules of the mafia in a single day.

He looked at me for a while before asking, "Why?"

"I have to befriend some people from the Hero Course class 1-A. That alone makes me feel guilty. And now Mori has me applying for a spot in class 1-A without me knowing."

He smiled. "That isn't the Port Mafia's doing."

"Excuse me?" I deadpanned.

"That was me."

I covered my mouth with my hand.

"Listen closely, Eliana." He leaned in, and I hesitantly mirrored him. "The main goal of the Armed Detective Agency is to balance out Port Mafia's shady business, but both organisations cooperate with the government from time to time. And when our Ranpo-san heard about the plans for a training camp in the woods, he predicted that something would happen that would begin the downfall of the hero society as we know it."

I was, in fact, still too astonished to speak.

"The hero society, as we know it, depends on you, Eliana. Everyone is counting on you."

I covered my face with my hands in frustration. "This is not helping!" Now I realised that I kind of preferred Mori's style of keeping me in the dark. The pressure was rising.

"Eliana, I promise you that if you are successful, I will help you leave the Port Mafia. But for now, please do your best." His voice was so sincere, yet so void of any compassion. "Who gives you orders?" he asked in a very by-the-way tone.

"Nakahara Chuuya," I replied.

He tsk-ed, made a disappointed face, and crossed his arms.

"You don't like him?"

"Hate him."

"Dazai-san, will you really help me?"

"Why should I not?" He sounded surprised.

"You asked me why I wanted to quit. Isn't it obvious I wouldn't want to stay with an organisation that makes me do things I don't want to?"

"You're saying that you don't want to quit because of the way you feel in the Mafia?"

"Wait, what, huh? Isn't that exactly what I said?"

"I'm not saying you don't have a valid reason to leave, but it also seems to me that you're making excuses, Eliana."

I looked at him for a while, unable to comprehend his full meaning. Whatever. It didn't matter at that moment.

"Thank you, I'll do my best!"

~

I headed to the Port Mafia Office instead of going back to school. Once I arrived, I asked one of Sir Nakahara's staffmembers to deal with my absence from school and headed to the training room. I had some steam to blow off. The only positive discovery of the whole ordeal was that the Mafia trusted me enough not to listen in on me.

Once I had calmed and cooled down, I went to Sir Nakahara's office. But he wasn't there. The room was nice and I liked being in it though. It wasn't very spacious, but it had big windows that overlooked the busy traffic. Far away on a hill loomed U.A High. My favourite parts of the room were the beautiful bookshelves. I loved sliding my fingertips over the spines of ancient knowledge.

In the back of the rectangular room was a dark wooden desk with a modest armchair, but the room had no other places to sit. If I were stupid, I would have sat on his chair until he arrived. But that would have been disrespectful. I knew my place.

I stood at the window and observed the traffic for about ten minutes. The rain had almost stopped, it was now a slight drizzle. I turned as he entered the room, dismissed the guards, and spoke, "Darling, what are you doing here so early?"

"I think I really screwed up," I quietly confessed.

"But it seems to me you didn't screw up enough to be too scared to come here."

"Only because I knew you'd be here, Chuuya."

He took my arm and led me towards the table. He pulled the chair back, gesturing me to sit. After some declining he got me to sit down at the desk. He himself crouched down at the opposite side and folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on his hands. His smiling face, which reminded me of a puppy looking up, was supposed to encourage me to elaborate. Honestly it was adorable, but it wasn't right.

"Chuuya, not like this. Bad things have happened near tables today," I said, worry evident in my voice as I pulled him to stand. I walked back to the window, hoping that observing the traffic would give me strength to continue the conversation.

I don't know what I had expected Sir Nakahara to do while I was standing by the window, but I was not ready for him to gently pull my body into a back-hug. My whole body tensed up.

"Relax, I'm sure what happened isn't that bad," he quietly said into my left ear.

I tried to take his advice and started by exhaling. I placed my arms over his, completing the hug in a sense. Now it was socially acceptable to pull away. But he didn't let me.

"When was the last time someone hugged you, hm?" he asked.

"When was the last time someone hugged you?" I replied as I turned around between his arms to hug him properly, as equals (= two individuals in dire need of some affection).

This time he let me go. And just as he did, Akutagawa entered.