Icy Protector

4| It's been a while, Akutagawa

We get to the alley where the fighting is going on. Dazai jumps down off the roof between Akutagawa and Atsushi. He reaches out his hands to touch Atsushi and Akutagawa's Rashomon, disabling their abilities.

"That's enough!" Dazai says loudly as I jump down off the roof.

"You're with the agency!" Higuchi shouts. "Why are you here?"

"I'm interested in stalking beautiful ladies," Dazai says holding the listening device. "I slipped this on you."

"What?" Higuchi asks loudly looking in her pockets. "A big?" She takes the listening device out of her pocket. "So you two saw through my plan all along."

"Exactly. It's been a while Akutagawa," I say walking over to where Atsushi is laying on the ground. "He's not dead. He's just passed out."

"Stop! Stop right there! You think you can go back alive?" Higuchi shouts at us, aiming at the machine gun.

Dazai and I laugh.

"Stop. You can't beat those two," Akutagawa says.

"Mr. Akutagawa, but..."

"Bellatrix, Dazai, I will let you go this time. But we will come back for that were-tiger sooner or later."

"Why?" Dazai asks.

"Simple, because of the black market. There's a seven billion yen bounty on his head. The sum is more than enough to seize control of the underground."

"That's exciting. I guess we'll be seeing more of you then, right?" I ask.

"If you don't want us to take him, you can give us seven billion yen and we won't bother you again."

I laugh. "You think we'd back down from just one threat? You must forget where we came from," I say.

"So you fancy a war? With the agency? Nice, you've got guts," Dazai says. "Give us your best shot if you dare."

"Tsk. You are just a small agency! And we're the underworld of this city! We have dozen of enterprises under our control! Our influence extends to politics, economics, and many other sectors of this city!  An agency with just a handful of people will only take us a couple of days to burn to ashes! No one has ever survived after defying us!"

"We know that," I say.

"Of course," Akutagawa says. "You two know better than anyone, ex-mafia executive Dazai and Bellatrix."

"They were executives?" Higuchi shouts.

"Yes," I say and pick Atsushi up, humming. "Come on Dazai. You get Naomi and Tanizaki."

"Where do you two think you going?"

"We're leaving," I say walking past them. "It was nice seeing you after all this time, Akutagawa."

"Let them go, Higuchi," Akutagawa says as we walk past them carrying our colleagues. 

"Have a good day!" I say.

As we're walking back, Dazai asks, "Why do you still put on a nice act?"

"Because at heart I am a nice person. Also, it helps that if you are kind and seem light-hearted, people will lower their guard around you. Anyways, you know the other side of me. It's all fun and games until someone pisses me off."

"Makes sense. I probably am one of the only ones alive that knows your other side best."

"We need to hurry, we need to get Naomi and Tanizaki back to the office before they die."

We get to the office and I lay Atsushi in one of the beds in the infirmary. Dazai leaves Naomi and Tanizaki with Yosano.

"What happened?" Kunikida asks as we leave the infirmary.

"They ran into the Port Mafia," Dazai says.

"If we don't give them seven billion yen or Atsushi, they will wage war against us."

"How are you staying so calm?" Kunikida asks loudly.

"Because I know that we can defeat them," I say walking back to my desk and taking out my notebook. "Why don't you head over to where Atsushi is and watch over him? He'll probably have questions when he wakes up."

"Alright."

"Dazai," I say and he sits down at his desk. "So, since we stopped the Port Mafia, they will probably target us first even if Atsushi tries to run away."

"Why do you think he'd try to run away?"

"Probably because he doesn't want any of us to get hurt so he would think that it's best if he left. That wouldn't matter though because the mafia would target us first as we got in the way of them capturing Atsushi."

"We don't need to worry. You said so yourself," Dazai says.

"True, but the rest of the agency is probably worried," I say and Kunikida comes into the office. "Atsushi's awake, right?"

"Yes," Kunikida says.

"Alright, I'm going to go see him."

I head over to the infirmary and sit on the edge of the bed Atsushi's in.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"Fine, just tired."

"Are you sure, that must have been pretty frightening for you?"

"I'm alright."

"Okay. As my apprentice, I will do everything I can to protect you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"You won't have to worry about me. I don't want to be a burden to you guys."

"Look at me. You are not a burden. Remember that," I say patting him on the head.