Reticent | Nakahara Chūya; AU [✔]

f o u r t e e n |

For one stressed out singer and parent whose blood probably circulates on alcohol, even at his 40's, Nakahara Chuuya was too good-looking to be true. Meanwhile, the daughter Nakahara Orianna feels like a dying potato all because of that stress that was caused upon her.

What is Chuuya's secret to such an anti-aged look? He chooses nothing but the best... in which no one knew about it so now Orianna was desperate to find out if her father uses any cosmetics or some stuff.

Sneakily infiltrating her father's room, she quietly rummaged through his drawer. To her disappointment, she only found a bunch of papers, pens, and receipts for all of the wine that he purchased. Quickly going to the closet in hopes to find anything, all she saw were very organized clothes, neatly hanged along with its matching pants. Next to it were various shelves filled with -- yep, you guessed it right;

Hats. A bunch of hats stacked on top of each other. Surprisingly, he did have other varieties, and not just that one black hat that she always see him wear.

And now she wonders why Chuuya gets mad over her own collection of shoes.

Discovering all of these things about her father made her realize that maybe she doesn't really know him well at all like she thought. She felt like he was keeping deeper secrets that she either needs to know or not to know.

"Orianna!" A voice of a man screamed and echoed, making the girl scream in return. She turned around to see her father half-naked once again, obviously fresh from the bath judging from the water dripping from his long orange hair. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

She froze there speechless; she couldn't just say that she was trying to find the secret of his anti-aging looks! Quickly collecting her composure, a random excuse came out of her mouth.

"I was looking for the cutter."

Chuuya gave her a glare filled with confusion and doubt. "Why in my closet, though? It's in the drawer."

"But I already looked in the drawer and it's not there!" Orianna's random excuse was working, and she decided to play along with it. Other than that, there really was no cutter when she checked the drawer.

However, in the end she is still screwed for trespassing and going through his stuff without consent. She knows too well that parents always seem to magically make stuff appear in places that you've already checked but still fail to find it.

"Get out of here and I'll put some clothes on," Chuuya commanded, but immediately took it back, a smug smile plastering on to his face. "Or... would you like to see a grand finale~?"

"Nope, I'm getting out." Orianna replied, laughing at her father's statement as she was getting out of the room. She had let him be for now and went back to her own room, jumping to the bed and played a little Geometry Dash or something.

And again, she thought of that photo of her and her mother once again. She stood up from bed and went to sit down in front of her mirror, grabbing the hand-sized picture frame. Her eyes would go back and forth to the mirror and the photo, observing any similarities that she may have.

People often tell her that she looked almost similar to her father, saying things like she was lucky for not being able to inherit all or most of her traits that belonged to her mother. They were right; she was almost a female version of Chuuya, just not with the hairstyle and the eye shape. Otherwise, everything in her was Chuuya -- from the hair and eye color, skin complexion, nose and the shape of her face.

Except the majestic singing voice, of course. How unlucky.

The door right next to the mirror opened, revealing her father holding up the cutter like he was a serial killer or something -- the way he holds the blade up, his sinister smile, and the lack of light in her room.

Chuuya welcomed himself in, placing the cutter on top of the dresser in front of her. "Here you go." But then he noticed that she was holding the picture frame as well, getting a glimpse of it and changing the topic. "What's on your mind? Why are you looking at the picture of your mom?"

"People tell me I look like you," Orianna straightforwardly said. "But then I got curious if I got any physical traits from her, since they also tell me that I was lucky enough that I am not a carbon copy of her."

Her father did not say a word. He really doesn't like talking about his wife -- even at work, if anyone tries to remind him, it either gets him pissed off or he leaves the place in rage. However, he can't do that in front of his daughter -- he's truly afraid that she may found out.

"Dad," Orianna continued, placing the picture frame back to where it was located on her mirror table. "I wanna thank you for what you do just for the two of us to stand up on our own even without my mom. Can I treat you at a cafe tomorrow, and I am kinda curious of some stuff."

"Does this have to do anything about The 0619 Case?" Chuuya asked, but only earning a shook head from his daughter to confirm negative.

"I just want to know more about me and my origins."

∞

It has been about four or five hours since their last meal. Even with the heavy intake of food that they all had a while ago, all of it felt like their digestive system had already consumed all of its vitamins and minerals, the sugar and fat to keep their energies up, and the liquid that keeps them hydrated. All of it were almost gone.

They went back down to the lobby to get some rest, sitting down on the couches and doing some stretches. The sun has set already without them noticing it; the skies were in its black shade with stars twinkling like bulbs. Being that busy to hunt the killer down, they've already forgotten their own personal lives at their homes and work.

"Nature is calling me again," Nakahara slouched back to his seat, his head hanging on the edge of the head of the couch. "You have any restrooms here, huh Dazai?"

Dazai pointed at a single door somewhere near the grand stairs, feeling too tired to speak any other words. Nakahara groggily got out of his comfortable position and went to satisfy his necessities.

Whilst the others were relieved of finally getting a short break, Sakagami had her elbows rested on her knees, covering her face in complete worry. She let out a sigh of frustration -- she wanted to go home, but she knows she's screwed if she does.

"Everything okay, Ori?" Tanizaki comforted her along with Nakajima on the other side.

Sakagami shook her head no. "Dad told me that I should be back before sundown, but here I am now still with you guys."

"You still have curfew even up to this day?" Nakajima said in surprise. "You're already a grown woman with a job and a high income from it, and yet you're still suck under your dad's command."

The goddess sighed in defeat, burying her face to her hands even more. Locks of her shiny, platinum hair went loose from her ears. "I know, it sucks to be caged."

"Do you want water? I'll get everyone a beverage." Tanizaki volunteered. Nakajima gestured him to be careful, knowing for a fact that the killer may take him down if left alone.

Everyone was quiet once again -- Tanizaki in the kitchen and Nakahara just came out of the restroom feeling better than ever. Akutagawa came there afterwards, feeling like he couldn't hold it up any longer. It felt awkward now altogether, now that they weren't sure if they were even going to be able to find the killer or end up being in the same fate as the others.

Like mentioned, it was a maze with no guarantee of finding the end of it.

Akutagawa was finished with his call of nature and Nakajima was starting to worry. Tanizaki hasn't come back from the kitchen and it has been more than five minutes since he went there.

"Tanizaki's taking too long." Nakajima called the attention of everyone, shooting all their alert mode back on. Having to sacrifice their relaxed positions again, they all got up and walked together towards the kitchen in a tip-toe manner.

Thinking that the killer won't notice their presence if they try to be stealthy, all their theories were proven wrong the moment they entered the kitchen door frame.