Reticent | Nakahara Chūya; AU [✔]

s e v e n t e e n |

So much for having a good night sleep when they've forgot that they are still with someone who is quite sickly and noisy during the dead hours of the night. Akutagawa, of course, always couldn't help himself but to cough at random times. This time, his cough was rather too violent that it disturbed the others, as well.

Akutagawa woke up from the feeling of a wet and warm touch coming from his hands, spreading all the way up to his sleeves. His sensitive nose was smelling something unpleasant, making him not only cough but also sneeze at some intervals. Having to feel that he couldn't sleep either, he opened his gray eyes to see if there was anything that could be a source of his agitation.

His right arm was wrapped around Nakajima, the person sleeping on the right side of him. The source of the feeling of being drenched was coming from his body, in which he lifted up to see not a transparent substance, but a hue of opaque red.

To his outburst of panic, he pushed Nakajima towards the next person that he was lying to. The knockback of the push disturbed Dazai on his left, waking up the rest of them as a effect.

Kunikida woke up back to reality first, feeling the blood of Nakajima spread all over his back as well. Wearing his glasses back to see more clearly, the first thing he saw was Akutagawa knelt down on the cushion with his bloody hands raised up.

"So it was really you, after all?" From cool-headed to agitated real quick, the blonde got up from his lying position, pushing Nakajima's dead body off of the white cushions.

As soon as the other's sense of reality came back to them, they shot up like a ninja, leaving Akutagawa surrounded by all of them.

"R-Ryuu..." Sakagami was shocked of what she saw. She was friends with him and they had each others' trust, but now all those thoughts about him suddenly changed. "I-I know you didn't like most of the people in class, b-but I never knew you'd do something up to this extent."

"I-It's not what you think! I woke up to this scene!" Akutagawa tried to reason out, but it was no use in trying to defend themselves. The scenario was getting worse and worse, and the remaining people alive could not stand any more excuses.

Especially when they've already thought of Akutagawa being the killer since the very beginning; this sight that they are seeing right now is all the evidence that they need.

"Ah, don't worry, Akutagawa," Dazai smiled slyly, assuring him something. "We aren't as brutal as you are. We'll keep you tied up until we can find a way to get out of here, and let the police and detectives do their work."

Dazai commanded Nakahara to get a chair from one of the tables in the library, at the same time asking Sakagami to get a rope from one of the drawers. Kunikida held the struggling Akutagawa for a while, until everything was set.

"You don't know what you're doing," Akutagawa kept on pleading, wanting to prove his innocence to everyone. "Even if I die right now from the killer, I will tell you that this is NOT my doing!"

"Shut it, emo," Kunikida fought back, forcefully pushing the chef to the chair that they have gotten. "There is no more room for excuses."

Sakagami came back with the fifty-meter thick nylon rope, in which the teacher did not hesitate to take and started to glue Akutagawa to the chair. Dazai and Nakahara kept him still while he was being tightly secured from the chair, ensuring that he wouldn't have any ways to let loose from the ropes.

Still continuing to plead for mercy, the chef looked at the artist with his stern eyes. Sakagami got the message that he was asking to be freed, which Akutagawa said with a matching beg; "Orianna, please, I know you don't believe that it was me!"

She stared at him with the same level of mercy in his eyes, but she was more than aware that she may be tied to that chair as well -- if she tries to defend him again. At that point in time, she thought that it was time to finally think of her well-being, and not just the others.

But then there was something on her mind. "You know, as much as I hate to assume things, but I've been thinking of something for quite a while."

"Speak up, Ori," Nakahara responded, with Dazai just nodding his head. "You could've said something since the beginning, y'know."

"Yes, but I wasn't quite sure about it a while ago."

"Well, go ahead now."

Having to do several breathing exercises first before speaking, the artist gathered all of her courage, piercing a glare to the teacher's blue pair of orbs. "Kunikida."

He stared back at her golden locks, wondering what 'the goddess' might have in mind. Kunikida did not say anything but a nod to indicate that she has the authority to speak her thoughts out.

"Thieves get mad at other thieves," Sakagami stared deep in to his soul. "The same rule applies to murderers and drug lords. You've been blaming Ryuu for all this mess, and yet you have a pocket knife with you all this time. Won't that make you guilty of doing something?"

Silence reigned all over the tension-filled room. What she said just made perfect sense and the red pocket knife was enough of an evidence for him to be suspected as a potential killer.

"Are you trying to defend him again?! How many times have you done that?" Kunikida lost all of the respect that he had for the goddess. Such goddess she was, trying to cover up a mistake that can never be forgiven in the afterlife.

Unsure if it was something to be worth stressing about, in the end, they had no choice but to tie Kunikida up back-to-back with Akutagawa. The same way that the man wearing all black was struggling right now was the same way that Kunikida is trying to escape.

"You really believe what she's saying?" Kunikida fought back, trying to get out of Nakahara's grip. "That didn't even make any sense at all! Let go of me you short little piece of shit!"

"Yeah, we will," Dazai gave out a teasing smile, tying Kunikida up as tight as what they did to Akutagawa. "After we send you to the police for screening, that is!"

∞

They were now done eating their meals. Orianna suggested to eat at an ice cream parlor located at another place since the desserts in the restaurant didn't seemed appealing for the both of them. A meal can never be complete without the glorious and delightful desserts to fill their stomachs.

Orianna pointed out an ice cream shop somewhere at the edge of Yokohama; somewhere far from their home and a ten-minute drive from the restaurant that they've just been to.

As his daughter still continues the topic about his 'unrequited love', Chuuya is trying not to get too distracted and keeping his focus on the road, but the topic was hitting him too much in the feels that he couldn't help but to cringe or to feel emotional.

He tries to answer in short phrases as much as possible in order to restrain the feels from coming through the surface. However, it wasn't too long until he wasn't able to keep up with the pace of pretending to be okay.

"Dad, I've seen this situation first hand from my friends..." Orianna trailed off, composing a sentence in her head on how she will be able to deliver it without triggering her father completely. She can already feel that Chuuya was very disinterested about the topic, and he is only trying to keep his cool for this long.

"What?"

"What if Ms. Sakagami did love you, but you were just never able to hear her thoughts out?"

Chuuya lost focus on the road and didn't notice the stoplight in red, making him to step on the breaks by force. The sudden stop of the car made them lean forward, activating the emergency airbags afterwards, the car detecting it as an occurrence of danger or threat.

"Dad?" Orianna felt guilty for asking such a question. Her father was looking at the distance yonder, probably lost in his own thoughts or so. His hands were still holding on to the steering wheel, face pale like he has seen a ghost.

Chuuya sighed in defeat. "What if I tell you that that what if, is actually a what was?"