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nothing was said to erity as she came with to the warehouse, although she did receive a thankful look from atsushi who was probably happy he wasn't going to be alone with dazai to be used as bait for the tiger.

the three of them sat on separate crates in the warehouse, eritys eyes where closed as she leaned back on the crate with her earbuds in as she listened to suicide song by nashimoto-p.

"Dazai-san, erity-kun, what are you reading and listen?" atsushi asked them making dazai look up from his book and erity open her eyes and look at him.

"A good book/song" dazai and erity answered at the same time making them look at each other, erity glanced down at the book and recognized it, she had the same one back at home.

the complete guide to suicide, it's quiet a good book indeed.

"I'm surprised you can read when it's this dark" atsushi said making dazai look back down at his book as erity went back to listening to her music and leaned her head back.

"I have good vision. Besides, i already know everything that happens in this book " dazai responded, erity noted that he hadn't told him which book it was but then again she hadn't told him to which song she was listening too.

erity agreed with him as she too knew the book completely from memory. it was one of her favorite once and yet all her attempts haven't worked.

maybe i should read it again, i might have missed something

"Why are you reading it, then?" atsushi asked as he sweatdropped.

"A good book is always good, no matter how many times you've already read it" dazai responded making erity close her eyes as she remembered a small memory from when she told her the same exact thing.

a lady with light green hair and eyes sat next to the bed where a small erity laid in with the thin blanket put over her as her eyes where focused onto the lady who looked down at the book in her hands, reading out of it.

the lady had gotten a 'promotion' as her boss had called it, she now had full watching duty of erity. she wasn't mad about it though, she had actually been quiet excited because it meant she got to spent more time with erity.

one of the first things she decided to do was start to read to her, she had asked which book she would like her to read but only got a head tilt as response which she had learned was eritys way of conveying she didn't understand. because of this all the books she read where her own pick until erity could decide for herself.

throughout the weeks of the lady reading to her, erity had picked up that she would read one book in particular over again, or at least read some parts off it.

"Erity?" the lady called out to her as she had looked up and had noticed their was now a slight pondering glint in her eyes.

erity blinked and looked up at the lady's face and watched as that gentle smile appeared making her glance around the room as it lit up before looking back at the lady.

"Is something wrong?" she asked her making her tilt her head "Let me rephrase, I think something is bothering you and i would like to know what, Can you tell me?" the lady said, hoping this way erity could answer.

"You keep reading this book over again but not the others" erity told her without hesitation with her monotonous voice as the pondering glint left her eyes.

the lady's face turned int one of recognition as she understood now.

"Ah. well you see, i like this book very much. And a good book is always good, no matter how many times you've already read it"

"Will the tiger really show up here?" atshushi asked, snapping erity out of it as she opened her eyes and looked back at atsushi, seeing him look down at the crate he sat on.

"It will" dazai responded making atsushi look up worried as his breath hitched, catching eritys eyes with his and for the first he himself. could see how empty they where, and yet...

"Don't worry" she told him with her monotonous voice, not breaking the eye contact.

"Huh?" he questioned but didn't dare blink or look away from his eyes until dazai spoke up.

"He's right. Even if it shows up, it's no match for me. i may not look like much but i am an operative of the Armed Detective Agency" dazai told them before going back to reading his book.

"You're really confident, so are you. Erity-kun" atsushi told them, erity may not have said much but he could see that this tiger didn't frighten him one bit "i'm kind of jealous" he continued as he pulled his knees closer.

"They called me a good-for-nothing at the orphanage as far back as i can remember and now, i don't even know where i'll sleep tonight or wether i'll be able to earn my keep tomorrow" atsushi explained, eritys eyes where focused on him as she listened intensively.

she understood him, afterall. she had been in the same situation as him before too.

"No one'd care if someone like me where to die in a ditch somewhere. yeah, i may be better off eaten by a tiger..." he trailed of as he now had buried his face between his legs.

both erity and dazai said nothing before she saw him look up out the windows, she followed his lead and glanced out of them from the corner of her eyes, seeing the clouds diverge from each other making moonlight start to shine through into the warehouse.

it's time

"Well then, i think it'll be soon" dazai said and right afterwards a loud crash could be heard making atsushi flinch up and stumbled off the crate he was sitting on, panicking.

"I...I just heard something back there" he spoke, worryingly.

"Yeah" dazai said as he continued to try and read his book as erity just watched the scared boy.

"I bet that's the tiger, dazai-san! erity-kun!" atsushi said glancing at the both of them.

"No, i think the wind just knocked something down" erity told him as she was looking down at her phone, pausing her music and taking out her earbuds.

"It's the man-eater! it's come to eat me!" he yelled, dazai closed his book as erity placed her earbuds in her pocket.

"Calm down, atsushi-kun. tigers don't show up from places like that" erity stated.

"How do you know for sure?!" he shouted desperately.

"Something wasn't quite right to begin with. just because their finances went south, why would an orphanage banish a child? it's not some farming village from a bygone era. banishing one or two mouths to feed would hardly put a dent in their deficit, it'd make more sense to downsize by transferring half of the kids to a different orphanage" dazai started to explain, erity just listened along as she kept her eyes on atsushi, seeing no need to intervene as it was clear dazai had come to the same conclusion as her which she had suspected earlier on.

"What are you talking about, dazai-san?" atsushi asked as he turned to dazai after he had jumped of the crate he was sitting on.

"You came to this city two weeks ago, the tiger appeared in this city two weeks ago" dazai continued to explain, erity watched as atsushi slowly started to turn around and look up out the window at the moon.

"You where in the Tsurumi area four days ago. the tiger was also sighted there four days ago, remember what kunikida-kun said? The Armed Detective Agency is comprised of individuals with supernatural powers" as dazai continued, bleu circles started to appear around atsushi who began to struggle around and groan in pain, holding his head as he started to transform.

seeing him like this reminded erity of the days back in the laboratorium, her eyes darkened and if could, appeared emptier than normal as she finally decided to stand up herself.

"Though not a well-known fact, there are quite a few individuals who posses supernatural abilities in this world. some use their powers to achieve great success, while others fall into ruin as a result of being unable to control their powers" erity explained further while she made her way next to dazai as they watched atsushi transform further.

"I'm guessing that the orphanage staff knew who the tiger was but declined to enlighten you, you where the only one who remained ignorant. you also have supernatural powers, you have the ability to transform into a wild beast in the moonlight" erity finished as she and dazai now looked as instead of atsushi their stood a big tiger whose fur was white with black lines and golden glowing eyes.

the tiger growled and jumped towards them but before it could reach them they both jumped aside making it crash into a few crates. it didn't have any effect though as the tiger just turned around and tried again.

this went on for a little while and each time it tried to strike at them they would dodge.

"This is impressive, you could easily..." dazai said as he and erity where in midair before going out the way again and jumping up some crates which the tiger barged into, breaking them too as dazai and erity jumped off of them just in time.

"Snap a person's neck" erity finished, an idea coming to her as she and dazai landed on the ground and slided back, feet hitting the wall making them stop.

"It wouldn't be so bad to meet one's end being eaten by a beast" erity spoke her idea out loud as she watched the beast who had once again jumped up and landed, starting to run towards them.

"But you can't kill me" dazai spoke from next to her as a white-blueish ball of light appeared in his hand , surrounded by small rings of the same glowing color "My ability is..." he continued as erity watched as the light became brighter and the rings became bigger, surrounding them.

"No Longer Human" dazai said, bringing up his hand right as the tiger jumped at them and once it was close enough he placed his finger on his forehead, the tiger was stopped mid air as he was surrounded by the glowing rings.

"My ability allows me to render any other ability null trough simple touch" dazai finished as the glowing light engulfed the tiger before disappearing and showing atsushi back in his human form, slowly coming down from mid air and once his feet hit the ground he fell forward into dazai.

they stayed like that for a second before dazai hummed "I have no such tastes in men" erity just watched blankly as he then tossed atsushi off of him and to the side, having him hit the ground with a thud.

"Hey, dazai!" they heard kunikida's voice shout making them look up at the entrance of the warehouse.

"Oh, you're late, kunikida-kun" dazai spoke as kunikida made his way up to them "Wheve captured the tiger" he turned back to atsushi who laid unconscious on the ground.

"What, it's this boy?" kunikida questioned as he now stood in the middle of dazai and erity.

"He has the ability to transform into a tiger" erity explained, slightly unnerving kunikida as he had forgotten how monotonous his voice sounded but pushed it aside and went back to the matter at hand.

"Jeez, what was with this note?" kunikida asked annoyed as he brought out the note dazai had given him back in the teahouse and held it out.

"A tiger will appear in the warehouse in the fifteenth district, secure the perimeter so that it can't get away" dazai read it out loud before smiling goofily "it's an excellent, concise note"

so that's what it said

"You've left out the most important detail. next time, explain in advance" kunikida said to him as erity glanced to the side, noticing three people coming up to them.

"Thanks to you, i had to bring in guys who weren't even on call. take them out for drinks later" kunikida finished.

"hey!" one of the three people shouted excitedly. as they stepped into the moonlight it was revealed that they where a child, a man and a woman.

"What, no casualties? how boring" the woman said, being the first to speak of the three. she had black hair with straight bangs cut into a bob that reaches past her chin and magenta eyes. She wore a white button-up blouse, Her shirt is tucked into a plain black skirt. She wears gloves that reach past her wrist, a black tie, black tights, red high heels and a golden butterfly hairpin on the left side of her hair.

the next to say something was the man standing next to her "You've come a long way, dazai. though you still have a ways to go before you even come close to me" he had a fair complexion and short, messy black hair. His eyes where closed so erity couldn't see what color they where. he wore a brown inverness cape that he wore over his shoulders and whose color matches both his hat and his pants. Under that, he wore a dark grey blazer and a white button-up with a light and dark blue striped tie. Under his three-quarter length pants, he wore long white socks that cover the visible part of his legs, and simple black shoes.

"But what are we going to do with him? he didn't know he was doing it, right?" the child who had run up to atsushi said and crouched next to him, he had golden eyes and short blond hair that reaches past the nape of his neck and he has freckles across his cheeks. He wore blue overalls that are cuffed and a black belt around his waist. His overalls are worn over a loose beige shirt that has tattered sleeves. He wore a black undershirt and an old straw hat around his neck.

"yeah, you're right. what do you think, dazai? the ward's designated him as a major threat" kunikida spoke up making erity look back down at atsushi.

he'll be alright

"I've already made a decision" dazai said after chuckling and also looked down at atsushi, staying silent for a while. erity took this as her chance to make her way out the warehouse as everybody's attention seemed to be on him.

she knew there was no need for her to stay there as it had seemed all of them had forgotten her or not even noticed she was their to begin with and she had a feeling that if she stayed or left, she would see The Armed Detective Agency again either way.

none of them noticed her slip away from them and make her way to the entrance of the warehouse, which didn't surprise her. going unnoticed was one of her specialties.

"We'll make him one of us" was the last thing she heard with a loud commotion afterwards before she stepped out the warehouse and started to make her way home.

yeah. he'll be just fine, now. what kind of suicide should i attempt next...