0.6

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erity glanced behind her right the second that they striked forwards and watched as their hands formed scissors.

"Huh?" atshusi questioned dumbfounded as he watched them continue their game of rock-paper-scissors.

their playing rock-paper-scissors...fun

seeing what they where doing erity just turned back around, honestly she was starting to want to leave. the only thing that was keeping her here was the thought that the bomb might be real and that there was a change of her dying from it.

she heard kunikida groan and dazai let out a chuckle, making it clear who had won.

"Go, go. c'mon go" dazai waved his arms, prompting him to go making kunikida groan even more before standing up and taking a couple steps towards the bomber after he composed himself.

"Hey" he called out to the orange haired boy making him look up at kunikida "Calm down, boy"

"Stay away!" the boy shouted as he pointed the remote at kunikida "I only want to see the president! if you do anything funny, i'll blow this up!"

"Okay" kunikida said as he held his hand up.

"I know who you are, you're kunikida! i bet you're trying to make me lower my guard and use that annoying ability of yours! well, fat chance. get up on the desk on all fours and keep both hands where i can see them! he ordered.

"Huh?" kunikida questioned sternly while glaring, startling the bomber.

"I-If you don't do as i say, I'm taking you all down with me!" he shouted nervously.

kunikida sighed grudgingly and walked over to another desk where he climbed onto and went on all fours.

now that, that is funny

"This isn't good, because of his personal grudge against the agency. he's done his research on all the members' names and faces, if i go. it'll only provoke him" dazai explained "Hmm...what to do" he then turned to look at atsushi who flinched as he got a bad feeling.

"A-tsu-shi-ku-" dazai spoke as atsushi turned to him.

"No" he answered him before he could finish.

"I haven't even said anything" dazai pouted.

"I already know what you're going to say" atsushi told him with a nervous look.

erity turned around to them again, taking a quick glance at the exit and thought about leaving again, their wasen't any point of her being here either way and their where still other ways to die out their.

but then she would have also been waisting all this time without seeing the out come and missing a way of death she haden't really tried out that much before, it might just be a hit.

she let out an unnoticed groan as she felt her headache spike up again, she decided that she didn't really need to keep an eye on the situation anymore and sat down on the ground, leaning against the small wall as she massaged her temple.

"Listen, atsushi-kun. you're the only one here who's not a formal member and who the bomber won't know" dazai told him serious again.

erity noticed he didn't mention her probably because this was atsushi's test and was kinda glad seeing as it meant she didn't really have to interact with the situation itself.

"But even if i were to go, i wouldn't be able to do anything" atshushi spoke as he looked down at the ground, not noticing dazai had already moved from his sight.

"It'll be fine, we just need you to distract him for a short while. we'll do the rest" dazai told him as he rummaged through the boxes at the back of the office "Let me think. knowing you, how about you put on an off-putting act as a worthless human being?" dazai came back over to him while smiling, holding some old newspapers.

"Here are some props" dazai told him, atsushi took the newspapers with an uncertain look "Trust me, scuffles on this scale are child's play to the armed detective agency, atsushi-kun"

atshushi stared at him for a couple seconds before glancing at erity who could see he was still really nervous, bringing up her hand she gave him a thumps up.

even though eritys face stayed expressionless and her eyes empty making her gesture seem vain, it still brought him slight comfort, taking in a deep breath he stood up and faced the bomber.

didn't think that would work

"S-s-s stop!" atshushi stuttered out loudly making the bomber look up at him, glaring "Wh-wh-wh-what could you possible accomplish? i...i bet this would make your parents sad!" atsushi continued as he took slow and shaky steps towards him.

erity listened closely, glancing next to her as she saw dazai peek around the small wall.

"Who the hell are you?!" the men shouted violently making atsushi fall back out of fear.

"Sorry!" atsushi spoke out shakingly.

"You're not with the agency" the bomber said as he looked down at atsushi.

"A-a-as you can tell" atsushi stuttered out as he grabbed the old newspapers back up and showed them to the bomber "I'm just a newspaper delivery boy who happened to pass by!"

"And what's a delivery boy got to do with any of this?" the man asked, glare never leaving as he watched atsushi stand up.

"No matter how much you might hate them, you shouldn't take hostages or blow up bombs. i'm sure there's something to live for" atsushi told him.

"Like what?" the bomber asked.

"Huh? atshuhsi flinched, not having thought this through.

"What's something to live for?!" the bomber asked again getting pissed by the lack of response.

"T..." atsushi trailed of.

"What?!" the bomber asked impatiently. erity groaned as the shouting was making her headache worse, turning to dazai she saw he was still watching the confrontation but didn't care and tapped his shoulder making him turn to her.

she could see the slight surprise in his eyes as he gave her a questioning look.

"Do you have some aspirin?" she asked him with her monotonous voice , her eyes still as empty as before.

he blinked, surprised at her action as it was the first thing she had done differently from just standing by and watching the situation unfold and honestly. if this wasen't a test he would have laughed out loud at what she had just asked.

a bomber is threatening to blow them away and she's asking for an aspirin, seeming to have absolutely no care to what is happening. which was pretty much the truth.

he knew she was into suicide too but it was still funny.

he let out a soft chuckle before looking back at her and shaking his head with an amused but apologetic look. he watched as she nodded and turned to peek around the wall again as before, he went back to peeking around the small wall too, both of them tunning back into the situation at hand.

"T...t...tea on rice! you can eat a lot of tea on rice!" atsushi shouted out, the bomber still glared but was a bit confused "You can sleep somewhere with a roof over your head! when you go to sleep at night, you can wake up to a new day! and every day is a new day!" atshuhsi ranted making the bomber more and more confused "But...if you blow up, neither you nor i will see another new day...because we'll be dead"

what a great speech

"I know that!" the bomber shouted

"What?!" atshuhsi yelled as he threw his hands in the air "Um...i think you should reconsider, i mean. if you die...you're really dead!" atshushi told him as his hand covered his face that held a scary expression making the bomber sweatdrop.

"I'm sure you might wish you were dead sometimes" atsushi continued as he wiggled around, still holding his face

all the time, is more like it

"But there are people who keep on living, even if the going's tough. oh, people like me! i have no family and no friends. i even got chased out of an orphanage, and i have nowhere to go and no hope for the further..." he trailed of, voice becoming more depressing than worried.

"Yeah, that's right!" atshuhi said, confusing the man even more if that was possible "it's true that, like you say. i lack redeeming qualities and everyone'd agree that i'm scum of society, but i still manage keep on living without going all postal about it!" he shouted out.

"Good job, atsushi-kun" dazai praised him "You have acting like a worthless human being down to an art form"

pretty sure he isn't acting anymore, don't think he was to begin with

"So why don't you toss that bomb aside" atshushi told him and walked up to the bomber, closelly "And we can look for jobs together? okay?" he shouted.

"N-no, i'm not exactly looking for one..." the bomber told him nervously as he held the remote away.

"Now, kunikida-kun" dazai shouted.

"I know!" kunikida responded, erity watched as kunikida now held his notebook open and wrote something in it.

"Ability: Doppo Poet..." he shouted as green rings appeared around him for a second and he ripped the page out that he had written on.

"Wire gun!" he shouted as he held the page that held the same words he had just said, it glowed as rings of green surrounded it before it turned into a wire gun.

"Crap..." the bomber mumbled as he realized he had dropped his guard but before he could do anything kunikida had already fired the gun knocking the remote out of the bomber's hand.

"Get him, kunikida-kun!" dazai shouted as he stood up.

"Like i already said, i know!" kunikida shouted back as he grabbed the bomber by his collar and flipped him over onto the ground, and pinned the guys arm behind his back.

"One down!" dazai said as he came out of his hiding spot, erity doing the same "All right, good job. everyone"

damn...maybe i can ask to keep the bomb, if it's even real.

atsushi let out a relived sigh as the other coworkers started clapping.

"One down, you say?" kunikida questioned, annoyed. making the co workers stop clapping as dazai gave a confused look "Now!? secure him!? you're all talk and no action!" kunikida said as he turned his head away.

"What choice was there? You lost at rock-paper-scissors, kunikida-kun" dazai asked smiling.

pretty sure there where a lot of things that could have been done. exually

"You bastard..." kunikida grumbled, getting more annoyed.

"Well, all's well that ends well, isn't it?" dazai told him making erity tilt her head, she was never good with sayings and expressions. tending to take them seriously as she didn't understand most of them.

"I've heard that if you're too neurotic, you'll get a lot of wrinkles and your aging becomes accelerated" dazai continued his sentence, snapping erity out of her thoughts as she had tried to remember what that saying meant, making her tilt her head back right.

"Is that true?" kunikida asked believing dazai again like erity remembered he had done the day before when it was clear he was just joking.

"Go on, take notes" dazai encouraged him.

"If you're too neurotic...your aging becomes accelerated-" kunikida spoke loud up as he wrote it down in his notebook.

"I'm messing with you" dazai told him, turning around as erity had made her way next to him now and watched kunikida's pen snap in two before he got up and kicked dazai in the back making him fly across the room and face plant into a door.

"Bastard!" kunikida shouted out angrily, still holding the remote as azai slid down the door "Stop ridiculing me!"

the bomber who was now free stood back up before grabbing kunikida's arm that held the remote and kicking him in the back "All of you..." the bomber groaned as he pulled kunikida's arm and pushed him away at the same time making him let go and tumbled forward.

"Crap!" kunikida cussed out as he turned to the bomber who now held the remote.

"Stop making fun of me!" the bomber yelled as he was looking up at the ceiling "I swear, anyone gifted with supernatural powers has something wring with them inside..." he continued the say as he looked back down with a crazed look before pressing the detonator making the timer on the bomb countdown from thirty seconds.

it seems that everybody really likes calling me out today

"Thirty seconds left until detonation?!" atsushi shouted out.

"Hey, brat!" kunikida yelled as he began to run up to atsushi.

"No way!" the bomber screamed as he ran into kunikida, tackling him down.

"Kunikida-kun!" atsushi shouted before looking back at the bomb, seeing the timber go down as he thought of a wy to stop it.

"Something to cover the bomb with..." erity heard atsushi mutter. she hadn't moved from her spot at all as she kept her eyes on atsushi, wondering what he will do and how this test will end.

"Something..." atsushi trailed off as he turned and looked for anything he could use "Anything?!" he panicked as his eyes connected to those of the hostage making him freeze for a couple second before he shoved her away from the bomb who dazai then catched as he too watched atsushi.

"Atsushi-kun!" he shouted "What!" he gasped with wide eyes as he watched as atsushi grabbed the bomb and hugged it close to him before crouching down on the ground and covering it with his body with a look that clearly showed he had no idea what he was doing.

"Huh?" atshuhi muttered as he stared at the floor "What am i doing?"

But...what if the bomb is real

erity's eyes squinted as she thought deeply and quickly.

it's supposed to be a high explosive so even if it goes of with something covering it, it will still cause quite some damage and almost everybody is still close by

she watched the timer as she took an unnoticed step closer to atsushi, fifteen seconds left.

she saw the whole office in her mind as she had been observing every last detail of it from the moment she stepped in.

"Idiot!" she heard dazai shout at atsushi but payed it no mind.

the window...

taking a glance at it to make sure she remembered correctly, she saw that it was indeed open and big enough for someone to go through.

looking back at atsushi he was still looking at the floor, wide eyed, taking another unnoticed step closer to him and a look at the timer.

"Brat!" kunikida yelled as he saw what atsushi was doing.

thirteen seconds.

another step.

twelve seconds.

another step.

eleven seconds.

another step.

ten seconds.

she now stood in front of him, atshuhi hadn't noticed though, until he felt a hand on his shoulder making him look up.

nine seconds.

eyes consisting of purple with yellow filled with absolute fright and now confusion met with pastel pink once which he could only catch a glimpse of as they where covered by erity's hair.

if it wasn't for that he might have been able to see the slight difference in the normal empty orbs.

seven seconds.

he hadn't notice her slip away the bomb until she stood up making him see that it was now in her arms instead, showing 8 seconds where left.

erity held the bomb close to her.

this is it

she turned to the side, ran to the window, kicked off the floor, placed her foot on the windowsill and jumped up out the window as high as she could before turning in the air so that she was facing upwards.

three seconds.

watching the clouds.

two seconds.

she felt the wind pass by as she fell down.

one second.

she unconsciously hugged the bomb tighter too her if that was even possible as she had tried to cover it as much as possible.

she though of any last words but as usual came up empty for in the end there wasn't anything to be said so she just closed her eyes.

zero

.

.

.

"Idiot!"

erity heard a shout and opened her eyes right as she felt an arm rap around her and stop her midair.

the first thing she saw was the bomb still in her arms even though the timer had hid zero, the next she looked up to see it was kunikida who had catched her.

while he pulled them back up to the fourth floor he couldn't help but realize how light and small she actually was, as he climbed back in. he placed her down while looking at her and then, a light bulb went off.

"So it wasn't real after all, pity" erity spoke in her monotonous voice as she put down the bomb on the desk where it was before and turned to see everybody starring at her.

"What" she said, seeing everybody was looking at her.

"Jeez.." kunikida sighed "I figured he was stupid but i didn't know how stupid" he said aimed towards atshuhi who was still crouched on the ground before turning to erity "And you! what where you thinking, jumping out the window like that!"

"I was thinking i was going to die" she told him with her normal monotonous voice and expressionless face making him let out a sigh as he shook his head.

"He has the talent to become a suicide maniac" dazai spoke up looking at atshuhi before also turning to erity "And erity-kun seems to be a natural"

i don't know if that was a compliment or not

"Wouln't you agree, tanizaki-kun?" dazai asked, turning to the boy who had been acting as the bomber.

"Sorry, are you okay?" the boy asked as he nervously peeked from around kunikida.

"Huh?" atsushi questioned at a complete loss at what had just happened.

"Aw, brother!" the girl who was playing the hostage, known as naomi, squealed out as she hugged the boy who was the bomber, hitting his chin in the process making them fall back on the desk "Are you alright?"

"What?" atsushi asked, getting slightly irritated.

"You were so wonderful as a villain! i had the time of my life being tied up and threatened!" naomi spoke as she trailed her finger over his chest making the boy shiver "Please continue where we left off, once we get home"

"So the part-time person was in cahoots with everyone, too?" atsushi asked with narrowed eyes, still irritated.

"Brat, you should blame dazai. barring that, blame yourself for choosing the wrong person to help you find a job!" kunikida explained, side glancing at erity who looked to not really be paying attention as she had propped herself on the desk where she had placed down the fake bomb and was looking at the ceiling.

he wondered what this meant for her as she technically had partaking in the test to, he wasn't the only one wondering about that.

"Then is this the job..." atsushi trailed off.

"I told you there was a test involved" dazai told him.

"As in, an entrance exam?" atsushi asked.

"That's right" an older man's voice was heard.

that must be the president, knew he was here

"The exam has been completed without much ado, president" one of the coworkers told him.

called it

"I see" the president said. a tall man with a stern expression walked into the room, He had long silver hair which ends just above his shoulder and metallic blue eyes.

He wore a green yukata under a black haori with golden borders with a zigzag pattern, and zori with white tabi.

"president?" atsushi questioned as he watched the man stand between dazai and kunikida.

"Since dazai said there was a capable young man, i had him test your mettle" the president said as he looked at atsushi.

erity still sat on the desk but was starting to think of leaving, for real this time.

she had forgotten about her headache with the bomb, jumping out the window and such but it had spiked up again. she had also noticed her stomach starting to complain from the lack of food seeing as she hadn't eaten anything yet.

maybe i should get something on the way home, or i could eat out

"Well, i recommended you for hire but since you've been designated a major threat by the ward, there was disagreement among us as to whether we should take you in" dazai explained.

"But dazai said..." the president retold their conversation.

"President. suppose the most gifted person in the world appeared before you, would you hire him?" dazai asked.

"Power doesn't make you a member of the agency" the president answered

"That's why i recommend him" dazai spoke

"So, president...what is your decision?" kunikida asked as he looked at the president while dazai smiled lightly, also looking at him. at this moment everybody was, except for erity who was looking out the window instead.

"i'll let dazai decide" the president spoke before turning, starting to make his way out.

"You can trust me" dazai told him.

"What about him?" the boy erity remembered dazai call tanizaki asked as he turned to her making everybody else do the same and the president turn back around to look at her too.

feeling everybody's eyes on her made erity turn around but the only one she looked at was the president, his stern expression didn't change as his eyes connected with her empty once and she wasn't faced by his stern look.

as he watched her he remembered the last thing dazai told him from their conversation. it was fagua but he hadn't questioned it, he now understood why it was though.

dazai was about the open the door but stopped as he remembered something.

"Oh" dazai said as he turned back to the president who looked back up at him "Someone else might tag along too"

everybody just watched between them as they just stared at each other, some of them started to get a bit nervous as the seconds just passed by until the president abruptly turned to dazai and nodded at him before taking his leave, a light bulb went off.

leaving most confused as they didn't understand what just happened and looking at erity wasn't going to give them any understanding as she had just gone back to looking out the window.

the only one who seemed to have remotely understood was dazai as he turned back to atsushi seemingly unfazed by what had just happened.

i think i'll get something simple like Onigiri, i should also get some more aspirin while i'm at it

"W-wait a minute, dazai-san. so the job you meant to introduce me for was..." atsushi trailed of as he stood up.

"You apparently passed the test, welcome to the armed detective agency. nakajima atsushi-kun" dazai told him, the girl dragged her brother over to them.

"Congratulations!" naomi smiled "I'm glad i was able to help" her brother added.

"Oh, please. no, i can't possibly join a workplace as violent and reckless as this" atsushi spoke nervously.

"Not just anyone would use their body to shield a bomb to save everyone" dazaia told atsushi before turning to erity who was still looking out the window, speaking of windows "Or jump out a window with it" he added.

"That's right, i was really impressed!" naomi said.

"you'll be fine" dazai told him.

"But..." atsushi trailed of.

"Still, well...if you still, refuse. we can't force you but then, i can't help but worry for your future" dazai began to explain as he leaned against a desk while everybody else had gathered around and sat themselves down on chairs"We"ll need you to vacate the company dorm, you don't really have any specialized skills, nor do you have friends or know anyone, that'd make finding a job very difficult. beside you are a wanted tiger"

his last statement made atsushi gasp, making erity glance at him from her same spot as before, still on the desk at the front where the fake bomb layed next to her.

"Should anyone learn of that, at best you'd get fired from your job. at worst, you'de be captured and shot dead" dazai continued to explain as erity now looked at him.

i gotta say, he's good

"Sh-shot dead?" atsushi questions, panicked.

"Now, if you were with this agency" dazai then got a smug grin "It'd be a different story"

"Th-then that means" atshuhi gasped out as he brought his knees up and backed away in the chair.

i was right though

"We look forward to working with you, atsushi-san" naomi told him before turning back to her brother, hugging him tight "Don't we, brother?"

atsushi would be fine

"Follow the rules, brat" kunikida ordered.

"Well, now that's been settled" dazai spoke.

"You've got to be kidding me" atsushi whined before his eyes slightly widened in surprise like everybody else as they saw a plop of pastel pink walk passed them.

"Hey wait!" kunikida was the first to speak up after he composed himself "Where do you think your going?" he asked sternly.

"Out" erity told him simply with that same monotonous voice and empty eyes as always which made him let out a sigh.

"You haven't told us you're decision though" tanizaki told her as he watched her confused but also slightly baffled, this being the first time he had heard her speak clearly just like his sister who watched her with the same look.

"Decision" she said and tilted her head.

"If you want to join the Armed Detective Agency" dazai told her, being the first to understand what she was conveying seeing as you couldn't really know from her voice or expression.

"No thanks, i want onigiri and aspirin" erity told them. turning back around and walking out the room, leaving most of them completely dumbfounded.