0.2

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"You're unbelievable" kunikida told dazai "Who goes 'that's a nice river' and jumps into it in the middle of a job?!"

erity would have spoken up at that but couldn't by the food in her mouth and just continued to calmly eat her tea on rice while atsushi was gobbling down who knows how many bowls next to her.

"Thanks to you, look! look how off-schedule we are now!" kunikida said as he went through a notebook.

"You sure like your schedules, kunikida-kun" dazai told him making kunikida get up and slam his notebook shut on the table, turning to dazai. erity just kept eating as she was looking down on the table.

It's good but not as good as her's

"This isn't a schedule! this is an ideal!" kunikida said firmly, pointing at his notebook "My guide in life! and nowhere in this book is it written that my work partner is a suicidal maniac!" he finished.

good thing i don't have to work with this guy, he'd be going at me 24/7

before kunikida could continue to rant at dazai, atsushi cut in by trying to talk but it came out muffled because of the food.

"Shut up!" kunikida shouted as he sat back down "Nowhere on my projected expenses page will you find written that i will buy a million bowls of tea on rice for a snot-nosed brat!" he explained while looking at atsushi before turning to erity "And a..." he trailed of as he looked at erity who sat in front of him, only know really noticing him as he had just trailed behind them when they where walking to the tea house and he was too occupied with dazai just a few moments ago.

he unoticingly looked over erity, the first thing he noticed where his dull eyes with deep bags under them then the bandages around his arms and neck to the soft pastel pink hair which he noticed was damp and so where his clothes.

he was snapped out of it when atsushi said something again that was still muffled by the food but he could surprisingly still understand making him turn back to atsushi.

"Like i said, it's a job!" kunikida repeated, atsushi mumbled something that kunikida once again understood while both dazai and erity watched them wondering how they where communicating.

"Our job today? it involves the military" kunikida answered before dazai cut in.

"How are you two communicating, actually?" dazai asked voicing his and eritys thoughts.

-

"I'm so full" atsushi sighed happily as he and erity finished their bowls although for erity it was her first and for atsushi, well she wasn't exactly sure how many he had eaten although she guessed at least 30.

"I don't want to see another bowl of this for at least ten years" atsushi said as he patted his belly which ticked off kunikida.

"Why, you..." kunikida started as he looked at the tower of bowls "How dare you be so shameless after eating on my dime?"

"You're a real lifesaver" atsushi spoke looking down at the table catching kunikida, dazai and eritys attention "After leaving the orphanage and coming to yokohama, i've had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep, i thought i'd die of starvation"

"You're from an orphanage?" dazai questioned.

"Putting it one way, yes. but they kicked me out" he answered not looking up from the table. erity watched him with her dull eyes before she leaned her head into her hands and looked down at the table too.

why would an orphanage kick out a kid, for what reason?

"that's some non-profit there" dazai said.

"Hey, dazai!" kunikida turned to him "Where not some philanthropists going around helping brats down on their luck, okay? let's get back at the job at hand" kunikida explained as he raised his notebook up.

"That reminds me, you said earlier that your current job involves the military" atsushi spoke up snapping erity out of her thoughts and making her glance up.

"What is your line of work, exactly?" he asked making erity wonder about it to.

"Oh, we're just private investigators" dazai answered

"Private investigators..." erity spoke softly feeling as if their was more to it, catching kunikida and atsushi off guard. kunikida because he hadn't heard him talk before and was surprised by how monotonously it sounded and atsushi because he wasn't used to it yet.

"That's not to say we only handle lost pets and alleged extramarital affairs" kunikida started to explain after he recomposed himself "perhaps you've heard of the armed detective agency, an organization with individuals possessing supernatural powers"

eritys eyes unoticingly widened in recognition, she'd heard of them before and it seems she wasn't the only one by atsushi reaction.

"What?" atsushi questioned, taken aback.

the armed detective agency, said to be an agency specializing in objectives that can be entrusted to the likes of the police or the military, i've heard many from the agency posses supernatural powers...but does that apply to these two, i wonder...

it didn't take long for erity to lose interest in the matter and trow it to the side, knowing she'll probably figure it out later, with that she started too look around the tea house and lean back on her chair making her look at the ceiling and spot a beam right behind her making her eyes widen brightly.

That beam, it looks sturdy

"Check out that nice beam up there" dazai spoke up excitingly with a fascinated look in his eyes.

"I know right, it looks like it can hold quiet some weight" erity said her voice still monotonous but a bit louder than normal as she said back up but kept her head turned to the beam.

"Don't analyze whether you can hang yourself in a random teahouse we just stumbled into!" kunikida scolded dazai before looking up at erity.

"And you!" he said making erity turn to him "Don't tell me you're also a suicidal maniac!"

"Don't get us wrong" dazai spoke up making kunikida turn back to him "Where talking the hanging health method"

"What's that about?" kunikida asked.

"What, you don't know?!" dazai asked, faking shockingness "It's so good for shoulder cramps! right erity" he continued as he and kunikida then turned to erity.

"Right..." she trailed of deciding just to go with it when she saw dazai give her a smirk.

"Such a thing exists?!" kunikida asked shocked.

no, it doesn't

"Hey, write this all down!" dazai told kunikida who immediately started to write it down in his notebook.

"Hanging...health...method..." kunikida said as he wrote.

"I'm messing with you" dazai spoke up, while he looked the other side with his head leaned into his hand making kunikida stop writing and break his pen out of anger and slamming his notebook down on the table before strangling dazai.

atsushi sweatdropped as he watched the two before turning to erity who had also watched the two for a couple seconds before leaning back in her chair like before and was looking up at the ceiling.

i'm tired...

'So, about your job today" atsushi spoke up after a while.

"Yeah?!" kunikida yelled angrily as he stopped and turned to atsushi, erity kept looking at the ceiling but was listening to them as atsushi's question had caught her interest.

"Sorry, i shouldn't have asked!" atsushi spoke quickly, holding his hands up "R-Right, of course your jobs are classified!"

"Today's job doesn't really require secrecy" kunikida said, sitting back on his chair and having calmed down "Where looking for a certain tiger on behest of the military"

tiger?

now that she thought about it, she did see something strange a couple nights before. she was looking out her window as she was laying on the couch when she saw something big and white with black run passed, it was only for a couple seconds so she didn't think too much of it but after that she started hearing strange things had happened around the neighbourhood.

people where saying it was some kind of monster which was big and white with black stripes, bearing sharp teeth and had piercing glowing golden eyes.

"A tiger?" atsushi repeated making erity snap out of her thoughts and glance at him from the corner of her eyes as she found their was something off about the way he had said it.

she watched as he stared at the two in front of them with wide eyes and his mouth slightly agape as they continued to listen.

"A man-eater who's recently appeared in these parts" dazai started to explain "Well. not that we know for sure it's devoured anyone but it's ransacked warehouses and eaten farm produce and the like, doing whatever it wants. It's been spotted around here lately"

erity watched atsushi's face contour into one of fright and panic as his chair tumbled back making him fall on the ground as well as some of the bowl's on the table.

"What's wrong, atsushi-kun?" dazai questioned as the three of them looked at atsushi on the ground.

"I...I...I'll be leaving now, G-Good bye" he said without answering dazai's question and started to crawl away to the entrance of the teahouse but didn't make it far before he was grabbed by the back of his collar by kunikida

"Wait, brat!" kunikida said sternly before lifting atsushi up in the air "You know something, don't you?" he asked as atsushi was running in midair, trying to get free as erity and dazai just watched from the table.

"You can't" he spoke softly as he stopped running and hanged motionlessly in the air "No one can take it on!" he yelled, clearly scared.

"You know the man eating-tiger?" kunikida asked him sternly.

"It's after me" atsushi spoke, sounding absolutely terrified "It almost killed me!" he started running again "If it's been seen around here, i have to run. now!"

erity could understand why he wanted to go but what she couldn't understand is why this tiger seemed so obsessed with one boy, if it was to eat than he would have just taken somebody else already but for some reason he kept coming back to atsushi.

kunikida finally let go of him making atsushi fall but before he could hit the ground kunikida grabbed his arm and pinned him down.

"Hey, brat!" kunikida yelled out, angered "You'll either pay for the food with your arm or by telling us everything" he told him sternly as he held him down with a hard grip.

"Now, now. Kunikida-kun" dazai spoke as he got up while erity remained seated, watching atsushi's pained expression because of kunikida's hold as she was still pondering over her last thought.

"Whenever you try to ask questions, it becomes an interrogation. the CEO's been talking to you about this. And..." dazai continued as he made his way over to them making kunikida let go with a huff and stand up as dazai crouched down to atsushi "What do you know about this tiger?"

atsushi sat up as he held his aching shoulder while looking at the floor "My orphanage was trashed by that tiger, it ravaged our fields, it ravaged our chicken coop and even our warehouse. No one died, sure but the orphanage was already on a shoestring budget, i got kicked out so they had one less mouth to feed"

that doesn't make any sense, kicking out one kid wouldn't make any difference

erity was leaning back in her chair again, eyes squinted lightly at the ceiling as she tried to make sense of it all.

"Well, that's tragic" dazai said from next to her as he watched atsushi who had sat himself down in front of them.

"So, boy, what's this talk about the tiger almost killing you?" kunikida asked as he stood next to dazai.

"The man-eater always shows up wherever i go" atsushi began to explain "Just a while ago, when i was walking around tsurumi. i'd seen it out of the corner of my eyes many times, starting two weeks before i was chased out of the orphanage. i'm sure it's come all the way to the city in search of me"

"When was the last time you saw the tiger?" dazai asked, erity was still looking at the ceiling, now in complete seriousness as she listened closely for atsushi's answer. Starting to come to a conclusion.

"I think i saw it around Tsurumi about four days ago" atsushi told them.

"It's true that it's antics have been focused here for the past two weeks" kunikida said, looking in his notebook before closing it "In addition, it was sighted around tsurumi four days ago"

so that's what's going on

"Hmm" dazai closed his eyes for a second and tilted his head before opening them again and looking back at atsushi.

"Atsushi-kun, are you free?" he asked him.

atsushi flinched and got a scared look as he started to feel uncomfortable.

"You being the man-eater's target presents an excellent opportunity" dazai explained as erity heard him writing something down but was to lazy to look over as she let out a yawn.

"Please help us find the tiger" asked dazai with a slightly unsettling smile

"No way!" atsushi yelled as he stood up.

"Kunikida-kun, please go back to the agency and give this to the president" dazai told him while holding out the piece of paper to him.

"Hey, don't tell me you plan to catch the tiger all alone with the three of you? we should first confirm wether his information is accurate" kunikida told him making erity glance at him from the corner of her eyes, wondering why he had included her but didn't bother to ask.

do i even want to go with them? i'm pretty sure my conclusion is correct

"it's fine" dazai told him, kunikida let out a sigh and took the piece of paper.

"I'm not doing this, okay?!" atsushi yelled "This means you're going to use ma as bait, right? who in their right mind would agree to that-"

"There's a reward" dazai cut him off tauntingly, catching atsushi off guard as he started to have second thoughts.

"What? Reward? A reward? Nah..." he backed up slightly, suspicious and turned around "you're not gonna tempt me with that! b-but for reference, how much would the reward be...?"

erity listened at the typing as dazai calculated how much it was and showed it to atsushi. leaning her head back, she watched as atsushi gasped out at the huge amount of money and gave in.

i guess it wouldn't hurt if i sticked around for a bit longer, who knows. maybe i'll get some money out of it too