The Marionette ? Chuuya X Reader

24: Collision

"What are you doing so behind? You'll slow us down." He scoffs, slightly rolling his eyes though not looking at you directly anymore, his dark coat trailing behind him in an odd gracefulness that doesn't quite fit him, dark hair hiding away the small looks he would shoot you every now and then as it moves with the subtle wind of the day.

"I'm trying to make sure you don't try to kill me again." You snap at him, the irritation that you were beginning to feel overcoming the fear of being near him when you catch his silver gaze for a moment too long, every nerve in your body going on the defensive.

"Dazai demanded that I not hurt you, so I won't. Get over yourself marionette." He responds without another thought to his words, his low voice still sounding hostile despite his body language not matching it.

Oh, so that's why.

Since you had met with Akutagawa that morning, other than still being the embodiment of winter, something about him had changed from your usual encounters. His hostility wasn't as aggressive as usual, especially for coming from someone that had recently tried to kill you; but, hearing Dazai's name rolling off his tongue so carefully, it suddenly all makes sense to you. The night that he had attacked you and Dazai saved you, you knew you had seen a flash of something hidden under his surprise, even more so when he listened to the ex-executive's demands without question or fighting back. Now, under the few rays of new sunlight, the memory of that small trace of seemingly inexplicable emotion can be explained through Akutagawa's changes in his closed off demeanour. Under all his exterior, Akutagawa had been hurt by Dazai's favouritism and now he feels helpless at needing to put up with the nagging feeling that it was him that meant nothing to Dazai rather than you. That is what the shadows of his eyes of mercury say, his own version of jealousy; except unlike Chuuya, it wasn't towards Dazai, but towards you. An ember of sympathy for the mafioso is sparked in you when you take this new realization, and you hate it.

He doesn't deserve my pity.

If I'm a puppet, Akutagawa is a monst-

"WATCH OUT!" Akutagawa suddenly yells, carelessly pushing you back against the wall with his Rashomon, simultaneously protecting himself as multiple gunshots are fired towards the two of you, the booming sounds rippling through the air.

Body hitting the concrete hard, your breath is knocked out of you for a moment as your elbows crash into the pavement walls in order for Akutagawa to assure you don't get shot. Still sensitive from injuries given by him, you can't help but let out a gasp at the pain shooting through your upper body. Flashes of red and black cover your view as you regain balance, Akutagawa standing in front of you now, his Rashomon growing by the second. Past him, you see the tall shadow of a bulky man dressed in all black, a large gun in his hand glimmering under the sun as he continues to try and attack you both, shot after shot. In a blink of an eye, just as spontaneously as the man had appeared, he's gone.

"The organizations must have been tipped off; in going to go after him to eliminate all the loose ends. Here's the list I was given of the names of each known member. The building they're in is just up ahead. You have to kill them all, we aren't taking any survivors." Akutagawa informs you with urgency and irritation, shoving a piece of paper neatly folded into your hands before running off in the direction the man had disappeared in, leaving you alone, with no other choice but to follow his orders and a bit in shock that you were still alive at all.

Pushing that thought out of the way with the rest of the physical pain you are also being forced to ignore, you open up the paper and read each name carefully, the list consisting of three men and two women, then continue on to run in the opposite direction Akutagawa had. As he mentioned, after a right turn just up ahead, you reached a small building like every other small business office in the city, normal people walking in and out of there like it was no special thing. Upon further inspection the closer you got to the building, hiding from sight amongst the people, you realized that the office itself had to do with loans like some sort of small bank. Glancing once again at the list in your hand, you walk into the building with a group of people also entering, your eyes immediately scanning the inside for signs of those you are specifically looking for.