Chapter Text
└─── °∘❉∘° ───┘
Some would call it an unlikely morning, others, the thread between sanity and whatever Dazai had going with suicide.
A working day, the agency is up and going, buzzing with life, paperwork, and stress. The sound of typing keyboards, heeled shoes tiptoeing across ceramic flooring. The sunlight peeking through half rolled down blinds. The faint smell of freshly brewed coffee and small talk.
All is peaceful, all is calm, other than Kunikida’s pacing in the office, Atsushi sitting at a chair, watching him with a scowl, an undisturbed Kyouka stood still beside him, counting the number of failed ideas the trio had gone through.
“How about we simply watch him from afar until we catch him in the act?” Atsushi suggests, the same idea in a different font for the third time. Kunikida hisses with no venom, he’s simply frustrated at the situation, “Won’t happen. It would endanger another possible victim if we’re wrong, or if we wait any longer.” Kunikida folds his arms across his chest, looking at the floor in thought.
The blond opens his mouth to suggest another plan before the door to the agency bursts open, a sand-colored trenchcoated mummy with a brown bird's nest for hair. He yells, instantly locking eyes with the tortured partner from across the office, "Kuni-kida~~ can you guess what I did yesterday?!!". The blond instantly fuels with anger uncontrolled and stomps to meet the brunette in the middle,
"You-!!" the poor detective's voice cracks, "Where in God's name have you been??" Kunikida holds himself back from strangling Dazai in front of the children. "Hi Dazai!" calls out Atsushi from behind the two, Kyouka following with a quiet 'hello' they can barely hear over Kunikida's soon-to-burst vein of anger. Dazai leans to the side, peeking at the two teens from over Kunikida's tense form, "Is Ranpo around?" which gets him two heads shaking 'no'.
"Answer me you bandaged idiot!!" Dazai stands back up straight and smiles pleasantly at the red ball of nerves, "Oh I'm so pleased you asked! You see there's this one bar that-" Kunikida quickly interrupts him and yells again "I wasn't actually curious..!!". The notebook man sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose meanwhile Dazai's shoulder's slump and a dramatic pout appears on his face, seeing as no one's interested in his late night adventures.
It's not like there was a particular reason for his absence from work yesterday, not an important meeting he was specifically asked to attend by a confident-less Atsushi.
The meeting had been held by the President, as they discussed many topics, one of them announcing Ranpo's case which is outside of Yokohama, Kenji joining him to be his travelling chaperone.
And the second being the newest case dropped onto their hands: Rumors are heard going around a famous ballet teacher who's come to work in Yokohama the past couple of months. It's come to some's attention his crew are changed almost every week, either leaving unannounced, or being unable to attend class/performance due to odd and sudden health complications.
There were even few instances where his students were caught disoriented, delirious, physically unwell and manic during performances, only few were taken off-stage. The ongoing theory is that this ballet teacher has poison up his sleeve, and selects his own students to experiment on. It was now up to them to find concrete evidence for these rumors to be true. So that Mikhail Ivanov can be reprimanded and put behind bars.
Dazai listens to Kunikida's annoyance filled summery, he truly does, even if it doesn't look like it, balancing a book on his head, sat at his desk with his legs up on the table, a second book in his hands as he tries adding it on top of his head. "Mikhail Ivanov... Mikhail Ivanov...." he repeats.
Around him, all sat in different positions were the original three, plus Yosano who'd just finished stocking up her cabinet. The doctor suggests "How about we just get him in one of his classes? Interrogate him, have him confess and get ourselves a job well done?" a straight-forward plan. One that sadly, wouldn't work either.
"We don't have the right to hold him, we've yet to find incriminating evidence towards him. He's a man of high status, and has the ability to flee the country at any sign of an investigation. We have to get up close with him without raising any suspicion." Dazai explains and lets his head fall back, both books balanced now dropped to the floor.
This topic had weirdly gotten his head throbbing, he wants to leave work again, he wants his feet to stop aching the way they did, he wants his body to forget what was muscle memory.
It takes a beat of silence for Yosano to come back with another idea, seeming as Kunikida and Atsushi have long sat here, thinking up nothing that went places. "Then, what could be more up and close than a ballerina? getting to know him until we catch him in the act? Recruiting an actual ballerina would be endangering them, I get that, but what if one of us goes undercover as one?" Dazai chose to react rather than let his mind whirlpool him into a different time, and he burst into a short laughter, lifting his head up to look at the doctor. "With all due respect Yosano-sensei, none of you even mildly fit the role."
The heeled woman raises an eyebrow, placing her fists on her hips and leaning forwards, "Huuh?" while Kunikida looks over at Dazai with an almost uncertain look to him, Kyouka forever calm stood still as a doll, Atsushi at his desk beside Dazai, placing the two books he picked up after they dropped to the floor and putting them back in their rightful place, still keeping his full attention to the discussion.
"You, sensei, are not flexible, Kyouka is far too young for our instructor's taste, Kunikida is..." he imagines it for a second, and while it had potential, hilarious potential, Kunikida stopped him "No. I am not doing that." and as for the last person "Well, Atsushi, you might just be the best option out of you three-"
The boy-tiger doesn't let him finish his sentence, "What about you, Dazai-san?", the question has Yosano snickering, "Yeah..! Who are you to judge our competence?", Dazai simply smiles, it doesn't reach his eyes, it never does.
"Why of course I can judge you, I'm a principle dancer and past soloist." Kyouka is quick with her curiosity, even if Dazai feels like it takes forever for his ears to hear a voice. "What do you mean principle dancer?" she could deter asking about a the definition of a soloist. "Ballet has it's own hierarchy, a principle dancer can a titled dancer with the highest rank within a ballet company. C'est-à-dire, moi." Which means, me.
Kunikida's leftover anger evaporated from his body, and in turn became entirely dumbfounded "What?!" he screamed. Kyouka was full of light, coming a few steps closer to the detective, "Really?". Yosano stared, Atsushi almost fell out of his chair when he jumped "You can dance, Dazai-san??", huffing, he rolls his eyes and lets his head fall back again but only for a second "Of course I do, I walk with my feet out-turned at times, I'm surprised none of you have noticed my slender, beautiful posture and absurd gracefulness,"
The three keep berating the brunette for a bit longer, asking where, and how, and when, confusion and surprise gutted into them, not one question answered by the brunette. He can practically see fleeting memories, trying to seep their way through the cracks of his mind.
One memory catches him, and suddenly he's standing, his muscles tense, taut, unmoving. The crimson eyes of a doctor watching him closely, an eagle and it's prey. "A ballet dancer, a performer can never break. Even with a fragile body, weightless, it prevails. And so will you.” The hollowness in his body in never ending, he is unable to break on command, even if he wished so. It comes at odd times, and he is cursed to stay under the watchful eye of the boss. He said learning this will make him a better asset, he has no choice in the matter.
Dazai wishes not to disclose his past, so he changes the subject back to the mission. "It's been a while since I practiced.." Kunikida suggests in tow, "How about we meet tomorrow at an appropriate studio, that way you can practice and prepare, meanwhile we'll discuss the course of action moving forward."
Dazai looks over to see all three of his colleagues still stricken with shock and some form of denial, "Sounds good," he takes the chance to get up from his desk, and walk backwards towards the door to leave, "message me the hour and place, I might just try be on time," he winks at a busy Kunikida which almost causes him to snap a pen he was holding while writing down the changes in his schedule tomorrow, muttering something under his breath.
When Dazai arrives in his dorm, there is little for him to distract himself from his shaking hands.