Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Atsushi suggested they should be friends, Akutagawa didn't expect that friendship to last. He's not sure what exactly prompted him to accept the offer in the first place but he's glad he did. Not that he would ever say it aloud. Before Akutagawa even realized, he was pulled in Atsushi's group of friends. Meanwhile Gin and Higuchi started hanging out more with the Armed Detective Agency girls and Lucy. It seemed like the girls formed their own social group. Even though Gin already had some social life outside of Mafia, this was the first time she had some actual friends and Akutagawa felt happy for her. 

All of this is precisely why Akutagawa was currently sitting in the Detective Agency room with a bunch of cards in his hands. It was a Friday evening and Tanizaki suggested a get together with some snacks and card games. 

"By the way, did you hear? The old hospital is being demolished. They say it's haunted!" Kenji cheerfully broke the silence.

"Haunted?" Atsushi asked fearfully.

"Ghosts do not exist," Akutagawa informed him as-a-matter-of-factly. Kenji pouted.

"They do! Actually, my house back in the village was haunted! We could hear steps, moving objects and stuff!" Kenji began telling his story, moving his hands animatedly.

Atsushi and Tanizaki paled.

"Ghosts do not exist," Akutagawa reiterated the fact.

"You know, when I lived in the orphanage, I used to hear a lot of ghosts stories. Never met a ghost, though," Lucy said as she placed her card.

"Me neither!" Kenji exclaimed happily and completely forgetting that it was his turn. "I wonder what it would be like!"

Naomi clutched her brother's arm tightly.

"Once a man I killed said he will haunt me forever. But so far, he hasn't shown up," came Kyouka's monotone voice.

"K-Kyouka-chan!" Atsushi squeaked.

"I wonder why?" Kyouka pondered ignoring Atsushi next to her.

"Because they don't exist," Akutagawa tried again but his words fell to deaf ears.

Gin nudged Kenji to force him finally make a move.

"I heard many stories, too. Not that I believe them, but it's kind of interesting," Gin spoke and after contemplating for second put down her card.

Akutagawa said nothing. He felt like he was dealing with a bunch of five-year olds and he was losing his patience, so he placed his card and waited for Tanizaki to make his move.

Then suddenly lights went out. Akutagawa and Gin immediately jumped on their feet only to accidentally headbutt each other. Atsushi jumped to protect both Kyouka and Lucy but Kyouka jumped too and shoved him on the ground. As a result, Atsushi knocked down Lucy as well. Naomi tightly clutched her brother’s arm while Kenji just sat there in silence.

For a moment the room was quiet but everyone kept their guards up. Though it was unlikely that some enemy organisation decided to attack the Agency directly like this and the sudden outage was probably due to some other cause, it was better to be cautious. But then in the middle of their circle a ghostly white face appeared, illuminated only by a flashlight.

Everyone (apart from Akutagawa siblings and Kyouka) screamed in terror. The ghost started making cackling noises which terrified an already scared bunch of people. Akutagawa would have fought the ghost but then it disappeared and appeared just behind Tanizaki siblings which caused them both jump in fear.

“NII-SAMA!!!” Naomi screamed holding tightly on Junichirou. The poor boy said nothing for he was too terrified himself.

Then the ghost disappeared again. Akutagawa could sense somebody living was doing this but he couldn’t pinpoint the person’s exact location and therefore couldn’t use Rashoumon in the dark without harming any of his friends or Gin. He guessed Kyouka felt the same since the girl made no move to attack either.

But suddenly the light came back.

“DAZAI, STOP FOOLING AROUND!!!” everyone turned their heads to see angry Kunikida standing near the door, apparently having just turned on the light switch. And then they turned around to the room. As it turned out, Kunikida was right. The ghost was none other than Dazai.

Dazai had some white make up on his face which made him look like a ghost and he was holding a flashlight in his hands.

“Dazai-san?!” Atsushi yelled, looking exasperated at his mentor.

Seeing everyone’s glares directed at him Dazai just sheepishly shrugged.

“What is going on?”

Everyone turned around to see Fukuzawa standing at the door. He carefully scanned the whole room with his yes. Nobody dared to say nothing or move. Except for Dazai who, like a little kid caught by a parent, quickly hid the flashlight behind his back.

“I see,” Fukuzawa said and left the room. No one knew what exactly he saw but chose not to comment on it and instead glared at Dazai.

“So, uh, happy Halloween?” Dazai said. Akutagawa gave him his best death glare while the Agency members got up on their feet and surrounded him to complain about the prank.

“Halloween was yesterday!” Tanizaki yelled while Dazai just laughed.

 Kunikida muttered some curses towards Dazai and went back to his work. Akutagawa sighed. So much for a quiet evening…