Archive of Our Own ^beta

His newest case was a rather odd commission. Normally the agency was only called in for violent crimes like murder or kidnapping, but he supposed a random kid falling from the sky with already serious injuries was mysterious enough for the government to send the agency to work on ID'ing him. He let out a low sigh as he sank further into his spot in the backseat, slowly looking up to watch Kunikida calming Atsushi in the front. Normally Dazai would've begun pestering the two by now, but.. they were going to an orphanage. Not one suspected of anything particularly bad, but Atsushi had seemed clearly distressed when told the location of the case they were working on. The boy had begun to move past what happened, but that didn't suddenly remove all the anxiety asossiated with such places.

Dazai still chimed in occasionally, having noticed the concerned looks Atsushi sent him when he stayed silent for too long, but he generally allowed Kunikida to take the reigns this time. The majority of his time in the car was spent disassociating, thinking of both everything and nothing at all. It was only once they finally reached the orphanage that he began to consider the details of their current case, swiftly recalling all the details of their suspected victim.

'Young boy around Five years old with many injuries- underweight, and likely malnourished. Injuries include his eye, left arm, the back of his head, and neck. The neck injury, oddly enough, was a smiley face burned into the back of his neck, possibly a brand. He fell out of the sky, landing infront of a police station; and after being patched up by the medic onsite, they placed him in a nearby orphanage. Besides the previously stated issues there seems to be nothing wrong with his head. No concussion, and no illness, but he hasn't woken up yet for some reason. He's not Japanese, and likely comes from somewhere in the America's.'

Thinking about it all laid out as such, he supposed it made sense that they'd been called out for this case. The kid appearing out of thin air was likely the work of an ability user, and the injuries certainly weren't comforting.

"So, do we just walk in and head straight to where they placed him? Or do we need to speak to someone first?" Atusushi nervously asked. They couldn't exactly interrogate the child here at the orphanage, normally they would but the building was already far too full of people for any more children to join; and so the president being kind as he was, suggested that maybe one of the agencies members could take the child in until they could find his family. In the end it would be up to the kid on who to go with, but the assumption that Kunikida would be chosen was not unheard.

Pulling on a bright smile, Dazai spoke up for the first time in over 20 minutes.

"Well, Atusushi-kun, you and I are gonna go get the kid while Kunikida-san is going to go speak with the headmaster!" Dazai responded excitedly, the honey dripping in his voice as he spoke. Atsushi was leaned over in the car to grab the small bag he'd brought with him. Dazai didn't exactly know what it was that Atsushi had put in the bag, but as he and his co-workers wandered on into the building he figured to himself that it wouldn't matter. When the three men reached the stairs they split ways, Kunikida walking upstairs to go find the headmasters' office while Dazai and his student walked off to the side to find the playroom the young boy was in. It was only when they saw a young woman fiddling with her hands Infront of her at a shiny dark door that they stopped, Atsushi moving forward to introduce them. "Er, hello ma'am, my name is Nakajima Atsushi, and this is my Co-worker Osamu Dazai, I was hoping we could possibly bother you for some directions?" 

The woman turned to them when addressed, before calming and slowly allowing the kind smile on her face to turn to one of judgement before responding curtly, "If the two of you are looking to adopt then I'd recommend you head back the way you came and speak to the headmaster upstairs.". It took a few seconds, but once the two realized the implications of what the woman had said Dazai burst out laughing as his student turned a bright red much to the womans startled confusion. "Uhm- no ma'am, you seem to have misunderstood," Atsushi started (much to the womans clear disdain), "we aren't here together to adopt, we're here from the armed detective agency." He finished, confidence growing slowly as he spoke; by the time he'd finished the womans face had lit up to a similar sheen of red as atsushi's had. "O-oh! The agency! My apologies, I didn't recognize you. My name is Junko Tadai, I've actually been waiting for you- the boy is in this room here." Tadai-san said, turningto the dark door she stood infront of. At first she moved to open the door, but then she seemed to think better of it. 

"Before I walk you two in, I feel like I should warn you," she began, a concerned look on her face as she spoke "Since your presidents last call with the Headmaster and police, the boy has woken up. Just about 2 hours ago actually." She said, a smile crossing her face despite the concern never leaving her eyes or stance. Hearing the news atsushi's face lit up, this time in relief rather than embarrassment. "Thats Great! Does that mean you've talked to him? Does he know where he is, Can we get him back to his family?" He asked excitedly, seemingly missing the anxiety Dazai saw in the woman. "Well that's the thing. We tried speaking to him, but the language he speaks- its not a known language from quite literally anywhere in the world."

Tommy was genuinely so fucking confused- the people around him tried to speak to him, but the words they said- well, they spoke a terran language. Tommy hadn't spoken Terran in prime knows how many years. He'd been naturally worried (he totally didn't have a panic attack earlier.) but when they'd come near him to try and fucking touch him, thats when he got angry. Clearly these people were nonces, as they'd changed his clothes as he slept, and they wouldn't stop trying to approach him with bits of candy. Eventually when one of them got to handsy and actually tried to pick him up- (steve he'd named the bugar- him and his stupid blue shirt. He'd only let the man near for the tiny cow he had, not to try and touch him.) he bit the guy. The man had yelped and pulled away, leaving Tommy and his tiny cow alone. Tommy had shouted every horrible word he knew, even the ones he didn't like, and they didn't even look miffed! They just. kept. pitying him. He hated it. More than anything in the world, almost even more than he hated dream.

Eventually, some tall man with long white hair came by and shouted at the people bothering Tommy- he'd given the man a thumbs up in thanks -and Tommy had finally gotten some peace. For about 3 minutes that is. Well, it felt like only three minutes, what was actually 15 minutes later, Tommy was playing with his tiny cow when he heard talking outside the door. He wouldn't have payed attention, but there weren't many men who worked here so it struck him as strange to find himself hearing the voices of two outside the door. While Tommy hated talking to people, despised it really- the silence was incredibly boring, so when he realized the doors were thin and he could hear everyone outside he began listening in and entertaining himself by coming up with what he thought they were saying. Tommy was just about to creep on closer to the door when he hear a loud booming laugh and jumped back slightly in fright. In the end the voices kept getting louder and louder, and eventually Tommy hid in the chest they'd left in the weird room.

Normally Tommy would find somewhere safer to hide, like in the walls, but he'd seen a tiny pig hanging out the side of the chest. He'd thought of his- of techno. Tommy wasn't one for sentimentality, but he felt funny, and Techno- well, for a time, Techno had been safe. Maybe not at first, and certainly not after the pit- but later on, when he'd hidden him in that chest and taught him how to take care of the farm animals and let him get away with stealing little trinkets, he'd been safe. He'd toddled over quickly- stumbling over his own feet as he and the tiny cow in his arms made their way to the large chest. Quickly pushing the lid up with all the strength he could muster, he climbed over the front edge of the chest, the tiny pig falling in with him. Apparently, Tommy had been just on time as right after the chest top had fallen closed, he heard the creak of a door opening quickly. 

A gasp of surprise rang out through the room and Tommy giggled quietly, they hadn't seen him- 'what idiots!' he thought, childish amusement curling in his chest as he listened to his captor's search for him. It had been what felt like hours since Tommy had hid in the chest, and he'd honestly been getting bored. It was in that moment that he'd sighed in annoyance at his captors incompetent perseverance, and all of a sudden he heard a quiet gasp. The voice that'd laughed so loud earlier stopped it's grumbling and grew closer to the other, it had a questioning tone and Tommy just knew he'd messed up again. He held his breath and ceased all motion, quickly going still as he felt a surge of panic- 'This is bad, this is so so fucking bad ohnoohnoohnoohno-' He thought, the only noise louder to him being his racing heartbeat ringing through his ears as he tried his hardest to hold his breath. Pat, pat, pat, went the steps echoing towards him, but Tommy couldn't hear the noise past his own anxiety, so when the lid of the chest lifted up and he was picked up from under his armpits by some baby faced old man he genuinely didn't intend to kick him. Really! It'd been purley on instinct that he'd had let his feet shoot out and kick the weird gray haired boy in the diaphragm, falling to the ground and running off to the opposite corner of the room while the man bent in half and struggled to breath for a moment before reviving far sooner than he should've been able to. 

In his panic, Tommy subconsciously began scanning the room for anyone he knew as his breathing picked up and his eyes stung with the tears in their corners. It was then, in that moment of pure panic that Tommy saw him. Wilbur. He didn't even think twice of letting the tear's stream down his face as soon as he saw the man, because that was wilbur! If wilbur was here he was safe, and while that thought process might seem childish to anyone else it made absolute perfect sense to him at the time. Tommy quickly tugged the tiny cow he still held onto and rushed over to his big brother, quickly jumping behind the man and hiding from the weird strangers. Wilbur was wearing weird clothes- not his usual black turtleneck but rather a soft blue button down and a black-button down suit vest thingy- a fancy thing that he'd never seen him wear before, but he still had his tan trench coat on, the one Tommy had spent week's working on after he'd first learned to sew clothes.  

Looking up to see what wilbur would say to Tommys captors, he was startled to see wilbur looking at him in shock- maybe he couldn't recognize him since he looked so weird? "Wilbur?" Tommy quietly mumbled out, trying desperately to get his brother to look at him right, without that odd undertone- to look at him with recognition like he used to. Where was the fondness? Where was the care? Where was his brother? Lost in his thought's, Tommy didn't notice the moment his breathing picked up and he'd let go of where he'd latched onto wilbur(?)'s coat and began backing up to the corner of the room. The grey haired boy-man thing slowly stalked forward, hands raised non threateningly, but Tommy knew better. Why wasn't wilbur stopping him from getting closer? Tommy snapped out angry violent threats at the silver-haired threat, and quickly moved in smaller on himself, legs scrambling to pull closer to his chest. It was then that Wilbur seemed to snap out of it, snapping something unintelligible out that stopped the threat in its track's, and slowly crouching down as he faced Tommy, holding out his hand's. Tommy let out a choked sob, not seeing the instant flash of sympathy and regret on the face of the man he'd dubbed a threat and ran over to wilbur and gave him a hug as tight as he could. It'd been month's since he'd seen his brother after he'd left out to sea, and this whole time with everything that'd happened since, Tommy had just really wanted a hug from his brother.

He'd tried to hold out a bit longer, but truth be told- Tommy was exausted. He'd been kicking and screaming and hiding for hours, and now he didn't think he could stay awake any longer- Tommy fought against it, tears still streaming down his face as he held on as tight as he could to his big brother, but eventually he couldn't fight against the drowsy-ness anymore, and he fell asleep in the man's arms, arms going lax as tear's slowly dripped down his face.

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When the three men returned from the orphanage, the young child curled up against Dazai's chest, it was quite clear from his coworkers' expressions that they hadn't expected the child would be fond of him. Dazai quietly stifled a scoff, he could handle children- he handled Atsushi and Kyokya just fine after all. Yosano quickly ran over to check on the child, having been just barely noticeably distressed since she heard about the possibility of a head injury from the boy's fall. Dazai found himself strangely reluctant to let her take the child into her arms, but he relented quickly, pushing past his own discomfort for the sake of retaining normality. Ranpo shifted from where he sat at his desk and dazai swore internally, he wasn't so naïve as to think his odd behavior would go unnoticed, but the man's observations were frustrating regardless. Dazai was already confused enough what with the child's strange attachment to him, and moreover with his own strange attachment to the child, he didn't need Ranpo's cryptic giggling and dancing around things to complicate the situation further. 

Yosano practically snatched the child from Dazai's arms, walking at a brisk pace down to her office. The boy shifted in her arms with a tiny groan and his eyes tightened as he made the noise, brows furrowing slightly. Time in the office seemed to stop then, all eyes trained on the tiny kid in anticipation, but he quickly settled. Dazai let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and stepped forward towards Yosano, arms reached out to take the child again. "Yosano-sensei, he didn't react very well when anyone approached him- not even Atsushi could calm down. We don't know why he's fine around me, but it might be best to make sure he wakes up with a... familiar? face?" he said, pausing momentarily as he pushed for an appropriate word before relenting to the tiny space in the back of his mind that called out and said "Close. Keep him Close." when he first met the tiny things eyes and calling himself familiar with an unsure expression. His shoulders hunched up as he cringed at the sound of his own unsteady voice faltering on the words. He was unsure; hesitant even! It was unfamiliar in the most uncomfortable way. Like greeting an old friend, knowing that their voice, face, and behavior is all the same, but also knowing that something is different. Gone. Something intrinsic to who they are, something important

Yosano hesitated for a moment, the thoughts she was surely working through walking across her face as she contemplated momentarily. Eventually she seemed to come to a conclusion as she slowly walked over, being careful not to rock the little thing awake this time, and gently guided the young boy into Dazai's arms before walking to her office at a brisk pace, arm outstretched behind her and hand waving to motion for him to follow- and follow he did. It was awkward, trailing behind her as he carefully held the child close, but at least the boy showed no further signs of waking despite the slight creasing in his expression. The kid even seemed to dig further into his chest, seeking out the warmth that radiated from dazai and his coat. It struck Dazai then, how odd it all was. The former demon prodigy. A man who'd taken the lives of hundreds, who'd pulled whispered secrets from the best of the best, who'd been willing to subject both others and himself to anything if it meant getting closer to whatever he wanted in the moment, someone who'd been the closest confidant of the boss of the port, and who'd at one point been close to running it all; holding a small child close, letting him nuzzle into him for warmth, and carrying him all the way to med bay just because he was worried the boy might wake up somewhere new and be scared. Who was he right now? Certainly not the infamous demon prodigy. Not the teenage boy who'd woken up in a strange clinic with a man he'd never met, nor the teenage boy who'd jumped from the highest roof he'd had the energy to climb to; he wasn't even the child who'd been given a reason to jump in the first place.

The feeling blooming in the empty cavern of his chest was nothing he'd felt before that was for sure- it was nothing he'd felt as Tsushima, nothing he'd felt as the demon prodigy, and nothing he'd felt as Dazai. It was... horrifying. It was light and airy like being on some sort of drug, but he was still clear minded and aware- and this horrible tingling crawled up the back of his neck from his chest, covering the surface of the blood in his veins and spilling into it and infecting it to take it's place, spreading through his body from his chest and lungs to his arms and legs to his stomach and neck, reaching a crescendo in his brain that he could just barely notice past the rushing in his ears. It set his nerves alight, every part of his mind seeming to spark in something he almost considered fear. Dazai had been anxious before, and this was almost similar, but it was not the same. The feeling spreading through him, filling every space inside him and then swallowing him whole, it was much closer to what he'd personally classify as dread.

Dazai drifted as he walked, following behind yosano with a blank expression, like a chick following it's mother to it's death. He stopped at the door, pupils reining in a bit as his breath came to a sharp halt. The threshold to the bright mechanical room felt like sitting at the edge of the road unknowing of when the car would come but sure that no matter what you had to cross. He crossed. Yosano was quick to swivel around and stomp behind him to close and lock the door, turning to face him with a stormy expression, but even as she stomped towards him angrily, when she caught the blank faraway look in his eyes and the stiff posture he held her eyes softened with concern. She stopped then, mouth opening momentarily as she took in a breath before pausing and stepping back, mouth closing as she contemplated how to say the words she meant. It took a moment, but eventually she seemed to sigh, shoulders untensing as she let her arms rest by her side. Her eyes were closed and her posture was frustrated as she softly asked him to place the child on one of the beds for examination. Dazai did so slowly, legs momentarily refusing to move as the gears in his mind re-learned how to move.

His mind was muddled and his steps were careful and stiff, and yet despite this Yosano could see the way his eyes had clouded over, unseeing as the rest of him stalled so his mind could overload with processing information. He sat in the chair beside the child and Yosano was sure that for just a moment, relief flickered across Dazai's face at being near to the boy again, as if he'd been unsure where he'd gone or when he'd gotten where he was. It was like there was a danger around that only he could see, and all he had left to protect was the boy. Like everything else had been taken from him but this, and now he never felt safe unless it was near. It sent a shiver down her spine, to see someone usually so put together crumbling to pieces under the weight of his own mind- it wasn't pressure or stress or any of the horrific cases they dealt with on the daily that had gotten him to crack. No, none of that could reach him- not really, not like this; in the end the only thing that had to finally make him stop, to break and not try to immediately pick up the pieces, was his own cruel mind. Admittedly, Yosano was slightly relieved to see that there was anything at all that could send him down, she obviously wasn't very happy that her coworker was dangerously spiraling to the worst places in his mind, but it was relieving, in a way, to know that he could fail. To know that no matter how otherworldly he let himself seem, that no matter which way he flipped his image (ethereal in the eyes of some, and hellborn in the eyes of others) he was just a man. Just a human like the rest of them- no matter what horrible things he convinced himself were true.

She felt guilty, watching the man she'd come to see in a way she'd almost call fond have a moment of disassociation without doing anything to help, but she'd seen the hesitancy in his eyes earlier when she'd asked him to hand the boy over, and she knew it would make her job harder if she were to wake him from whatever trance he'd set upon himself. She worked quickly, checking the child's head neck and back- as she'd assumed she'd find there was a few small signs of concussion and some minor damage done to the hippocampus so he likely wouldn't be able to remember much at first- certainly he wouldn't be able to remember who had done all this to him or what exactly had been done, but trailing down to swiftly check over the rest of him, albeit less thoroughly, she found he winced when she pressed over his leg. She checked for bruising and was horrified to find dark yellow purple and blue bruising on his leg running all the way up his calf, it was a wonder he hadn't been sobbing from the moment he'd woken up- hell, he should be crying his poor little heart out at this very moment! Feeling further down the appendage Yosano winced when she felt the sharp edge of a split piece of something in his leg. The pain must be horrible, likely something along the lines of liquid magma running through his leg- she'd heard the descriptions of this type of pain from past patients, and had always allowed herself a moment of silent thanks to whatever god was out there for not making her experience that specific injury. She was quick to pull out what little gear she had for x-rays, almost stopping at the sight of the ultrasound machine the president had supplied her with at the beginning when they'd both been unsure what exactly she would need, but she quickly shook her head and moved on, that wasn't how this worked. Dazai sat straight now, rather than the absent minded slouch he'd held earlier, he'd come back to consciousness earlier when he'd heard her swear under her breath as she'd felt the shard of damaged bone. He hovered now, though he seemed not to notice it himself, and the look on his face was still blank, but this time she could see it was a mask. A well placed and well practiced façade to hide his stress- nothing could hide the tense way his back and shoulders tightened up though. Yosano was quick to check the boy over, and unfortunately it was just as she'd thought- he must've hit his leg on a particularly harsh ledge, as multiple places held splintered pieces of bone, piercing through the layers of muscle and skin. How no-one had realized sooner she didn't know, but what she did know was that he needed surgery. Soon.

Yosano was quick to send Dazai a sharp look, and he seemed to understand as he lifted the boy up again and pulled him close, his arms tucked under the boy's knees and back. The boy clung to Dazai in his sleep, body going relaxed and a relieved sigh escaping past his lips as he pushed into Dazai's space and clutched sleepily to his dress shirt. Dazai paused, body going stiff and breathing seeming to stop, and Yosano almost scolds him for stopping when they have so little time, but then she saw the look on his face. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes were filled with this genuine wonder she'd never seen before on him. It was like watching a child gape at a flower the first time they ever saw one. It was admittedly endearing, the way he fumbled then and seemed to forget what to do- momentarily attempting to shift and hold the child as if he were a baby before abruptly remembering that the boy was already kindergarten age and that it wouldn't be feasible. Yosano barely managed to disguise a small coo as a cough, and internally she was a bit disappointed to see the look of genuine adoration slip off Dazai's face as he embarrassedly cleared his throat and stepped forward finally to continue walking at a brisk pace. Externally, Yosano gave dazai a stern look for having gotten so caught up; though she made sure to let her features soften a bit before he could look away- she knew what he was like, and she didn't need him deciding that this was some abrupt sign of hatred or failure. Dazai paused by the door, stepping to his side with one floor to allow her to walk ahead. As he did so she caught him looking down at the place where the child held onto his shirt, and while it certainly wasn't such open enamour, there was a little look of awe in his eyes as he waited for her to pass by. It reminded her of  Fukuzawa whenever a cat chose to sit on his lap for a bit- the man always said it made him feel like the chosen one in a fantasy story.

Dazai was quick to follow after yosano when she passed him to exit the clinic, her heels clicking down the tile floor as she rushed to (probably) find Kunikida or the President. It wasn't hard to keep up with the woman with his long legs and all, but had he been a man her height he could confidently say he'd be struggling to keep up with her aggressive strides. She'd been relatively calm when they'd left the clinic but it seemed that the further they walked the more the anger inside her boiled, likely at whoever had done so much damage to the kid's leg. Dazai was unashamed to admit that for a moment when he'd seen the injury his blood had boiled. It had startled him when he'd realized it, enough to bring him back enough to hide any expression before Yosano had turned back around. Dazai was struggling to put everything together- his emotions, the cause of said emotions, when he became so... different. This wasn't normal. It wasn't normal in the slightest and frankly it made him sick to the stomach with dread to realize how horribly human he'd been behaving this whole time. Too aware and unaware of everything all at once, feeling everything he'd never wanted to and never thought he could feel all in one day- it was overwhelming in a way that mad his head spin and his ears ring, and he felt like he stumbled through the hall as he walked despite the steady feeling of the floor hitting his feet exactly flat each time. It felt like it took forever to make it down the hall to the main office, but he knew it only took 3 minutes and 12 seconds; it only ever took that long. He knew, he'd been counting- he counted every time he walked this hall. 3 minutes, 12 seconds, and 243 steps. He had just counted the 239th step when he heard the door ahead of him slam open, Atsushi letting out a little squeak of shock from his cubicle at the sound, and Yosano shouted out to Kunikida, "Kunikida-San! He has more injuries than the police clinic was able to find and they're worse than I'm able to handle with my supplies, grab your bag and get ready because you, me, and Dazai-San are bringing him to the hospital!" 

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When Tommy woke up, it was to a searing pain in his leg- one that was different from the last time he'd woken up. Before the pain had been searing, but nothing he wasn't used to- it wasn't any worse than sticking his head out over the nether's lava and feeling the heat press back against his face; but this? This was different. Sharp and cold and slicing down his leg pressing down on the pain that was already present- it was like being slashed in battle but so much smoother and slower- it was precise and torturous and Tommy barely kept himself from crying out, not in pain but rather in fear. Because of all the people who'd want to hurt him, none would be so deliberate and concentrated. None except one, one person who loved to draw out his pain at their own leisure, to make Tommy feel every moment of the torturous movement of blade against skin. He couldn't see their face, couldn't feel their empty eyes leering down on him or hear the gentle words of comfort they'd coo at him all throughout the process, but it must be them. It had to be. They were all Tommy had after all, the only one who was patient and kind enough to tolerate him- who else could it possibly be? Tommy found that he didn't mind the sharp cutting pain in his leg- no, if anything what really hurt him was the quiet. He must've done something wrong, they never hurt him when he hadn't, they just needed to discipline him- to fix him. But where was their voice? The soft words and calloused hand in his hair? Where was the looming presence, the comforting wait of eyes watching, the familiarity? Where were they? Had he really done something so wrong that they couldn't bare to speak to him? What did he do?

Tears spilled down Tommy's cheeks as he searched wildly through his memory for what he might've done- he messed up often, he knew, but to have offended them so far as to draw silence? He must've done something horrible. Something irredeemable- and for a horrible moment, Tommy wondered if what he'd done had made him unfixable. Sharp stinging horror spread through his body and Tommy's chest heaved, his heart thumped in his chest louder than the ringing in his ears and he tightened his eyes (when had he shut them?) in fear. It took several moments for Tommy to calm himself, but eventually he was able to. They could fix him; they wouldn't be fixing him right now if it weren't possible, he reasoned. But still- what had he done? He wanted so badly to apologize, to let the desperate pleas leave past his lips and beg forgiveness, but he needed to know what he was sorry for- they hated when he apologized without knowing what he was apologizing for. Tommy thought and thought and thought and thought and thought and thought and thought, and eventually after a long time of pushing through the pain and the dizzy haze pressing down on his mind- it came to him. Tommy's chest deflated as if the air had been knocked out of him, and he honestly felt like it had. His eyes peeled open as quickly as he could manage and the world was a bright white blur- a figure stood next to him bent over to watch his face and the tears that had previously dried streamed down at a faster rate than before, he'd forgotten them. Their face, their name, the clothes they liked to wear, where Tommy had met them- hell he didn't even remember if it was a she a he or a they! 

The person above his face was blocked out by the bright white light, they were looking to his side and nodding at something when Tommy shakily reached his arm forward to pull at their clothes- green. They wore a green and black robe! Tommy remembered green- this had to be them! He tugged slightly at the chest of their shirt, arms suddenly far too small to reach, and he wondered if this was all a bad dream because his arms were much longer than this, but then he heard a sharp gasp and he abandoned the thought completely, it didn't matter right now. What mattered was the apology. "M' surry" He slurred out, breaths uneven and tears falling fast and seemingly unending and he hicced and sobbed, and he reached out his left arm towards there face and cried a bit harder when they leaned down so as to help him near. He hesitated for a moment, but he reached out his small hand and cupped their cheek as best as he could- his fingers refused to follow him, articulation failing as he desperately tried to grasp for the figure above- and let out a wracking cough before continuing, "m' surry I firgot you, I didn't mean to- m sorry, m so sosorry-" He cut himself off with a sharp cry of pain and sorrow and so much more all at once, but he felt relieved. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, he didn't have the strength, but he knew that had he been able to open his eyes to look and see he'd see a smile on their face. They just wanted an apology- one that he meant, and he really really meant it. The words had been stilted he knew, he couldn't understand much of Terran but it /was/ still his first language, often times when he got like this the few small Terran words he could remember would mix in with his common, leaving the sentence a broken and mangled mess- but they never seemed much to mind, if anything they usually seemed to think it was endearing. He hoped that was the case now, even with the gross snot and tears running down his face and the blood that was sure to cover his entirety. Tommy's hands fell from where he'd shakily forced himself to hold them and the relief he felt washed a sense of calm over his body. He quickly fell asleep despite his attempts to remain awake, and his arms fell from the fold of the figure's yukata to their lap as he silently cried in his sleep- breaths evening out and becoming calm.

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Yosano was shaken, her legs having gone weak and shaky the moment the broken English left the supposedly asleep boy. It had been horrific enough to see him wake up mid-surgery, but to see him cry and struggle desperately to get out the words- an apology of all things -was... it was indescribable. She'd gasped when she saw his tiny shaking arm paw at the President's yukata, hiccuping and sobbing as he tried to say something they couldn't understand. She stood now outside the room, the surgery was complete- and successful at that. It had been a concern at first that the time they'd spent stopped to breathlessly listen to the little boy would have an impact on the chance of success, but luckily it'd been a non-issue in the end. The child's leg was sewn closed, set, and ready to slowly heal, but Yosano had a feeling that his leg would be the least of their problems. The injury to his head would lead to permanent memory loss at worst, and at least a year and a half of recovery time before memories began to resurface at best; they didn't have that sort of time. Unless one of them took in the child on a more official scale, they'd be required legally to turn him back over to the childcare services eventually. Yosano had seen the look on Dazai's face, he'd be hesitant and would need some time- possibly even a good smack on the head or a talking to from Ranpo -but he would accept taking the child in; the only problem was that Yosano wasn't sure she trusted him to take him in. The man was kind when it suited him, and he certainly wasn't lacking in adoration for the child- hell, he'd spent hour's waiting outside for her and the president to return. Eventually Kunikida had dragged him back to work, but he'd very clearly been concerned; no matter how many times he said he was just waiting to be sure the president and her would return safely. There wasn't anything technically wrong with Dazai himself as an option, but Dazai could barely take care of himself! His apartment was a mess that he never cared to clean, the amount of cheap whiskey and soju bottles bottles on the ground had Yosano questioning how he'd not died of alcohol poisoning yet, and he tried to drown himself in every river he passed by! There was zero doubt in her mind that he'd take care of the kid as best as he could manage, but the problem was that Yosano was sure he'd be able to manage much for someone else when he barely managed for himself. 

The worry was eating her up inside any time she wasn't actively feeling like the void itself. Hearing the desperate cries and apologies from the boy, worrying about his memory recovery, finding somewhere to take him that they could access him and keep him safe, worrying about Dazai and the president and so much all at once- it was getting to her. She was exhausted, the surgery had taken hours and even longer had been the questioning she'd gotten about why she was with the boy and how he'd gotten so injured. He'd have to stay here at the hospital for a little while, a week at most, but visiting hours would be over soon and even if she'd done his surgery (The agency had a deal with the hospital. It was this whole complicated thing but in simple terms Yosano was allowed to give medical attention to case victims who were uncomfortable being chopped in half to heal with her ability, and to dazai who couldn't be healed with her ability.) she was not a doctor here so soon she'd have to go. The president was talking with the head of the hospital off to the side, working out the details of the kid's stay while Yosano cooled off, but he'd likely be done soon. God she hoped he'd be done soon- she had never wanted to go home and sleep more after a case, at least not after a case that wasn't complete yet.

The hospital was loud, people shouting orders and nurses rushing by- it was usually calmer but there'd been an accident somewhere nearby, she could hear two of the people who'd made it out cleanly talking about it somewhere down the hall. She could hear most things around her. Feet rushing, pens tapping, papers rustling, more yelling, beds rolling, children crying- and then it all seemed to stop. She heard a humming. She searched around, head rising from where it rested in her hands- when had she dropped her head? - and in the room to the side of the boy's was a hospital bed. The room was dark, the lights left off despite the light spilling in from the hall, a little girl laid back in the bed with the steady beat of a heart monitor droning on next to her. She had dark hair and closed eyes and a saline drip stuck into her arm, and there was a clear mask connecting to a metal tube on the ground keeping her breathing. A woman, presumably her mother, sat next to her holding the hand not receiving saline and the humming came from her. Yosano stared for a moment, the scene etching itself in her mind as he ear's began to ring. All she could focus on was that humming- she didn't recognize the tune but it still sounded familiar. Her ears slowly began to ran, getting louder and louder until it covered the sounds of shouting and moving and drawing and crying and everything else she'd heard, getting so loud she could even hear herself thing; and yet she still heard that clear tune- the humming invaded her ears, not getting loud or overwhelming but remaining over the ringing anyways somehow. Did it mean something? Does she want it to mean something? It all seemed to rotate over and over in her head-  The woman, the girl the humming, the woman the girl the humming, the woman the girl the humming, the woman the girl the hummin- 

...

A hand fell on her shoulder and Yosano startled violently in her surprise, head turning in a panic to face whoever had touched her just to find- the president. It was just the president. He seemed to be calling out to her and all at once the noise returned and the humming stopped, the ringing in her ears quickly dissipating to nothing as she desperately searched his face for something- for what, she wasn't sure. "Yosano-san, are you alright?" Fukuzawa asked in a kind and quiet tone, something soft that he usually reserved for Ranpo on the bad days or frightened children, and she almost let a tear slip past at his voice. Instead, she tilted her head to the side for a moment, perhaps hoping to catch a last glance of the woman, perhaps hoping to see nothing at all, but the woman was there. She'd stopped singing quietly to her child and had begun to look at Yosano Herself. She looked concerned- like she'd just seen someone lose everything, it was startling and confusing- Yosano hadn't lost anything, it hadn't even been a particularly hard night. Sure she was a bit shaken up and tired, but she'd only healed one person today, she was certain she was absolutely fine, and yet here was this woman holding the hand of her unconscious child in a hospital room and yet she looked at her with concern? It.. Yosano couldn't make any sense of it- it was, it was confusing and odd and wrong and- "Yosano?" The president. He was still waiting for a response, she realized, and she turned to face him, eyes taking a moment to leave where they'd locked with the woman to follow the movement of her head, and she looked him in the eyes. He was concerned. Why was everyone concerned? His hands shook slightly, and she couldn't tell if it were from earlier in the surgery or just because he was getting older. "I'm.." She paused, was she okay? Everyone around her seemed so concerned even though she was so sure she was fine so- so maybe she wasn't? She shook the thoughts away, she was alright. "I'm alright, Fukuzawa-dono. Have you finished your conversation with Miyani-Sensei?" She asked, begging all that was good in the universe to please let the man say he was /done/ and they could go the fuck home.

"Almost, we have one last thing to discuss before we can leave but I came over to let you know that if you'd like you can proceed ahead as this may take a while." Yosano could've jumped for joy, and the small smile the president let slip past at her sigh of relief told her that he knew all too well how she was feeling. "If it isn't a problem, then I think it may be best for me to return now to the dorms." She said with as much professionalism as she could muster, "Of-course. Have a safe trip home Yosano-san." he replied, and Yosano was quick to gather her things and head out the door.

Yosano had just reached the bottom floor, the basement level which let out into the parking lot, when she heard a light voice behind her sounding flustered and rushed. "Excuse me, miss!" She stopped, that voice sounded familiar. She turned slowly, letting the hand by her side reach up to hold onto the coat draped over her arm, and there she was. The woman.

It had taken Wilbur quite some time to pull himself back up from where he'd slid down to the matted carpet floor in his confused panic. Tommy was alive. Tommy was alive, and okay, and probably just the little gremlin he remembered him as and Wilbur- Wilbur was sat on the ground of an English tutoring agency, sagging with relief and trying to get his breathing under control. "What the hell am I doing?" He thought, a sudden indignance coming over him as he sharply stood- or at least, attempted to- instead, Wilbur let out a sharp yelp as his knees gave out from under him, legs having fallen asleep while he was sitting against the wall. His brain seemed to stall for a moment as he tried to process what'd just happened, and as he finally did his face lit aflame in an embarrassed sheen of red. Unfortunately for Wilbur, this just so happened to be the moment Amiko had walked back in on her way back to her desk. 

She'd first gone to snarl out some insult at him, shoulders raised and face contorted in her rage; but she'd quickly gone silent upon seeing the streaking of tears running down his face. "You- what- Soot-San, what are-" She seemed to struggle for a moment, tongue twisting in her drying out mouth as as she grasped for what to say. Eventually, after a moment of opening and closing her mouth in silence throat having gone dry as she searched for something to say and continued to look like a fish, she scoffed and grumbled out "What the hell are you doing down there. Crying at work isn't exactly acceptable behavior soot-San." And suddenly, nothing mattered anymore. Not to Wilbur at least, and certainly not when it involved someone like Amiko. 

"Y'know Amiko-San, for as much as you seem content to take out your frustration with your divorce on me," Her shoulders hiked up to  rest beside ears again as her face contorted with rage and embarrassment lit up her face, "It actually isn't my fault that your husband is leaving you for an older woman." He spat out with a vengeance. He had dealt with Amiko's animosity for months now, trying his hardest to be patient and understanding- especially considering he'd been the one to accidentally introduce Tadanai, Amiko's soon to be ex-husband, to the kind single mother down the hall from his apartment; but this had reached its breaking point, it had crossed the line a long time ago when the witch of a woman started becoming violent.

"And for your information, Amiko-San, this is my last day of working this wretched job- not that it was anything but pleasant before you showed up. I can honestly understand why Tadanai-San left you for Layan-San, I would have too had I been stuck with someone as miserable as you." Wilbur said, exhaustion seeping through past the anger in his voice. He sighed and stood slowly, his spine making little cracks and pops as he rose from the floor, "And for your information Amiko-San, these tears are because the most important person in my life may have just been found after being on the missing persons list back home for over five years. I just found out my little brother might be coming home, I will cry as much as I please and a stuck-up self fulfilling prophecy like you isn't going to stop me." HE finally finished, huffing out a manic outraged giggle at the end of his words. He wasn't angry with her, he knew that logically- but.. didn't she deserve a little anger after the way she'd been behaving? 

Wilbur looked Amiko in the eyes then,  finally shifting to stop avoiding her glare, and the wide eyed look he saw on her punched the air out of him. Guilt seeped into his body and he thought back to a time before L'manburg, a time before all the war. He'd been arguing with a shop-keep in a Hypixel lobby, Tommy standing tense and silent beside him. He'd won that argument, but upon seeing the tense way his little brother held himself he'd paused in his boasting. "What? What's wrong?" He'd asked, concern and confusion laced in the lining of his voice, "You shouldn't argue with people wilby" Tommy had said, lip trembling a bit. Wilbur had scoffed and remarked about how shed started the argument, hand sneakily snatching a candy apple from a stall they passed to hand to Tommy. Tommy had accepted it, but he stopped then to look him in the eyes, "Wilbur, you and I both know that eventually there'll be a point where we're much older than everyone else. A point where no-one else around us will know any better, where no-one else has had as much time to learn any better. When that point comes, do you still think you'll act like that?" Tommy had said, the sudden wisdom shocking Wilbur into silence. Wilbur hadn't been able to respond then, and they'd spent the rest of their day in the market in silence. That night when he'd looked at Tommy's sleeping form on their shared bed, and then at his own face in the mirror, he made a rule for himself. He made a rule because regardless of how many decades younger than him Tommy was, Wilbur still knew he was right. The next morning they set out again to market to continue searching for the scripture of Lady Prime Tommy wanted, as well as Wilbur's folktale books about Lady Death, and while he and Tommy never spoke about that conversation again, when the people in the streets looked down at their small malnourished forms with disgust and resentment, Wilbur did not let himself argue with them or get baited into rage. He just stayed reasonable, if tense and clearly annoyed. That annoyance washed away immediately however, when his tiny toddler sized brother slipped his hand into Wilbur's own, and fixed him with a knowing and thankful smile. They held hands the whole rest of the time.

A pang of pain ran through Wilbur's chest at the memory, and he teared up again. Voice gone gravely but soft, he looked down with fists clenched, shame burning in his face. Tommy had been right then- just like he'd been correct so many times before, times Wilbur wish he'd listened to Tommy's advice. "I- uhm.. I apologize Amiko-San, that was entirely out of line." He said, voice strained from tension. Amiko opened her mouth to respond after a few moments of gaping like a fish, but Wilbur cut her off. "I should go, Amiko." He said, mind so busy he skipped over the honorific by accident, "I have a resignation form to finish filling out." He said, stalking off toward the hallway that he knew would lead him to his boss's office with a grimace and a bad taste in his mouth.

It hadn't taken much time at all for Wilbur to complete the processing of his resignation papers once he'd explained the palatable bits of his situation to his now ex-employer. Toshine-San had been incredibly understanding and kind throughout the process, and had even promised to push harder for genuine disciplinary action to be taken against Amiko for her behavior. It would be easier for them to do so now that they'd finally found where she'd been hiding the security footage that held all the times she'd been overly cruel to him. Walking out of the building, Wilbur felt light. Like an unprecedented amount of weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He had already ordered a flight from Kagoshima to Yokohama, and would be there in around 4 and a half hours. All he needed to do now was make contact with Quackity.

|-----------------|

When Tommy woke up in a cold dark room, a beeping sound beside him and a soft warm hand holding his own, he had a small moment of stark terror, where he genuinely believed he was in limbo again. All that had come to a pause very quickly when he heard his big brothers voice. "Kid? Are you awake?" That was his big brother. His big Brother! Wilbur! he was here! The green person- they must've decided to give him a reward for being good throughout punishment!! "Wilby?" He croaked out, voice rough and tight from disuse. Apparently much more disuse than he'd originally thought because the instant he'd croaked the words out with his trembling voice he'd begun coughing. "Shit- kid hold on." His brother said, a note of concern slipping into his voice. Had it been anyone else they would've never noticed, but Tommy did. He had always been able to read between the lines with his big brother. He stifled the rest of his coughing fit as best as he could, reaching out a hand in front of him to feel around in the stark darkness for his brothers hand, upon finding it he sent a little energy down the mans arm, feeling the instinctual shiver than must've ran down Wilbur's back at the sensation. "m' ahkay Wilby, jst clm dwn." He slurred out, voice low and rough as he tried his hardest to pronounce the Terran words. "Wy selem ska drk?" Tommy asked, confusion lacing his tone as he tried his hardest to see through the pitch blackness around him and momentarily falling into common language but getting the point across regardless. "Ahm, your eyes uh" His brother started, tripping over the words and trying hard to shove down his bewilderment, "It's been found that when you.. ahm, fell out of the sky" his brother begins again with a pointed tone that has Tommy cringing in discomfort- they're going to have to talk about that later, aren't they? "You got a small concussion. It had already cleared up by the time you reached us," us? Was techno here? Was Phil? ... Tubbo..? "but it unfortunately had some lasting damages. You'll have some.. sensitivity in your eyes for the next few months or so, enough sensitivity that Yosano-Sensei believes it's in our best interest to keep them bandaged for a while." And oh if that isn't exciting- he hasn't done blind battle training in years! And the last time he'd been hit with a potion of blinding Wilbur had been the one to take care of him and he'd chosen to carry him everywhere, even when he was big. While Tommy had complained at the time, he could at least admit to himself that it'd been a very enjoyable time, and a much needed chance to just be close to his brother again without feeling like the man was only holding him close to satiate his little brothers clingy nature.