Chapter Text
It was a rainy day; the streets of Yokohama had a downpour of rain. Every crevice of the hard, rocky roads on streets would have at least one drop of water on it. Though, the civilians there don’t care enough about the weather as life goes on. One may have gotten a promotion at their workplace, another might have had a miscarriage with their infant, who knows? One person’s day might be their worst, while another’s has their best. Nobody can know.
We know of nobody’s life, except this one individual. This short, timid, boy running through the streets of Yokohama, the only one who seems to care about the weather in this story; as he’s running to find a shield from the rain.
After a few grueling minutes of hopelessly and pathetically dashing on the sidewalk, not caring at the pairs of eyes watching him, his face lights up as he sees a maroon-brick building. The building is relatively new, but it obviously had some wear and tear throughout the years. The windows were somewhat dusty, but it was clear it was well-maintained as the various lively plants next to them was enough proof.
With hurried steps, the boy pushes the door with force. Ding! The boy gasps for air, his lungs burning as he crouches, the aroma of the cafe enveloping him. He takes one last breath of air before he stands straight.
This boy’s name is Nakajima Atsushi, he has an unkempt and uneven haircut, his hair drenched from the shower he just endured, where his almost pure-white hair shines gently as water droplets trickle down his hair. Plop, plop, the water says as it escapes his head and falls onto the cafe ground. His white dress-shirt with a black tie, plain-black suspenders that connect to his black pants is completely soaked in the water from the rain. Atsushi groans, running a hand through his damp hair, from the expression he’s making on his face, it's clear he is annoyed.
Atsushi is late; his shift started at 7:00 am, and it’s currently 8:32 am. Atsushi works at the Armed Detective Agency; a detective agency that handles the jobs normal agencies and police can’t take. Atsushi managed to become one of the agents there after saving a person—Dazai, who is now his mentor, colleague and friend, from drowning in a river four months ago. All the agents there consist of ability users, and Atsushi found out he was one of them after going on a destructive rampage as a white, divine tiger throughout Yokohama and nearby districts. Atsushi passed the entrance exam that allowed him to become an employee, and he has never been happier.
Atsushi never felt like he belonged. He always felt as if his existence was a mistake since he was abused and tortured by his orphanage headmaster for his whole life. His biological parents? Never knew them. The only two facts he’s ever heard about them is that they did something worse than the headmaster and dumped him in a garbage bag like he was nothing. Maybe that’s a sign from life, maybe he was supposed to die in that trash bag as he was suffocated from the limited oxygen in the bag, maybe he was only supposed to amount to being just trash from the start.
“Hey? You good, Atsushi? Whatcha’ doing here?” A sassy yet somehow curious voice cuts through his thoughts. Atsushi snaps out of it and realizes that he’s just been standing in front of the cafe door this whole time, he can’t help but blush.
Atsushi chuckles, “Sorry, Lucy. I was spacing out,” Atsushi gives a sheepish grin, his hand snaking up to the nape of his neck, a habit he normally does when he’s embarrassed or uncomfortable. “I am late for work at the agency, so I can’t really talk right now.”
Lucy scoffs, rolling her jade eyes while throwing her arms up in an exaggerated manner. “Seems like the cat is irresponsible,” she has a knowing grin on her face, a face that’s intentionally supposed to piss Atsushi off. “Maybe you should quit, so I won't see you ever again.”
Unfortunately, Atsushi doesn’t get irritated at trivial matters. He just wants Lucy to stop talking to him so he could get to the floor of the agency. “Ah, well you’re out of luck,” Atsushi chuckles and releases his hand from his neck, letting it rest at his side. “I’m going to be at the agency for, hopefully, the rest of my life.” His once timid grin turns into a snarky one, “See you.”
Atsushi hurriedly runs up the steps to the agency, not caring of the cold, wet rain being poured on him as he is. He’s used to extremely cold temperatures, since the headmaster often locked him outside of the orphanage while it was snowing heavily. Atsushi would sit on the front porch of the orphanage, the wood being painted in white as he curled himself into a ball, making him look like the smallest thing in the world. He’d count his fingers, maybe it was to count how many hours it's been, maybe it was just for fun, but there’s things Atsushi does that even he doesn’t know why he does it. He counted his red, almost purple and blue fingers, and while he was, the only feeling he felt was emptiness. He wasn’t mad, not sad, not frustrated, just empty. Atsushi never knew why that was the only thing he felt.
Bang! Atsushi made it, he was inside. He was greeted with the usual sound of documents being rustled, Kunikida lecturing other members, Dazai ranting about a new suicide method, the printer in the corner printing out new cases and documents, it was all familiar. There was an anomaly that didn’t fit in with the usual atmosphere.
There was a couple sitting on one of the agency’s couches, one that was typically used for witnesses to a case, a suspect for interrogating, or a client filing for a case. Normally, whenever Atsushi walked in on something like this, he’d just ignore it and continue on with his detective work.
But something was calling out to Atsushi that told him that the couple was someone important. Atsushi noticed the man had black hair while the woman had albino hair, and they both had casual clothes on (which isn’t really relevant). The hair and the type of eyes the couple has is strikingly similar to Atsushi’s own.
Atsushi quickly hid behind a wall. Since the door to the room was opened, he could hear everything. “I just… I wanted to apologize,” The woman answers Tanizaki’s original questions pertaining to the case she was filing, but it is in a cry-toned voice, “18 years ago, we abandoned him… We were such assholes, putting him in a garbage bag and everything…” The husband gently rubs his wife’s back, seemingly trying to comfort her as she goes on, “We were irresponsible teens back then, that we didn’t even spare a single thought of what might happen to him…” She sits back on the couch, trying to get herself at least somewhat comfortable as she tells Tanizaki this sob story, “I was too scared, too scared of what he’d say to me once I found him. I didn’t want him to say something like ‘You failed’ or something, because that’d break my heart. Though, I don’t know if that’s what he’ll say if I find him again. Maybe… he’d accept me, and we’d be a normal, happy…” She doesn’t finish her sentence, as she breaks down without finishing her sentence.
Though she doesn’t say it, everyone knows what she was going to say, family. Without a doubt, Atsushi knew right then and there.
That couple is his biological parents.