The scene wasn't much to go off of, considering it was all just a pile of decimation and ashes.

With the turns Kunikida had been taking, steering towards a more familiar territory, Chuuya knew they were headed towards the cluster of warehouses kept by the Port. (Obviously it was in Port Mafia territory.)

They had been the location to several illegal drug deals and organ trades, (Chuuya had been involved in quite a few of those. If the Port Mafia wanted to make some extra money from harvesting their enemies organs and selling them on the black market then who was he to judge?)

But now it seemed that something had gotten out of hand, which would successfully bring a stop to every other activity.

The mafia would have to choose another ground to host their deals but it wouldn't put too much of a wrench in their plans as long as they haven't grown incompetent over the time span of six years.

Chuuya stepped out of the car, trying his best to ignore the icy claws of the wind tearing at his exposed skin. He should have worn another jacket and maybe a beanie or something. But that would require actually asking for something and Chuuya was not about to let Dazai have that satisfactory.

"So this is it?" He asked in a flat tone, gesturing to the charred rubble currently being battered by chilled rain. The caution tapes around the scene had all been ripped down.

It would have made for a ghostly sight if there weren't other cars parked in the parking lot and other people (in suits, mafia attire) picking around the rubble.

"I assume so" Kunikida stepped next to him, pulling Dazai behind him who had tried to refuse to get out of the vehicle, claiming that it was 'too cold.'

With that, Chuuya had replied that 'maybe he should stay inside so his bandages didn't fall off and they wouldn't be blinded by the sight of his bare skin.'

Chuuya quirked an eyebrow "you assume so? You haven't been here before?"

"Nope," Dazai said, and despite complaining about the cold he didn't look the least bit bothered. "The main branch of the Port Mafia is handling the investigation side of things."

That made absolutely no sense, Chuuya grit his teeth and shoved his numb fingers down even further into his pockets, trying his best to ignore his hair being whipped around by the wind in front of his face.

"Aren't you the armed detective agency, what the hell do you mean you aren't investigating?"

Dazai simply shrugged "they took over the operation since you dwell in their branch more, they gave us the job to make sure you didn't get into any trouble."

"I can watch my own back perfectly fine," Chuuya grumbled to himself, carefully stepping over the first parts of the rubble as Kunikida marched ahead of him to the canopies they had set up over the tables.

Chuuya's eyes scanned over the contents of the tables, probably evidence they managed to collect from the burnt building.

He didn't recognize any of it.

"How is the case coming along?" Kunikida asked a nearby man who didn't look very sane, but then again, not very many people who worked in the port mafia were sane.

The man was tall like a scarecrow and had a strange lab coat on with colorful pins. When he looked up Chuuya could practically see the crazed gleam in his eyes behind those glasses.

"The building was burnt to the ground so there wasn't much evidence of that, but the witness accounts bought back a bag with some interesting materials." His lips twisted into a maniacal grin when his eyes rested on Chuuya "a dart laced with untraceable substances. Substances so strange that we can't even tell that it exists and for all we know... it doesn't."

Kunikida furrowed his eyebrows "enough games, just tell us what you're trying to convey here."

The man, probably a scientist, pursed his lips in false contemplation. "Hmm, no not unless you let me have my way with him," he pointed a long finger to Chuuya.

Chuuya instinctively backed up "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The man shrugged, "let me get a sample of his blood, fair enough."

Chuuya was at a standstill, looking for any sign of a sick joke on the man's expression, but it remained the same.

Why would have even wanted a sample of his blood?

Chuuya hated needles, recalling the time where he had to get some 'check up' when he was inducted into the port mafia. He had made a fool of himself and passed out after having a panic attack, in front of shitty Dazai no less.

He didn't know what strange vendetta he had against needles or really any hospitals, he had dealt with sharp objects almost every other day and was unbothered by those. But he pointedly avoided needles or any other lab tools.

But if he could get some information...

A hand was placed on his shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts. "No need for any of that, your explanation was clear enough." And despite the lightness of Dazai's tone, his words were heavy with implication.

And like that, Chuuya was steered away from the tables and the crazy scientist guy who he would later learn was known as Kajii.

"What was that about?" Kunikida asked, sounding slightly peeved.

"He wanted Chuuya's blood. To do what with, I have no idea." Chuuya could tell that Dazai was lying but decided to let it slide, for now, there wasn't much he could do about it. "He wanted it in turn for information that I already possess."

"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" Chuuya interrogated, nearly tripping over a steel bar as they tracked into the heart of the rubble.

"You were injected with a strange substance administered by a dart thrown before you turned unconscious and woke up at this age. Not even the best scientist can detect what it was, meaning that it is something new." Dazai explained as if it was common sense, even if Chuuya literally had no clue what he was going on about.

"I don't know what you're suggesting, but we're here to see how the case is going and to get an estimate for how much longer Nakahara will be here, not to poke around and stick our noses where they don't belong." Kunikida replied, not even batting an eye. Chuuya could really resonate with the annoyance laced in his tone.

Dazai didn't seem too bothered by the lecture, instead, his eyes roamed around the scene as more workers moved around like ants gathering things.

Chuuya highly doubted that there would be anything noteworthy left, especially if it had already been a day or two since the incident.

But he was also surprised to see so many people working on his case. Currently, he was at the bottom of the 'food chain' in the mafia, even if he was training under Ane-San and was an important weapon of mass destruction, the mafia could fare well enough without him.

In fact, this level of search would only be for someone at the executive level...

Just as one of the major puzzle pieces fell into place and Chuuya's lips parted so he could question it, yet another hand was placed on his shoulder.

It wasn't the one that nullified his ability, it was a foreign touch and it made Chuuya's skin crawl.

Chuuya jumped away and twisted around, ready to crush whoever had touched him but came face to face with a boy who looked to be in his late teens. If anyone was to look like a delinquent it would be him with his piercings and unorthodox clothing.

Though his frightened expression certainly didn't match the way he looked.

"Executive Nakahara!" He shouted, just a tad too loud. A few heads turned, and Chuuya suddenly realized that Dazai and Kunikida had parted ways with him to talk to Hirotsu.

He looked the same as ever.

"Shut up," Chuuya hissed at the other redhead, quickly covering his mouth to get him to be quiet. If an executive was missing then the boss would keep it under wraps and let a select group of people know. Few people here probably even knew what they were supposed to be looking for.

Once the young adult seemed to calm down, Chuuya slowly lowered his hand "are you done now?"

The man nodded and Chuuya turned away to walk off, briefly wondering how this man even knew about him-

"Wait!"

It seemed that he wasn't done talking to him.

Chuuya swiftly turned to him, "What do you want?"

"Executive Nakahara I-"

"Don't," Chuuya held up a finger "call me that. Just Chuuya. Who even are you?"

At the question, the teen seemed a bit crestfallen, looking like a kicked puppy. "You don't remember anything? I guess you really were de-agree huh."

"Well yeah, that's what I'm assuming," Chuuya mumbled sarcastically.

"Well-" the man extended his arm and Chuuya decided that talking to this kid could come of use to him, so he accepted the handshake. "I'm Tachihara, I didn't join until after you joined so you probably don't know me."

"Right," Chuuya shoved his hand back into his coat pockets, trying not to let the misty rain bother him or the cold sway him. "I'm fifteen, and hopefully not for long."

Tachihara nodded guiltily. He was somehow involved in the situation. "Losing the executive is a big blow. Sorry for spoiling the future for you, but for what it's worth, you do make a good executive."

Chuuya waved him off "stop being a kiss ass, what happened here?"

Tachihara bit his lip before launching into the explanation.

Apparently, he and the black lizard had been on a mission to bust a drug deal that turned out to be a human experimentation ring, which in turn happened to be a bunch of adults turned into children by the ability user who was yet to be apprehended.

The children had all grown to their normal ages and proceeded with life, but that didn't make the situation any less annoying. Chuuya wanted to go back to his own time and he was sure that wherever adult Chuuya was, that he would agree.

"This is all my fault," Tachihara looked down guiltily. And yes, technically it was, but Chuuya couldn't bring himself to be pissed. At least now he knew some information that idiot Dazai had never cared to tell him.

"Don't worry about it," Chuuya shuffled, kicking the remains of a table and watching it roll over three times. "Just... buy me wine or something when I grow."

Tachihara's expression did a weird fond contortion "I already bought out a whole store."

Well, at least Chuuya knew he would always like wine.

Chuuya spared a glance to Dazai and Kunikida who seemed to be wrapping up their conversation with the mafia member.

Chuuya didn't exactly know what else to ask, he wasn't like Dazai, he still didn't know enough to ask the right questions. So he resorted to using his last few minutes to ask an open-ended question and let Tachihara take the lead.

"What am I like?"

The subordinate flinched slightly but gave him an easygoing smile nevertheless. "In the future? You're a pretty chill leader, not like the other executives. You know your men personally instead of treating them like disposable objects."

That was a jab towards Dazai, Chuuya liked this kid.

"You're also very powerful. Look-wise, you change your attire a bit and grow your hair out but that's about it."

Chuuya wanted to laugh at the fact that Tachihara thought he even cared about what he looked like in the future, but it also got on his nerves a bit. "What do you mean nothing else changes? I'm sure I'm much taller than now."

Tachihara choked on his spit, pointedly looking away as he lied through his teeth. "You're taller than Dazai."

Chuuya appreciated the lie, he really did. He almost believed it.

But who knew, he would probably grow tall and demanding, but perhaps he wouldn't pass up the lanky bandaged freak.

"Chuuya~" that very same bandaged freak called, approaching them. Tachihara made himself scarce, bowing down briefly before scrambling away.

"Are we leaving now?" Chuuya asked, a bit impatient. A sudden gust of wind blew against him, making a shiver wrack his body. He tried to hide it but nothing seemed to escape Dazai's analyzing gaze.

"Yep, let's go before the wind whisks you away!" Dazai teased, thankfully Kunikida whacked him upside the head.

"Let's go," the blonde grabbed Dazai by the collar to haul him off to the car "and no, you're not skipping work for the rest of the day you have paperwork to do."

Dazai whined all the way back to the agency.

The visit to the crime scene had been just what Dazai was expecting, uneventful. He didn't collect any information that he didn't already know, and of course, the mafia was being awfully tight-lipped about things.

Maybe he should have let Kajii take some of the chibis blood in turn for information, but he would not have gleaned anything from that experience but pain and suffering.

Chuuya would have freaked out if he saw a needle and if the crazy scientist did manage to get his talons on Chuuya's blood then there was no telling what he would do with it.

But it would for sure come back to bite Chuuya in the ass when he grew up.

So that was not an option.

But Dazai could work with what he had currently. He had practically pieced the puzzle together, though the one centerpiece still missing was the ability user.

And that information would come with time.

So there was nothing that Dazai could do except for listen to Hirotsu as he gave him the information he already knew and to keep a close eye on Tachihara as he and Chuuya chatted.

Tachihara was not a variable that Dazai had factored into the equation. He was a part of the black lizard, not meant to take part in any investigative activities, though with how guilt-ridden he looked, he probably volunteered his time to be here as some sort of self-given punishment.

Or maybe he just thought he could help Chuuya by picking through a bunch of rubble, to each their own.

And Chuuya was being nosey as always, trying to sniff out what he could from his conversation like the canine he was.

Well, with time he would figure out that Dazai didn't have any kind of master plan to kill and/or publicly humiliate him here six years in the future. In fact, Dazai just wanted the Chibi out of his hair so he could rest peacefully. (Even if the only time he truly got any sleep was when Chuuya was there.)

The rest of the day at the detective agency was uneventful enough.

Chuuya mingled around the office, bothering his co-workers with questions before going to his place on the couch and lounging for the remaining hours, only talking to Kyouka when she approached him with some food as a peace offering.

Those two had formed a strange friendship, but considering that Kyouka had a hard time talking to people (Which Atsushi always encouraged her to do) and that Chuuya was rather easy to talk to, in the essence that he didn't necessarily care what people said, it wasn't completely unpredictable.

Dazai also predicted that Chuuya would be a bit thrown off by Kenji's happy-go-lucky outlook on the world, and the height comment from when they had first met definitely stained whatever blooming friendship they had.

And when Kenji approached Chuuya to ask if he could show him the 'wall walking' trick, Chuuya accepted quickly. Not because he was nice and accepting, but just for the pure fact that he was bored and willing to take up a challenge.

Oh how Dazai enjoyed seeing Kunikida lecturing Chuuya while writing 'No walking on walls' rule in his notebook. Older Chuuya would probably be mortified to learn that he was the reason that Kunikida had written a new rule.

Dazai of course led an unproductive evening until it was time to leave. (An hour early than the others, but who was counting?)

Chuuya had finally shut up and fallen asleep on the couch, whether he was so bored that he fell asleep or exhausted, Dazai still woke him up by nudging his shoulder and making him groggily follow him to the car he continued to steal from the agency. (If president Fukuzawa truly cared about the vehicle theft then he certainly would have said something by now.)

And Dazai truly believed they were home free when they arrived at Chuuya's door, but of course, nothing was ever simple in life.

Lady Chiyo made her grand return, exiting the elevator, her small eyes immediately focused on them.

Dazai mentally groaned and threw a tantrum, he didn't know why this neighbor of Chuuya's was so persistent in catching them when they were just trying to get home.

Chuuya seemed to sense his annoyance because he too momentarily scrunched his nose up in disgust before Dazai whacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Good evening," the woman greeted, a smile wrinkling her face. It was mostly aimed for Chuuya, whose lips only tugged downwards.

"Don't be like that Chibi~" Dazai reprimanded lightly, even if he didn't blame the kid at all.

Chuuya didn't say anything, lips remaining sealed shut stubbornly. He must have had bad experiences with grandmas.

"That's quite alright," Chiyo waved him off, her smile never faltering even under the gravity of Chuuya's attitude. "Which Son is this now? I never knew that you had so many. You must be a wonderful father to raise these beautiful children while your husband is away."

Dazai mentally cursed everything to ever exist, especially when Chuuya tensed next to him in confusion.

This lady was going to reveal everything Dazai could possibly want to keep secret.

Chuuya didn't need to know that Dazai had watched his younger versions, and he most certainly didn't need him to know that this lady was under the false belief that Chuuya was his husband and that they had multiple kids together.

And this Chuuya wouldn't play the role of his son, not willingly at least.

Dazai needed to think fast.

"Oh no the last son was my oldest," Dazai waved her off, "this is just a close cousin. Chuuya's family reproduces like rabbits, it's crazy-" Dazai ignored the offended Yelp from Chuuya as he finally managed to open the apartment door and shove him inside.

"It's been a nice conversation!" He slammed the door in her face.

And slowly turned around to meet Chuuya's cherry red face.

"What," he said, "in the hell is going on."

Dazai felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and Chuuya slowly approached, a dead look on his face, successfully cornering Dazai.

Dazai put his hands up in surrender "I- I can explain!"

"You better!" Chuuya jabbed a finger to his chest, "what's all of this about a husband? And kids? You can't even take care of yourself let alone a few snot-nosed brats!"

Oh, the irony.

"And this is my apartment," Chuuya continued "why would she know you for living in my apartment!"

Well, it seems that Dazai has dug himself a hole. A rather deep one at that.

"Well you see, me and the Chibi- my Chibi- have this game that we play called 'how long can we fool the neighbor that we're married.' And I am determined not to lose. Somehow we managed to convince her that we have three kids, and apparently, now a nephew."

Chuuya's eye twitched "I don't believe that in the least, but I'm also not going to venture upon this any further because I probably don't want to know."

"Wise choice," Dazai nodded, somewhat satisfied that Chuuya didn't drop-kick him on the spot, though the redhead just looked relieved that Dazai didn't have any children or a husband.

Dazai would certainly feel bad for the kids.

Though Chuuya was looking at it from a similar angle. From what he knew so far of Dazai, he was a cold-hearted bastard who had uprooted him from the only stability he had, the sheep, and forced him to join a new life. That wasn't exactly parent material to start off with even if Dazai had changed.

That and the added fact that having any close relations in the port mafia was a dangerous game. Those feelings could be used against you in the most unappealing of ways.

Those were big factors, and very valid points, in why Chuuya seemed to be defensive, so Dazai wasn't too offended.

Chuuya didn't interrogate him on the matter anymore, only grumbling under his breath about how that old lady should stay away from him. He seemed less argumentative than when he first arrived six years into the future. Perhaps his guard was up less and he was beginning to trust Dazai. Or maybe something was off.

Something certainly seemed off.

Ever since coming back from the crime scene this morning, Chuuya had seemed less Chuuya-like. Instead of barking in his ear like an annoying dog and forcing him to do his paperwork, he slept or remained quiet. Something that he didn't do often.

And Dazai would be enjoying the peace and quiet if it weren't so... weird.

"Is something wrong?" Dazai asked Chuuya later that night when they were eating on the couch. Chuuya looked up, a bit surprised, and Dazai understood because when he was young he would never indulge in such a thing as worrying and asking if someone was okay.

Chuuya shrugged, looking a little weirded out. "'I'm just tired."

Judging by his pinched eyebrows, Dazai could tell that Chuuya was more than just tired. He was in pain.

A headache?

Wordlessly, Dazai got up from the couch and placed his dishes in the sink. (Chuuya never liked when he did that, always saying it was best to wash it off and place it directly in the dishwasher, so Dazai did it to piss him off.) On his way back he grabbed the bottle of painkillers and dumped a generous amount in his palms. If Chuuya was showing physical discomfort then it must be pretty annoying.

Perhaps it was Arahabaki screaming from his chains somewhere in Chuuya's head?

The god had a tendency to make Chuuya's life a living hell. Once, Chuuya had skipped his job (Something he wouldn't do unless someone was dying) and dragged himself over to Dazai's place just to get him to nullify his ability. Just for a moment of silence without the crippling migraines.

Dazai knew that if he touched Chuuya now and erased his ability, he would never be allowed to again. Chuuya once described the nullification as if he was defenseless, his sins bare for the whole world to see. Making a fifteen-year-old Chuuya feel that way would be counterproductive.

Dazai sighed to himself as he dumped the pills into Chuuya's hand. He was never allowed to have Advil at the agency's dorms, the members were too afraid he would overdose. He had the chance this whole time with Chuuya, yet he didn't.

Caring, Dazai had come to learn, was hard.

Chuuya dumped the pills back into his mouth with shaky hands and not even as much as a thanks. Dazai could only imagine the confusion running through his tiny mind at the moment, it must have been whiplash-inducing to see Dazai act this way.

It was a pretty shitty apology for being the teenager he once was, but Chuuya and Dazai both relied on action rather than words.

The rest of the night was peaceful.

Well, that was until Chuuya woke up with a fever.