NOTE

     finally, Aku has been introduced!

For the first time in Atsushi's University career, he was saddened by the fact his semester had come to a pause for reading week. A couple of weeks ago he'd have been thrilled at the week off. A week alone, hiding in his room with snacks watching his favorite comfort shows. A week where he could reply to messages lazily and blame it on the lousy accommodation internet connection. A week to spiral down into his thoughts without disturbance. He loved that routine, despite its inherently damaging nature.

Now, he was sad he'd got the week off. Why? Because it meant their societal activities had to stop. Kunikida had informed him that the room they used as the debate societies meeting point was a seminar room used for another subject, and since that subject didn't have a reading week it was put into full use. So, there was nowhere the group could meet. Not officially anyway.

Atsushi felt like he had thanked Dazai every day since he'd started going to the society because, even though he wouldn't admit it up front, he was really enjoying himself.

It was a process of course, the first official day he was thrown into the deep end and had to debate with Ranpo about mystery novels. The notes he made on paper were shaking in his hands the entire time. He was sweating, his voice was wobbly, and his arguments were unclear and poorly structured. But after that, Dazai, Junichiro and even Ranpo looked at his notes. They edited them, gave him tips and compliments to boost his confidence. They took the time to explain why something didn't work in the argument, or why something had worked. It made the whole ordeal a lot more enjoyable knowing he wasn't failing miserably, the way he was telling himself he was.

Don't misunderstand though, he wasn't suddenly a confident king and a god of debates. He had a long way to go, a very long way; but he was enjoying himself, he actively responded to their group chat messages and met up with them for food often. They'd given him the confidence to try, to push through the barrier of his self-destructive thoughts and see the world and himself differently. Of course, that positive thinking didn't always work. There were plenty of times when he'd simply shut down mid debate because a touchy subject came up. But knowing that he wasn't being judged, that he was being cared for and that everyone in the group was rooting for him worked wonders.

Currently, they were all on a video call. Atsushi had logged into Dazai's account since he didn't actually have a skype account, so he moved his laptop into the living room so Dazai could continue to watch his murder show in the background.

"This quality is grotesque" Kunikida grumbled, trying his best to angle the camera exactly right so you could see him and only him.

"Most qualities you have are grotesque!" Dazai yelled back, not taking his eyes off the tv for a second.

Atsushi laughed, watching as Kunikida's eyes rolled into the back of his head. If there were reports of Dazai being murdered by Kunikida nobody would be surprised. Dazai loved to tease and Kunikida hated teasing. It was a match made in hell, but it made for great entertainment.

Junichiro popped into view a couple seconds later, his steaming dinner set in front of him. "Sorry I didn't have time to eat before the call." He apologized politely, and then began shoveling rice down his throat with no shame whatsoever.

Then after what felt like hours, Ranpo connected. His usual stack of snacks by his side, "Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to work this stupid thing." He complained, shoving a crisp into his mouth and chomping down on it urgently.

"You're the smartest kid in the University, but you don't know how to answer a skype call?" Atsushi asked timidly, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Ranpo's physical features seemed unphased, but his voice was a whole octave higher than normal "Firstly I'm 26! And secondly, technology is getting more and more complicated, I don't have the time to learn what every button does, I have more important things to do." He rambled.

"It's just a green phone symbol man" Junichiro scoffed through his mouth full of food.

The two began arguing back and forth, insults muffled by crisps and rice. Atsushi could quite literally see Kunikida's will to live seeping out of his body as the senseless arguing continued until he finally snapped. "Enough you two! We're not here to bicker like children, we're here to discuss the trip to Toin University."

At this news, they all perked up, Dazai scrambled over to the laptop screen to finally participate in the conversation. "We're having a proper debate session already?" Dazai asked, his eyes glowing with excitement, "Ah what a perfect way to start my year off, destroying Chuuya. I can't wait."

"It's October." Atsushi told him blankly, earning snickers and chokes from both Ranpo and Junichiro.

His cheekiness earned Atsushi a slap on the back of the head, sending him forward and crashing his forehead into the keys of the laptop. Dazai was clearly amazed by his own strength, but instead of sincerity and apologies flooding to the surface, laughter did.

And unlike other times when Atsushi was laughed at, he didn't mind. He knew they weren't actually making fun of him like other people often did. They were laughing at him because it was funny, and because of the subtle keypad imprint on his forehead.

Suddenly, a low buzzing erupted from the laptop, causing everyone to freeze up momentarily "Uh, what the fuck is that?" Junichiro asked, dumbfounded by the small unfamiliar rat icon that'd appeared in the corner of the screen.

"I don't know, I'm using Dazai's account" Atsushi declared as if to clear himself of any blame.

At first, they thought it was a glitch of some kind. Like they'd burnt out the app or something so it began to lag. Then they thought it was the messaging option since Kunikida was spamming it. Then, they thought they were being called, and as soon as that idea was in the air Dazai flinched.

It was as if a lightbulb had gone off in Dazai's head, "Oh no" He exhaled, leaning forward quickly to end whatever was going on, but it was too late. In a flash, 2 unfamiliar squares had joined the call.

Well, they were unfamiliar with Atsushi at least.

"What the fuck do you want Dazai?" A long-haired, fiery ginger grumbled as he wrote something down into a notepad. His face was illuminated by a yellow hue lamp on his desk, overexposing the paleness of his skin completely. He wasn't looking into the camera, far too preoccupied with whatever he was doing.

"Uh, why do you have Chuuya's contact information?" Kunikida asked, sounding slightly flustered which was very unusual.

Atsushi watched on in a mixture of horror and intrigue as Chuuya's facelifted from his booklet, red and angry, "You're on a group call? What are you 12? You moron I'll kick your ass when I see you next you little twerp—"

Dazai laughed nervously, hands shaking in front of him as 5 pairs of confused eyes, and a black square glared at him. "Well you see, "Dazai began explaining, eyes frantically looking from left to right begging Atsushi for help.

Atsushi didn't help. There was no way he could help; he had no clue what was going on. But by the way the taller man was acting, Atsushi had the feeling if he was in a position to help, he probably shouldn't.

All of A Sudden, a smooth deep voice flowed through the speakers of Atsushi's laptop, "Ah, I understand whats going on here." Atsushi shivered involuntarily as if a soft hand had crawled up his spine leaving nothing but tingles in its wake.

"You're here too!" Junichiro yelled, giving up on his food to scoot himself closer to the screen, "Dazai you have some explaining to do!"

Atsushi was zoning in and out of conversation, his mind wanting different things. One part wanted to listen in and understand what was going on because the situation at hand seemed messy and sensitive. The other side, however, was concerned only with that voice. Where did it come from? Who was it? And why was Atsushi so unexpectedly affected by it?

Finally, after Chuuya had stopped yelling murderous threats at Dazai, he picked up his explanation "Well you see, when I used to be the head of the society I had to call Chuuya up to organize trips so that he could request our visits to the University—"

"Why didn't you just email the University staff—" Ranpo asked, a completely fair and valid question.

"That took too long!" Dazai complained arms crossed like a child, "Anyway! I'd talk to Chuuya—"

"Correction! You harassed me you snotty little shit!" Atsushi couldn't help but laugh at that, watching the normally cool and respected Dazai getting torn a new one was beautiful. A real entertaining scene, "And who the fuck are you laughing at pipsqueak?"

In an instant Atsushi was pulled out of his hazed state of mind and slammed right into the real-world chaos that was ensuing. Atsushi's eyes widened, and within a flash Dazai was fighting back, pulling the attention off his anxious friend "You're one to talk, aren't you like 4ft11?"

"4ft11? 4ft 11! I'll kill you!—"

"Can everybody just shut up?" Kunikida yelled and surprisingly this settled everyone down, even Chuuya who seemed about 5 seconds from catching a bus to their apartment and setting fire to it. "We didn't mean to call you; it was an accident. We'll be hanging up now." Kunikida attempted to end the unnecessary confrontation, but that voice was back lulling Atsushi into a world full of haze.

"Are we having a debate or not?" Then, the black screen in the corner shifted catching Atsushi's undivided attention.

Ranpo chimed in calmly, "Yes, we're organizing one for the end of the week."

Suddenly, the black screen wasn't so black anymore and pixilated inside was quite possibly the prettiest boy Atsushi had ever seen. He was as pale as a ghost, hair black and shaggy with white tips, wrapped in a thick black hoodie as he laid against his black bedsheets. Atsushi gulped, lured to the man like a cat to a laser pointer. He felt hot all of a sudden as if Dazai had suddenly cranked up their heaters to full blast.

"Your campus or ours?" the mysterious man was so assertive, his silver eyes dark and lidded as if he was about to fall asleep at any minute.

How could someone be so unbothered? Yet so attractive? Surely those two qualities didn't go together? Not that Atsushi had any experience in that department. He was always too consumed by his own self-destructive thinking, he barely noticed other people. But this man was impossible to ignore, like a white flashlight being shone into a dark tunnel

Kunikida began discussing the details with the unnamed man, who simply nodded along and absorbed the information like a sponge.

Atsushi was staring at him intently, forgetting that this call was a two-way ordeal, and everybody could see the way the silver-haired male was completely gawking at that section of the screen.

Dazai noticed, and with a smirk on his face that absolutely reeked of trouble, he slapped his hands onto both of Atsushi's shoulders. "Anyway! You lot had better be on you're A-game because we have a new member," Dazai swung Atsushi back and forth like a child, pulling him impossibly lost to the camera and then as far away as he could stretch, "He's a great debater, our secret weapon!"

Dazai's praise was not new to Atsushi, the man probably complimented him on something at least once a day; but by the confused stares he was receiving, he assumed this side of Dazai was relatively unknown.

Chuuya instantly became defensive, "You chat so much shit Dazai, we'll wipe the floor with you like we always do. Won't we Akutagawa?"

As soon as Chuuya said the man's name, Dazai stopped his mild assault. Atsushi looked at him with big eyes, and Dazai simply smiled and nodded along pretending not to pay attention. Atsushi figured out Dazai's intentions instantly. He'd seen him gawking. God damn it.

"What's your name?" The ethereal beauty, Akutagawa, asked suddenly. A small but noticeable spike of intrigue in his deep flat tone.

Atsushi was instantly flustered, looking down into his pixilated square to find his eyes boring into him, wide and alert. Atsushi swallowed hard, "A-Atsushi" He tried his best to sound confident, but the slight crack in his voice gave all his nervousness away.

A small, smug smile graced Akutagawa's thin lips before his eyes lidded again, "We'll destroy you, Atsushi."

And with that thrilling declaration of war, he and Chuuya left the call.

2180 words, writing this fic is really interesting ngl!