Atsushi had been working himself to the bone ever since he'd been dealt with that declaration of war at the beginning of the week. It's all he'd really thought about, Akutagawa's smooth deep voice replaying like a beautiful broken record in his head. We'll destroy you, Atsushi.

He'd like to see them try.

Well, actually he really wouldn't. But he'd been thinking in a cool way, recently. He thought it was cool anyway. His brain was throwing out words you'd probably read in one of Ranpo's cliché murder mystery turned romance novels.

Atsushi had accumulated piles and piles of loose sheets and notebooks full of debate research as if someone had placed a gun to his head and forced him to learn. And he tried to learn, he tried to learn everything from the common topic categories, the best ways to structure an argument, and how to counterattack. What to do if you're backed into a metaphorical corner by the other team, and how to be convincing with your arguments and speak assertively.

He'd quite literally been consuming the topic of debating like he was starved. Like he'd discovered a life source and had years and years of feasting to catch up on. He consumed so much of it, that he himself was at risk of being consumed by it.

All because of that Akutagawa brat.

Atsushi's initial attraction to the man had faded drastically, he'd thought about his stupid face so much that it no longer made him nervous. Which was all fine, all well and good. However, the man had somehow managed to spark a fire inside him. It wasn't a raging inferno or anything like that. It was more of a small spark, that if put under the wrong conditions would explode and burn Atsushi alive.

Akutagawa had awoken competitiveness inside of him.

A desire not necessarily to be the best or to win everything, just to beat Akutagawa no matter what. To put him in his place and wipe that stupid smug smile off his perfectly even skin. To be better than him, at least.

By the time the team scurried onto the minivan, destination Toin University, Atsushi felt...good. Not fully confident in himself necessarily, but confident in the work he'd put into being better, because he knew that was right. He knew his research wouldn't fail him, if he fucked this up then it was all on him. Which was terrible but it offered a sadistic level of comfort.

It was a short 35-minute bus ride to the rival campus, and as they got closer and closer Atsushi's anxious habits started to show. Naturally, he tried his best to contain the way his legs involuntarily bopped up and down, vibrating the whole seat. And he'd try to keep himself from burying his nails into his wrists and scratch at the scarred skin lightly. The only issue was, the more worried he got the harder he'd scratched. That habit in particular became a massive cause for concern after their first-year exams when Atsushi had scratched himself raw to the point of tearing his skin and dropping blood over his test paper.

Naturally, Dazai had been secretly keeping tabs on the behavior ever since that day, and he'd predicted that his first official debate would increase his levels of anxiety; but he couldn't predict Chuuya and Akutagawa literally threatening to destroy Atsushi.

So, Dazai prepared to have to be a makeshift hook line and sinker to keep his friend as grounded and calm as possible. It might sound like a chore for some people, but Dazai really didn't mind it. In fact, he liked helping Atsushi organize the messy rattling in his brain, it was almost...intimate. The way Dazai knew all his little habits, all of his triggers. How he, without a doubt, could bring his friend back from the darkest edges of his mind safely.

It made Dazai feel powerful, but he'd also like for Atsushi to feel that power every once in a while, instead of cowering at loud noises and shrinking away from the subtle meaningless glances of strangers.

"Atsushi," Dazai's voice broke out among the clattering of tires and the frigid wind soaring in through the open windows. Atsushi turned and watched as Dazai plunged his hand into his trouser pockets, "I got you something, to distract you if you feel nervous."

Atsushi's heart swelled in gratitude as he watched a light, incredibly rare, blush of embarrassment swept over Dazai's nose. Still, he shook his head profusely, "no, you didn't have to—"

"I know," Dazai sighed, gently placing something small and light into Atsushi's open hand, "I wanted to."

When Atsushi looked down at the item in his palm, the wind stole his breath and carried it out of the windows. He was breathless for a few moments, as he eyed the dainty, quite obviously handmade, white, and blue string bracelet with a tiny white tiger charm dangling in the middle.

"You made this?" Atsushi's voice trembled with appreciativeness as Dazai nodded shyly, "You made this? For me?"

Dazai huffed, the sincerity in the air clearly being too thick for him to handle, "Well I didn't make it for Kunikida did I? I'd have given it to him if I did." Atsushi chuckled softly, soft fingers tracing the outline of the tiger charm as if he was entranced, which was kinda the whole point of it, "Whenever you feel nervous, just twist the tiger between your fingers. It spins a little, so it's good for fidgeters who can't keep their hands to themselves."

Atsushi didn't take offense to Dazai's subtle dig, if anything he found it mildly amusing that the man was trying so desperately to hide his affection with petty comments, "Sounds like someone I know," he played along briefly, gently slipping the bracelet over his dry wrists and tightening it into place, "Thank you Dazai, really I mean it." Atsushi shook his hand experimentally, happy to see that the charm showed no signs of falling off.

For the rest of the ride Atsushi absentmindedly played with the little tiger. It really was a pretty distraction, but unfortunately, that's all it was, a distraction; because soon enough the bus pulled to a halt outside Toin University, and Atsushi's nerves came crawling to the surface once again.

The group first met an older gentleman, a higher-up member of the society, or maybe the creator of it? Atsushi wasn't sure. All he knew was that his name was Mori and he gave off a very sophisticated and eloquent vibe. It was intimidating to say the least, and he had this almost slimy air about him, but before Atsushi could panic about the interaction he remembered his little tiger and pinched it between his fingers.

"It's nice to see you again Dazai, it's been a while." Mori smiled, shaking the student's hand with a forceful intent.

Dazai shook back with just as much force, "Mori, you're looking well. Glad to see you're still sponsoring these events." he smiled, but Atsushi knew it was the fakest damn smile Dazai could put out. His eyes were dead, completely, and utterly. But his words were warm, soft, and welcoming.

It was a terrifying ability.

"Ah yes well, it's either this or sponsoring the reckless drinking of the rugby club, and I can really think of nothing worse than that," Worse, Atsushi knew what was worse. What was worse, was watching the man turn himself toward him with a taut grin, "And you must be Atsushi," Mori said, tone void of any real emotion and instead consisted of forced glee, "I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh" Atsushi blurted, eyes wide and mouth forming into a comical O shape, "Uh, thank you" He bowed politely, thankfully not catching the way Mori practically glared at him as if he was some kind of vermin.

Dazai did not like that. He did not like that one bit. Neither did Junichiro, so much so that the ginger male scoffed in the elder's face.

Funnily enough, Mori did not like that either.

"I assume you know your way around, yes?" Mori said, tugging his long coat closer to his thin body. As soon as he received even a hint of acknowledgment, he was turning on his heels, "Well, have fun. And do try not to lose quite so badly, it's not sports if there's no competition." Finally, the true sneaky tone Mori had been suppressing slipped out while he walked away.

Although it sounded terrible, it was comforting to know Atsushi wasn't a completely horrid judge of character.

Ranpo huffed, "What an idiot. Do I really look like I'd take part in a sport?" The man gagged with disgust, instantly lifting the mood of the group as small chuckles and fond smiles filled the air around them.

Atsushi followed Dazai like a stray cat, followed him through the unfamiliar university campus, on the immaculate stone path towards the Student Union, which in all honesty looked more like a modern Wall Street millionaires glass castle than a simple student room. Atsushi couldn't help but feel out of his depth, growing up with nothing not even parents; and now being surrounded by mounds and mounds of seemingly disposable wealth. It was a sick joke.

Eventually, they reached a pair of large sleek double doors with a silver plate in the middle that read 'Debate Society'

Then all the tension that Atsushi had been letting build up inside of him collapsed, dropping his stomach to new lows because behind that door was the person who threatened to destroy him.

Behind that door was Akutagawa.

And as the double doors opened wide and Atsushi flowed into the foreign room, they caught the devilish eyes of five people. three of which were unfamiliar, one of which was familiar, and the other set of eyes so clearly wanted Atsushi dead.

Somehow, Atsushi managed to drown the stares out by focusing his eyes on the interior of the room, just like how Junichiro had taught him that first day. He could practically hear the taller man chanting, 'comfortable in the room comfortable in the mind' but god, Atsushi just knew he'd never feel comfortable in a room like this.

The ceilings were impossibly high, so high that Atsushi bet they needed a crane to install the obnoxious chandeliers. It was all dark brown wood, but not the shiny kind. It was hard, rugged, and authentic. The entire room smelt like a tree, not that Atsushi had ever smelt a tree, but you get the point. The room was large, with stacked cushioned chairs pushed to the side to make way for the tall wooden benches. It felt like he was going to be a contestant on a game show, only it had a massive budget and the prize was simply being in the presence of intellectuals.

Chuuya was the first to stand, somehow managing to tower over the bench despite his small stature, "Surprised you lot didn't chicken out," The ginger snickered, blue eyes locked onto Dazai's with wild intensity, "Guess you're just that desperate to be humiliated huh?"

Atsushi could vividly remember thinking that Chuuya was just mean, and he didn't like mean. He especially didn't like the way he was directing his taunts toward Dazai, the man who quite literally just made a fucking friendship bracelet for him and blushed about it. Whatever devious character Chuuya had made Dazai out to be in his head, it wasn't true.
And that very idea, the idea of his friend being taunted and made fun of made the little flame in his heart grow. The competitive flame that Aktugawa had cursed him with had a trigger of its very own, and that was something Atsushi would have to come to grips with if he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders.

Before he knew it, Junichiro was gently tapping him toward their own bench; and suddenly, the only place Atsushi could look was directly into those slate-grey eyes that he'd managed to completely avoid. And for the second time that day, his breath was stolen.

In that fleeting steely glance, Atsushi decided he officially hated face time because god damn it, he thought Akutagawa was pretty before, but in person...he was adorable. Atsushi knew just from the way the man was glaring, face blank and unreadable that if Atsushi ever were to tell him that, he'd probably get kicked into another dimension, but it'd be worth it.

He was a lot taller than he thought he'd be for starters, a long black trench coat hugged him perfectly as if it was painted on, his skin was slick and shiny as if it were glowing under bright light, dark hair and shaggy bangs framed his angular face perfectly and the little white tips were oddly endearing as they fell around his chin.

Atsushi was done for.

He was just present enough to hear the comforting whisper of his friend by his side, and even though he didn't hear what Dazai had said, his fingers instantly gravitated towards the charm on his wrist.

"Welcome, Yokohama students" An older, silver-haired man seemed to just appear in between the two benches, "I hope your ride here was comfortable," Atsushi instantly liked this man a lot more than Mori, "I trust you understand the way we do things here, but as you have a newcomer" The man sent Atsushi a warm genuine smile, which filled him with a little confidence; and then it was quickly swiped away by the sound of Akutagawa scoffing, "Select one of your members to come to the front and pick out a category from this bowl," He said, lifting up a clear glass bowl with four folded notes inside, "depending on what topic you pick, the other team will then pick a question out of one of the other bowls." Altogether, there were five bowls on the table. One containing the topics, of which there seemed to be only four options, and the rest were filled to the brim with questions. So, there was no way to really predict what they were going to be debating.

There was no verbal exchange, like clockwork Kunikida and a lady from the other team met in the middle.

Kunikida ruffled the four papers around a bit before picking one out, unfolding it slowly "Political and or Social" He called out, his voice echoed around the room a lot more than normal. He was really serious about this whole debate thing; a lot more than Atsushi gave him credit for.

Then the blonde lady shoved her hand into the aligning bowl and pulled a question out from the top, "Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity today, discuss."

The older man put both hands out, gesturing to each team at the same time "I'll let you discuss points with your teammates first, and then when I clap my hands together I expect the debate to be underway, good luck to you both."

"Lies," Dazai's voice broke instantly, "The biggest threat to humanity today is Akutagawa's in that coat, ain't that right Atsushi—"

"Dazai shut up!" He scolded his friend, cheeks blushing profusely, "Don't out me, and anyway I'm not the entirety of humanity—"

"But you're my world Atsushi," Dazai cooed teasingly.

Atsushi rolled his eyes and arms, before scoffing loudly and turning his back to his friend. This was his first debate, he wanted to be serious. He wanted to beat them.

"What are you thinking Ranpo?" Kunikinda sighed, a hand placed firmly under his chin as he thought.

"We could argue that all of climate change is due to human waste, therefore humans are the biggest threat, but..."

Kunikida finished his thoughts for him, "That's a highly anticipated root to go down."

Atsushi knew from his research that picking the most supported argument wasn't always the best, because even though you'd have a lot of material to draw upon, there's a strong likelihood that the counter-arguments would be just as well researched.

"The more reasons you have to agree means there's a high chance there will be just as many reasons to disagree" Atsushi found himself muttering out loud, earning a wide smile from Junichiro.

"Exactly, and these guys love to argue and will use literally anything they can to draw this debate out, even if its complete bullshit that makes no sense."

Kunikida nodded in agreement, "It's true, one time they argued that the earth was flat on the notion of free speech and indent thinking...and they won."

Atsushi gulped down, hard.

"To be fair, we only gave up because Chuuya wouldn't stop yelling," Ranpo added, "We'd have totally won if he didn't give us all headaches."

"He made you submit, by yelling so loudly it made your heads hurt?" Atsushi said, half-dazed and confused the other half purely amazed by the lung ability that the task would take.

"Not hurt, throb, that bitch is loud." Dazai confirmed with a nod and a pained smile as if he were remembering the headache in question.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Atsushi asked, his levels of maturity increasing as the team around him became almost childlike and unsure.

"I vote we just go second, see what they argue and then wing it," Ranpo suggested with a shrug, pulling out a bag of crisps he'd snuck in under his coat.

"You can't be serious—" Atsushi began, only to be cut off by Junichiro.

"Sounds good to me"

"What—"

"I second that to be honest. Not a bad plan." Dazai hummed along, arms stretched behind his head as if this were a relaxing pastime and not a fucking debate.
Atsushi had no choice but to swallow his feelings, it's not like he had a better idea; besides, he was new to all this and these guys had been apart of this world for a whole year longer, he could trust their judgment. It was coming from experience, right?

Suddenly, a loud crisp clap pulled the teams together and silence swept over the room.

"So, who would like to go first?" he asked.

As Dazai expected, Chuuya raised his hand faster than lightning "We do!" He really was just an overgrown child, "We're arguing in support of the statement!"

Did this man ever stop yelling?

Atsushi couldn't help but notice how the blonde lady leaned over, very close to Akutagawa's ear to whisper something that had him nodding in agreement. Who was she? A girlfriend? Atsushi knew for a fact he wouldn't be able to cope if he had a girlfriend, no matter how pathetic it sounded he wouldn't take it back.

She leaned forward, small palms pressed against the wooden bench as she cleared her throat, "To begin, I'd just like to say that climate change is the be all end all of humanity. No matter what we as a civilization to try and slow the process down or stop it, the efforts will be futile. The levels of damage are already irreversible and will continue to get worse as time progresses. Therefore, climate change will be the event that, for lack of a better term, destroys the world."

Kunikida was quick to fire back, but of course, he was polite about it, "That's a compelling argument, however, there is nothing to say that climate change will be the event that destroys the world. For example, the volcano in Yellowstone national park America. It's an active volcano, large enough to block out the sun if it chose to erupt and the thing has been overdue an eruption for thousands of years. It could erupt today, tomorrow, any day in fact. So, who's to say that the volcano won't erupt before the truly damaging effects of climate change set in."

And just like that, it seemed as though a switch had flipped in everyone's heads. Suddenly, there were no smiles, no snide remarks, or playful taunts. It was a serious business, expertly research fact, and a game of respectfully disagreeing with each other. Everyone took it in turns to effectively show off how smart they were and how up to date they were with current world affairs. It was kinda fun, Atsushi was learning loads of new things, whilst also being included and he didn't feel like he was being attacked or anything like that, which was surprising considering the declaration of war he'd been dealt.

However, Atsushi's luck soon changed when it was his turn to lay out an argument, "Um—" He began, trying to remember the really good argument that popped into his head out of nowhere five minutes ago, which had apparently escaped because he couldn't remember what it was anymore, "Well, I agree with Kunikida's argument the most. But, maybe instead of a natural disaster, it would be human intervention. Like the mass production of nuclear weapons is pretty scary, and I'm sure a nuclear war would break out based on the flimsy relationships between large political leaders."

Atsushi received a small rub on his shoulder from Dazai, a gesture of pure encouragement, only to be utterly discouraged in the following seconds.

"No," Akutagawa's voice broke, it was gruff, on the verge annoyance as if he'd been silent this whole time because he was secretly seething with anger, "It's much more likely that, due to the deterioration of the ozone layer which is as we know a result of climate change, that a mass wildfire would break out and kill us all." His face was stiff, eyes glued to Atsushi with ferocity as if he was the sole reason, he was so annoyed.

"Well...that's a good argument—"

"No, it's a well-researched argument. It's based on scientific fact. What was your argument based on Atsushi?" He asked, head cocking to the side in a way that was so incredibly patronizing it made Atsushi's stomach hurt.

"Uh—"

"Your argument was based solely on assumption. The assumption that the world's political leaders would start a war. A war over what, exactly?" When Atsushi's eyes threatened to fall to the floor in avoidance, he spoke again, "I'm asking you a question, Atsushi. Why would the political leaders start a war?" He couldn't help the way his throat closed up, or the way his temperature rose as if he was suddenly very very ill, and needed to lay down. It was as if his body was having an allergic reaction to confrontation, which in all honesty wouldn't be surprising. "Do you not have an answer?" Akutagawa continued to press, either not noticing how uncomfortable the silver-haired boy was or he did notice, and he was truly trying to crush him.

Atsushi could only spare the strength to shake his head, the rest of his energy was invested in stopping his rabid heartbeat, his shaking hands, and the stinging of his eyes. His body was quick to react, but it took his brain a little longer to process just how shallow his breaths were and just how close he was to the brink of having an anxiety attack in front of everyone, which ironically made him panic even more.

The airy laugh that seeped from Akutagawa's lips was the closest Atsushi had been to understanding the notion of finding danger alluring; because god, even though that laugh radiated distaste and a clear craving to inflict pain, Atsushi wouldn't mind having that sound tickling his ear or the lips that held it in brushing against his neck.

"So, what you're admitting to not being able to back up your own argument?" He paused, almost daring the smaller silver-haired man to speak up but of course he didn't, "And if your argument is so poorly planned, it drastically reduces the reliability of your teammate's arguments. So, do we win by default, sir?" Akutagawa angled his question toward the senior who was watching the debate.

The older man seemed to contemplate for a while, before asking "Do you wish to counter-argue the accusations of Mr. Akutagawa?"

As Atsushi's eyes were firmly on the bracelet around his wrist, he didn't see the concerned eyes of his teammates. He didn't see the way they all agreed to forfeit the debate, not because Akutagawa's accusations were true or because they couldn't counterargue, but because Atsushi was so clearly spent and shaken and wanted to be absolutely anywhere but in that debate room. They all silently agreed to do what was best not only for their teammate but for their friend.

"We forfeit the debate," Dazai said calmly, catching Atsushi's almost haunted expression, "We'll be back in a week or two for a rematch."

To say that Atsushi felt pathetic walking away from his first official debate was an understatement. But his teammates comforted him, explained that Akutagawa wasn't attacking him personally and that he'd done absolutely nothing wrong, and that everyone had to start somewhere.

And as sadistic as it was, once Atsushi had calmed his rattling heart and shaking hands, he laughed, "He really did destroy me, huh?"

To Atsushi's relief, Junichiro laughed along with him noticing that on the ride home his friend would much prefer a comforting comical coping mechanism than a real therapy session, "Yeah, he really did."

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