1stknight | PSL (closed)

[Actually, Bedivere did not bother Dazai at first. He wasn't even in the living room the first time Dazai walked through for coffee. By the time Dazai was slightly more awake, though, Bedivere was sitting on the couch with the book.

He looked completely refreshed and ready to go. Someone was absolutely a morning person. Though he was patient too, and he wouldn't badger Dazai until Dazai was awake enough for a conversation.

Another important fact: While Dazai was off going to the bathroom, Bedivere decided to raid the kitchen and cook Dazai some breakfast. Or...well. He was going to, but there wasn't much in the way of food Bedivere recognized. Eggs, maybe, but that was probably it. And when Dazai came back, that was when Bedivere questioned him.]

Do you not have any sausages or bread?

[Once he was done with his morning rituals and a shower, he was awake enough to not fall asleep if he stood still, but sleepy enough to stare dumbly at the new fancy decoration gracing at the back of his hand before realizing that, yes, he'd been at it for a good eight minutes and he had three other limbs that needed bandaging.

The wonders of being two years away from the necessary hypervigilance that came with being a mafia executive. Yes, two, because the time he spent in between ditching Mori and getting hired by Fukuzawa also entailed finding a secure location to get drunk out of his mind without worrying if he'd get shot, and Dazai's paranoia had an exhaustive list of what counted as 'safe.'

At least his coffee was done by the time he stepped out, the top buttons of his shirt undone while he did up his vest, bolo tie jammed in his pocket.]

Canned goods and instant noodles. Cupboard. [Mug, meet sugar and creamer. Gang, meet coffee and his friend, more coffee. Stirring the mixture incrementally was helpful in avoiding caking. He glanced at Bedivere. What was it with morning people looking so fresh this early? Did having silver hair enable them to absorb sunlight easier or something?] I usually skip breakfast. Given the circumstances, I suppose we'll have to rectify that for the time being.

[None of those foods sounded particularly good for a breakfast. Dazai, get better foods.]

You go until lunch without anything to eat? And you have the energy to do so?

[Bedivere sounded surprised. He could understand skipping meals due to a lack of food, but if one were doing that, then the meal they actually ate would be breakfast. And Dazai didn't look like he was poor, so why was he not eating? Maybe this was why he was so thin.]

[He will, for the next few days.]

I snack in-between, but that probably doesn't count.

[Watch him argue otherwise if someone like Kunikida tried to lecture him.]

Not unless a 'snack' for you is a whole meal, no.

[SIGH. His master was a difficult one.

But now that he knew his search would be fruitless, he closed the fridge.]

That can be our cover, when we are out searching for more circles today. You will need more food that actually sustains you, since you are eating for two people now.

[Oh lookit, someone who was absolutely the type Dazai would try to mooch free meals off! Except Dazai was the one who had the funds here, and Bedivere wouldn't make magical forgeries of currency even if he had the talent to.

Also, that wording. Dazai covered his mouth like a stereotypical young housewife in a gag comic.]

You make it sound like I'm pregnant.

Thinking of sheathing your sword with me so soon?

[The pregnant joke, Bedivere could have handled that. His wording had been unfortunate, and he really did deserve the ribbing for it. That question, though, that made him sputter in disbelief.

Bedivere was...well. Sex wasn't a thought that crossed his mind often. He knew of it, he knew what it was for and that most people did it, but he never really had any reason to care about sex before. It wasn't like he had been married in all 1,500 years of wandering or anything. So his mind hadn't really gone in that direction with Dazai, even though he knew their coupling was likely an inevitability as Dazai wouldn't know any of the spells to transfer mana.

But to have it joked about so openly like that, that was improper!]

Th-that isn't what I meant and you know it!

Mm-hmm.

[Dazai waggled his eyebrows just because he could and, after checking the temperature of his coffee, took a sip.]

Bet I'm not the first to give you that line. Your lack of flashiness is a decidedly attractive quality.

[Now was he making the most indirect reference to that strange dream he had? Outright flirting? Making a poorly-worded compliment? Trying to see how much he could fluster Bedivere? All four? Who knew.]

[It could absolutely be all four. And he was succeeding at flustering Bedivere, at least. It was enough to make Bedivere back out of the kitchen entirely and put some space between himself and Dazai, at least. Bedivere never took compliments well, and to be called attractive- even for something so mundane and dull- was...

Well. It was something he didn't know how to handle. At all.]

Please finish your coffee so we can start our work today!

[He wasn't actually shouting, but his words were more enthusiastic than usual.]

[A-ha!]

Oh, alright, hold on.

If I burn my tongue in my rush to fulfill your wish, will you lick it better?

[He was very much prepared to accept any smack coming his way. Except if it came from the metal arm, of course.

Once the coffee was finished and Dazai fixed his shirt and bolo tie, he'd have Bedivere wait for a moment in his dorm (or his spirit form, if that's what was preferred) while he swung by Atsushi's and Kyouka's unit and knocked on their door - still there, Kyouka? Talk to him for a bit, preferably if Atsushi was busy, before he had to go out on a different case. Any particular reason why your partner in crime was jumpy yesterday?

Once that was done, it was time to check out the other two circles that were reported. If there was one that happened to be near Port Mafia's turf, that was the first he'd look into.]

[Dazai didn't get hit by the metal arm, but he did find himself to be alone in his apartment pretty quickly. Someone had just decided that he would wait out the embarrassment in his spirit form.

Bedivere couldn't believe that Dazai was such a lech. Had he been hiding this side of himself until today? Or was this the act, and his calculating self was the real Dazai? Bedivere had no idea, and it was why he had fallen into embarrassment so quickly.

Bedivere would reappear some time later, when Dazai was at the door ready to go. He still had pretenses to keep up, after all. And if he pointedly avoided talking about Dazai's comments, then maybe he could pretend they had never happened.

There absolutely was one near the Por Mafia's territory, which made that one risky to check out. Early in the morning was safer than most times of the day, But there were eyes and ears everywhere and Dazai and Bedivere had to be careful. They were too late, though, as the warehouse from the reports had been 'cleaned' recently. That is to say, it had been practically destroyed by some local teenagers. Most would not question that, but Dazai should have recognized the lie there instantly: nobody who lived in Port Mafia territory would mess with a Port Mafia building, not if they wanted to live. So the graffiti story was a cover-up. Someone just wanted that warehouse destroyed, but discreetly.]

[Bedivere vanishing on him was new. If he was in a suspiciously good mood, as if he discovered a delightful gem buried under layers of sand on the beach, Kyouka sure wasn't the right person to rat him out on it.

(Or maybe she was. She observed much and had gotten comfortable enough to share should Atsushi ask about Dazai once that talk was over.)

In any case, Dazai usually went for the charming flirt approach instead of dropping racy lines. Something about Bedivere made him want to toe that line, though it wouldn't be until much later that he'd find out that, yes, a form of intimacy was on the table as a drastic form of recharge.

For now, they could shift the conversation to milder topics and put their morning talk behind them. On the way to the destroyed warehouse, they passed by a food cart. Its usual clientele was a mix of regular workers from the various cargo ships nearby.]

I think I'll order something. [He murmured this on the way back, calculating the distance between the food truck and the warehouse. How far was 'far'?] Would you be able to check out the rubble in your spirit form before following? Or would I need to 'get lost' nearby until you returned?

[Just because he'd quit the mafia four years ago didn't automatically mean he was unrecognizable. The Agency was, after all, well-known even to small-time criminals tied to various organizations, and there was that time they had to collaborate with Mori to flush out Pushkin from his cave.]

[Bedivere didn't say as much, but he was grateful that Dazai didn't bring up the conversation from that morning. He was easily embarrassed, it seemed, and he didn't want to think about that fact when they had work to do. Focusing on the Grail War also kept distracting thoughts out of his head. He really didn't need to start questioning his own attractions to his king when that past was long buried. And he wasn't going to think of Dazai in terms of attraction, nope. They would have a strictly professional relationship.

(Or so he intended. In reality, when Dazai decided to turn the charm up, Bedivere would be doomed.)]

This should be close enough. But don't be too obvious, hmm? There is trouble here.

[Bedivere didn't know about Dazai's past with this area, so he wasn't thinking in terms of that. Rather, he had noticed the 'curious' eyes watching them ever since they had gotten to the neighborhood. It wasn't an enemy, those looks were too curious and guarded for that, but it felt like the two of them might become unintentional prey of someone looking to take advantage of a sudden change in situation. Given how noodley Dazai was, Bedivere was particularly worried for his sake.

But Bedivere did duck around a corner to go invisible and investigate further. Dazai had time to eat his early lunch. Or he could strike up a conversation with the local workers who were also on break, if he wanted to press them for information. Bedivere would be gone for a while, he had a lot to see.]

Of course.

[That wasn't a point he'd argue, and using a command spell to get himself out of trouble was waste. Already, Dazai had planned an escape route that'd take him close to Bedivere in case he was recognized, but it was a shame he didn't have a chance to get used to being given small reminders like this from his very own temporary knight.

Bedivere, after all, would be out in the world once this was over, saving orphans and all sorts of people. Dazai could make his peace with that, thinking he knew where to draw the line before he became too fond of the guy.

Once he reached the food cart after they split up, he got himself several sticks of yakitori - the bamboo skewers might be useful - and caught up on the hyperlocal gossip, listening in at first while keeping an eye out for mafioso and other sources of trouble. He'd ask a few roundabout questions if anyone brought up the explosion - kids these days were getting wilder, weren't they, if blowing up a warehouse was now part of the party games.]

[The gossip was largely what you would expect in an area full of shipyards. Complaining about bosses, talk about plans for after work, one guy talking about his pregnant wife while others congratulated him, that sort of thing. This wasn't too deep in the Port Mafia's grasp, so most of the men here weren't members of the mafia. They were in the grey area of "the work they do is for a shady group, but the work itself is legit."

The trade-off, of course, was that most of what they knew was rumors. So when the talk did eventually get around to the explosion, they all had fantastical ideas about what had gone on. A drug deal gone bad, A lover's quarrel involving a certain red-headed ability-user, you name it. None of them had any stories about magic circles or rituals to summon people, though.

There were a couple men keeping quiet during the talk, though. Even when Dazai spoke up, the men kept quiet. Dazai, with all of his mafia experience, would be able to pick up on them being plants right away. They were the actual mafia members, the ones who worked with the regular guys to make sure secrets weren't getting out. And while they didn't recognize Dazai, they did see that he was trying to get information out of the group. And that meant that Dazai was going to be watched.

One guy was discreetly messaging someone on a phone too. Be careful, Dazai.]

[Blegh, spoil sports.

The mafia's investment in monitoring the situation, however, was a clue in and of itself, so Dazai steered the conversation back to lighter topics before whoever was on the other end of that report decided that these guys at lunch should meet the cleanup crew: speaking of wild acts of vandalism, did anyone hear about that commotion at Motomachi Shopping Street from a few weeks back, where someone decided to drunkenly paper up several store fronts with terribly photoshopped posters at 3AM? The news said it was some proposal attempt that had gone awry when the guy got the jitters and too much liquid courage - whatever happened to him?

Dazai slipped away once the workers got the ball rolling again, holding on to a couple of bamboo skewers while polishing off his last yakitori stick.

If he was being tailed, he'd take an alternate route back to Bedivere. Speculating on why Mori had someone look into this could come later: it could be anything from them tightening security because another suspected ability user managed to mess with their territory, to someone from the Mafia actually having a Servant on hand and...

Well. He'd probably find out more once he's heard Bedivere's findings. Just in case, he began to tally just which ability users might've been dragged into this war, and what wishes they might have for the Grail.

Just in case.]

[Nice save, Dazai. These men would make it home to their families this night, maybe.

As the conversation shifted and Dazai snuck away, the two men followed him at a distance. He was being tailed, but it looked like he had a small bit of time to get to Bedivere before they caught up. As long as he didn't take too long to get there he would make it, though as he got closer to the destroyed warehouse the men tailing him started to pursue more closely. The jig was up.

Bedivere, meanwhile, had made his way into the warehouse in spirit form. Once he was safely inside, though, he had manifested again to begin his work. Digging through rubble was a challenge, and he had to be careful not to injure himself. But eventually he was able to get to what he had been looking for: a charred room with the remains of a summoning circle present, as well as the catalyst. Someone hadn't thought to take that with them, it seemed. Bedivere picked up the scrap of leather and pocketed it before leaving the room. He could remember what the circle looked like and draw it for Dazai later.

As he stepped out of the warehouse, he rounded the corner to go looking for Dazai. Tracking Dazai's magical signature wasn't hard with their connection, so he made a beeline right for him. Unfortunately, he failed to notice a red-haired woman in a kimono walking past him as he tried to walk casually down the street.

A woman who turned to watch him as he walked away. Something Dazai might be able to notice from his view of the situation.]

[Ah. Great. That was one hell of a confirmation, if the executives were getting involved.

Pros: The two guys tailing him might just not come close unless Kouyou gave them the order to. Her presence here might mean she wasn't the new Master.

Cons: Kouyou was here, and her personal involvement was either a request from Mori or her own initiative. The latter was more likely if the new Master was under her wing.

Dazai could safely say it was neither Kyouka nor Chuuya. The former, he just saw this morning and there was nothing unusual about her, unless the command seals showed up in other places of the body. Not the latter either, because Kouyou knew that Chuuya could handle himself, and this warehouse's destruction? The pipsqueak could be more thorough than that if he tried, without leaving this kind of an open mess.

Great.

So instead of walking up to Bedivere, he stopped in the middle of the road. Saber was in sprinting distance if he needed to intercept anything while Dazai focused on the woman a few paces behind him.]

Ane-san. It's rare to see you taking a stroll in a place like this.

[She might know what he was talking about: Dazai knew her as someone who'd prefer walking in a park or garden.]

[One thing could be said about Bedivere: at least he was smart enough to get what Dazai was playing at, and to keep walking past Dazai instead of going right to him. Nothing to see here, just a man walking. Honest.

(Bedivere would actually turn a corner and get to a higher vantage point, if he could. Dazai was handling the confrontation, so Bedivere wanted to be on the lookout for any surprise attackers.)

Kouyou let Bedivere go, too. She was less concerned with him, even if she could guess that he was involved with Dazai's investigation in some way. She didn't know the whole truth of the situation, but if Dazai was sniffing around, then something was up. But she acted as if she didn't notice Bedivere at all, and instead focused her attention on Dazai.]

Even I have to work sometimes.

[But she had stopped walking, and she was turned sideways so she could look back to Dazai without facing him fully. Her umbrella kept the sun out of her eyes, but it also kept her sword close enough to draw if it was needed. A standard defense for her.]

That is why you're here too, isn't it? We only ever talk anymore when it's related to work.

[It was a good defense, and Dazai's awareness of the trick didn't diminish its effectiveness. It's not like he had anything other than a handful of bamboo skewers to defend himself from that.

Not that they'd come to blows if he could help it. Words were still his best weapon, and he knew Kouyou was more interested in why he was here. In this situation, Bedivere's likely intervention if things got messy was but a bonus, for all that it was a premature show of his hand.]

It's not too terrible of a change, is it? I doubt you miss any of my phone calls. [She had plenty of good reasons to distrust him while he was with the mafia. If anything, his change of allegiances made things peaceful. As far as Dazai knew, she didn't miss him and the mess that was his head.] More to the point: yes, we did receive a report about an incident that occurred here. Should I tell Kyouka-chan she has a new adoptive sibling?

[Let's pretend for now this was related to a new Ability user. How much would Kouyou confirm or deny this claim?]

The Agency has been busy, I see.

[Her voice was calm and delicate, as it often was. But the polite words hid an edge to them. Not one directed at Dazai specifically, interestingly enough. Her ire fell elsewhere. But his talk had brought up an annoyance that he very well might feel the stab of, if Kouyou decided to get physical about it.

His answer gave away so much, too. Only someone who knew about those strange magic rituals would know of the beings it created. Which meant that the Agency had already found at least one other Master, or they themselves were involved in this war. Kouyou had heard of the summoning circle found last night with a dead master next to it, but a dead master didn't mean an unsummoned servant.

Really, Dazai's only saving grace at that moment was a misconception on Kouyou's part: since Dazai was a nullifier, clearly he couldn't be a Master too, or so she thought. Nullifying magic blocked the magic needed to complete the ritual in her mind. If she had known that he was a Master, she may have lashed out at that moment.

(For her part, her hands were clear of any Command Seals. She was not the Master of the Servant summoned in Port Mafia territory.)]

Kyouka-chan has no need to get involved here. In fact, the entire Agency would be wise to not get involved in this mess. Take those children of yours and run to the countryside for the next month.

[She knew that wouldn't get anyone to actually leave the city. But that was her one good deed, spurned on by a desire to protect Kyouka at the very least: this fight was going to be bloody, and the Agency better keep an eye on its employees if it wanted to avoid casualties.

The fact that Kouyou was telling Dazai about this, of all people, was another important hint: whatever had happened here, she didn't agree with it. And she had to go beyond Mori to even throw a vague warning out.]

[So she knew the details personally, as well as the scope of the possible fallout. And here Dazai was, in the middle of coming up with details of a made-up case.

He tapped the side of his jaw with the bamboo skewer as if in idle thought and not the signal that it actually was. The two tails that followed him were far away enough for them to not overhear this conversation, but it wouldn't do for Mori to get the wrong impression if Kouyou stayed for too long.]

Alright. They're overdue for a vacation, anyway.

I'll be in touch later, hmm? There's a way to keep their relaxation time uninterrupted. [Here, he gave her a meaningful smile - he had a plan to minimize this mess, so do give him a little more to work with.] If there's anyone who knows Kyouka-chan's preferred selection of countryside inns, it's you.

You're right, I know her better than anyone. And the next time I speak to her, she should be out in the countryside.

[Dazai knew how to contact her, so when it was time he would call. She had no doubts about that. She would have to figure out how to lie about the situation to him, though. Her warning only went as far as to keep them all away. She wasn't about to betray who the Master in the Port Mafia was, or who their servant was.

Not yet, at least. Once the Grail War was over, all bets were off. Mori really had made the wrong choice this time.

So Kouyou turned away from Dazai, the umbrella covering her from view. She hesitated a moment there, though.]

Now is a good time for you to scamper home to your Agency, Dazai-kun. The next time you trespass in Mafia territory, the punishment will be severe.

['the punishment', not 'I will punish you.' Because it wasn't her that he had to be afraid of.

But with that said, she started to walk away. Now was the time for Dazai to leave, if he wanted to get out unscathed.]

[He studied her expression as as she spoke, well aware that she wouldn't just spill the beans. Still, misdirection was also information, if not a little more tedious to work with.

That warning about punishment, though? He cocked his head in thought. Been a while since he was threatened like that. Kouyou wasn't one to play messenger for Mori in the days when Dazai directly reported to the boss, which meant -

Ah. So this went beyond merely being aware of the circumstances.

His smile sharpened. Just a teensy bit. The stakes were just about right to incentivize Mori in going down the deep end again.]

An unpleasant circumstance I'm sure we'd all rather avoid.

[He nodded at her before heading off. Ordinarily, he'd correct the implication that he was still under Mori's thumb and therefore still tied to the mafia, but Kouyou wasn't the actual person he was irritated at.

So yeah. Time to go before he overstayed his welcome. Bedivere, he knew, would follow, though Dazai waited until they were alone in a narrow alley next to a vending machine, closer to the Agency and well away from the docks and anyone who might've stalked them. If Saber was in his spirit form, now would be a better moment to reveal himself. Whatever the case, he'd first ask:]

Find anything?

[Wait until Dazai found out what Mori's wish was. Because make no mistake, regardless of which member of the Mafia had a Servant, that wish was going to be Mori's.

Bedivere had not gone into spirit form, instead choosing to stay visible in case he needed to jump in to save Dazai. Such efforts were unneeded, though, and soon the two of them were walking away from the Port Mafia territory.]

There was indeed a summoning circle in there. Someone made an effort to destroy it, but pieces of it remained. I also believe I found the catalyst for the summoning, but it is best if I show you that in private.

Whoever tried to cover up the scene, they didn't know what they were doing. A mage would have known how to erase their summoning circle. So it was an untrained magic-user, possibly following a guidebook instead of being taught how to summon.

[His thoughts flashed back to that red-haired woman. Maybe her?]

The woman I passed, who you talked to. Could it be her? She didn't have the signature of a Servant, but she could have been a Master.

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