Both Chuuya and Aiko were surprised when they saw Dazai enter the store.
"My, my... I didn't expect that you two would be make out in the middle of the store like that," he said while laughing at them.
Aiko did not give a panicked reaction, but Chuuya immediately looked panicked and grabbed Aiko's shoulder and pushed her away gently.
"Wait Dazai, it's not what you think!" he said frantically while shouting as usual to keep Dazai from thinking weird things about them.
"No need to be shy, I've seen everything clearly!"
"SHUT UP YOU WALKING BANDAGE!"
Aiko watched the argument between the two of them and then chuckled because she thought it was funny.
"You shouldn't laugh either! Anyway, why did you suddenly approach me, even that close?!" asked Chuuya who was half-scolding Aiko for being embarrassed.
She innocently replied that she was just checking Chuuya's temperature, whether he had a fever or not.
But what she did was enough to make Chuuya's heart skip a beat, which he was not used to.
"Please don't do that next time!" he said.
"Alright, I won't do it again next time!" Aiko nodded her head then her eyes looked at Chuuya's arm which was injured.
She reflexively pulled the hand closer, then examined the wound. "Oh my, your arm is hurt! I'll get some medicine to treat it!"
"No need, it's just..."
Again, Chuuya had not finished speaking, Aiko had already run into the direction of the kitchen to get some wound medicine, leaving him together with Dazai who was looking at him with a mocking gaze.
"What?" asked Chuuya while glancing sharply at her.
"It's nothing. I thought you were quite aggressive with the woman you just met. You even dared to kiss her," he replied.
"Huh?!"
"Aiko-chan is a good girl and innocent too. Don't let you tarnish her or hurt her feelings, she can just throw you out of this dimension if she wants to!"
The orange-haired man grew even more annoyed as he heard his former partner's words.
Annoyed, Chuuya tugged on the collar of Dazai's brown coat.
"You heard yourself that she was just checking my temperature, whether I had a fever or not. Don't you dare try to twist a story or spread anything weird about me to the others!"
Not long after, Aiko returned with the wound medicine box and began treating the wound on Chuuya's arm.
She looked so focused, and also a little worried looking at the wound.
"I told you it's just a normal wound. You don't need to treat it, I can do it when I get home," he said.
"If you get hurt, it's best to treat it immediately or you'll get an infection. That would be much more dangerous than this little cut of yours," Aiko said.
"Listen to what she says, Chuuya-kun. You need to get treated right away," Dazai teased while holding both of Chuuya's shoulders from behind.
He really wanted to beat him up, but since Aiko was in front of him and holding his arm, he couldn't do it.
After the wound was treated, Chuuya intended to leave now, that Dazai was here. So he could go home, plus he had seen that Aiko was fine.
Seeing him about to leave, Aiko again stopped him and invited the two of them to have lunch together with her.
"Since it's lunchtime, how about you have lunch with me? Chuuya-san just arrived too, you'd better rest for a while since your face looks so tired," she asked.
At first he wanted to reject the offer, but Dazai immediately put his arm around his neck and pulled him along to Aiko's small house.
"Come on, once in a while it won't hurt you!" he said while forcibly pulling Chuuya along with them.
Aiko closed her shop and put up a sign that read 'On lunch break' as usual.
It was the first time for the two men to enter Aiko's small room that was her home. They were both a bit surprised that the room was quite small and there were only a few things in there.
'Even this room is a bit smaller than the apartment the agency gave me,' Dazai thought.
"I apologize if it's cramped. Please take a seat," she said as she invited them to sit near the round table in the center of the room.
"Have you been living here all this time? Don't you feel claustrophobic living in this cramped room? There's not even a single window to let air in," Chuuya asked.
She nodded her head and explained the reason why she chose to stay in that small space.
They finally had lunch with the omurice that Aiko cooked, Chuuya and Dazai were quite impressed because it tasted very good.
"Wow, your cooking is really good, Aiko-chan! It would be very lucky if I became your lover and could eat your cooking every day!" Dazai praised her.
"It would be unlucky for her to be your lover. Who would want to be the lover of a man who likes to ask other women to commit su*cide together?" asked Chuuya while raising one eyebrow.
The Fedora hat man then turned to Aiko and said not to become a walking bandage lover like Dazai.
"You have a long future ahead of you, don't get trapped by a creature like him," he said.
"You're so mean Chuuya, so what kind of man would suit Aiko-chan? Is it a man like you?" asked Dazai who was teasing Chuuya again.
He choked as soon as he heard Dazai's teasing. He even coughed while hitting his own chest lightly. Aiko who saw it immediately panicked and got some water for him.
"Drink up, Chuuya-san. Drink slowly," she said while patting Chuuya's back.
After finishing his water, Chuuya set his glass down on the table so loudly that Aiko jumped when she heard it.
"DAMN DAZAI, YOU ALMOST MADE ME DIE OF SHOCK BECAUSE OF YOUR SHIT!" he said in annoyance while strangling Dazai.
"Ahahaha... If you don't like it, there's no need to get angry," laughed Dazai casually as usual.
Aiko, who witnessed this, laughed until she burst into tears. Dazai and Chuuya immediately stopped and turned to her, confused that she was laughing at them.
"What's so funny?" asked Chuuya in surprise and his tone was still high.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just that you guys seem so close that you can even joke around like that," she laughed.
"We're not close!" they replied simultaneously.
"Hehe... Alright alright, I understand." She still chuckled then slowly stopped laughing.
From there Chuuya truly realized Aiko's innocent spirit. She even laughed at the small and unusual.
'What a strange and too kind girl,' he thought at the time.
Finished with their lunch, Dazai and Chuuya had to excuse themselves as they still had work to do.
"You said you were out of town so you couldn't come check," Chuuya said.
"I was, but I finished my business early and returned alone first by train. The rest of the agency was still there and spent the day until tomorrow morning," Dazai replied.
He then glanced at Chuuya. "Looks like Aiko-chan is starting to pay more attention to you, Chuuya."
"What do you mean by that? She always seems to care about everything."
Dazai smiled and looked at the overcast sky.
"Her attention seems different, you know? You don't get close to women very often, so you don't notice," the former Port Mafia member replied.
Chuuya was silent for a moment when he heard that and started thinking about it. He looked at his arm which was bandaged and then put a cute plaster with love on it as an adhesive.
There was only silence between the two of them, Chuuya seemed to be lost in thought. It was as if Dazai's words had messed with his mind a little.
"Does she really feel that way?"