Au revoir frères et sœurs, au revoir Père
The swirls of the pool that is anxiety in Atsushi’s stomach grow more controlled, and swell faster, much more fit to be referred to as a spiral by this point.
Atsushi has stopped looking his Father in the eye, and looks down as he subconsciously raises his fiddling hands up to his chest. Arlecchino doesn’t say anything right now, but places yet another hand on the opposing shoulder. “Atsushi,” she gently repeated, “you and I both know the potential you withhold. A tiger who does not bear his claws is a housecat. I raised you to be no such domestic being.”
Without even looking up at her, Atsushi can still feel his Father’s deadly eyes peering right down at him. The squint they have to them when she glares is so unsettling, it almost rivals Death. Not that the woman is too far off, but still. “Don’t get discouraged so easily,” she (in her own way) assured him. Atsushi breathes in deeply and slowly, at least trying to adhere to the rationale in his Father’s words.
At once, he faces her. Feeling a little bashful, he just moves his hands down, keeping them connected by the fingers. “I don’t just handle my children’s assignments so carelessly,” Arlecchino removes her hands. “You were carefully chosen for this. The stages of the plan are exclusive to you.” She moves back around her desk to sit down again, “There’s a lot more to this plan than what the Harbingers have dumbed the stages down to.
Firstly, there’s the ever-so-pestilential Fyodor Dostoevsky, the man who contributed to the bounty on your head. And then, there’s a mafia located in the city of Yokohama which was tasked with deporting you to Europe directly to him, as well as the other two collaborators. When they were planning to deport you is still unknown, but it’s about the time I had stepped in and taken you.”
Atsushi listened, her attention growing more intent the deeper his Father got into this (and yet she had barely scratched the surface). “From him, the Fatui as a whole has received nothing but minor and vague bribery in order to hand you over,” she told him, “but that’s just about it. As of currently, Dostoevsky had recently formed two groups — the Rats in the House of the Dead, and the Decay of Angels. The Rats serve more as his henchmen, while the Decay serves as actual perpetrators towards whoever he’s after. Just recently, that rat had obtained a page of the book, and shifted the fate of a detective group, which had been his primary target for the past few months.”
On her desk, she takes out and places a newspaper, and slides it over to him. Atsushi takes the newspaper, and reads the central piece.
“Armed Detective Agency: Terrorists in Disguise.”
Below the title was a picture of found security footage of what looks like to be the detectives, all behind chair with built-in saws that would sit right in the middle of the human torso, which have seemed to already separated a couple victims; pairs of legs remained in the chairs, meanwhile the upper halves of who were once men are settled on the ground. Atsushi’s stomach churns at the scene, but then remembers how Arlecchino said that this was a frame job.
“A member of the Hunting Dogs,” Arlecchino snatches Atsushi’s attention back, “a military unit in Japan, especially Yokohama, had taken the page and wrote an ending that had repealed the detective’s identity as terrorists. However, that didn’t clear up their name so easily; and that’s where you apply.”
Atsushi blinked. “For… a job? There??”
Arlecchino nods. “The Armed Detective Agency’s staff had almost halved after the event, but this would only make them more vulnerable to Dostoevsky. It would be naive to think that he wouldn’t strike again. What the Harbingers have gathered is that somehow in some way, Dostoevsky had managed to obtain a piece of the Book. As the detectives are the spotlight of his attention, what you will do when you get to Japan is apply for a job at the Armed Detective Agency as a way to get closer to the rat.”
Atsushi takes a moment, before nodding along with the synopsis of his assignment. His Father looks down at her desk in deep contemplation.
“… We’ll need to act swiftly,” she manages to continue, “you will be flown out to Japan two days from now.”
Atsushi was almost surprised, but it’s understandable if it’s high-risk. He’s made a home of the House of the Hearth… his first home had never felt close to this, he sure as hell doesn’t miss it — so how will he cope with this mission?
“… I understand,” he finally responded. “Should I… pack now, or…?” Father doesn’t answer for a longer moment. “I’ll… send a couple more-detailed documents down to you,” she finally answered, “your stay is indefinite, but mull it over carefully.” Atsushi nods again, and rubs his thighs a bit. He makes it for the door, but Arlecchino pipes up again, “Atsushi.”
He turns halfway, “Yes Father?”
“… You’re dismissed.”
“Right…” Atsushi finally, but shamefully excuses himself
—
~A week later, actually~
“This was more difficult than it should’ve been,” Arlechcino grumbled.
Yokohama’s airports were shut down, especially because of the incident with the brief vampire outbreak occurring. Not only that, but bus stations as well. Eventually, it all cultivated with Arlecchino having to teach Atsushi how to drive; a few crying fits here and there, but he was somewhat better than the triplets, and they had to work with that for now…
As of now, said triplets are kind of making a scene in the airport. Atsushi’s being physically bound with all his spiritual siblings — Fremintet’s layer one, Lyney’s layer two, and Lynette is layer 3. “Children, children,” Arlecchino subtly chides, placing a hand on Lyney’s shoulder, “cease your insolence. Your sentiments are much appreciated, at least when they’re not so brazen. People are staring.”
Lyney eventually backs off, “But we’re performers, no?” He playfully argued. Lynette, however, takes him by the ear back to their Father’s side — which leaves Freminet. Freminet squeezes Atsushi especially tight.
“I’ll be fine,” Atsushi tries to reassure him, hugging him back. Finally, but reluctantly, does Freminet release his grip. He backs off, but he keeps looking at him with sorrowful eyes. His Father rests her hand on his shoulder, “You don’t want to be late,” she says to Atsushi, “don’t disappoint me.”
With that, Atsushi picks up his large suitcase. He goes to board his flight (which they had to set to Tokyo, the nearest to Yokohama), but not without looking back at the group. Lynette has Freminet’s hand, Father has that stare of hers, and Lyney is waving. At the very least, he waves back goodbye to his family with a bittersweet look on his face, before finally turning away.